EmonPI Upgrade

Tim_Meadows · 2019-05-31T13:37:29.181Z

Hi,

Hopefully a simple question.
I’m thinking of upgrading my EmonPI. It has a couple of issues (LCD is stuck, and it won’t update from Emoncms) and I was thinking of starting again from the latest SD Card image.

I purchased the EmonPI back in July 2015, so I am assuming that it is a Pi 2 B. I have a PI 3 B+ in the house that is just being used to display the Node Red dashboard on a screen. So, my questions are:

Can I just replace the PI currently in the EMonPI with the PI 3 I have, or are there any physical changes that would stop me?
If I can, Should I - I’m assuming there would be a performance increase, but I haven’t noticed it being slow…
Is emonSD-30Oct18 the image to go for?
Is it just a case of backing up from the Emoncms backup menu, and the Node Red files?

Is there anything else I need to think about?

Many thanks in advance.

Tim

borpin · 2019-06-01T09:54:18.290Z

Tim_Meadows:

If I can, Should I - I’m assuming there would be a performance increase, but I haven’t noticed it being slow…

I don’t think there is any real need to do this.

Tim_Meadows:

Is emonSD-30Oct18 the image to go for?

Yes and no. We are just in the process of generating some new scripts for installing emoncms and I suggest holding off for a couple of weeks if there is no desperate need for the update. There are a couple of issues with that image. The scripts will work off a vanilla Raspbian Lite image.

Tim_Meadows:

Is it just a case of backing up from the Emoncms backup menu, and the Node Red files?

Yes; but use a new SD Card so you have a roll back strategy!

I also cannot remember of Node-Red was installed on that image (check the release notes).

Tim_Meadows · 2019-06-01T14:10:22.222Z

Thanks Brian,

I had a quick play this morning, and tried using my Pi3.
It worked, but the Pi2 didn’t have the power to run the NodeRed Dashboard so I rolled it back.

I’ll wait for the new script process and give it another go with that. Will it be ‘announced’ on here when it is done?

I now have a good idea of how to get a new image going, so will be ready to go when it is available!

Thanks for your help.

Tim

Thelmike · 2020-05-09T16:30:57.340Z

Tim_Meadows:

I had a quick play this morning, and tried using my Pi3.

Did you indeed run your emonPi with the Pi3? Everything fitted inside?

I read that emonSD-17Oct19 does work with Pi3 and up.
I suppose then that Pi2B will not…

borpin · 2020-05-09T16:47:36.366Z

I’m running emonCMS on an RPiZ quite happily. Add in other things and it will struggle. A Pi2B should be fine just running emonCMS.

Thing to watch with the emonSD is it fiddles with the clock speed that the older Pis & the Zero don’t like.

Pi 2B and the Pi 3 are the same form factor IIRC so a strainght swap (I could be wrong).

Bill.Thomson · 2020-05-09T22:30:58.549Z

borpin:

Pi 2B and the Pi 3 are the same form factor IIRC

They are. (I’ve got a couple of each)

borpin · 2020-05-10T09:13:03.291Z

I never bought a Pi3 - always felt the gain for the cost didn’t merit the investment over the Pi 2B+.

Thelmike · 2020-05-10T12:03:16.339Z

Thanks guys.

I will give it a try and see how long the history gap is…

Robert.Wall · 2020-05-10T12:57:03.826Z

Thelmike:

I suppose then that Pi2B will not…

Yes it will, but it needs a small change, Feed from one input stops updating, others feeds continue to work - #9 by borpin

borpin · 2020-05-10T13:21:08.982Z

Robert.Wall:

Yes it will, but it needs a small change

I’ve raised it as a new topic again. Not sure why we fiddle with the frequencies in the first place.

Arm_freq variables emonHub

Continuing the discussion from Feed from one input stops updating, others feeds continue to work: @Bill.Thomson had a good suggestion here. @TrystanLea, Why do we fiddle with the frequencies? Can this be implemented so the emonSD works with all variants of the Pi out of the Box.

