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Two bugs, one power supply?

A project log for Well well

Monitoring the monitor that monitors the well

darrin-bDarrin B 09/06/2024 at 14:470 Comments

Two bugs have eluded me since installing the first prototype. The first appeared to be a reset caused by a glitch on the AC power-line, but I could not rule out that there was a software bug that short circuited the power rails causing the processor to reboot and consequently clearing the short. The other bug seemed to be with the Android app, it would just simply stop updating the display with data from the device. Stopping and restarting the app did not help, only restarting bluetooth would do the trick.

Checking my parts heap for a suitable substitute wall-wart was fruitless, so I hooked the device to my homemade bench power supply via several pairs of alligator clips. Two weeks later, neither bug has been seen.

Now, wanting to return the bench supply to its' place on my desk, I had to clear a space for it first. While doing so, I found a power cube that would be worth testing. Back to waiting for something/anything/nothing, to happen. The original power supply delivered a mere 4.5V to the WellWell device. A 10% tolerance, these days? Of course, the bench supply was set to 5.0V for testing. Conveniently, because I also want to test a higher input voltage, the supply in testing now has its' output right at 5.25V.

Several days later, I've lost count, nary a beep has been heard from the device. No signs of the lost communication bug, nor the spontaneous reboot bug. I think that I'll be switching the power supply suppliers.

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