ESP8266 Stops Working After A While (Unknown Problem)

Question

have an esp8266.

i'm trying to create a DDNS updater.

it has to wait 5 min then do a GET request to a URL.

Here's my code:

/* Code For DNS Updater.*/

#include <ESP8266WiFi.h>
#include <ESP8266HTTPClient.h>

#define LOOP_TIME 300000

const char* ssid = "SomeSSID";
const char* password = "SomePSWD";

const String address="http://dynamicdns.park-your-domain.com";
const String path="update";
const String pathHost="host";
const String pathPassword="password";
const String pathDomain="domain";


const String dnsName="my-example-host.com";
const String ddnsPassword="my-example-password";
const String updateHosts[]={
    "@",
    "subdomain1",
    "subdomain2",
  };

void setup() {
  Serial.begin(115200);
  connectWiFi();
}

long nextUpdate=0;

void loop() {
  if(nextUpdate<millis()){
    if (WiFi.status() == WL_CONNECTED) {
    updateDNS();
    }else{
      connectWiFi();
    }
    nextUpdate=millis()+LOOP_TIME;
  }
}

void updateDNS(){
  Serial.println("Updating Hosts:");
  for(int host=0;host<(sizeof(updateHosts)/sizeof(String));host++){
    Serial.print(updateHosts[host]+": ");
    String assembledURL=address+"/"+path+"?"+pathHost+"="+updateHosts[host]+"&"+pathDomain+"="+dnsName+"&"+pathPassword+"="+ddnsPassword;
//    Serial.println("Host: "+updateHosts[host]+" URL: "+assembledURL);
    HTTPClient http;
    http.begin(assembledURL);
    http.GET();
    http.end();
    Serial.println("Done");
  }
}

void connectWiFi(){
  WiFi.begin(ssid, password);

  Serial.print("Connecting To ");
  Serial.println(ssid);
  Serial.print("Password: ");
  Serial.println(password);
  Serial.print("Connecting");
  while (WiFi.status() != WL_CONNECTED) {

    delay(500);
    Serial.print(".");

  }
  Serial.println();
  Serial.print("Connected To ");
  Serial.println(ssid);
}

and it stops after a couple of hours - which isnt good for a DDNS updater.

EDIT: maybe it has something to do with my timer. will try an unsigned long instead.

Answer 1

I have had the "stops after a while" too and it turned out to be heap memory consumption and fragmentation that caused not having enough stack and heap space any more.

My solution: check the heap from time to time (in loop) and reboot the node when it comes down to a practical limit.

Alternate: avoid using the String type and other Heap usages.