NodeMCU does not answer

[wonk]

Hi,
I'm a dummy concerning ESPEasy.
I flashed ESPEasy to a NodeMCU with an ESP8266. I'm sure, that I used the correct parameters, because it did work. Then I configured some parameters and a sensor with the web interface. Afterwards the NodeMCU ist no longer reachable. I flashed once again and tried again. It ist connected to the router, as shown in its configuration program. But I'm not able to get a successful ping. What can I do?
Gruss, wonk

[TD-er]

No idea what may have happened here.
What you always can do is write the "blank" bin file (of the right size, 4M for 4M flash, etc) and start over flashing the needed image.

Just curious; What sensor did you configure?

[wonk]

Hi,
sorry, how can I get or produce an empty file of defined size?

I used the NodeMCU intermediately with an Arduino-IDE. Does this matter?
When I changed back to ESPEasy-flash, I saw that my password was still present. Is there any other permanent memory beside the 4MB-flash?
Gruss, wonk

[TD-er]

The 'blank' bin files are included in the ZIP of the nightly builds.
They are also present in the repository: https://github.com/letscontrolit/ESPEas ... a/dist/bin
These files are very well compressable as they only contain hexadecimal 0xFF.

Apart from the flash, there is no extra storage.

[wonk]

Hi,
I now flashed first with the empty file and then with the "normal" file. But now the router shows, that the NodeMCU does not connect. It works and connects with an Arduino-Sketches.
Gruss, wonk

[TD-er]

After a blank flash, the settings are also gone.
So the ESP will start an access point (name like "ESPEasy_0" or something similar)
Do you see it with your mobile or laptop?

Or you can set the wifissid and wifikey via the serial connection.

Code: Select all

wifissid,YourWiFiSSID
wifikey,YourTopSecretWiFiPasswd
save

[wonk]

Hi,
thank you, I forgot that. My nodeMCU is now working. I connected a temperature sensor ds18b20 and configured the gpio-connection. But on the devices-page I only see temperature 0. Till now I did not alter the controller data, do i have to do this? What is the controller in this case?
Gruß, wonk

[TD-er]

A task (the "devices" tab in the web interface) uses the chosen plugin to interact with the sensor.
A task can have 0 ... 3 controllers assigned to it, which it will use to send new sensor data to.

However if you don't see any values on the devices overview tab, then I guess the task isn't configured right or the sensor is perhaps not connected how it should be connected.

Can you have a look at the documentation to see if you may be missing some steps?
https://espeasy.readthedocs.io/en/lates ... #p004-page

For example, do you see a list of found device addresses?
Do you have a pull-up resistor as described in the documentation?
Is the task enabled?

[wonk]

Hi,
my sensor is found, because I see the adress.
The linked docu does not help, because till now I flashed an older Version (R120) to have a stable environment.
I now searched a newer Version (ESPEasy_ESP82xx_mega-20201130.zip). But there are a lot of bin-Versions, and I don't know, which is sufficient (NodeMCU 1.0-ESP12F-Module). The docu ESPEasy_docs_mega-20201130.zip does not help.

I tried ESP_Easy_mega_20201130_normal_ESP8266_4M1M.bin with the windows-flasher ESP.EASY.FLASHER.EXE. With "manual reboot" after falshung even post flash actions worked.
Is this flash-file ok? I will now try to configure my sensor.

Thank you for helping.
Gruss, wonk

[TD-er]

A NodeMCU board has ESP8266 + 4 MB flash.
So any build with "ESP8266_4M1M.bin" in the name can be used.
The "normal" version you chose does seem perfect.

[wonk]

Hi,
now I configured all what is neccassary (in my opinion). I have connected 1 DS18B20. I see its port and its value and "ctr 1" on the devices page. But the value does not alter (interval 2s), when warming the sensor. I see "samples read success" is ok. As controller 1 I configured "generic http protocol" and the ip adress of the PC, leaving all other entries unchanged.
Later on, I want to send the data to a mysql on a raspberry. But for testing the hardware it should be possible, to see the changing values on the PC. Now they are only changed when actualisising the page.
I Think, I do not understand the controller idea. I did not found general explanations for that.
Thank you,
Gruss, wonk

[Ath]

it should be possible, to see the changing values on the PC. Now they are only changed when actualisising the page.

That may be dependent on your browser. I often have to click the Devices tab to update the values, but most times it does update automagically. Do you have a script-blocker active? Turning that off ('allow scripts to run on this site') might help (there is some javascript in the page, AFAIK, but you'll have to allow that to run).

[TD-er]

I will add a more descriptive overview in the dcumentation.
I'm sure I documented it before but I can't find it so it isn't strange you can't find it either.

A very short overview of the flow and naming in ESPEasy.

Plugin: interacting with some specific hardware like a Dallas temperature sensor

Task: An instance of a plugin.
A task uses the plugin to interact with the sensor and yields measurement values.
A task can be assigned 0 .. 3 controllers to send measurement data to.

Controller:
Receives data from a number of tasks.
This data is formatted to be handled by some other system like Domoticz, Thingspeak, OpenHAB, etc.
The formatted data is sent by the controller to the other system.


So in short, the data flow:
- Task yields data
- Task sends (new) data to a controller
- Data is received on another system to be processed further.


But if you don't have new data on the "Devices" tab, then it is of no use to dive into "Controller" stuff, as you first need to make sure the task is able to get new data.

At the bottom of a task configuration (on the web interface) you see a field "Interval".
Default value of this "interval" is 60 seconds.
Meaning the task will be scheduled to run every 60 seconds to get a new reading from the connected sensor(s) of that task.
If this is successful, the new fetched data will be handed over to the connected controllers.

The Devices page should run a piece of JavaScript to fetch the latest values of all tasks.
The interval for fetching new data is based on the set "interval" of all enabled tasks. It will use the lowest interval as "refresh" interval.

If you see only updates when you refresh that page manually, your browser either does not allow JavaScript to be run, or you are a bit too impatient.
When the latter is the real cause, you can lower the interval of the Dallas task, which is also way more practical for testing.

[wonk]

Hi,
thank you for the general explanations.
It was really just the deactivated java script, which disturbed. Now it works.
Gruss, wonk