BLYNK using Nano33IoT is unreliable

Official Hardware Nano Family Nano 33 IoT
1

Using the latest WiFiNINA firmware (1.4.3) and Arduino IDE (1.8.14) with Nano33IoT I see WiFi results similar to those described elsewhere in this forum.

I built a wireless gateway from a low-power (NRF24 based) wireless sensors to BLYNK via WiFi using the Nano33IoT plus an NRF24 radio module. However, the connection is unstable, losing connection randomly but frequently (a few times per day). I cobbled together a replacement using an ESP8266 (ESP-01) WiFi module running a standalone BLYNK client, using Generic ESP8266 Board (2.7.4) in the same IDE, taking a simple serial data input from an Arduino Uno which handles the NRF24 side, and this seems to be solid, so I conclude that the instability I see is within the Nano33IoT.

The instability is not consistent. Unrecovered WiFi disconnects are most frequent. Less often the BLYNK timer seems to get corrupted and run very slowly or intermittent (as indicated by a flashing LED driven by the timer event). But I think I need a resolve the Wifi disconnection before I can reliably explore the further problems. In order to reconnect I have tried various suggested reconnection state machines, with some success, but this doesn't seem to be the right approach, given that the ESP8266 works fine without. It seems the ESP32 should be able to work as well as the ESP8266 in this regard.

I suspect that my "Smart" WiFi router (BT Smart Hub 2) may interrupt the network periodically (perhaps to optimise its channel selection?). The BLYNK app is currently running for both versions of hardware described above, and it indicates when service last went online or offline. The Nano app currently indicates: "Offline since 04:00 am Mar 9, 2021", while the ESP8266 app states "Online since 04:00 am Mar 9, 2021" although both have been running longer than that. Clearly an event happens on the WiFi at 4 am that restarted the connection for the ESP8266, but the Nano was unable to survive this. I see similar events a few times per day, and are often exactly on the hour, as was this one, so likely to orignate with the router (or possibly from the Blynk server?, but that seems less likely) as there is no RTC in my gateway hardware..

My full Nano code is quite long so I havent put it here, but I have also implemented very simple BLYNK example code on just the Nano33IoT (with no NRF24), and it too disconnects after a few hours, while a similar example running standalone on the ESP8266 is stable.

Is it reasonable to expect the ESP32 on the Nano33IoT to maintain WiFI connection, as well as does the ESP8266? If not, what is currently the recommend solution to maintaining connection? Thank you for your help.

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It's now been a month and I got no replies on this, so perhaps no one else is using the Nano33IoT with Blynk. Anyway, I never could get it to run consistently, it kept losing connection as described above.

But I have now satisfied my application by porting the whole of the wireless gateway design (not just the WiFi interface) to an ESP8266 module alone (plus the NRF24 radio module, but no Arduino). It has now been running since early March without once losing connection. So it becomes apparent that there is/was something in the Nano 33 IoT version, or its Blynk libary code, that is not optimum.

Just to add: Blynk does still report that connection to the server is apparently restarted every few days typically (e.g. Blynk currently reports "Online since 04:48 pm April 12, 2021" although I have had uninterrupted data collection service for a month) but connection is never lost and evidently goes back online automatically. Also, I have not implemented any code in order to reestablish Blynk or Wifi connection - so this is apparenetly being handled well in the ESP8266 firmware or Blynk library code.

Phil

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You can try this Blynk_WiFiNINA_WM library to see if your disconnecting problem goes away. The MultiWiFi and auto-reconnection feature will definitely be helpful in your case.

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I had the same problem it is most likely your library. I was using the mkr1010/mkr 1000 you need to change the Blynksimole mkr1010/1000 to BlynksimpleWiFiNINA.

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I have similar instability issues with an IOT 33 - I have one logging data from a lightning detector, in my back shed - the wifi out there isn't as good as in the house, but its generally -73dBm, and the nano goes well for a period - several hours to several days, then just silently drops off. I can still ping it, so I suspect its server is offline. I'm considering a jump to an ESP8266 board.....

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