I have been using the BeagleBone Black as the platform of my node. These nodes had distributed deployed in rural areas. For several months all of them have been working great. Unfortunately, in some of them, I have observed an unexpected behaviour that shut off.
Let me give you some more information about the node. The power source of the node is a 12 V battery connected to a large solar panel so that constantly charged. The BeagleBone Black power through a step-down converter (output: 5V 5A) that drives the voltage of the 12V battery to the appropriate level. I used two peripheral devices for wireless communication. The former is a 4G USB mobile router for internet connectivity, and the latter is an XBee for RF communication with other nodes.
When I went there to investigate the problem, all of them had the same symptoms
- No LEDs on.
- 5V present at the output of the stepdown.
- The 12V battery was full charged.
Made the device again respond by unplugging/plugging the 5V connector of the BeagleBone Black (the wire from step down to BBB).
I read a similar issue by the James_Littlefield the deferent in my setup is that my power source is a 12V battery. That makes me believe I am safer from brownout situations, am I? However, the problem is still here without an obvious solution. When the beagle bone black is powered off, the only way to be responsive again is to pull power from the device and plug again.
I am searching for the reasons that cause this erratic behaviour or ways to reboot the device without human action.
Any suggestion?