After integrating ThingSpeak calls, ESP8266 attempts reconnection

[jackmanfam]

RE: Potential compatibility issue w/ latest thinkspeak library

Your library is awesome and it has been working great for me for quite some time. I am testing an integration to ThingSpeak to collect / log data on activity, uptime, stability, etc. Whenever I make a call to ThingSpeak the loop detects that it's disconnected and runs the reconnect() routine. It reconnects fine, but I'm wondering what is causing this and if it's truly disconnected or a symptom of something worse. Because it reconnects fine there is no reason code or anything else I can figure out for debugging.

I made a pool pump controller and really want to work out any stability bugs.

Here are some of the details and pertinent code snips...
ESP8266-12e
Good RF connection (~30dB of SNR); infrastructure reports good stability. (everything is stable until I make a ThingSpeak publish call)

Libraries I'm using:

#include <ESP8266WiFi.h>
#include <PubSubClient.h>
#include <EEPROM.h>
#include <NTPtimeESP.h>
#include <Timer.h>
#include <ThingSpeak.h>

Logic to throw relays and calls to ThingSpeak:

  if (topicStr.equals(poolLightTopic)) {
    if ((char)payload[0] == '0') {
      lightsOff();
    } else {
      digitalWrite(poolLightRelay, HIGH);   // Turn the relay ON
      client.publish("home/outLog", "poolHouse Light ON");
      //set a timer to turn after after payloadInt minutes
      timerID = timeClock.after((payloadInt * 60 * 1000), lightsOff);
      ThingSpeak.writeField(myChannelNumber, 5, 1, myWriteAPIKey);
    }
  } else if (topicStr.equals(poolPumpTopic)) {
    if ((char)payload[0] == '0') {
      pumpsOff();
    } else {
      digitalWrite(poolPumpRelay, HIGH);   // Turn the relay ON
      client.publish("home/outLog", "poolHouse Pump ON");
      //set a timer to turn after after payloadInt minutes
      timerID = timeClock.after((payloadInt * 60 * 1000), pumpsOff);
//      ThingSpeak.writeField(myChannelNumber, 1, 1, myWriteAPIKey);
    }
...

...
//example of what is called after the timer throws. This causes a second reconnect, which is consistent
void lightsOff() {
  digitalWrite(poolLightRelay, LOW);
  client.publish("home/outLog", "poolHouse Light OFF");
  ThingSpeak.writeField(myChannelNumber, 5, 0, myWriteAPIKey);
}

In snippet above, when I trigger the light it writes out to ThingSpeak and I get the reconnect() routing kicking in. However, when triggering the pump I commented out the call to ThingSpeak and no error.

Reconnect routine:

void reconnect() {
  // Loop until we're reconnected
  while (!client.connected()) {
    Serial.print("Attempting MQTT connection to "); Serial.print(mqtt_server); Serial.print("...");
    // Attempt to connect
    if (client.connect("poolHouseTest")) {
      Serial.println("connected");
      // Once connected, publish an announcement...
      client.publish("home/outLog", "poolHouse CONNECTED");
      // ... and resubscribe
      client.subscribe(poolLightTopic);
      client.subscribe(poolPumpTopic);
      client.subscribe(poolBoosterPumpTopic);
//      ThingSpeak.writeField(myChannelNumber, 4, 1, myWriteAPIKey);  //thinkspeak will not allow updates faster than 15s, so initial boot will not catch the update. Reconnects should work.
    } else {
      Serial.print("failed, rc=");
      Serial.print(client.state());
      Serial.println(" try again in 5 seconds");
      // Wait 5 seconds before retrying
      delay(5000);
    }
    //delay(500);
  }
}

My loop:

void loop() {

  timeClock.update();
  if (!client.connected()) {
    reconnect();
  }
  client.loop();

}

Would love to know if others have encountered this. I'm trying to figure out how to capture more debug info to troubleshoot.

Thanks!

[jackmanfam]

Yes, I had exactly the same experience. I still haven't resolved it. There
is something related to the TCP connection I think. Does anyone know if
there is a bug w/ an ESP maintaining two different open sockets?

On Sat, Sep 10, 2016 at 2:09 AM, Tomoyuki Hisada [email protected]
wrote:

+1

I confronted similar problem without ThingSpeak.
When I commented out all 'client.subscribe()', the connection is alive.
How about you ?

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[jackmanfam]

I responded from my mobile device of someone responding to this issue when I wrote the 2nd reply. Looks like that response is no longer in here, in case anyone is confused.

Has anyone else tried this and had the same issue? I duplicated this using just a super simple program and it doesn't seem to stay connected to MQTT when I make any call to ThingSpeak.

Do any of you have similar disconnect issues when connecting to any other IP destination?

[jackmanfam]

Tomoyuki, did you find a way to resolve this?

On Sat, Sep 10, 2016 at 2:09 AM, Tomoyuki Hisada [email protected]
wrote:

+1

I confronted similar problem without ThingSpeak.
When I commented out all 'client.subscribe()', the connection is alive.
How about you ?

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You are receiving this because you authored the thread.
Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub
#198 (comment),
or mute the thread
https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AMyf0M1CGs-yB91PLasv_Ueuu8Io9IQxks5qonPagaJpZM4J2hcW
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[coelner]

Same problem here. If you disconnect before you publish to thingspeak it works fine. I guess, the esp (or the wificlient object) can handle only one tcp socket.

[Suxsem]

Sorry for the basic question... Are you using two different wificlient objects to initialize the pubsubclient and thingspeak libraries?

[coelner]

In my case I use the same object.

[Suxsem]

Please try to instantiate two different wificlient objects.

[coelner]

Sorry for the delay: It works fine. I guess you can close the topic