I am currently running MKR 1400 at a remote location to monitor waterflow. To power the device I am using a Solar Power Bank, MOSKIZ Portable Charger 33500mAh. My goal/hope is to have periodic updates on water usage at this location over a year (at least) without the need to change out batteries.
Solar power bank)
The setup worked great for approximately 48 hours then data stopped being reported to the cloud. Upon inspection I found the board was off. I unplugged the board from the power bank, which was charged and functioning, and plugged everything back in and the board powered up and data started uploading to the cloud. This lasted about 5-7 hours before powering off again. I repeated the above steps but now the board only runs 10-15 minutes. Is my power source, code (below) or board causing this? How can I keep this running for a year without maintenance? Any help would be appreciated.
/*
Sketch generated by the Arduino IoT Cloud Thing "Untitled"
https://create.arduino.cc/cloud/things/f6fd42cc-c2……
Arduino IoT Cloud Variables description
The following variables are automatically generated and updated when changes are made to the Thing
float gPM;
float totalGallons;
Variables which are marked as READ/WRITE in the Cloud Thing will also have functions
which are called when their values are changed from the Dashboard.
These functions are generated with the Thing and added at the end of this sketch.
*/
#include "thingProperties.h"
byte statusLed = 6;
byte sensorInterrupt = 4; // 0 = digital pin 2
byte sensorPin = 4;
// The hall-effect flow sensor outputs approximately 4.5 pulses per second per
// litre/minute of flow.
float calibrationFactor = 10.5;
volatile byte pulseCount;
float flowRate;
unsigned int flowMilliLitres;
unsigned long totalMilliLitres;
unsigned long oldTime;
void setup()
{
// Initialize a serial connection for reporting values to the host
Serial.begin(9600);
// Defined in thingProperties.h
initProperties();
// Connect to Arduino IoT Cloud
ArduinoCloud.begin(ArduinoIoTPreferredConnection);
// Set up the status LED line as an output
pinMode(statusLed, OUTPUT);
digitalWrite(statusLed, HIGH); // We have an active-low LED attached
pinMode(sensorPin, INPUT);
digitalWrite(sensorPin, HIGH);
pulseCount = 0;
flowRate = 0.0;
flowMilliLitres = 0;
totalMilliLitres = 0;
oldTime = 0;
// The Hall-effect sensor is connected to pin 2 which uses interrupt 0.
// Configured to trigger on a FALLING state change (transition from HIGH
// state to LOW state)
attachInterrupt(sensorInterrupt, pulseCounter, FALLING);
}
/**
Main program loop
*/
void loop()
{
ArduinoCloud.update();
if ((millis() - oldTime) > 1000) // Only process counters once per second
{
// Disable the interrupt while calculating flow rate and sending the value to
// the host
detachInterrupt(sensorInterrupt);
// Because this loop may not complete in exactly 1 second intervals we calculate
// the number of milliseconds that have passed since the last execution and use
// that to scale the output. We also apply the calibrationFactor to scale the output
// based on the number of pulses per second per units of measure (litres/minute in
// this case) coming from the sensor.
flowRate = ((1000.0 / (millis() - oldTime)) * pulseCount) / calibrationFactor;
// Note the time this processing pass was executed. Note that because we've
// disabled interrupts the millis() function won't actually be incrementing right
// at this point, but it will still return the value it was set to just before
// interrupts went away.
oldTime = millis();
// Divide the flow rate in litres/minute by 60 to determine how many litres have
// passed through the sensor in this 1 second interval, then multiply by 1000 to
// convert to millilitres.
flowMilliLitres = (flowRate / 60) * 1000;
// Add the millilitres passed in this second to the cumulative total
totalMilliLitres += flowMilliLitres;
// Add the millilitres passed in this second to the cumulative total
totalMilliLitres += flowMilliLitres;
totalGallons = (totalMilliLitres / 3785.4);
gPM = ((flowRate / 3.7854) * 2);
unsigned int frac;
// Print the flow rate for this second in litres / minute
Serial.print("Flow rate: ");
Serial.print(int(flowRate)); // Print the integer part of the variable
Serial.print("L/min");
Serial.print("\t"); // Print tab space
// Print the cumulative total of litres flowed since starting
Serial.print("Output Liquid Quantity: ");
Serial.print(totalMilliLitres);
Serial.println("mL");
Serial.print(gPM);
Serial.println("GPM");
Serial.print("\t"); // Print tab space
Serial.print(totalMilliLitres / 1000);
Serial.print("L");
Serial.print(totalGallons);
Serial.print("Total Gallons");
// Reset the pulse counter so we can start incrementing again
pulseCount = 0;
// Enable the interrupt again now that we've finished sending output
attachInterrupt(sensorInterrupt, pulseCounter, FALLING);
}
}
/*
Insterrupt Service Routine
*/
void pulseCounter()
{
// Increment the pulse counter
pulseCount++;
}