Robert.Wall · 2020-05-10T14:26:06.600Z

borpin:

Not sure why we fiddle with the frequencies in the first place.

Me neither. But if we have to, then if it’s at all possible to detect the hardware reliably, why does the user have to find out there’s a problem, search the forums/Google/S.O. to find a fix, and then find the file to edit and edit it to do the change manually?

Bill.Thomson · 2020-05-10T17:43:02.609Z

Robert.Wall:

why does the user have to find out there’s a problem,…

Because despite being suggested almost a year ago, as a means to help avoid issues like this,
the two sections in /boot/config.txt don’t deal with the CPU frequency.
i.e. the suggestion was never implemented. The CPU freq is “hard coded” to 1200 MHz

One section is for the Pi4. It deals with video. (framebuffer)
The other section deals with disabling bluetooth.

Taken from /boot/config.txt emonSD-17Oct19 only the relevant lines are shown.

#uncomment to overclock the arm. 700 MHz is the default.
arm_freq=1200
gpu_mem=16

[pi4]
# Enable DRM VC4 V3D driver on top of the dispmanx display stack
dtoverlay=vc4-fkms-v3d
max_framebuffers=2

[all]
#dtoverlay=vc4-fkms-v3d
dtoverlay=pi3-disable-bt

If instead, the file looked similar to this:

[pi4]
arm_freq=1500
dtoverlay=vc4-fkms-v3d
max_framebuffers=2

[pi3+]
arm_freq=1400

[pi3]
arm_freq=1200
arm_freq_min=600
dtoverlay=pi3-disable-bt

[pi2]
arm_freq=900
arm_freq_min=600

[pi1]
arm_freq=700

[pi0]
arm_freq=1000

[all]
gpu_mem=16

There shouldn’t be any frequency issues.
More info at: Raspberry Pi Documentation - Configuration

borpin · 2020-05-10T20:14:50.148Z

In addition the emonScripts hard code the change via SED as well.

github.com/openenergymonitor/EmonScripts

Changes to arm_freq problems with PiZero install

opened 11:22AM - 01 May 20 UTC

closed 08:47PM - 21 Jan 21 UTC

borpin

https://github.com/openenergymonitor/EmonScripts/blob/f1a322ea8049278eff957e39e6…434ca693f03766/install/emonsd.sh#L53 This line causes a problem with a PiZero install.

Thelmike · 2020-05-13T10:07:40.958Z

Replacing the Pi2B with a Pi3 worked out fine! It even makes Emoncms more reactive, for instance when looking at the history. Specially ‘Show all’ (4y data) is much faster now.

USB Import did not work.

=== USB Emoncms import start ===
2020-05-13-10:13:05
Backup module version:
    "version"      : "2.2.3"
EUID: 1000
Reading /opt/emoncms/modules/backup/config.cfg....
Location of data databases: /var/opt/emoncms
Location of emonhub.conf: /etc/emonhub
Location of Emoncms: /var/www/emoncms

Scanning for USB card reader:
- Found: /dev/disk/by-id/usb-USB_2.0_SD_MMC_Reader_842341670035-0:0 at /dev/sda
- No card reader found on sdb
- No card reader found on sdc
USB drive not found

I did the fsck, but that did not help.
Instead I did the manual import of an older backup…

borpin · 2020-05-13T10:33:01.667Z

Thelmike:

USB Import did not work.

Check the other topics on that subject. It is possible. @TrystanLea

Thelmike · 2020-05-13T11:27:08.927Z

Thanks for pointing @borpin .
I was looking for ‘USB Emoncms import’ and did not find anything.

borpin · 2020-05-13T11:35:19.458Z

Try usb import

Thelmike · 2020-05-13T11:46:39.307Z

That’s what I did, and found the solution.
Made it work.
Emonpi running fine now…

Apparently my remarks are ‘a little too compact’?