WiFi disconnects after a day

[k-janssens]

As title suggests, the WiFi connection stops working after a day or so.
On the EVSE I can see the message "not connected to WiFI", after cycling the power it immediately is back up and running.

There is an AP only a few meters away, rebooting the AP does not work.
Other devices connects without issues with this AP.

[mstegen]

Ok, thanks for the bug report.
i'll see if i can improve the Wifi reconnect functionality.

[fluppie]

Maybe have a look here? https://savjee.be/2020/02/esp32-keep-wifi-alive-with-freertos-task/

[k-janssens]

Not sure why but at the moment I didn't have this problem any more for the past few days

Edit: Spoke too soon ... :)

[cvanlith]

I am not sure if this is related, but my router reports as active host name: SMARTEVSE-99999 (99999 = AP #). Nevertheless I can not reach the controller on that name. The controller can be reached on SMARTEVSE-0000 (0000 = serial #).

[deqw]

See this WiFi disconnects too. Disabling and again enabling WiFi will do. Prefer automatic recovery or not disconnecting at all (or both ;o). Thanks for the good work!

WiFi.setAutoReconnect(true);
WiFi.persistent(true);
Right after connecting to Wi-Fi.
When the connection is lost, it will automatically reconnect.
https://randomnerdtutorials.com/solved-reconnect-esp32-to-wifi/

[Fixh1]

I allso have the disconnecting wifi-problem. I'll try the :
WiFi.setAutoReconnect(true);
WiFi.persistent(true);
And see if it gives some improvement.

[deqw]

@Fixh1 The problem was finally solved here: https://github.com/serkri/SmartEVSE-3
So maybe you take a look what was done there to solve this WiFi problem and update the code here too.

[mstegen]

I have tried the
WiFi.setAutoReconnect(true);
WiFi.persistent(true);
but it did not work, the controller would not automatically reconnect anymore.

I have not experienced wifi issues myself, so difficult to test.

[Fixh1]

Hi @deqw,

Is it the disconnect handling that causes the problems, or the websocket part?
The first part is fairly easy, the last part is quit a lot of work...

[Fixh1]

Hi @mstegen ,

I have experience a lot of problems with the WiFi, so testpossibilities enough :-(
I have build the SmartEVSE into an existing housing made from aluminium, so the Wifi is sometimes very poor.
Is it possible to connect an external antenna to the ESP32-WROOM? I've seen a youtube video where they connected an SMA connector.

[deqw]

@Fixh1 I think they got rid of the websocket code in that serki fork, so if that is indeed the case it is the handling.
Maybe @k-janssens can shine a light on that.

[Fixh1]

Yesterday I did a fruitless attemp with this code:

WiFi.onEvent(onWifiEvent);

void onWifiEvent(WiFiEvent_t event) {
switch (event) {
case WiFiEvent_t::ARDUINO_EVENT_WIFI_STA_GOT_IP:
_Serialprintf("Connected to AP: %s\nLocal IP: %s\n", WiFi.SSID().c_str(), WiFi.localIP().toString().c_str());
break;
case WiFiEvent_t::ARDUINO_EVENT_WIFI_STA_CONNECTED:
_Serialprint("Connected or reconnected to WiFi\n");
break;
case WiFiEvent_t::ARDUINO_EVENT_WIFI_STA_DISCONNECTED:
if (WIFImode == 1) {
_Serialprint("WiFi Disconnected. Reconnecting...\n");
//WiFi.setAutoReconnect(true); //I know this is very counter-intuitive, you would expect this line in WiFiSetup but this is according to docs
//look at: alanswx/ESPAsyncWiFiManager#92
//but somehow it doesnt work reliably, depending on how the disconnect happened...
WiFi.reconnect(); //this works better!
}
break;
default: break;
}
}

But that did not help. The connection is lost again.
Tonight I'll have a look at the websocket.
I think I will just remove it, and put all the variables in at generation of the page.
See if that stabilizes the connection.
The RSSI was -90, so very poor I think.

[Fixh1]

The good news is that the thing is still charging the car.
By the way, I got a communication error this morning: The Irms was not received anymore via the ModBus.

[mstegen]

I hope the connection issues were solved. As the current software version is based on Serkri/Dingo35's work, and i have not seen this issue mentioned anymore, i'll close this issue.