Insufficient current message

Troubleshooting
1

Hello -

I’m working with a NB-GL 500 and a custom PCB (solar+battery). We have hit this issue a couple of times and wondering if anyone else might have had the same issue.

My device starts up with low battery and no solar → causing insufficient current message to pop up when the device starts up. It goes into the penalty box per this post in the docs -Understanding Notecard Penalty Boxes - Blues Developers

Here’s where I get lost → I power off my device and power it back on → the notecard still indicates the insufficient current + penalty box message. Plug it out and back in, same behavior.

I pull out my notecard and swap it with another one → it connects to the network just fine.
Within seconds, swap out the notecard and put back the original, the insufficient message and penalty box messages are gone and it operates fine.

Any insight or ideas on how to debug this?

Thanks!

2

Hi @maya,

There are a lot of variables involved here, so it’s a bit tricky to debug. Are you swapping in/out the exact same Notecard (NBGL) or a different one? What type of battery are you using and what’s the voltage reported?

Rob

3

I agree about the variables.

I’m using a LiFePo4 battery. I only have NBGL 500 devices. Swapping the same notecard but used on our other board. I only did the swap because it was in the penalty box and didn’t have access to rebuild the firmware to get it out of the penalty box.

As for the voltage - since this is reproducible but takes time, i’ll have to capture it. Nothing stood out in terms of the voltage when i looked at the data.

The behavior that I don’t expect is that swapping the notecard out with another and then putting it back in clears the error. That’s very arbitrary but reproducible.

4

Hi @maya,

I agree that swapping Notecards shouldn’t clear any errors :slight_smile:. I forgot to also ask what version of the Notecard firmware you have on both Notecards?

FYI you can issue {"req":"hub.sync", "allow": true} to manually exit a penalty box as well, if that’s an option.

Thanks,
Rob

5

I’ve seen this with
2.3.1.2014013
and
6.1.1.16332

I had created the temporary firmware with the request with the added “allow”:true, but we can’t rely on that in the field (as it might get us in trouble, maybe?).

I’ll continue to debug this strange behavior - at least it is 100% reproducible.

Here’s some output from our logs after reproducing it in the lab - which also cover the notecard data - it’s not necessarily the same thing as what i’m seeing in the field testing - because in this case, i’m controlling the current/V pretty low manually.

