Oak - Dropping WiFi and going into Config mode

[eddyj443]

Hoping someone has some helpful advice.

I have two Oaks, both with multiple ds18b20 temperature sensors connected, they read the temperature and publish it (using particle.publish) every 30 seconds, this is sent to a third party using a particle webhook.

One Oak is working fine, has been running for a few months without issue, the other one disconnects from WiFi and goes into Config mode every few days (starts broadcastings its own WiFi AP), I reset it and connect it back to the WiFi and it works for a few days then the same thing happens.

They are both running the same code, the only difference is location, the working one is near the wireless router and the one causing issues is on the other side of the building.

Could this be due to poor WiFi signal?
What would cause the Oak to go into Config mode?

Thanks for your help

Edward

[emardee]

I'm guessing your problem is that the Wifi signal occasionally gets blocked from reaching the far oak. (Could be as simple as a person standing in the wrong place, or the microwave running etc).

By default (standard mode), Oaks are configured to so that when they lose Wifi (I think it was for 3 minutes or longer, but can't remember where I saw that length of time mentioned, so might not be true), they will drop into Config mode.

There are alternative configuration modes you can set the Oak to run in, so that if it loses Wifi, it will keep looking for the Wifi to re-appear rather than drop into Config mode. When you are uploading your code to the Oak, you can choose to upload it in "Manual mode" which will make it so that it will ignore Wifi timeouts, and hold onto the run-time code.

Once configured for manual mode, if you ever want to get the Oak into config mode, you just have to short out Pin1 to GND and it will reboot into config mode.

I'm sure there must be better instructions on how to do this somewhere, but I couldn't find them right now. Hope this makes enough sense for you to find how to use it.

[PeterF]

Yeah, that would be my guess too Mike. And I think the three minute bit was from the forum somewhere... or was it the github issue tracker? 

Attached is a pic to show where to find the default / manual mode settings - I always use manual mode as I have battery backed Oaks that could end up running during a power outage, or an internet dropout, so I don't want them rebooting into config mode of their own volition (and staying stuck there - silly 'lil buggers).

[eddyj443]

This makes sense, I had assumed the WiFi might be a bit sketchy in the location I have placed it but assumed it would keep attempting to reconnect.

I will upload the sketch using the setting you suggested and report back in a few days.

Thanks for the useful info.

Edward

[ScottM]

eddyj443, thank you for posting this issue. I too have experienced my Oaks suddenly going offline. The one in my garage ceiling is the worst. I even plugged in my wifi extender in the garage but it would still go offline occasionally. It was really annoying, plus since I'm using it as a security feature, potentially disastrous. Thanks PeterF for the configuration suggestion. i will use it for all my Oaks from now on.