Controller Freezes

[Ruggero Sorgi]

Hi Fernando, first of all congratulation for your great job and thanks to share it with us!

I come to the problem, my diy controller freezes once a day every day. The first days it appened on the morning (7/8 am) the last days on the afternoon/evening (18 pm). At the moment it controls only leds, water temperature, and main tank level (w/out ato) but will improve once i solve this issue.
When the controller freezes i push reset button and the "please insert sd card" message appear, the only way is to disconnect power supply and reconnect. Once done there is a bug on date something like "XXXX de XXXX de 2150" and time "27:xx:xx" (or inexistent hours) this just for a minute or less, then it start work properly. But the day after freezes again.

Maybe a problem with sdcard reading? Seems it lose connection with it (the error message after reset). I've got many problem with w5100 shield and sdcard conflict so at the moment i'm not using it.

I've also a suggestion for other users having problem with sd card, the sd card i use (a 2gb transcend) wasn't recognized by ferduino until i formatted it with Sd Formatter tool: Sd Formatter hope this can be useful.

Bye
R.

[Fernando Garcia]

Hi!

Welcome Ruggero!

Wich power supply (voltage/current) are you using for Arduino?

Regarding the conflict on Ethernet shield, have you removed the pins on TFT shield as explained here?

You did the bridge as explained here?

Best regards.

[Ruggero Sorgi]

Fernando Garcia » Yesterday 6:08 pm wrote:

Hi!

Welcome Ruggero!

Wich power supply (voltage/current) are you using for Arduino?

Regarding the conflict on Ethernet shield, have you removed the pins on TFT shield as explained here?

You did the bridge as explained here?

Best regards.

Hi
I use a 9v 1670mA stabilized power supply.

I've tried, but i was a little bit confused, and during some try with the bridge i broke the r16 (i've replaced with one same value but smaller in dimension, maybe this that cause the problem?), is there a way to connect the eth. shield remotely? which pin should i connect?

Thank you!

[Fernando Garcia]

I think better keep the ethernet shield over the Arduino.

Check this topic to see how to make the bridge.

Before of the controller freeze the RTC works fine?

Try replace this SD card.

[Ruggero Sorgi]

Hi,
About the rtc: the first time i had run it the rtc had some problem, wrong date and time with XXX or strange numbers, then the right date and time for some second and again wrong... no way to set and keep it from ferduino , so i put the exemple code to set date and hrs and it worked.

[Ruggero Sorgi]

Hi Fernando, a little update: i've disabled all other function (timers, dusing pumps, etc) excluding led dimming, water temperature and water level sensor and it works without freezing, at least untill now.

[Fernando Garcia]

Hi!

You had the variable "dosadoras = true" without have dosing pumps installed and calibrated?

Best regards.

[Ruggero Sorgi]

Fernando Garcia » Today 2:12 pm wrote:

Hi!

You had the variable "dosadoras = true" without have dosing pumps installed and calibrated?

Best regards.

No, it's false

[Jamie Brown]

Hello, are you still having this problem?

Which arduino are you using, ferduino or standard format mega?

And is it genuine or clone?

Also, what is your controller doing each day, you say it is controlling tank level, is it switching any relays on and off?

If it is switching relays on and off, tell me, is it switching pumps, and are they solidstate relays or magnetic type with a "clicking" sound.

If you have magnetic relays and you are switching inductive loads like a pump for water, if you have the relays or mains 110v/220v/240v cables near to serial and i2c bus, you can cause a crash or corruptions from counter EMF and also RF fields created by the relays.

First, to tell, you need to have your ferduino in a good state.

Sit and wait for relays to come on, perhaps set an alarm clock 5 minutes before the relay switches on, or create a false circumstance where the relay clicks on and off.

See if this corrupts the ferduino software.

You can do a few things if this is the case, firstly you should tidy up all of your wiring, and separate all mains voltage wiring and connectors away from the arduino board, the rtc board, and any other logic/low voltage wiring.

Secondly, you can isolate your relay board, you are probably sending +5v and GND to the relay board from the arduino, this is not good as the relays coil power is not isolated from the arduino and this can be the source of counter EMF into the arduino.

You will see there is a VCC jumper on the relay board, you should remove this, and connect 5v to the pin closest to the relay from a separate power supply. 5-7v should work.

I have had this problem with one arduino project on a chinese mega, but never had any issues on a genuine uno.

These problems can be hard to fix if it is related to the relay.

One of my projects I resorted to wiring a digital pin to the reset pin and having it reset itself shortly after any relay function, whether it caused a crash or not.

Float switches ticking on and off rapidly because of turbulence and surface motion of the water is a huge issue here also. Surface stability around a float switch can sometimes help..

[Ruggero Sorgi]

Hi Jamie, sorry for delay in the answer, thanks for your reply! So, i didn't use relay board at the moment, the arduino board is chinese one (sainsmart mega 2560 r3). The only things it control are: led dimming, water temperature, and two float switchs BUT without a pump for ATO, i didn't had time to do it anyway i bought two 4 channel fet switch like this:

to control all DC devices (fan, pumps, etc) with a separate dc power supply.

Now i've got another issue... 2 days ago date and time failed and i can't restore it.. date is like xxxx/xxxx/xxxx time is 27:85:85
It happens without any reason.. maybe the rtc battery? (it has only few month) now i try to upload again ferduino code.

[Fernando Garcia]

Hi!

This problem can be low voltage on 5V circuit, bad battery or conflict with other I2C device.

Are you using a PCF8575?

Best regards.