Friday, April 8, 2016

I Guess I'm not Really Annoyed at the Raspberry Pi

But, I just spent three days recovering another one. Almost exactly a month later than the last failure of one of my Pi's, the one serving as a house controller lost the SD card as well. Not terribly surprising, since I replaced the card at roughly the same time as the one that failed last month, but man it's annoying not being able to update the device without getting the latest OS (Jessie).

My whining last month (link) was because there was no way to do the update, upgrade cycle without Jessie being installed. This time I expected that, but I didn't expect them to have changed the way the USB handled USB serial devices. Took a few hours of poking around to figure that out, and of course, it was relatively simple to take care of.

In the interim, my Pi 3B came in and I got it running. That little thing is a whole lot faster than the preceding generations. It almost runs like a laptop. Boot up into the Xwindows system is pretty quick and it works exactly as expected. I didn't experiment with the blue tooth and wireless yet, but they seem to work just fine; the wifi connected to the house on the first try. I don't like wifi for controlling things around the house; the reliability just isn't good enough, but it's nice to have available. Blue tooth is a waste for my purposes, but it makes the boards sell better, so who am I to complain.

I didn't install it as my house controller because that would limit how I got to play with the new board, so my house is still running on a version 1B Pi. I hate the form factor of that board though, so I'll definitely be upgrading it to the Pi 3B to get the better form factor. Especially since I've already gone through the pain of upgrading my software to Jessie.

Lessons were learned. It was really inconvenient having to turn the darn lights off myself. My bedroom was dark when I went to bed; I actually had to turn on the overhead lights all by myself. I'd forgotten how to run the control panel on my pool and had to hunt down the manual for a couple of things. I couldn't check the garage doors from my phone and actually had to drive home once to be sure it was closed (it wasn't). Stupid water heater wanted to run during peak period.

The only thing that didn't drive me nuts was the house thermostats; they're mostly autonomous, so they took care of themselves.

Obviously, I depend too much on a single device. I guess I'll split functions to different devices and do things like have a default configuration for the water heater that always shuts down the electric element during peak periods. The pool will have a dedicated device that makes sure it doesn't run during peak periods. This will be easy since each piece has it's own code that has been made independent of what machine it runs on; I've just been complacent about setting up such a system.

Yes, it will mean more little machines that will have to be backed up somehow so that failures aren't hard to fix. There will also be problems with the stupid power supplies failing. Most of my power supplies have failed at least once; the manufacturers just don't understand that we need a good supply for these things at a reasonable cost.

Speaking of Pi power supplies. I just got a couple of these from Gizmo Junkies.
It's a real power supply that was actually designed to power one of these little computers. It actually supplies 5.3V and can slam out well over an amp of power without getting hot. I haven't pushed it to the limits to see what happens, but they do things like supply a REAL usb power cable so you don't get a huge voltage drop over the cable. I got mine on Amazon (prime shipping), but they're cheaper on the Gizmo Junkies site. I might just save up some money and get a few of these to scatter around the house. They only take up one plug on a power strip and you can change the cable and power Arduinos off of them as well.

Sorry about the randomness of this posting, but I'm still a bit frazzled from trying to remember all the packages I had installed on the Pi to make it work.

I think I'll rebuild a tractor hydraulic cylinder or fix the fuel system on my gas string weeder (again) to recover.

27 comments:

  1. Have you tried using a USB power bank as a cheapo UPS for your RasPi? I have killed mine a few times over the last couple years by forgetting to shutdown before pulling power, or due to the (thankfully rare) power failure. Since then I have added a bunch of USB power banks to most of my USB-powered sensors and all my RasPis. It seems to help, although you have to be careful to get ones that charge the device AND themselves at the same time. I got one recently that will only charge when it is not charging... Which is not as useful.

    There are more "advanced" methods and options out there... but the power banks are so cheap I just have not bothered. Although I was running a couple of my RasPi2s "paired" where one did all the work and the other was just acting as a backup for one of the projects I was using them for.

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    1. I went a step further and got a UPS to power a bank of little devices. It works good, but as you pointed out, it was a relatively expensive way to go. So, I'm rethinking it and looking at exactly what you did and use the UPS on my NAS to to make it a little safer.

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  2. Have you thought about making an image backup after you get set up periodically so you don't have to do the whole reinstall process? It is pretty easy to do. I have one for various Pi's I have and at least if a card goes, I have a somewhat recent backup. Of course, it means taking the system down for 10-30 minutes but seems like relatively simple insurance for later on.

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    1. I sure have. And for both of my recent failures I had an image backup of the system that I would only have to add items to. That seemingly wonderfully secure technique screwed me over because the Pi folk made the update-upgrade process completely replace the operating system with a new and sort of incompatible version.

      So, if you're running on Wheezy and you update it to get the latest version of some package ... you may well find out that lots of stuff doesn't work any more.

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  3. Barf. I guess I haven't done much on my Pi's for a bit and didn't realize they changed from Wheezy to Jessie. Hmmmmm...glad I didn't update anything this weekend like I almost considered doing.
    Yeah, you're going through a lot of fun it seems then! Yuck.

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  4. I too have had issues with the SD cards not being up to the high read/write cycles some of these apps produce. WD is running a sale on their 314GB hard drives for the Pi, for the price of $31.42. I've picked one up, and expect it to last much longer than the SD card.

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    1. I'm totally certain that it will last a really long time. As I understand it though, you still have to boot from the SD card and then switch over to the HD much like I did when I tried out a USB dongle for the same purpose. The stupid USB dongle (and I bought a good one) didn't last as long as an SD card.

      I'm a little leery of that much storage on a Pi. My intent is to make them little machines that do dedicated tasks and having that much storage is too much of a temptation to go nuts.