16:15:11.868 → *************************************
16:15:11.868 → Notecard data collection:
16:15:11.868 → {“req”:“card.temp”,“crc”:“014A:CE0D7EDD”}
16:15:11.917 → {“value”:32.5,“calibration”:-1.0}
16:15:11.917 → {“req”:“card.voltage”,“crc”:“014B:D020FD9E”}
16:15:12.059 → {“minutes”:4,“hours”:583,“mode”:“normal”,“value”:3.4014205526379667,“vmin”:3.3799999999999993,“vmax”:4.86,“vavg”:3.437307032590051}
16:15:12.059 → {“req”:“card.location”,“crc”:“014C:F0AE3444”}
16:15:12.155 → {“status”:“GPS inactive {gps-inactive}”,“mode”:“continuous”}
16:15:12.155 → {“req”:“card.wireless”,“crc”:“014D:3CE09784”}
16:15:12.250 → {“status”:“{modem-off}”,“net”:{}}
16:15:12.250 → {“req”:“card.time”,“crc”:“014E:1110F247”}
16:15:12.298 → {“zone”:“UTC,Unknown”,“time”:1707513307}
16:15:12.298 → {“req”:“hub.sync.status”,“crc”:“014F:7764DDC2”}
16:15:12.488 → {“alert”:true,“status”:“modem: insufficient battery current available for power-on (358 min remaining in safety delay) {modem-power-failure}{network}{extended-network-failure}”,“time”:1707513246,“sync”:true,“completed”:61}
16:15:12.488 → Completed Hub sync status successful.
16:15:12.488 → Checking schedule
16:15:12.488 → Checking energy level
16:15:12.488 → Battery Low: Battery Volt 7.81 < Battery LOW threshold 11.90
16:15:12.488 → Battery Low → Setting target FAN RPM to 0.00
16:15:12.488 → Telemetry button pressed
16:15:12.488 → {“req”:“hub.sync”,“allow”:true,“crc”:“0150:A5D8ED68”}
16:15:12.536 → {}
16:15:12.536 → Received Response from hub.sync
16:15:15.557 → ********************** Completed loop() **********************
16:15:15.557 → ********************** Entering loop() **********************
16:15:15.557 → ********************** Running test **********************
16:15:15.557 → Battery Voltage below minimum threshold, failed test
16:15:15.557 → {“req”:“card.temp”,“crc”:“0151:CE0D7EDD”}
16:15:15.651 → {“value”:32.5,“calibration”:-1.0}
16:15:15.651 → Tests passing?: 0
16:15:15.651 → ********************** Completed test **********************
16:15:15.651 → Green LED off
6:15:15.651 → Blue LED on
16:15:15.746 → *************************************
16:15:15.746 → Printing environment variables:
16:15:15.746 → Collection Schedule Set (env): 0
16:15:15.746 → Disable Collection Hour Start (env): 23
16:15:15.746 → Disable Collection Hour Stop (env): 0
16:15:15.746 → Batt High Threshold (env): 12.05
16:15:15.746 → Batt Low Threshold (env): 11.90
16:15:15.746 → Batt Conserve High Threshold (env): 13.00
16:15:15.746 → Batt Conserve Low Threshold (env): 12.85
16:15:15.746 → Fan Target speed (env): 3300.00
16:15:15.746 → Virtual Fan Setting (env): 0.00
16:15:15.746 → Sensor Read Interval (env): 600000.00
16:15:15.746 → Data Upload Interval (env): 3600000.00
16:15:15.746 → Start Conserve Hour (env): 13
16:15:15.746 → Stop Conserve Hour (env): 5
16:15:15.746 → Start Conserve Minute (env): 15
16:15:15.746 → *************************************
16:15:15.746 → Printing Status:
16:15:15.790 → Startup Test Result: 0
16:15:15.790 → Sync In Progress: 1
16:15:15.790 → Collection Disabled: 0
16:15:15.790 → Compass Heading: 351.00
16:15:15.790 → Tilt Angle: 90.00
16:15:15.790 → Fan RPM: 0
16:15:15.790 → Batt Watts: -0.46
16:15:15.790 → Batt Volt: 7.80
16:15:15.790 → Batt Current: 0.00
16:15:15.790 → Solar Watts: 155.51
16:15:15.790 → Solar Volt: 6.05
16:15:15.790 → Solar Current: 0.00
16:15:15.790 → Load Watts: 155.96
16:15:15.790 → Load Volt: 7.80
16:15:15.790 → Load Current: 20.00
16:15:15.790 → Temperature: 29.56
16:15:15.790 → Humidity: 22.00
16:15:15.790 → Leaf Wetness: 100.00
16:15:15.790 → Fan Rotations: 0
16:15:15.790 → *************************************
16:15:15.790 → Notecard data collection:
16:15:15.790 → {“req”:“card.temp”,“crc”:“0152:CE0D7EDD”}
16:15:15.837 → {“value”:32.5,“calibration”:-1.0}
16:15:15.837 → {“req”:“card.voltage”,“crc”:“0153:D020FD9E”}
16:15:15.978 → {“minutes”:4,“hours”:583,“mode”:“normal”,“value”:3.4016459640746616,“vmin”:3.3799999999999993,“vmax”:4.86,“vavg”:3.437307032590051}
16:15:15.978 → {“req”:“card.location”,“crc”:“0154:F0AE3444”}
16:15:16.058 → {“status”:“GPS inactive {gps-inactive}”,“mode”:“continuous”}
16:15:16.058 → {“req”:“card.wireless”,“crc”:“0155:3CE09784”}
16:15:16.150 → {“status”:“{modem-off}”,“net”:{}}
16:15:16.150 → {“req”:“card.time”,“crc”:“0156:1110F247”}
16:15:16.244 → {“zone”:“UTC,Unknown”,“time”:1707513311}
16:15:16.244 → {“req”:“hub.sync.status”,“crc”:“0157:7764DDC2”}
16:15:16.383 → {“alert”:true,“status”:“modem: insufficient battery current available for power-on (357 min remaining in safety delay) {modem-power-failure}{network}{extended-network-failure}”,“time”:1707513308,“sync”:true,“completed”:3}
16:15:16.383 → Completed Hub sync status successful.
16:15:16.383 → Checking schedule
16:15:16.383 → Checking energy level
16:15:16.383 → Battery Low: Battery Volt 7.80 < Battery LOW threshold 11.90
16:15:16.383 → Battery Low → Setting target FAN RPM to 0.00
16:15:17.413 → Blue LED off
16:15:19.377 → ********************** Completed loop() **********************

If you spot anything - I’d appreciate the insight!