I have been using the software on the Pi for about a year now. About a month ago it stopped working for about a week then suddenly worked again. Today the same thing. I have v2.8.0

Any ideas?

Hi @Jacob,

I'm on 2.8.8, and also can report less than 100% reliability. Had to kill ICC a few times over the last few weeks.

I must mention that i do suffer from unreliable Internet at times, but i didn't think that would influence things.

Maybe time to upgrade to the latest version 2.9.7, as 2.8 is no longer supported. Needs a new image and machine registration. I will try that in the near future, time permitting.

I always wait a few weeks before upgrading, in case a few bugs crops up and needed to be sorted.

I run ICC-Pi 2.9.7 and it runs flawlessly. The problem of a program locking up is not necessarily a program error. A power spike could cause such a mishap. So it may be prudent to take all steps possible to ensure clean power to the Pi.  I use a Raspberry Pi power supply and all works fine. Perhaps a spike suppressor between the mains power and the Pi power supply is worth trying. Another option would be a cell phone DC charger which contains a battery between the Pi and it's AC power supply. I would expect the battery to act like a dead short to any high frequency spikes and filter them out. 

It could also be a micro SD card on the way out. They have a finite amount of read/write cycles. The timeline you are describing points to the SD card as the most likely suspect.

I found my Raspberry Pi to be a bit unreliable when it gets hot.   I bought an aluminium case with better ventilation holes from the Pi Shop, removed the silly (and airflow impeding) reset hat from the top of the motherboard and added a very small fan to keep it cool.

It seldom goes over 36 C nowadays, and it's very stable whilst runing ICC v2.9.7...

Agree on both the PSU and SD card items. I run pi PSU via a lipo battery bank as UPS, so I would not suspect that.

As far as the SD card is concerned, I had similar problems about 6 months ago, and built a new image on a new SD card. The old one was 2 years 3 months old.

My Pi has the 3 Alu cooler fins on, so despite this, does run in the 45 - 55 range. maybe i should add a fan.

On 2019/09/08 at 7:04 PM, Jacob said:

I have been using the software on the Pi for about a year now. About a month ago it stopped working for about a week then suddenly worked again. Today the dame thing. I have v2.8.0

Any ideas?

Thanks for all the good feedback. I forgot to mention that when starting the program manually, it displays for a very short time an the disappears (stops) again.

 

On 2019/09/08 at 7:04 PM, Jacob said:

I have been using the software on the Pi for about a year now. About a month ago it stopped working for about a week then suddenly worked again. Today the dame thing. I have v2.8.0

Any ideas?

Thanks for all the good feedback. I forgot to mention that when starting the program manually, it displays for a very short time an the disappears (stops) again.

 

So changing the SD card had no affect. At least that's one possible fault eliminated. 

@Jacob,

The only thing I can think of is to try with a newly downloaded image ver 2.9.7 is the latest. Just note you will have to send your machine ID to Manie to get a new key if you move from 2.8 to 2.9. I also need to do that in any case.

I'm sure even without updating the key, the new image should run, you just won't see any values(data) being updated. Just check if the program runs without dying.

If the same symptoms persists, then it could be your hardware. Swooping out the Pi also requires key update.

Have you tried another PSU.? I had my Pi PSU go faulty after 18 months

2 hours ago, Sidewinder said:

@Jacob,

The only thing I can think of is to try with a newly downloaded image ver 2.9.7 is the latest. Just note you will have to send your machine ID to Manie to get a new key if you move from 2.8 to 2.9. I also need to do that in any case.

I'm sure even without updating the key, the new image should run, you just won't see any values(data) being updated. Just check if the program runs without dying.

If the same symptoms persists, then it could be your hardware. Swooping out the Pi also requires key update.

Have you tried another PSU.? I had my Pi PSU go faulty after 18 months

I would love to upgrade but since I am registered through Centurion solar only opgrades to v.2.8.5 is supported. I think I will try a new Pi. Doubt if it is the power supply because everything else runs fine.

On 2019/09/08 at 7:04 PM, Jacob said:

I have been using the software on the Pi for about a year now. About a month ago it stopped working for about a week then suddenly worked again. Today the dame thing. I have v2.8.0

Any ideas?

Thanks for all the good feedback. I forgot to mention that when starting the program manually, it displays for a very short time an the disappears (stops) again.

1 hour ago, Jacob said:

Centurion solar only opgrades to v.2.8.5 is supported

Hang on. So you paid essentially the same as the guys who bought directly, but your support has been cut off?

That is my understanding yes. I actually bought through Inverter Warehouse.

Good afternoon, I'm also getting issues with ICC Not starting up successfully. Currently have an USB not resetting error in the logs. Any ideas?

Thanks @Centurionsolar, I'll drop you an email shortly. 

I am currently screening through all information regarding the ICC issues. This is valuable information the members exchanges. I am unfortunately working remotely and spent only time on weekends in trying resolving my issues.  I had the ICC program running for a few months with no serious issues. About 3 months ago the ICC program display went blank. With the help of #Manie I received a new Image to write to the SD card. Now the ICC program freezes every time in less than a minute after I started the Raspberry. I re-imaged a new SD card but the problem persists.  I then thought the raspberry temperature may be an issue as it went over 60 degrees C with no fan. I installed a new fan bringing the temperature to 34 degrees C. Yet no luck. I understand that the quality of  the SD card may be a factor. I 'll swap the SD card with a better Quality and report back after the weekend.

11 hours ago, George Basson said:

I installed a new fan bringing the temperature to 34 degrees C. Yet no luck. I understand that the quality of  the SD card may be a factor. I 'll swap the SD card with a better Quality and report back after the weekend.

@George Basson If I may make a suggestion: try the trial version of solar assistant. It's basically a drop in replacement for ICC just much better.  I contacted info@... to get a trial: https://solar-assistant.io/help/getting_started/prepare_device

I also started out with ICC:
https://powerforum.co.za/topic/7739-icc-software-ends-inadvertently/#comment-88583

@InfiniSolarVIIThanks for the suggestion. I have done a few things over the weekend to address my frustration. I have done away with a 30m extended USB cable by moving the Raspberry PI next to the inverter. I bought a new SD card (KING MAX ????) and with the ICC image inserted it to my PI. The program was running smooth with no issues until I plugged in a new Monitor screen with a HDMI connection to the Raspberry PI on Sunday. The new screen did not boot up (black screen).I removed it and plug the old screen with its VGA to HDMI adaptor cables back. It seems that the ICC program is very frail to external factors such as the screen I plugged in. I had to re write the image to the SD card again in order to get the the ICC program boots up with the desired display.

The program is still running since Sunday and I am able to monitor remotely from Bronkhorstspruit what the inverter does. 

Did you use an HDMI to VGA converter if you swapped this with the power on then you have blown the HDMI port on your PI. It can be fixed by exchanging the blown resister but this is beyond my skill.  I know because I did this twice to 2 separate pi's..... You can still download VNC viewer and use the IP address of your pi to log in. The user name is pi and the password is raspberry. I now use mine headless.