We just finished setting up our farmbot v1.2. We have the PI connected to my.farmbot.io. We can sync from the website. The Devices tab connectivity box shows all green. Problem is when I try to send a control command, I get an error in the logs saying “Firmware disconnected”. What’s that mean? How can I troubleshoot it?
Have you tried rebooting? Do you see any error log messages during startup? The message means that the Raspberry Pi is unable to communicate with the Arduino firmware.
I’ve rebooted several times and verified the wiring as well. The logs on my.farmbot.io don’t show any issues during boot. Can I find additional logs elsewhere?
On a related note, sounds like we need a ping function added to the Arduino firmware to confirm the pi can tag with the firmware. The resulting status could be added to the device page.
Must recent log output:
Success Firmware initialized. Unknown Mar 13, 10:02am
3
Debug Setting up fresh params. Unknown Mar 13, 10:02am
1
Busy Initializing Firmware. Unknown Mar 13, 10:02am
1
Success Farmbot is up and running! Unknown Mar 13, 10:02am
1
Warn Going down for a reboot! Unknown Mar 13, 10:01am
Good news. Weather and schedules have aligned. I was able to take another crack at the problem. I ended up taking apart the electronics box and rebuilding it part by part. My suspicion is that one of the metal risers was touching a solder point and grounding out the RAMPS board. Either that or the power was not inserted just right, it was rather loose with the board. Additionally, the wires that feed power to the RAMPS board were smushed behind the metal connector, not inside. All in all, I have just the bare minimum plugged in and I’m able to send commands to the unit and the RAMPS board is reporting the commands were sent.
Time to reassemble the rest.