Battery powered ESP8266 not waking up after deep sleep

ESPHome
1

I have an ESP8266 setup to read a capacitive soil moisture sensor, publish the results to MQTT, then go into deep sleep. I have this tested and working when connected to both the LiFePo4 battery and USB for debugging.

I have modified the board by cutting the trace as shown in this video at the 3:40 minute mark.

When monitoring the logs wirelessly, the board never comes back online after going into deep sleep, and new values are never published to the MQTT broker.

Here is the configuration yaml:

esphome:
  name: zz-plant
  friendly_name: ZZ_Plant
  on_boot:
    priority: -100.0
    then:
      - script.execute: update_sensors
      - script.wait: update_sensors
      - script.execute: deep_sleep_evaluation


esp8266:
  board: d1_mini

# Enable logging
logger:

# Enable Home Assistant API
#api:
  #encryption:
    #key: !secret zz_plant_api

mqtt:
  broker: 192.168.86.87
  username: mqtt
  password: !secret mqtt_psk
  port: 1883
  birth_message:
  will_message:

ota:
  password: !secret ota_update_psk

wifi:
  power_save_mode: LIGHT
  networks:
  - ssid: !secret wifi_ssid
    password: !secret wifi_password
  manual_ip:
    static_ip: 192.168.86.94
    gateway: 192.168.86.1
    subnet: 255.255.255.0
    dns1: 192.168.86.1
  fast_connect: on

  # Enable fallback hotspot (captive portal) in case wifi connection fails
  #ap:
    #ssid: "Zz-Plant Fallback Hotspot"
    #password: !secret fallback_network_psk

deep_sleep:
  id: deep_sleep_enabled
  #run_duration: 10sec
  sleep_duration: 1min

#binary_sensor:
#  - platform: homeassistant
#    id: disable_deep_sleep
#    entity_id: input_boolean.disable_deep_sleep

text_sensor:
  - platform: mqtt_subscribe
    id: disable_deep_sleep
    topic: esphome/ota  

script:
  - id: deep_sleep_evaluation
    mode: queued
    then:
      - if:
          condition:
            text_sensor.state:
              id: disable_deep_sleep
              state: "ON"
          then:
            - logger.log: 'Deep Sleep Disabled'
            - delay: 1s
          else:
            - deep_sleep.enter: deep_sleep_enabled
      - script.execute: deep_sleep_evaluation
  - id: update_sensors
    then:
      - output.turn_on: sens_power
      - delay: 500ms
      - component.update: soil_moisture
      - delay: 200ms
      - output.turn_off: sens_power


sensor:
  - platform: adc
    pin: A0
    name: "Soil Moisture"
    id: soil_moisture
    unit_of_measurement: "%"
    device_class: moisture
    state_class: measurement
    accuracy_decimals: 0
    update_interval: never
    icon: mdi:water-percent
    filters:
    - calibrate_linear:
        - .815 -> 0.00
        - .48 -> 100.00
    - lambda: |
        if (x < 0) return 0; 
        else if (x > 100) return 100;
        else return (x);

output:
  - platform: gpio
    pin: D6
    id: sens_power

I also do have D0 (GPIO16) jumpered to RST, so I do not believe this is the problem.

Please let me know if I can provide any more information!

2

To add some more information, I hooked the sensor up to my lab bench power supply instead of the battery in case the battery couldn’t provide enough current. Even with this, the ESP does not wake up from deep sleep when running on 3.3V.

Watching the current on the power supply, the device pulls ~70mA when on, something less than 1mA when in deep sleep, and ~30mA when in this errored mode of not waking up from deep sleep.

Is this a known issue? and if so is there a way to fix this?

3

I was able to fix my sensors!

At least for my boards, cutting the trace as in the video I linked actually keeps the board from waking from deep sleep. Along with this, it doesn’t seem to change the quiescent current in deep sleep.