RFX unable to open serial port (intermittently)

Plugins & Plugin Development USB RFXtrx Transceiver
1

Hi
I have used the plugin in for around a year now and it is brilliant! However, over the last couple of months I am getting a message approx every couple of days o say the RFXCOM has failed to open the serial port. I normally reboot the VERA edge and the device is picked up and normal service resumes. I am running the BETA 3 firmware and this was 100% reliable previously. It has not coincided with any firmware update (the vera is on the latest version). I have enabled logging on the RFXCOM plugin but I do not know how to access the log file.

Please could anyone suggest my next debugging steps. Could the RFXCOM be defective?

2

Is the yellow LED still blinking on the RFXtrx when a sensor or remote is received? This indicates that the RFXtrx is operating.
If the LED blinks the USB interface communication is lost and this could have several reasons:

  • Bad USB power due to a bad power supply or spikes on the power line,
  • Bad USB cable or connection,
  • USB interface hardware defect in the VERA or the RFXtrx.

In most cases it is the first situation and could be solved by using a powered USB hub.

3

Thanks for the reply.
I have already tried a power hub and this made no difference unfortunately. I have tried a new usb lead and again, if anything it is falling over more often. I checked and the rfx is blinking yellow so looks to be receiving messages.

As a work around I have set the Vera to restart a couple of times per day. So if the interface has stopped the restart will cure. However, this is still unreliable. Any other ideas, if you think this is hardware, which should i try to return. Vera or rf?

Thanks again

4

For what it’s worth I’m also having the exactly the same issue. Everything has been working fine until the last couple of weeks, I was wondering if it may have been caused by a FW upgrade to the Vera. Especially given that when I first installed the RFxtra (May '15) I needed a custom FW on the Vera to get the USB port to recognise it.

In my install RFXtra connected directly to Vera USB (no hub).

For the time being I’ve taken to ‘reload engine’ to sort it.

5

Any news on this?

My RFXtrx433 have been working great on a Vera Edge with UI7 for several years now, but I recently started getting a “RFXtrx controller device : Failed to open IO Port” error message (after the Vera state “RFXtrx controller device : Opening IO Port”)

I have updated to the latest files (trunk – RFXtrx Gateway) and I?m running the latest FW version avaliable 1.7.1707.

My RFXtrx433 is directly connected to the Vera Edge.

Reloading the engine does not work. I still get the “Failed to open IO Port” error message.

@lolodomo: Do you know what could be the problem?

6

Still haven’t got my device to work! :frowning:

I have tried connecting it to a computer and run the RFXmngr and the RFXtrx transceiver works fine. I have changed the USB cable.

I have removed the device from Vera, uploaded all the files again and created a new device. Got the same error.

I also contacted Vera support and they downgraded my Vera Edge to FW 1.7.1598 but they still couldn?t get it configured and with the same error (“RFXtrx controller device : Failed to open IO Port”).

EDIT: Sorry for the spamming but I think I solved it. I removed ALL the files from the latest 1.0 version of the plugin, deleted the RFXtrx device, uploaded the beta 3 version and created a new device. I THINK this might have solved the issue of the “Failed to open IO Port” error. Maybe the latest 1.0 version is incompatible with the latest Vera FW?

7

I’m using an USB RFXtrx433 on a VeraPlus and it is working fine. Unfortunately I do not remember what or how I installed it but I would guess I used the latest files from the trunk → [url=http://code.mios.com/trac/mios_rfxtrx/browser/trunk]http://code.mios.com/trac/mios_rfxtrx/browser/trunk[/url]

Just checked my plugin and it says 1.0 for the Version.

8

[quote=“korttoma, post:7, topic:190453”]I’m using an USB RFXtrx433 on a VeraPlus and it is working fine. Unfortunately I do not remember what or how I installed it but I would guess I used the latest files from the trunk → [url=http://code.mios.com/trac/mios_rfxtrx/browser/trunk]http://code.mios.com/trac/mios_rfxtrx/browser/trunk[/url]

Just checked my plugin and it says 1.0 for the Version.[/quote]

Weird! Maybe there is some incompatibility with the FW and v.1.0? What FW are you running on your Vera Plus?

9

I’m on version: 1.7.1754 for the VeraPlus and FirmwareVersion 78 for the USB RFXtrx433 and I do not have the new “E” version of the RFXtrx433, don’t know if this can have anything to do with the issue. Maybe Bert kan comment on this if there is any differance.