      That doesn't stop me from being jealous though.

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    2. yeah, it does boot off of the SD card, so it is still required. I picked up the WD blessed USB power/data cable, so I'm hoping it will be as problem free as possible. I also installed ZoneMinder to get IP streams from a couple of Samsung cameras, so the extra space there will help as well.

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    3. Actually, who cares how big it is as long as it's big enough. The extra space is just gravy and I don't have to use it.

      Net, now I'm really jealous. Good idea, let me know how it goes after you get a little experience with it. Just using the SD card for booting, it should last forever.

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  5. I'll probably jinx myself - but I have two RPis at work, doing full duty cycle stuff, running machines. And they're on their first set of SD cards almost 24 months later!

    The cards are Samsung branded 8GB.

    Maybe I got lucky - but I think I'll be buying Samsung SD cards for my own RPis.

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    1. That makes me feel really good. I just bought Samsung cards for my Pi's. Maybe I'll have the same luck as you.

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  6. Dave, have you tried any of the newer S2C XBee modules or are you using the now end of life series 2 modules? Any thoughts on the programmable versions that have their own processor onboard?

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    1. I'm still using the series 2 or 2.5 modules. My feelings about the S2C modules is that they are really slick in that all the configurations can be held in one download, but it means a whole new set of things to learn how to use to get anything different done.

      I may look into them as controllers for ZigBee devices, since they (apparently) support ZigBee better, but for general use around the house, what I've got works really well.

      And let's face it, the ZigBee alliance just flat screwed up allowing the manufacturers to go their own way and produce devices that have to be controlled with secret commands. That opened the door completely for Zwave devices to take over the market.

      I'm sure we haven't seen the last of the evolution of home devices, and I'll just wait it out with my home system that works and has no involvement with a cloud server.

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    2. I just took another look at the S2C documentation and it's pretty extensive. I especially like that they allow much greater access to the various levels of messages that we couldn't get to before. So, it might be a nice device for a controller for a mixed system of various manufacturers devices.

      However, the current price is around $30 and that's too much for the kind of things I do. The programmable processor is compelling, but then I'd have to learn a new IDE and go through the trials of getting something running on it.

      I think I'll get one someday and do some experimenting, but for general use around the house monitoring things like temperature and such, it'll be the ones I've used for years.

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    3. Where do you see it for $30? I saw the S2C that wasn't programmable for $17.50 and the programmable one for about $20.50 on Digikey. If you call the order in and say you want to pay with a check and send it in, they'll pay for the shipping.

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    4. I went to the Digi web site and found their migration document and looked up the device I've been using and read across the page and found model XBP24CZ7WIT-004, then I copied and pasted that number into google and found it at digikey for 28.50. Mouser was exactly the same price.

      I use the XBee that has the little wire antenna on it because the chip antenna's range is too short, and the one with the connector for an external antenna is too expensive (antenna and all).

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    5. Then, after thinking about it a minute, I realized I looked up the high power version which is traditionally about 10 bucks more expensive. So, I went back just now and looked again and you're right. They cost about the same as always; less than $18.

      Well, we learn from out mistakes. Thanks for nudging me to take another look. Now, I'll have to get one and see if the ZigBee protocol is any easier with one of them.

      It' a good thing that they are totally compatible with the older versions, I have a bunch of those.

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  7. Huh, I guess I've been looking at different ones then. Are you only using Pro models with higher power? That might be why I haven't seen the higher cost.

    http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/digi-international/XB24CZ7WITB003/602-1858-ND/5322880

    http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/digi-international/XB24CZ7WIT-004/602-1560-ND/5322374

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    1. Look up the page; I was a bit of an idiot.

      But, let's get back to the idea of a built in processor. It's a cool idea, but I'm not in love with it. Mostly because I can build software pretty easily to run an XBee hooked to a Pi or Arduino and really don't want to learn a whole new environment just to avoid the cost of a little processor.

      I can get Arduinos for less than 5 bucks (see my temperature sensor) and when the Pi Zero finally becomes available to folk like us, there's a whole Linux system to support whatever we want to do.

      Can you imagine a Linux based wall switch with a mesh network supporting it for communication around the house. One that isn't at the mercy of some web site that wants to catalog our usage to target marketing?

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  8. We must have posted at the same time!

    Yeah, I agree that another processor to learn is a bit much for me given all I've got going on so the processor less version is what I'll likely go for. I still need to get up and running first.

    Any thoughts on Fauldi's book on XBee networking with the series 2 stuff? That was going to be my jump in point but maybe there are better things out there now...

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    1. Whoops. It should be Faludi's book.

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    2. Whoops. It should be Faludi's book.

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    3. I got Faludi's book when I first started using them and got tired of the tutorials online that didn't work. It was literally perfect for me. At least the first chapters and the indexes and stuff. He wanders off into implemntations that are way to complex for beginners and I never even read that stuff.

      It did get me started by clear examples of how to hook the darn thing up and some setup tips that overcame some of my early problems.

      You can do without it by reading all my posts on the XBees, but that will take you a while since I assumed too many things of my readers. Look for a discounted copy somewhere and go for it.

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    4. Excellent. Just been busy with the kids and haven't gotten around to cracking the book open yet us the main issue. I'll have to get going on it now.

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    5. Excellent. Just been busy with the kids and haven't gotten around to cracking the book open yet us the main issue. I'll have to get going on it now.

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  9. Keep an eye out for one of these!
    http://www.amazon.com/APC-Back-UPS-Connect-BGE90M-Charging/dp/B00NTQYUA8
    APC Back-UPS Connect BGE90M

    They dump down to $20 a few times a year (sold by Amazon, not a 3rd party seller). Big ol' battery and several amps of stable power.

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