How to find HM IP Address


 
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Paul Frere

TVWBB Member
When my HM boots it takes an excruciatingly long time to display the IP address that it has gotten via DHCP. So long that I sometimes give up waiting or, worse, look away at the critical moment. When I do get the address, the web interface runs like a dream.

http://heatermeter.com/devices/ has never ever worked for me; all I get is "No HeaterMeter found at your site"

Today is misery; I am having pit troubles and really need that temperature history but either I missed the IP or it never displayed. The HM is not advertising its own net either. I have a wifi tool that lists devices and IPs assigned but it is not showing anything that looks like the HM.

So ... is there some secret button sequence that I can use to have the HM tell me its current IP address? That might give me a starting point.

Mine is the four-button model bought about two years ago.
 
can you assign it a static IP? that is what I did with mine. most routers will allow you to assign a static ip to devices.
 
I did misread, but DNS has no idea what to do with http://heatermeter.local/ and, as is always the case even when the HM is active on my local network, http://heatermeter.com/devices/ gives me nothing.

RasPi is self contained, no dongles.

News: Medium breakthrough though: I just plugged it directly into an ethernet switch on the network and it picked up and displayed an IP. 119.168.1.115 Now I can get into it and poke around and for the first time ever http://heatermeter.com/devices/ is working. No joy on the wifi if I unplug the cat 5 though. And http://heatermeter.local/ is still a dead end.

Rev looks like 4.9.58
"Status" tab appears to hang, "collecting data" showing for the various network parameter areas.

Linkmeter/Configuration shows me:
------------------------------------------------
HeaterMeter Information
API keyf4455132bf9d5a4af9083aee11363f8
Version 20180409B
Serial checksum errors: 1
------------------------------------------------


Network/Interfaces looks like this.

1593819320315.png

Re reloading firmware I really avoid trying to use a sledgehammer on ants. This is a small problem with a HM that has worked well for a couple of years. It is either in the vast and customer-hostile configuration settings or it is a wifi hardware failure. Neither will be helped by risking a sledgehammer attack.

Anyone? Any ideas?
 
Your settings are retained if you update the firmware. Treat the system as any other black box device and you'll be fine.

If you want to play it extra safe, load the latest development snapshot from https://heatermeter.com/dl/ onto a spare microsd card and see if that fixes things. That will let you know if you're moving in the right direction.
 
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Thanks, but I'm hoping someone with a little more technical expertise will weigh in here. I don't like sledghammer solutions, especially when the problem has arisen after the current software has been running successfully. Something has changed here but it was not the software. I may try the sledgehammer just because it is not difficult, but I would much rather understand the problem and how to fix it. Anybody?
 
I'm glad you are amused. The implication of your post is that you have some unrevealed technical expertise. All you have offered so far is first level tech support type stuff. But lets see ...

The failure symptoms are consistent with a failed WiFi radio. This is a Raspberry Pi 3 B or B+, I don't remember which. What can you tell me about that radio and any ways to test it? Is there any failure folklore aka history that pertains? What about the user interface/currently accessible only via the Cat5 port -- where is the parametric information on that radio and what can I do through the UI to ascertain its status?
 
The RasPi software for the HM is very stripped down, so the ability to perform hardware diagnostics like you're looking for is quite limited. If you want to better test the wifi radio, install Raspbian or some or another full blown OS and perform whatever tests you'd like where you can install analyzers and packet sniffers and whatever else you'd like.

It's been shown many times that the software on the SD card can become corrupted over time. The easiest and most straight forward solution is to just re-write a fresh copy onto it and see if that fixes the problem. You're obviously averse to this approach, wanting to dive more deeply into solving the problem like you're remotely troubleshooting a mars rover. This ain't that!

Cheers.
 
Well I guess we'll see. Maybe papering over the problem with a new software copy will do it. I'll try I guess. Re Rover I never had any product on that one, but on lots of others including Mars Observer, Cassini, and many Geo and Leo birds. You do not paper over problems when you're in that business.
 
