FONA not sending texts

Adafruit cellular platform - SMS and IoT over celluar

Moderators: adafruit_support_bill, adafruit

Please be positive and constructive with your questions and comments.
Locked
User avatar
Joetrahedron
 
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2021 4:31 pm

FONA not sending texts

Post by Joetrahedron »

We have a FONA 800 set up in my lab connected to an Arduino UNO. Its purpose is to monitor the building power and to text members of the lab if the power ever goes out so that we can come save the equipment. Recently, we needed to replace the SIM card, so I bought a new one; however, the project was built two years ago by someone else, so I didn't know to request a 2G SIM card, and so I don't know what type they gave me; presumably, since it's 2021, it was not a 2G card. We are in Canada, and the card was purchased from Chatr (same as before) who uses the networks owned by Rogers. Nevertheless, when we put it in, the system functioned as normal for a while.

However, the next day, the FONA stopped responding to texts. When I went to check on it, the power light was not lit; it would come on every 30 seconds or so, the network light would blink four times, and then both lights would turn off. The charge light was lit, and the done light was not. Checking a previous forum post suggested that there may be an issue with the lipoly battery (1200 mAh, 3.7 V) or the charging circuit on the shield. I checked the voltage on the battery and it read 0 V. I replaced the battery with a 1150 mAh 3.7V battery which came fully charged, and the system once again functioned and sent texts successfully. However, the next day, that battery had dropped to 3.1 V and it once again was not sending texts. The external power supply we use for the Arduino itself still functions properly, and the battery can even be used to power the Arduino when the switch is flipped from charge to run (by which I just mean the Arduino power LED is lit).

Is there something we can do to test the charging circuitry? Do these tests just already show that it is kaput and should be replaced? Could it be the fault of the SIM card somehow? If the last is true, then I guess we probably just need to upgrade to 3G since Rogers is shutting their 2G network down at the end of the year.

Locked
Please be positive and constructive with your questions and comments.

Return to “FONA”