Artisan constantly disconnecting

[Moodyanoos]

Roasting on a Probatone 5 using Artisan 3.4 Installed the new version and now it disconnects a couple of minutes into almost every batch. Then needs to be closed down and restarted to reconnect. This is a new issue- any way to remedy? Thanks

[MAKOMO]

Could you please share your artisan-settings.aset file here? Please export your Artisan settings via menu Help >> Save Settings into an artisan-settings.aset file, rename this to end in .txt and upload it here via drag-and-drop into this GitHub comment field in your browser. I will take a look.

[MAKOMO]

Oh, and please tell me which Artisan version did you use before which did not do those disconnects?

[Moodyanoos]

artisan-settings2.txt

[Moodyanoos]

I was on 3,2 and that was when the problems started so i just updated to 3.4 and it is still an issue. Before i was on 2.6 or something?

[Moodyanoos]

Usually it is around 30% of the batches i do cut out - but today it is every batch!

[MAKOMO]

Looks like a pretty standard setup used by many without issues. Do you have a wired connection to the machine or via wireless (WiFi)? I am asking as motors of roasting machines can disturb WiFi communication and lead to communication issues.

Communication is by MODBUS and there haven't been any issues with MODBUS communication from the Artisan side reported for the last few releases and this is the most used protocol.

Only thing you could try is to reduce sampling rate to 2sec (menu Config >> Sampling) and reduce the async alive ping from 5sec to 10sec (menu Config >> Events, under Sampling.

If you attach also your artisan.log file I can check them for any details that might have been logged. For this, click the plus icon in the upper left corner while holding the ALT key. An email should open with the files attached. Send this to [email protected].

[MAKOMO]

Thanks for the log file. I see the communication errors caused by the network or the machine, not Artisan. Artisan sends a request and does not get a response in time. It retries once by default which fails here too.

You can try with an increased UDP/TCP timeout, maybe 0.3 or 0.4s instead of the default 0.2 which might be too tight for your machine and/or increase the number of retries from 1 to 2 (menu Config >> Port, 3rd tab MODBUS).

Please report on the results.

[Moodyanoos]

I have a wired connection, my sampling is already at 1 sec, I have tried reducing the async alive ping as suggested -and will see how that goes before trying to change the UDP/TCP and the number of retries... thanks!

[Moodyanoos]

Success! I put all the parameters back to where they were before i contacted you, then ticked the fetch full blocks and have had my first roast of the day without interruption! Was also my last batch of the day - so will use again on Monday and see if it is still all good! THANK YOU

[MAKOMO]

Thanks for testing this out and for your reporting! I wish you a good weekend.

[Moodyanoos]

So I am back! And still getting disconnections - albeit less than before! Something that occurred to me this weekend - is it possible the new laptop I bought for this is just not up to the job of processing this software fast enough? It's a crappy laptop, cheapest I could buy for new - but I would say it seems to struggle a bit with slow response opening programs or even switching between windows. Sometimes I will type a word and it can take 4 or 5 seconds for it to appear on screen! Time to invest in something better?

[MAKOMO]

Sounds like a problem of your laptop. Artisan requires quite some memory too. Maybe closing all other apps while roasting could help. Or add memory. Or use a reasonable machine. I fear there is nothing we can do about on the software side.

[Moodyanoos]

OK cool, I understand, sounds like i need to upgrade. Are you able to suggest minimum requirements I should look out for in a new laptop given it is for just running Artisan Scope (ideally taking 1 second samples) whilst also running background web browsing? That's about all i do on this machine! Totally understand if that's outside of your remit! ;-)

[Moodyanoos]

Immediate disconnection with change of ping - should i change it back before attempting to change the UDP/TCP etc?

[MAKOMO]

Very strange. The ping needs to be send to the machine every 15sec. 5sec is very conservative. 10sec should do as well. However, if that ping is not received by the machine due to network errors...

Yes reduce the ping again to 5sec.

What happens if you increase the TCP timeout to 0.3 sec (from 0.2sec)?

[Moodyanoos]

Increasing TCP to 0.3 or 0.4 did not help