Error while trying to access modem

Troubleshooting
1

I am integrating the blues modem now into my bigger project.

It runs for a few minutes and then generates the following error:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/home/pi/.local/lib/python3.7/site-packages/periphery/i2c.py", line 135, in transfer
fcntl.ioctl(self._fd, I2C._I2C_IOC_RDWR, i2c_xfer, False)
OSError: [Errno 121] Remote I/O error

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/home/pi/python/20210416/dispatcher3.py", line 468, in fifteen_sec_updates
rsp = card.Transaction(req)
  File "/home/pi/.local/lib/python3.7/site-packages/notecard/notecard.py", line 289, in Transaction
self.i2c.transfer(self.addr, msgs)
  File "/home/pi/.local/lib/python3.7/site-packages/periphery/i2c.py", line 137, in transfer
raise I2CError(e.errno, "I2C transfer: " + e.strerror)
periphery.i2c.I2CError: [Errno 121] I2C transfer: Remote I/O error

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/home/pi/python/20210416/dispatcher3.py", line 519, in <module>
fifteen_sec_updates()
  File "/home/pi/python/20210416/dispatcher3.py", line 474, in fifteen_sec_updates
print(rsp)
UnboundLocalError: local variable 'rsp' referenced before assignment

The error is triggered from:

try:

    req = {"req" :"note.add"}
    req["file"] = "vstdata.qo"
    req["sync"] = True
    req["body"] = to_modem
    
    rsp = card.Transaction(req)
    
except:    

    print('No response from modem.  Will keep trying...')

    print(rsp)

The modem is setup with this:

from periphery import I2C
import notecard

productUID = "com.xxxxx.yyyyyyy:zzzzzzz"

port = I2C("/dev/i2c-1")
card = notecard.OpenI2C(port,0,0)

req = {"req": "hub.set"}
req["product"] = productUID
req["mode"] = "continuous"
req["sync"] = True
req["outbound"] = 15

rsp = card.Transaction(req)

Which does work and gives me no errors. I had gone back and forth a couple of weeks ago with @RobLauer who was very helpful in getting the modem setup.

I think I am losing connection and then the internal note buffer is getting filled up. My questions are:

  1. how can I check for this?
  2. how can I possibly delete notes that are queued up (If this is the cause)?
  3. how can I check if the modem is not connected and possibly trap this error so that I can buffer the items and resend later when the modem is online?

Thanks,

Todd

2

Do you know (approximately) the size of the notes being generated?

You can always delete note files with the file.delete API.

3

What I am sending to the modem looks like:

{“c”:10013,“f”:145,“id”:“CP2X-TEST”,“m”:0,“p”:-0.07}

i’m sending this every 15 seconds. I assume the modem is going offline at somepoint and the notes are accumulating. What I would really like is to trap the going off line and then start buffering the data externally so that I can resend it later.

4

Hey @vstadmin, if you are sending Notes that frequently, I suggest using Templates to maximize the number of Notes that you can capture between syncs. Without using a template, the Notecard will reject Notes after it has 100 pending sync.

5

I will look through the Templates. Any idea on how to stop the program from crashing other than the try / except clauses I already have in place?

6

as a continuation, I think I am having some kind of I2C conflict.

The modem requires:

port = I2C("/dev/i2c-1")
card = notecard.OpenI2C(port,0,0)

and I am using the MCP23017 module with Adafruits drivers that use:

from adafruit_mcp230xx.mcp23017 import MCP23017
i2c = busio.I2C(board.SCL, board.SDA)

mcp = MCP23017(i2c)

I fear I have a conflict somewhere and I’m not good enough to discover where or how to correct it.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!

7

The default Notecard I2C address is 0x17 and you can change that with the card.io API.

It looks like the MCP23017 module uses other I2C addresses though, so I would guess that you don’t have a conflict.

8

Argh, I was wrong - you actually have two I2C objects using the same bus (port and i2c). You might be able to just pass the port object instead, like: mcp = MCP23017(port)

9

@RobLauer Thank you. I will try that.

10

Unfortunately,

mcp = MCP23017(i2c)

# Setup Pins for Relays

pin0 = mcp.get_pin(0)
pin1 = mcp.get_pin(1)
pin2 = mcp.get_pin(2)
pin3 = mcp.get_pin(3)
pin0.direction = Direction.OUTPUT
pin1.direction = Direction.OUTPUT
pin2.direction = Direction.OUTPUT
pin3.direction = Direction.OUTPUT

does not work. I get:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "dispatcher3.py", line 69, in <module>
    mcp = MCP23017(port)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.7/dist-packages/adafruit_mcp230xx/mcp23017.py", line 49, in __init__
    super().__init__(i2c, address)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.7/dist-packages/adafruit_mcp230xx/mcp230xx.py", line 31, in __init__
    self._device = i2c_device.I2CDevice(i2c, address)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.7/dist-packages/adafruit_bus_device/i2c_device.py", line 50, in __init__
    self.__probe_for_device()
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.7/dist-packages/adafruit_bus_device/i2c_device.py", line 151, in __probe_for_device
    while not self.i2c.try_lock():
AttributeError: 'I2C' object has no attribute 'try_lock'
11

Just want to confirm you’re only using one object, as I see mcp = MCP23017(i2c) and mcp = MCP23017(port) above.

12

Yes,

Its actually:

port = I2C(“/dev/i2c-1”)
card = notecard.OpenI2C(port,0,0)

req = {"req": "hub.set"}
req["product"] = productUID
req["mode"] = "continuous"
req["sync"] = True
req["outbound"] = 15

rsp = card.Transaction(req)

### End of modem setup

mcp = MCP23017(port)

# Setup Pins for Relays

pin0 = mcp.get_pin(0)
pin1 = mcp.get_pin(1)
pin2 = mcp.get_pin(2)
pin3 = mcp.get_pin(3)
pin0.direction = Direction.OUTPUT
pin1.direction = Direction.OUTPUT
pin2.direction = Direction.OUTPUT
pin3.direction = Direction.OUTPUT

It didnt copy / paste correctly before.

13

Can you try using the busio library implementation for both instead?

If that doesn’t work, we may need your full source to reproduce locally.

14

I did try that already. It was missing an attribute called “transfer”.

Should I drop the file in here or send it to support? Its about 10K

15

also, don’t laugh when you read it. I swear Im trying.

16

You can send a DM to me here, thanks.

17

Any ideas with the i2C conflict yet?