I have a RPi and Spark that had been running BrewPi for years w/o fail. I hadn’t brewed in quite some time so went to resurrect the system and it wouldn’t work. Found that I had to replace the SD card in the RPi unit so it works good now. Can’t get the Spark to be recognized by the RPi via USB, so I figured the Photon had crapped out. Replaced it with a new Photon unit and thought things were going to be OK but now can’t connect to the Photon/Spark via USB.
The Photon can be configured via my iPhone to connect to my LAN, so that’s OK. Just can’t get it to be recognized via USB. I’ve tried the USB on the RPi and on my iMac w/ no success. I have a new USB cable as well.
I’ve tried to reset the Photon w/o any success, so looking for any ideas to get this system working again.
Not sure what to try next! Any suggestions???
The first step is to try a handful of USB cables. It’s not unknown to have multiple duds lying around.
If that fails, it’s most likely the USB connector on the Spark that’s broken. This is a known weak point on the Spark 2. Fixing this would require soldering a new USB connector onto the board.
Thanks, Bob. I’ve got 4 other cables I’ve tried with no luck. It’s frustrating that not only the original Spark Photon board but also the replacement board are exhibiting the same problem. Funny that they both can reach my wifi LAN but I can’t work with them w/o a USB connection. Any other suggestions other than to replace the Photon yet again?
It’s a design flaw in the photon, and sadly not something that can be fixed in software. The problem was solved/avoided in the Spark 3 and 4 by no longer using a detachable chip with its own connector.