Problem Using UPS Board w/RPi 3B

[dfcolornet]

I am having troubles with one of the RPi UPS boards. I have NOT yet tried to do
a firmware update, for fear of possible making it worse (since I know that doing
a flash-n-crash can ruin a board). I am posting here because I cannot find a
support e-mail, and am not sure if the problem is hardware or software, or if the
former, how to reset the board using software.

I have one RPi UPS board that is working exactly as expected. The second one is
exhibiting the following problems:

1. Unlike the first, if I shut down the second RPi (sudo shutdown now), and press
   button on the UPS board, it does NOT remove power from the RPi (the red LEDs
   remain on both the UPS board & RPi).

2. Unlike the first, whereby I can press the button on the UPS board to boot the
   RPi, on the second one I have to remove the power and both batteries, then
   re-insert the batteries, and then RPi boots automatically. However, the blue LEDs
   on the UPS do not light until I plug the power back in, even if the batteries
   have a change, put after plugging the power back in then 3 blue LEDs will light
   solid and one will blink. The button on the UPS board appears not to do anything.

3. The Python script always throws a Remote I/O error (the first board will on
   occasion return an error, but seems to only do that when the UPS is reading the
   batteries, as noted by the blue LEDs on the UPS turning off and then back on);
   see error message below.

4. If I insert uncharged batteries (18650s) in with the power plugged in, the
   batteries never charge, but the RPi will attempt to boot immediately with only
   one blinking blue light on the UPS, then fail (presumable because not enough
   power), and then turn off (no red power or green disk LED on the RPi), then a
   few second later it will try to boot again, fail again, and then turn off, and
   it will repeat this continuously every few seconds (I left it overnight, and
   when I removed the batteries and checked them externally, both were dead at
   less than 25%).

I was looking on your Wiki for a 'reset' to restore the UPS board settings,
but could not find anything. I have never tried to update the firmware, and
wanted to check with you first before attempting that (and I have no idea
whether or not that might be successful).

Please advise. Additional details, including my config.txt, below.

Thanks in advance for any guidance you can provide. As I said, I bought
another identical UPS board, which is functioning as expected. I thought
that this one was originally working, but now seems to be completely
non-functional. I thought it was working about a month ago, but not today.

Regards,

David E. Filip
dfilip@colornet.com
+1-212-338-0535

======

The hardware is a Raspberry Pi 3B (1.2, no plus):

Raspberry Pi Details:
Type: Pi 3, Revision: 02, Memory: 1024MB, Maker: Sony

• Device tree is enabled.
  *--> Raspberry Pi 3 Model B Rev 1.2
• This Raspberry Pi supports user-level GPIO access.

======

When I try to run the python script, I always receive an error:

pi@merry:~ $ python3 bin/upsPlus.py

------Current information of the detected Raspberry Pi------

Raspberry Pi Supply Voltage: 5.196 V
Raspberry Pi Current Current Consumption: 993.103 mA
Raspberry Pi Current Power Consumption: 4888.141 mW

-------------------Batteries information-------------------

Voltage of Batteries: 4.208 V
Battery Current (discharge) Rate: -146.098 mA
Current Battery Power Consumption: 478.049 mW

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "bin/upsPlus.py", line 65, in
aReceiveBuf.append(bus.read_byte_data(DEVICE_ADDR, i))
File "/home/pi/.local/lib/python3.7/site-packages/smbus2/smbus2.py", line 433, in read_byte_data
ioctl(self.fd, I2C_SMBUS, msg)
OSError: [Errno 121] Remote I/O error

========

Here is full /boot/config.txt:

For more options and information see

http://rpf.io/configtxt

Some settings may impact device functionality. See link above for details

uncomment if you get no picture on HDMI for a default "safe" mode

#hdmi_safe=1

uncomment this if your display has a black border of unused pixels visible

and your display can output without overscan

#disable_overscan=1

uncomment the following to adjust overscan. Use positive numbers if console

goes off screen, and negative if there is too much border

#overscan_left=16
#overscan_right=16
#overscan_top=16
#overscan_bottom=16

uncomment to force a console size. By default it will be display's size minus

overscan.

#framebuffer_width=1280
#framebuffer_height=720

uncomment if hdmi display is not detected and composite is being output

#hdmi_force_hotplug=1

uncomment to force a specific HDMI mode (this will force VGA)

#hdmi_group=1
#hdmi_mode=1

uncomment to force a HDMI mode rather than DVI. This can make audio work in

DMT (computer monitor) modes

#hdmi_drive=2

uncomment to increase signal to HDMI, if you have interference, blanking, or

no display

#config_hdmi_boost=4

uncomment for composite PAL

#sdtv_mode=2

#uncomment to overclock the arm. 700 MHz is the default.
#arm_freq=800

Uncomment some or all of these to enable the optional hardware interfaces

#dtparam=i2c_arm=on
#dtparam=i2s=on
#dtparam=spi=on

Uncomment this to enable infrared communication.

#dtoverlay=gpio-ir,gpio_pin=17
#dtoverlay=gpio-ir-tx,gpio_pin=18

Additional overlays and parameters are documented /boot/overlays/README

Enable audio (loads snd_bcm2835)

dtparam=audio=on

[pi4]

Enable DRM VC4 V3D driver on top of the dispmanx display stack

#dtoverlay=vc4-fkms-v3d
max_framebuffers=2

[all]
#dtoverlay=vc4-fkms-v3d
#hdmi_force_hotplug=1
dtparam=spi=on

dtparam=i2c_arm=on
device_tree=bcm2710-rpi-3-b.dtb
dtoverlay=i2c-rtc,ds1307

enable_uart=1
#dtoverlay=tft35a:rotate=270
#hdmi_group=2
#hdmi_mode=1
#hdmi_mode=87
#hdmi_cvt 480 320 60 6 0 0 0
#hdmi_drive=2