ThingSpeak Channel stopped receiving data since April 13th 2022

My channel had been working fine for over a year until April 13 arrived. I've actually just noticed that the channel has not been updating for the past 4 months.

I have read a few topics on this issue and tried to fix the problem myself but not being a coder I have failed misarably. It seems the issue is related to an update done on ThingSpeak and is related to how spaces are encoded (%20). So here is the code that I presume needs fixing:

// code block for uploading data to Thingspeak website

if (App2 == "THINGSPEAK") {

// Send data to ThingSpeak

WiFiClient client;

if (client.connect(server,80)) {

Serial.println("Connect to ThingSpeak - OK");

String postStr = "";

postStr+="GET /update?api_key=";

postStr+=api_key;

postStr+="&field1=";

postStr+=String(rel_pressure_rounded);

postStr+="&field2=";

postStr+=String(measured_temp);

postStr+="&field3=";

postStr+=String(measured_humi);

postStr+="&field4=";

postStr+=String(volt);

postStr+="&field5=";

postStr+=String(measured_pres);

postStr+="&field6=";

postStr+=String(DewpointTemperature);

postStr+="&field7=";

postStr+=String(HeatIndex);

postStr+="&status=";

postStr+=String(forecast_in_words + ": " + ZambrettisWords + ". " + pressure_in_words + " " + trend_in_words + ". " + accuracy_in_words + " " + accuracy_in_percent + "%25.");// Percentage sign needs to be URL-encoded

postStr+=" HTTP/1.1\r\nHost: a.c.d\r\nConnection: close\r\n\r\n";

postStr+="";

client.print(postStr);

Serial.println("Data written to Thingspeak ...");

}

while(client.available()){

String line = client.readStringUntil('\r');

Serial.print(line);

}

}

Can anyone help me fix this? Thank you.

Answer 1

[Christopher Stapels]

We strongly reccomend using the thingSpeak library for arduino and esp if possible.

I dont see the problem directly. I would reccomend you try removing things one at a time.

For example, you could comment after field 1 and try just writing a set number to ThingSpeak. (here I used 123)

String postStr = "";
postStr+="GET /update?api_key=";
postStr+=api_key;
postStr+="&field1=123";
//postStr+=String(rel_pressure_rounded);
//postStr+="&field2="; 
...
client.print(postStr);

Then add each line back in one at a time to make sure it works.

This line also looks a bit odd

postStr+=String(forecast_in_words + ": " + ZambrettisWords + ". " + pressure_in_words + " " + trend_in_words + ". " + accuracy_in_words + " " + accuracy_in_percent + "%25.");// Percentage sign needs to be URL-encoded

Let us know if you figure out the offending line.

[Paul Lefevre]

Thank you @Christopher Stapels

I tried as suggested the following. I still can't see any data written in my channel.

if (App2 == "THINGSPEAK") {
  // Send data to ThingSpeak 
    WiFiClient client;  
    if (client.connect(server,80)) {
      Serial.println("Connect to ThingSpeak - OK");

      String postStr = "";
      postStr+="GET /update?api_key=";
      postStr+=api_key;
      postStr+="&field1=32";
      //postStr+=String(rel_pressure_rounded);
      //postStr+="&field2=";
      //postStr+=String(measured_temp);
      //postStr+="&field3=";
      //postStr+=String(measured_humi);
      //postStr+="&field4=";
      //postStr+=String(volt);
      //postStr+="&field5=";
      //postStr+=String(measured_pres);
      //postStr+="&field6=";
      //postStr+=String(DewpointTemperature);
      //postStr+="&field7=";
      //postStr+=String(HeatIndex);
      //postStr+="&status=";
      //postStr+=String(forecast_in_words + ": " + ZambrettisWords + ". " + pressure_in_words + " " + trend_in_words + ". " + accuracy_in_words + " " + accuracy_in_percent + "%25.");// Percentage sign needs to be URL-encoded
      //postStr+=" HTTP/1.1\r\nHost: a.c.d\r\nConnection: close\r\n\r\n";
      //postStr+="";
      client.print(postStr);
      Serial.println("Data written to Thingspeak ...");
    }
    while(client.available()){
      String line = client.readStringUntil('\r');
      Serial.print(line);
    }
  }

For what it's worth here is the full code of that project. I only pasted earlier what seemed relevant to me: https://github.com/3KUdelta/Solar_WiFi_Weather_Station/blob/master/Solar-WiFi-Weather-Station-V2.3.ino

Answer 2

[Paul Lefevre]

The author of the code updated it and used the ThinkSpeak library now. It's all working nicely now.