Problem when connected with mqtt

[my-reminiscence]

MQTT connects for a while but when it disconnects, it shows failed, rc=-2 error (Error code rc-2 is caused by a network error between the device and MQTT broker). When I comment ws2812fx.service(); in loop() then mqtt stays connected.

[moose4lord]

Elaborate on the hardware you're using and cut/paste your sketch.

[my-reminiscence]

1. When I use the sketch without ws2812fx.service(); in loop() then everything works fine for several hours but when I include ws2812fx.service(); in loop() then MQTT disconnects after few minutes.
2. Then it started to try reconnecting, after several minutes it says "MQTT!: Can't connect to broker after too many attempt, resetting WiFi".
3. After several retries connecting with wifi, it reboots the device.
4. I tried the same ESP01 and ESP12F.

[moose4lord]

Which MQTT library are you using? It would be nice to see your sketch, so that I can try to reproduce the problem on my end.

[moose4lord]

I haven't used MQTT for quite a while, so I installed Nick O’Leary's excellent PubSubClient library and added some WS2812FX code to it's mqtt_esp8622 example sketch. That seemed to work fine for me. I ran the sketch overnight and didn't see any dropped connections or crashes.

Maybe you could try my test sketch and see if that works for you.

#include <ESP8266WiFi.h>
#include <PubSubClient.h>
#include <WS2812FX.h>

#define LED_PIN   D2  // digital pin used to drive the LED strip
#define LED_COUNT  8  // number of LEDs on the strip

// Update these with values suitable for your network.

const char* ssid = "xxxxxxxx";
const char* password = "xxxxxxxx";
//const char* mqtt_server = "broker.mqtt-dashboard.com";
const char* mqtt_server = "broker.hivemq.com";  // public MQTT broker

WiFiClient espClient;
PubSubClient client(espClient);
unsigned long lastMsg = 0;
#define MSG_BUFFER_SIZE	(50)
char msg[MSG_BUFFER_SIZE];
int value = 0;
int inTopicMsgCnt = 0;

WS2812FX ws2812fx = WS2812FX(LED_COUNT, LED_PIN, NEO_GRB + NEO_KHZ800);

void setup_wifi() {

  delay(10);
  // We start by connecting to a WiFi network
  Serial.println();
  Serial.print("Connecting to ");
  Serial.println(ssid);

  WiFi.mode(WIFI_STA);
  WiFi.begin(ssid, password);

  while (WiFi.status() != WL_CONNECTED) {
    delay(500);
    Serial.print(".");
  }

  randomSeed(micros());

  Serial.println("");
  Serial.println("WiFi connected");
  Serial.println("IP address: ");
  Serial.println(WiFi.localIP());
}

void callback(char* topic, byte* payload, unsigned int length) {
  inTopicMsgCnt++;
  // to reduce Serial Monitor clutter, disable printing a line every time a message is received
  // Serial.print("Message arrived [");
  // Serial.print(topic);
  // Serial.print("] ");
  // for (int i = 0; i < length; i++) {
  //   Serial.print((char)payload[i]);
  // }
  // Serial.println();

  // Switch on the LED if an 1 was received as first character
  if ((char)payload[0] == '1') {
    digitalWrite(BUILTIN_LED, LOW);   // Turn the LED on (Note that LOW is the voltage level
    // but actually the LED is on; this is because
    // it is active low on the ESP-01)
  } else {
    digitalWrite(BUILTIN_LED, HIGH);  // Turn the LED off by making the voltage HIGH
  }
}

void reconnect() {
  // Loop until we're reconnected
  while (!client.connected()) {
    Serial.print("Attempting MQTT connection...");
    // Create a random client ID
    String clientId = "ESP8266Client-";
    clientId += String(random(0xffff), HEX);
    // Attempt to connect
    if (client.connect(clientId.c_str())) {
      Serial.println("connected");
      // Once connected, publish an announcement...
      client.publish("outTopic", "hello world");
      // ... and resubscribe
      client.subscribe("inTopic");
    } else {
      Serial.print("failed, rc=");
      Serial.print(client.state());
      Serial.println(" try again in 5 seconds");
      // Wait 5 seconds before retrying
      delay(5000);
    }
  }
}

void setup() {
  pinMode(BUILTIN_LED, OUTPUT);     // Initialize the BUILTIN_LED pin as an output
  Serial.begin(115200);

  ws2812fx.init();
  ws2812fx.setBrightness(8);
  ws2812fx.setSegment(0, 0, LED_COUNT-1, FX_MODE_SCAN, BLUE, 1000);
  ws2812fx.start();

  setup_wifi();
  client.setServer(mqtt_server, 1883);
  client.setCallback(callback);
}

void loop() {
  ws2812fx.service();

  if (!client.connected()) {
    reconnect();
  }
  client.loop();

  unsigned long now = millis();
  if (now - lastMsg > 20000) {  // publish every 20 seconds
    lastMsg = now;

    ++value;
    snprintf (msg, MSG_BUFFER_SIZE, "hello world #%ld", value);
    Serial.print("Publish message: ");
    Serial.println(msg);
    client.publish("outTopic", msg);

    Serial.print("inTopic message count: ");
    Serial.println(inTopicMsgCnt);
  }
}

[my-reminiscence]

I found that when I'm connecting with a mobile hotspot it's working fine but when I connect with a broadband (Airtel Fiber) router then it's occurring. I checked unique device id, client id, hostname but it's happening.

[moose4lord]

Hmmm...I vaguely remember reading about an issue with MQTT disconnect errors being caused DHCP's IP release/renew cycle. Can you try assigning your ESP8266 a static IP address and see if that helps?