HeaterMeter 4.3 webpage timeout


 

JeffLa

TVWBB Member
Hi,

My HeaterMeter is connected to my wireless network (confirmed by looking at the router Map), but when I open the initial webpage http://heatermeter.com/devices/ The device says Timeout. The IP address is correct. What would cause this?

Thanks,

Jeff Lavin
 
a bit more information - when I power cycle the HeaterMeter and look at my Router page, it shows up as connected. I cannot access it though using the HeaterMeter URL. Eventually, I noticed that the HeaterMeter drops off of the connected devices in my router page. Power cycling it does reconnect to the router but I never gain access. FYI - this all used to work fine.
 
Sounds like it is dropping off the network and not reconnecting. What wifi adapter are you using and what firmware version (v14 or snapshot)?
 
Sounds like it is dropping off the network and not reconnecting. What wifi adapter are you using and what firmware version (v14 or snapshot)?

Bryan,

I'm using Raspberry Pi 3B so built in. I am not on the latest firmware version. I could update and see if that helps. I am using whatever was there about 2 years ago, but it did work for ages. Maybe my router has gotten difficult with its firmware updates. I'm smoking some ribs right now without using the Web UI so once I'm done, I'll load new firmware and see if that resolves the problem.
 
Yeah you might try the latest snapshot. I did a bunch of work last week or the week before where people with Pi Zero W / Pi 3 had complained that when their router rebooted HeaterMeter wouldn't reconnect. I actually found there were a lot of cases where the wifi driver would just give up once it became disassociated with from the router and sit there not trying to reconnect. The latest snapshot holds the results of that effort which seems to reconnect reliably (or relatively so anyway).

I can't say why it would have used to work and suddenly started having problems though. Maybe the neighbors bought a new microwave that knocks everything off wifi in a 500m radius every time it turns on, but everything else immediately reconnects and the v13/v14 firmware didn't? :-D

That's where I'd start anyway, because this has been greatly improved recently.
 
Bryan - I may have forgotten how to change the firmware on the HeaterMeter. I pulled the MicroSD out and formatted it new and copied over a new image I created from the firmware post. When I booted up with the new image on the SD card, it seems like it is not updating. What do you have to do to get the Raspberry Pi to update the firmware?
 
Bryan - I wrote a post and then figured some things out and tried to delete it, so I am not sure if what I wrote is still there or not. Anyway I have a specific question about updating my HeaterMeter image. I removed the SD card and put the new image onto it. How to I get the Raspberry Pi 3B to download the new image from the SD Card. The instructions I read only cover the first time which happens automatically. Since I already have an image loaded, how to I trigger the RP to do an update from the SD card?
 
Bryan - I wrote a post and then figured some things out and tried to delete it, so I am not sure if what I wrote is still there or not. Anyway I have a specific question about updating my HeaterMeter image. I removed the SD card and put the new image onto it. How to I get the Raspberry Pi 3B to download the new image from the SD Card. The instructions I read only cover the first time which happens automatically. Since I already have an image loaded, how to I trigger the RP to do an update from the SD card?

The SD card is the only source of storage for the Raspberry Pi. If you've removed the SD card and have updated it manually, then as soon as you boot the Raspberry Pi, it will be using the updated image.

To update the image on the SD card while it's still in the Raspberry Pi, you need to login to the HM web config, go to System > Backup / Flash Firmware tab.

From there you can upload the HM firmware you downloaded or you can paste the URL of the correct firmware file based on the Raspberry Pi model you have.
 
The SD card is the only source of storage for the Raspberry Pi. If you've removed the SD card and have updated it manually, then as soon as you boot the Raspberry Pi, it will be using the updated image.

To update the image on the SD card while it's still in the Raspberry Pi, you need to login to the HM web config, go to System > Backup / Flash Firmware tab.

From there you can upload the HM firmware you downloaded or you can paste the URL of the correct firmware file based on the Raspberry Pi model you have.

Are you certain of your first statement? I did remove the SD card and update it manually. When I put it back and powered on, there was zero delay booting up and it was exactly the same as before I updated the card (and still no WIFI connection). Just to prove it to myself, I removed the SD card and powered up the HeaterMeter with the SD slot empty. It booted up just fine with the same exact functionality. It does not appear to use the SD card at all once it has been updated. Maybe the Raspberry Pi 3B has local program storage?

Jeff
 
Yep. The heatermeter board, once programmed, doesn't need the raspberry pi to operate. The raspberry pi provides the web interface, configuration control and email + sms alerts to he heatermeter.

You'll notice that if you boot the heatermeter up with no sd card in the raspberry pi that you won't have any web interface.
 
Yep. The heatermeter board, once programmed, doesn't need the raspberry pi to operate. The raspberry pi provides the web interface, configuration control and email + sms alerts to he heatermeter.

You'll notice that if you boot the heatermeter up with no sd card in the raspberry pi that you won't have any web interface.

Ah that makes sense! Thanks Steve. I'll see if my WIFI started working. The original problem for this post is that my HeaterMeter stopped connecting reliably to my router. Will update this if there is still a problem. Thanks for the help!

Jeff
 
OK I tried a new approach. I programmed an SD card and put it into a new Raspberry Pi 3B and attached that to my working HeaterMeter. It connected to my router and when I go to the devices page for HeaterMeter (http://heatermeter.com/devices/) I see it there, but it gives a timeout. I notived that the IP address is different now.

Is there some Firewall setting I need?

Jeff
 
There's no firewalling on the HeaterMeter at all, and if you're on the same network as the HeaterMeter, your router's firewall shouldn't be involved (since it only blocks things coming from the WAN side). The exception to this is of you have your wireless network set to "Client isolation" which prevents two devices on the wifi from being able to talk to each other entirely.

When you check the IP address of the device you're connecting from, is it on the same network as the HeaterMeter? (they have the same first 3 digits usually like 192.168.X.something, and X would also be the same between the two).
 
Bumping this as it is the same scenario I have. On a LAN connection the IP is up but the device is timing out. Also not able to get WiFi to connect.
 
I recently built a new HM 4.3 with a Pi 3B+ and couldn’t get it onto my network. I hooked it up via Ethernet and ssh’d Into it to find it spitting debug errors for the wireless drivers. It was so bad, the cpu was nearly at full load and the web interface was suuuuper slow.

The end solution for me had me use the HeaterMeter snapshot WITHOUT preconfigured WI-FI information. I hooked it up via Ethernet, and setup the WI-FI in the web controls. Everything worked fine after that.
 

 

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