So Paul, not sure if you have been down this rabbitt hole, but here goes. When connecting to my heatermeter using the weblink, it shows 192.168.200.1 for the hardwire connection. If i do not connect with a cable i get the "timeout" message after a few seconds. The wireless connection will show the same timeout message. Go to this link if you have not been there yet. https://github.com/CapnBry/HeaterMeter/wiki/HeaterMeter-4.x-Software#configuration. The next topic is the wireless stuff. I am curious how your heatermeter came up with the ip of 119.168.1.115. When i finally get into the configuration screen and go to wifi and let it do it`s network scan, it will find my wireless networks ssid`s. If you can`t see you network wifi ssid then it tells me you radio is bad or like Steve said you have a bad sd card or it`s corrupted. For me when ever i run into weird problem, i remove sd card, reformat and load the latest developement snapshot from the webpage. Could you show a pic of the http://heatermeter.com/devices/ screen when you bring it up. Hope this all makes sense. I had to go back and make an edit on the weblink stuff.
Hopefully this is helpfull
Good luck
 
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Thanks very much. Exactly the kind of thing I was looking for. Comments below:
Gary V said:
So Paul, not sure if you have been down this rabbitt hole, but here goes. When connecting to my heatermeter using the weblink, it shows 192.168.200.1 for the hardwire connection. If i do not connect with a cable i get the "timeout" message after a few seconds. The wireless connection will show the same timeout message. Go to this link if you have not been there yet. https://github.com/CapnBry/HeaterMeter/wiki/HeaterMeter-4.x-Software#configuration. The next topic is the wireless stuff. I am curious how your heatermeter came up with the ip of 119.168.1.115.
Click to expand...
That's the IP the DHCP server gave it via the Cat5 connection. Today it got 192.168.1.106 The x.x.200.x address did display briefly before it displayed the DHCP-derived address.

I was actually a little surprised to get 115 yesterday because the DHCP range starts at 101 and there are not that many devices on the net.

Gary V said:
When i finally get into the configuration screen and go to wifi and let it do it`s network scan, it will find my wireless networks ssid`s. If you can`t see you network wifi ssid then it tells me you radio is bad or like Steve said you have a bad sd card or it`s corrupted.
Click to expand...
Good info. It was not obvious to me that I should expect to see my local SSID there. Even though as I do my troubleshooting, the HM is maybe a foot from the WAP, I get nothing:

1593968264154.png
This is after maybe ten minutes of "collecting" ...


Gary V said:
For me when ever i run into weird problem, i remove sd card, reformat and load the latest developement snapshot from the webpage. Could you show a pic of the http://heatermeter.com/devices/ screen when you bring it up. Hope this all makes sense. I had to go back and make an edit on the weblink stuff.
Hopefully this is helpfull
Good luck
Click to expand...
Very helpful. Thanks again. Here is the .../devices screen:

1593968433097.png
This is interesting to me because in a couple of years' use via WiFi this screen has never worked. I ever got is "No HeaterMeter found at your site" Now, with the hard wired connection it works just fine.
 
Oh, one more thing: On boot, unless the Cat5 cable is connected, the x.x.200.1 address never displayed (no address is displayed) and the HM does not advertise a network SSID.
 
I will just weigh in here quickly to note that I recently tried to update the firmware on my HM which has been up and running for a long time. The flash failed and wiped my ATMega and the HM would no longer boot. I replaced the ATMega which got the HM back up, but flashing again wiped the next ATMega the same way. I then removed my SD card and freshly wrote the HM image to it, now the flash works perfectly. Case in point, the HM software CAN become corrupted over time, it doesn't hurt to start with a freshly imaged SD card when you are having odd problems...

... and also to note that in my many years experience with the HM and this forum I have found Steve_M to posses a level of technical expertise and knowledge of the HM that is quite high.
 
the avr, the processor on the HM board...
... but my point being... It is not unheard of for a perfectly good HM build (on your SD Card) to become corrupt over time for whatever reason. So to assume it is not the problem just because it has been working for a period (particularly a long period) could be counterproductive to solving your problem.
If you have a spare SD card perhaps do a fresh build on it and see how that goes?
 
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Looks to me like your wireless connection is never established. Are you sure the settings are correct? Maybe reconfigure the SSID and password. You also imply it is not visible from the router. Also and setting a static IP in your router is the way to go, as mentioned above once you get the wifi working. Also please be considerate of the fact this is a DIY projects and people offering their assistance voluntarily.
 
OK. Problem fixed. RP board wifi had failed, as I speculated/suspected/post 6 and post 10. New board from Amazon solved the problem. The blank "wireless overview" screen was probably diagnostic but since I am not familiar with the box at that level I didn't realize that. Gary V's help was critical. Thanks again.
 
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