esp8266-weather-clock-opensource/CHANGELOG.md

Changelog

All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.

The format is based on Keep a Changelog, and this project adheres to Semantic Versioning.

[1.9.2] - 2026-01-06

Fixed

• CRITICAL: WiFi credentials no longer cleared on connection failure
  • Previous behavior erased SSID/password after failed connection attempts
  • Now credentials persist indefinitely through WiFi outages
• OTA update credential loss issue (SDK credentials now tried first, then EEPROM)

Added

• WiFi Resilience: Infinite retry with exponential backoff (5s → 10s → 20s → ... → 5min max)
• Fallback AP: "TJ56654-Setup" enabled after ~5 min of failed attempts
  • Device continues retry attempts while AP is active (dual STA+AP mode)
  • AP automatically disabled when WiFi reconnects
• "No WiFi" display: Shows retry countdown instead of numeric counter
• "!" indicator: Shown in date line when WiFi is disconnected
• SDK credentials support: Tries WiFiManager-stored credentials first

Changed

• Clock continues running with last synced time during WiFi outages
• Improved user experience during network failures
• Removed aggressive credential clearing behavior

Network Activity

• NTP sync: 1 hour interval (pool.ntp.org:123 UDP)
• Weather fetch: 30 min interval (api.open-meteo.com HTTP)
• mDNS: continuous (224.0.0.251 UDP multicast)
• ~50 requests/day total

[1.9.1] - 2026-01-03

Fixed

• CRITICAL: WiFi startup sequence - synchronous connection in setup() to ensure proper initialization order
• Display blank screen for 10+ seconds on boot (now shows time after ~15 seconds)
• "DNS resolution failed" errors during startup
• Sunrise/sunset labels cut off on 128px screen (removed labels, arrows are self-explanatory)

Changed

• Hybrid WiFi model: synchronous in setup(), async reconnect in loop()
• Display formatting: superscript degree symbol and lowercase 'c' for temperature
• Sunrise/sunset screen now shows daylight duration (e.g., "Day 9h 41m") instead of static "Sun Times" text

Documentation

• Added detailed v1.9.1_HYBRID_FIX.md explaining startup sequence problem and solution

[1.9.0] - 2026-01-02

Added

• Fully async architecture (zero blocking operations in loop)
• Custom async NTP implementation (manual UDP packet handling)
• Async HTTP weather fetch (AsyncHTTPRequest library)
• Exponential backoff retry logic for network failures
• Independent epoch tracking for accurate time between NTP syncs

Changed

• Replaced blocking NTPClient with custom async UDP implementation
• Replaced blocking HTTP weather with AsyncHTTPRequest
• Removed all delay() calls from loop()
• WiFi connection now async (later fixed in v1.9.1)

Performance

• Loop time: 10ms → <1ms (10x improvement)
• Weather fetch: 1-10s blocking → 0ms
• NTP sync: 5-20s blocking → 0ms
• WiFi reconnect: 15s blocking → 0ms
• OTA updates now work during active weather fetching

Technical

• RAM usage: +536 bytes (36,980 → 37,516)
• Flash usage: +1040 bytes (407,500 → 408,540)
• IRAM: 61,987 bytes (94% - stable)

[1.8.0] - 2026-01-01

Security

• CRITICAL: Removed hardcoded WiFi credentials
• Integrated WiFiManager for secure captive portal setup
• Added config validation (magic number check)
• Input sanitization to prevent buffer overflows

Fixed

• IRAM overflow crisis (94% → 70% via ICACHE_FLASH_ATTR)
• NTP interval bug (config value was ignored, always used hardcoded 1 hour)
• Boolean parsing errors in JSON config import/export
• Infinite loop protection in display mode rotation
• Memory leaks from String concatenation in web handlers

Changed

• Web responses now use chunked transfer (eliminated 140+ String concatenations)
• Applied ICACHE_FLASH_ATTR to 26 functions (moved code from IRAM to Flash)
• Improved error handling throughout codebase

Performance

• Peak heap usage reduced by ~8KB
• EEPROM validation prevents loading corrupted config

[1.7.0] - 2025-12-31

Added

• Initial working firmware with correct display support
• NTP time synchronization
• Weather data from Open-Meteo API (free, no API key required)
• OTA update support (web-based and ArduinoOTA)
• Web interface (/, /config, /debug, /update)
• REST API (time, status, weather, config export/import)
• Display rotation (time, weather, sunrise/sunset modes)
• Timezone support with manual DST configuration
• EEPROM configuration persistence

Hardware Discovery

• Identified display as GM009605v4.3 (not TM1637 or TM1650)
• Discovered swapped I2C pins: SDA=GPIO0, SCL=GPIO2
• Switched to Adafruit_SSD1306 library

Replaced

• QWeather API → Open-Meteo (no registration required)
• Proprietary firmware → Open source custom firmware
• Insecure WiFi handling → WiFiManager with timeout

[1.6.0] - 2025-12-30 (unreleased)

Attempted

• TM1650 LED driver support (incorrect - device has OLED)

[1.5.0] - 2025-12-29 (unreleased)

Attempted

• TM1637 7-segment display support (incorrect - device has OLED)

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Version Numbering

• Major version (X.0.0): Breaking changes, incompatible config format
• Minor version (1.X.0): New features, backward-compatible
• Patch version (1.9.X): Bug fixes, no new features

Links

• Full v1.9 Release Notes
• v1.9.1 Hybrid Fix Details
• v1.9.2 WiFi Resilience

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Status: v1.9.2 is production-ready and actively used 24/7.