Problem with GPIO and dew heater after upgrade

[gostnghost]

I've just upgraded to v2024.12.06_03 from v2023.05.01_05 and having some problem controlling my dew heater after upgrade.

I have two custom buttons to turn heater on or off

Code for creating the buttons looks like this

# Type	success_message	command                                     Color   FA icon     Button_Label
button	Dew heater turned on	/home/pi/dew-heater/heater_ON.py	green	circle-up	Heater ON
button	Dew heater turned off	/home/pi/dew-heater/heater_OFF.py	red	circle-down	Heater OFF

These buttons worked on version 2023 but after upgrading to 2024 they've stopped working. I get this error when pressing the buttons

'/home/pi/dew-heater/heater_ON.py' failed:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/home/pi/dew-heater/heater_ON.py", line 6, in
GPIO.setmode(GPIO.BCM)
File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/RPi/GPIO/__init__.py", line 525, in setmode
_chip = _check(lgpio.gpiochip_open(int(chip_num)))
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/lgpio.py", line 645, in gpiochip_open
return _u2i(handle)
^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/lgpio.py", line 458, in _u2i
raise error(error_text(v))
lgpio.error: 'can not open gpiochip'

The heater_ON.py file looks like this:

#!/usr/bin/python3

# your code goes here

import RPi.GPIO as GPIO
GPIO.setmode(GPIO.BCM)
GPIO.setwarnings(False)
GPIO.setup(26,GPIO.OUT)
GPIO.output(26,GPIO.LOW)

# next line has a tab
tab = "\t"
status = "ON"
statusFile = "/home/pi/dew-heater/dewheater_status.txt"

with open(statusFile, 'w') as outfile:
    outfile.write("data")
    outfile.write(tab)
    outfile.write("0")      # change if you want a timeout
    outfile.write(tab)
    outfile.write("Dew heater status")
    outfile.write(tab)
    outfile.write(status)

If i run the heater_ON.py or heater_OFF.py scripts manually in a terminal they work and the relay changes, but not when pressing the buttons. Any suggestions on what could be the problem?

/Göran

[EricClaeys]

@Alex-developer,
Any ideas?

[Alex-developer]

Did you do anything other than upgrade allsky?

[gostnghost]

No, just ran the update. Could be that I had some folders in the old Allsky folder that was needed for this. But it's a bit strange since the script works when running manually but not via a button.

[Alex-developer]

No, just ran the update. Could be that I had some folders in the old Allsky folder that was needed for this. But it's a bit strange since the script works when running manually but not via a button.

It is odd as the code its complaining about is all outside of Allsky !!

Just out of interest why have you not upgraded to the latest version? This has the ability to create some support information that would be handy in this case.

Could you please let me know what pi hardware and version of OS you are using, I can then try and reproduce it here

Thanks

Alex

[gostnghost]

I have upgraded to 2024.12.06_04. I realize that this is outside of Allsky, I was mostly curious if anyone else have reported problems with the buttons. Maybe it's a file rights issue, since the scripts are working when running them manually but not when they are run through Allsky buttons. I will look into that.

[Alex-developer]

I have upgraded to 2024.12.06_04. I realize that this is outside of Allsky, I was mostly curious if anyone else have reported problems with the buttons. Maybe it's a file rights issue, since the scripts are working when running them manually but not when they are run through Allsky buttons. I will look into that.

I suspect it is related to the update. Pi's and gpio are very fussy regarding the libraries used.

Try this code (AI generated) and see if it works

#!/usr/bin/python3

import lgpio
import time

# Define GPIO pin and constants
PIN = 26
status = "ON"
statusFile = "/home/pi/dew-heater/dewheater_status.txt"
tab = "\t"

# Open a connection to the GPIO chip
h = lgpio.gpiochip_open(0)  # usually 0 for /dev/gpiochip0

# Set the pin as output and write LOW
lgpio.gpio_claim_output(h, PIN, 0)

# Write to status file
with open(statusFile, 'w') as outfile:
    outfile.write("data")
    outfile.write(tab)
    outfile.write("0")
    outfile.write(tab)
    outfile.write("Dew heater status")
    outfile.write(tab)
    outfile.write(status)

# Cleanup: close the GPIO chip handle
lgpio.gpiochip_close(h)

[gostnghost]

Alex, i tried the code you sent me but it also doesn't work, get this error

'/home/pi/dew-heater/heater_ON.py' failed:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/home/pi/dew-heater/heater_ON.py", line 13, in
h = lgpio.gpiochip_open(0) # usually 0 for /dev/gpiochip0
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/lgpio.py", line 645, in gpiochip_open
return _u2i(handle)
^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/lgpio.py", line 458, in _u2i
raise error(error_text(v))
lgpio.error: 'can not open gpiochip'

The heater relay works fine via the Dew Heater module, so as for my system being automated it works. It is just my custom button that doesn't work as they did before. Don't know if this is something I will bother fixing since the heater works via the module.

[EricClaeys]

@Alex-developer,

Just out of interest why have you not upgraded to the latest version? This has the ability to create some support information that would be handy in this case.

v2024.12.06_03 is currently the latest official release, and its "Getting Support" page and "support.sh" fail for most people. That's fixed in _04 which is why it'll be nice to finish testing _04 so we can release it.

[Alex-developer]

@Alex-developer,

Just out of interest why have you not upgraded to the latest version? This has the ability to create some support information that would be handy in this case.

v2024.12.06_03 is currently the latest official release, and its "Getting Support" page and "support.sh" fail for most people. That's fixed in _04 which is why it'll be nice to finish testing _04 so we can release it.

My bad I read that as v2023 !!!

[EricClaeys]

@gostnghost,
Please follow the instructions on the WebUI's "Getting Support" page and then attach the support log it creates. Alex will probably need to see some of the information it creates.
Thanks - Eric

[gostnghost]

I got this working, it was a permission issue.

[EricClaeys]

@gostnghost,
That's good to hear.
Exactly what did you do to fix it?
Any idea how the permissions got changed?
Some other people have reported permissions problems and we're trying to determine the cause.

[gostnghost]

I just added sudo in front of the script name in the buttons text file. The update maybe switched to an old textfile that didn't have the sudo command.