opentherm gateway stops working

[bryan241]

Hi ALL,
I'm using otgw version 4.2.5.
My problem is that the otgw suddenly stops receiving and sending messages. The thermostat shows 'no communication' after a while.
The logging in otmonitor also suddenly stops without any errors.
What would be a good approach to debug this?

Regards,
Bryan

[mike7]

What would be a good approach to debug this?

http://otgw.tclcode.com/debugging.html

[bryan241]

Thanks Mike for the obvious answer, but it is not very helpfull.

I could not find a test on that page that I can do to help me solve my problem.

The otgw is working for a while without any errors. B... and R... messages are received.

The communication stops after a few hours without any errors.

Regards,

Bryan

[mike7]

Electronics is a science about contacts, sorry ....

Does gateway accept commands? Try to send reset command or request a version.
Do you have LEDs connected?
Try to reflash gateway

[emmeesse68]

Last summer my OTGW stopped working in a very similar way.

When it used to happen, it didn't respond to commands (including reset commands).

Since I didn't connect a reset button, I used to pull the plug and reconnect in a few seconds.

Once, it didn't work. I pulled the plug again and reconnected it after half an hour, to no avail. Since it was summer, I didn't need my heating system, so I disconnected the OTGW from boiler and thermostat and set it aside to check later. And forgot the issue. In September, I simply reconnected it and it worked... without touching it.

The only thing I could think of is overheating... the issue happened in a hot week in July, it could have been 30° in my house, I guess it could have been at least 40° in the OTGW plastic box.

Bryan241, is your OTGW placed in some hot place (e.g. close to the boiler)? If it's not an issue having some components at mains voltage exposed, can you try running it with the lid removed to see if it happens?

Is there someone that could deepen the insight of overheating effects over the OTGW circuitry?

Mine is just a guess, but, as I said before, I can't think of another reason why my OTGW would have worked again without anything done...

[bryan241]

I left the case open, but the OTGW is positioned next to the boiler.

This Friday I will try another OTGW which is working fine and stable at the moment (but with another thermostat-boiler combination).
If this OTGW also fails to work stable, it must be either (over)heating or current cable setup or maybe Boiler-Thermostat combination.

BTW I'm using a Honeywell Chronotherm touch and a Vaillant HR solide Plus.

[sincze]

I left the case open, but the OTGW is positioned next to the boiler.

This Friday I will try another OTGW which is working fine and stable at the moment (but with another thermostat-boiler combination).
If this OTGW also fails to work stable, it must be either (over)heating or current cable setup or maybe Boiler-Thermostat combination.

BTW I'm using a Honeywell Chronotherm touch and a Vaillant HR solide Plus.

Interesting Bryan keep us posted.
I recently changed all wiring of the OTGW that solved the issue of not working at all.

Now I have a cronjob that cuts the power and restores it after 5 minutes if I don't receive any updates from OTGW.
I disconnected DOMOTICZ to see if that application is causing all the problems.
I'm running otmonitor on a raspberry that is connected via ethernet to a tplink that servers the OTGW via Ser2Net.

[emmeesse68]

Now I have a cronjob that cuts the power and restores it after 5 minutes if I don't receive any updates from OTGW.

Interesting... what are you using to "cut the power"?

Could be a life saver when you realize your otgw (or another device) is stuck and you can't simply reset by issuing the proper command...

[bryan241]

Hi All, I found my problem.

My cheap Chinese ttl to usb converter stopped communicating when I turn off the tube.
This caused the opentherm gateway to stop communicating with the thermostat and the boiler.

I am now looking for a better solution. Any suggestions?
I'm going to try to add the max 232 and use an rs 232 to usb converter. Might be less influenced by interference.
Anyone successfully connected the opentherm gateway to an esp?

Regards,

Bryan

[sincze]

Now I have a cronjob that cuts the power and restores it after 5 minutes if I don't receive any updates from OTGW.

Interesting... what are you using to "cut the power"?

Could be a life saver when you realize your otgw (or another device) is stuck and you can't simply reset by issuing the proper command...

A well the 'cut' the power is a KAKU switch. So 433 mhz signal will tell it to switch off.
After 3 minutes it will send the ON command and de switch switches on.