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Model: BPI R1
Firmware Version: OpenWrt Chaos Calmer 15.05-rc3 / LuCI Master (git-15.233.47308-791ca8b)
Kernel Version: 3.18.19

Other images on this same hardware had various methods to monitor the AXP209's battery port, so a script could check it every so often and provide a basic UPS service:

  • If I remember right, an earlier version of OpenWRT had a sensors command that would print several things including the internal battery status.
  • The Lubuntu image can read /sys/class/power_supply/battery/uevent.
  • This wiki says that OpenWRT can read either of these files:
    • /sys/devices/platform/sunxi-i2c.0/i2c-0/0-0034/axp20-supplyer.28/power_supply/battery/current_now
    • /sys/power/axp_pmu/battery/amperage

But this OpenWRT image has no sensors command, and all of these paths have problems:

  • /sys/class/power_supply/ exists, but is empty according to ls
  • /sys/devices/platform/ exists and has stuff in it, but sunxi... isn't one of them
  • /sys/power/state is an empty file, and the only thing in that directory (no axp_pmu)

dmesg | grep axp returns:

[    0.991670] axp20x-regulator axp20x-regulator: regulators node not found
[    1.021570] axp20x 0-0034: AXP20X driver loaded

Does this image actually not have access to the AXP Power Management Unit?
Or is there something missing such that "the regulators aren't found" despite the driver loading?

AaronD
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  • I have a R1 router. The cheap wifi chipset is unusable and its bugs make the whole machine unstable. OpenWRT also has made no efforts to patch it, and uses the standard one that comes with the kernel last time I looked. Worse yet, I perused the file system that comes with OpenWRT given by sinovoip(think they forked and changed names), and it is full of local chinese configurations to evade the China´s Green Dam aka the Great Firewall of China by default. God knows what else they have done with it. I have given up both on using it as an wifi router and using OpenWRT. – Rui F Ribeiro Oct 12 '16 at 08:49
  • Ended up extracting physically the wifi chipset and using it as a cheap SoHo ethernet router/home server with Armbian. Btw, the R1 is a Lamobo product rebranded into the Banana brand. If you want to use it as a wifi router you will have to buy a USB stick; I had a ralink, but I ended up buying a TP-Link Archer C2, installed openWRT on it and using it as my home AP. – Rui F Ribeiro Oct 12 '16 at 08:54
  • @RuiFRibeiro: Yeah, this is more of a "hidden PC + network" application that will usually not see an uplink at all. It's for a portable sound system to provide a WiFi network for all the musicians and the Front-of-House Engineer to control the digital mixer via ethernet. Toss in some local recording/playback functions and live streaming to/from the sound guy's laptop, and that's about it. The UPS function is to gracefully stop the recording and shutdown while we toss it in the bus to go to the next show. – AaronD Oct 12 '16 at 09:10
  • I've seen some issues already with the WiFi dropping lots of traffic after a few minutes while still indicating connected. Blinking the airplane-mode switch on the WiFi client gets the connection back for another few minutes, but that's still unacceptable for a live gig. I noticed on one of the forums that there's a much better WiFi module that could be swapped with some hot air. My jury is still out on whether that's worth it or not. – AaronD Oct 12 '16 at 09:11
  • I have lost weeks onto it...it is not worth it. See this http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/252210/wi-fi-problems-using-asus-usb-n13-adapter and this http://forum.armbian.com/index.php/topic/136-lamobo-r1-wifi-unstable-in-ap-host-mode-better-buy-a-good-wifi-dongle-with-proper-linux-support/ Avoid Sinovoip OS images, they are just a botched job. – Rui F Ribeiro Oct 12 '16 at 09:15
  • Someone indeed soldered a ralink one with success. I would prefer a stick, as it has better noise protection, and does not involve a soldering iron. A ralink dual band USB stick can be bought for around 8USD in aliexpress. The internal chip is on top of USB, so no loss of performance here, just the inconvenience of having the USB stick protruding out of the box. I advise as an alternative the Archer C2 with AC wifi, though for business use you may want more advanced (and expensive) hardware. (Clearfog Pro) – Rui F Ribeiro Oct 12 '16 at 09:25
  • @RuiFRibeiro: I'm repeatedly tempted to go with an off-the-shelf router and put OpenWRT on it like you did...but then I keep remembering that our shutdown procedure is to just yank the power, toss it in the bus, and drive off, so it really needs a backup battery to properly and automatically shutdown with. I've never seen a router that has that, so it looks like I'm back to the Banana Pro that I pretty much had working except for a similar QoS issue on WiFi...but with an external USB adapter this time. – AaronD Oct 12 '16 at 10:22
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    It might actually work out better anyway because the Pi can be buried in the box and the USB WiFi adapter extended to the outside. – AaronD Oct 12 '16 at 10:23
  • Very valid comments, just a quick note the Archer C2 has a button on the back; though it wont do any good if people really just yank cables. I have console access to OpenWRT on it, and have somewhat modified part of the default installation. – Rui F Ribeiro Oct 12 '16 at 10:25

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