Sonoff WiFi espEasy is dead

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sups
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Joined: 17 Oct 2017, 14:54

Sonoff WiFi espEasy is dead

#1 Post by sups » 23 Dec 2017, 13:51

Hello all,
I have 2 Sonoff WiFi modules with Esp easy wired into 2 bed side lamps.... Everything was working perfectly until 2 days ago when my wife said she noticed a very brief (around a couple of seconds) power cut or power disterbance. All my appliances are working fine but when I tried to turn on my lamps nothing happened. I just connected one of them up via a serial interface and I can't even open a connection - I actually think it's dead.
With both modules failing on me.. I'm not sure what to do apart from swapping them out for new ones. But am I expected to do this every time there is an power blip.
I can't even understand how it's happend.. the lamp is fitted with a 3 amp fuse in the plug And the Sonoff are rated at 10amps...
So to kill the modules I would have needed a power surge to send through more than 10amps... Which would have been protected by the 3amp fuse in the plug..
Oh.. I've checked the fuse... And that is fine.


Any thoughts?

I was hoping to put a couple of these into the celling rose but with these symptoms.... I've lost a bit of confidence in them.

Sups

Shardan
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Posts: 1156
Joined: 03 Sep 2016, 23:27
Location: Bielefeld / Germany

Re: Sonoff WiFi espEasy is dead

#2 Post by Shardan » 23 Dec 2017, 16:24

Fuses are nice - to protect from overcurrent and fire.

If there was a voltage peak commming with the outage this might have killed parts inside the Sonoffs.
This happens if a heavy machine/motor is starting or shutting down or if a lightning hits the mains grid
somewhere around (can be several miles/kilometers away). As both Sonoffs are blown i suppose an
overvoltage peak is the most likely reason. A fuse does not protect against this.

it's not easy to check a Sonoff as it has mains voltage inside.
You may dismount one and give 3.3V from an external power supply.
Check if it runs with that. If so, the internal power supply is blown.

If not try if reflashing is possible as the outage might have hit the program inside the flash rom.

I've some Sonoff basic running without problems up to now.

Regards
Shardan
Regards
Shardan

sups
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Posts: 13
Joined: 17 Oct 2017, 14:54

Re: Sonoff WiFi espEasy is dead

#3 Post by sups » 24 Dec 2017, 17:50

Oh my....
I plugged in serial and checked the output on putty.. I got nothing... Then just as I was going to try and reflash one of the units when it struck me..
I have an external toggle switch with a wire soldered to the push button on the unit.. so if the toggle was in the on position and the unit was power cycled (like a power cut) the the unit would enter programming mode and hence cease to respond.. that's exactly what happend.. I toggled the switch.. and rebooted the unit voila... All working again..
Phew.. confidence is back....

Shardan
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Posts: 1156
Joined: 03 Sep 2016, 23:27
Location: Bielefeld / Germany

Re: Sonoff WiFi espEasy is dead

#4 Post by Shardan » 24 Dec 2017, 18:12

Well, shit happens always and everywhere. :oops:

Merry Christmas

Shardan
Regards
Shardan

HoekNL
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Joined: 19 Nov 2017, 11:12
Location: Almere,Netherlands

Re: Sonoff WiFi espEasy is dead

#5 Post by HoekNL » 05 Jan 2018, 06:01

Good thing you found it.

I've had a Sononff TH10 in working order, but after moving it to a different room, where it wasn't switching anything, just registering temp, it worked for one day but the next, nothing, dead as a doornail.
Tried hooking it up to 3.3v and it seemed fine, could even reflash, but when i put 220v on it, again, nothing. Seemed the logic wasnt getting power but could find nothing wrong with the board, like burned parts or broken leads. Weird but it happens.

NDR008
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Posts: 35
Joined: 15 Jan 2018, 09:24

Re: Sonoff WiFi espEasy is dead

#6 Post by NDR008 » 16 Jan 2018, 12:01

So the voltage regulator part of the circuit is fried?

jackwan1
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Joined: 11 Apr 2017, 05:42

Re: Sonoff WiFi espEasy is dead

#7 Post by jackwan1 » 22 Jan 2018, 04:32

I found the same with one of my sonoff basic. My electricity had a brief abnormal cutoff and one of the 4 sonoffs went dead. However, when I supply it with 3.3v using FTDI, the esp8266 is still working, it is the high voltage side that is fried.

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