iSpindel has gone quiet?

[Victor Churchill]

I put a new battery in my iSpindel recently. Charged it up, popped the battery into the holder, holder into the tube, tube into brew [* this is the edited highlights version].

Eventually the iSPindel stopped sending. Final reading had a battery value of 3.32. It had sent me 128 hourly readings from an initial battery value of 4.18.

I have recharged the unit : switched it off [switch towards the reset pins]; plug in; LED glows red; 3 hours later LED goes blue.

Remove unit from charge cable, turn it on [switch away from reset pins]: expect to see a little blue LED flash on the PCB, see nothing.
Wait for reading to arrive: nothing.
Turn it off & on again: nothing.
Try shorting the reset pins: expect to see repeated blue flash and 'iSpindel' on WiFi: nothing.

I suspect I have an ex-iSpindel. Anything I can do? I have not yet taken the battery out to test it, but the fact that the blue 'charged' LED lights up when it's plugged in to charge kind of indicates to me that the PCB is not dead.

 

[Nucbrewer]

Did you find a solution to this my first one has just done the same. Charges ok but then not a flicker when you switch it on.

 

[Victor Churchill]

No, no response. This is my first unit too. I've just gone back to the old days for the brews I've done since, and I'm now on a reduced alcohol regime due to medication so my brewing is going to be pretty sporadic for the next several months.

 

[MikeW]

You will find the voltage regulator on the pcb runs at 3.3volts. Below that the unit will not work.
More than likely the battery is shot, should it test OK then the pcb is at fault.

 

[Agentgonzo]

My ispindel is in a brew at the moment. But there are two usb ports. The "other one" is the standard ESP2866 port, which I think should allow you to power the device, rather than charge the battery. If that's true, then you can probably pull the sled out, maybe remove the battery and plug the usb cable into the"other" socket. It might power the unit and prove to you whether it's a battery problem or something more substantial.

Do you get any power lights at all on it when it's on ? Either green or red is normal

 

[Victor Churchill]

Thanks MW & AG, I will take another look.

 

[RoomWithABrew]

What software is installed?
I'd charge the battery with a 18650 lion charger.
Then see if it comes back to life.
Ispindel software wont boot if gyro or temp sensor fails.
Gravity Mon software a little more forgiving and can run with the PCB temp sensor rather than the 1820.
The fact it failed after 128 readings suggests big battery drain.
One of my ispindels had battery life about 30 hours, I discovered the gyro had a failed component overheating.
Changed the gyro and it was fine again. The failing component was hot to touch and glowed bright on flir camera.