Hi there,
I’m hoping someone can help.
Having ignored my Airnote for some time and just let it do its thing, yesterday I tried to view the dashboard and it’s saying the Airnote hasn’t transmitted any data in the last seven days (I suspect more than that, but I don’t know how long ago the last transmission was).
Things that are working:
The display is functional - but it is stuck reporting a figure of 29.0. This has perpetuated even after switching the device off and on (twice) and changing the settings to ask it to display the temperature instead of PM2.5.
It is charging and it has sufficient charge to function.
Things I have tried:
I removed the vent and secured the inner bits (one part had come a bit loose, I pushed it back into place and there are no other visible problems).
I’ve turned it off and on a couple of times. It goes through the startup sequence, I get a flashing plus sign, but it stabilises at 29.0 and it’s still not transmitting data to the dashboard.
I’m out of ideas now! Anyone else got any bright suggestions?
Thanks!
Jess
Jess,
Sorry to hear of your issues. A few questions:
- Do you have a picture of the part that came loose? Or can you describe it a bit more in details?
- You have a URL of the airnote dashboard or a deviceUID (all airnotes has a device number)?
Regards,
Rob Oudendijk
P.S. Love your thesis (reading it now).
Hi Rob,
Thanks for your reply - and how on earth did you come by my thesis?!
The dashboard is at Airnote Device Configuration
The silver box is the part that was a bit loose - still connected to the plug but the pins were showing a bit so I made it more secure (and today when I took the picture unplugged and re plugged it completely). I’ve sent it through the startup procedure again for good measure but it continues to stubbornly show me 29.0. I also noticed the other plug in the top left hand corner of the photo was showing a bit of its pins so I secured that too - everything else seemed ok.
Happy to receive any wisdom you may have!
Jess
Jesse,
I did consider your way you used language intriguing, and I searched on the internet a bit. Found your thesis at https://t.ly/bxMKC. Loved the title!
Thanks for troubleshooting and taking pictures.
From the picture it looks like the battery is a bit swollen, but since it seems to hold charge maybe fine. Yes, the silver box (PM sensor) a bit loose, that can happen.
I think your deviceUID is dev:864475044213832, based on the data I can find, that has 29.0 as PM2.5 readings. More data is on Grafana. Is that correct? Address registered is Oakdale Rd, London SE15 3BW, UK, London?
Regards,
Rob Oudendijk
Oh cool - well, I’m glad it intrigued you!
The Id number you gave matches the one on my dashboard so yes that looks correct - address is close enough. Neither of the links you posted will open in my browser though.
Jesse,
Happy, we are talking about the same device. Seems it only worked a short time.
This is the full URL https://grafana.safecast.cc/d/DFSxrOLWk/safecast-device-details?orgId=1&from=1664195282143&to=1664543041810&var-device_urn=note:dev:864475044213832. Does that URL work?
The dashboard for airnote.live maybe does not show data because it, as far as I know, only shows the last month. On the logs I have access to, I can see the battery has always been low:
6 months ago: warning: voltage is low (3.46V)
7 months ago: boot (rtos watchdog [12606] [4.03V] [I:2=T] G:P:W~ M:P:W900 U:W~ R:P:W~ S:W300 T:W~ I:W~)
9 months ago: boot (brown-out & hard reset [12606] [2.24V] G:P:W~ M:P:W900 U:W~ R:P:W~ S:Pa:A1 T:W~ I:W~)
9 months ago: warning: voltage is low (3.44V)
9 months ago: boot (brown-out & hard reset [12606] [2.83V] G:P:W~ M:P:W0 U:W0 R:P:W~ S:Ps:NSon1 T I:W~)
9 months ago: warning: voltage is dead (3.14V)
9 months ago: warning: voltage is low (3.50V)
9 months ago: boot (brown-out & hard reset [12606])
From the logs, I could also see it never did properly charge till full. Does the unit get enough direct sunlight?
Could you hook it up to a UBS cable, switch it on and let it charge overnight and ?
Rereads,
Rob
Rob
Hi Rob,
Hmm, how strange. Is that few days of data the only recorded in its whole history? When I first installed it I was checking readings pretty often and definitely over a longer time period than that.
It’s puzzling that it didn’t charge fully as it was installed on a south-facing window - obviously winter in the UK isn’t the sunniest but I placed it in the location that gets as much sun as we have.
I’ll try charging it up today as you suggest - when I checked it the other day it showed me a figure above 4 so I assumed it was fine… but then it’s also showing me 29.0 for PM2.5 so I guess it can’t be trusted!
Thanks,
Jess
Jesse,
Thanks for the reply. I am puzzled, too. On both the blues and safecast data places, the last recordings are 6 months ago.
I am starting to get the feeling that the battery is bad(also does not seem to charge enough when there is enough solar) and that could explain why the notecard (communication module) can not contact the server. Not sure yet.
Two questions:
- Now the unit is plugged in and on?
- Can you record the boot up sequence from the display and share the video?
Regards,
rob
I think your theory is correct - now it’s been charging for a few hours it’s working again. The dashboard is showing data and the screen is giving me the temperature instead of a consistent 29.0.
How do I go about replacing the battery?
Hi Jesse,
Happy to see the data coming in again.
For replacing the battery, the main board needs to be taken out. You think you can unscrew the boards and replace the battery yourself (be careful with the flat cable connection between the two boards)?
Regards,
Rob Oudendijk
I reckon I can probably do it if I know what kind of replacement battery to get 
Hi, Jesse
It needs a 3.7V 2000mA(or more). Check the polarity of the connector from the plug to be sure it is the same as the old LiPo. Something like this, https://t.ly/0ve3, will do.
Regards,
Rob
Jesse,
Slowly, your battery is depleting. I will keep tracking in case it does come to a critical level. I hope you can get another LiPo battery. Grafana
Warm regards,
Rob Oudendijk
Thanks Rob. I’m about to go away for a few weeks so will probably have to tend to this on my return. Do you think it’s definitely that the battery is faulty rather than that the solar charging is not functioning optimally?
Jesse,
Not definitely, it could also be a bad solar panel. If that is the case, after we checked if the battery is the issue, I will ask Blues to arrange a new solar panel or maybe a replacement of the whole airnote.
Regards,
Rob
Hi Rob,
Sorry for the long delay!
I’m back from my travels and I purchased a new battery, which I installed on Saturday. I then charged it fully by USB and started it up. It ran through the boot sequence and is alive, showing the temperature in fahrenheit. However, it’s not sending readings and I’m puzzled as to why because before resolving the battery charge issue prompted it to start transmitting again… any bright ideas? The fact I can’t see the dashboard means I also can’t tell whether it’s charging or continuing to steadily lose power.
Thanks, and hope you’re having a good summer!
Jess
Jess,
I hope you had a good vacation. Summer is nice here in the mountains. Not too hot.
What I can see on Blues dashboard, that it did get connected one time a bout two days ago…
I will look in more detail later.
Warm regards,
Rob Oudendijk
Jess,
Could you check if the sensor is correctly mounted?
Regards,
Rob Oudendijk
Jesse,
From your dashboard at Blues.
https://airnote.live/dev:864475044213832/dashboard
No data seems to be there too.
Regards,
rob
Do you mean the sensor inside the device, or the device itself? Everything internally should be as it was, though there are now two batteries in there (only the new one is connected) as I couldn’t get the old one unstuck.
