ESP8266 trouble connecting to api.thingspeak.com, but it's weird

I have a few ESP8266 running various sensor tasks, and sending GET or POST requests to Thingspeak via api.thingspeak.com. They all connect to the household router.

Recently, I became aware of a problem with the devices occasionally timing out when trying to communicate with Thingspeak. For example, here's a bit of code from a basic water level sensor:

 String url = "http://api.thingspeak.com/update?api_key=xxxxxxxxxxxxx&field1=";
url += getdistance();
url += "&field8=";
url += batt;
  http.begin(client, url);
  int httpcode = http.GET();

  Serial.println(httpcode);
  String payload = http.getString();
  Serial.println(payload);

  http.end();

Fairly often, the connection will fail with a -1 httpcode. Sometimes it will run for weeks with no issues and then suddenly stop connecting. If I type the URL in a browser, it will always work immediately. If I connect the ESP to a mobile hotspot, it will also connect immediately with no issues. I can't find any issues at all with the router, and I've fully reset it etc. I've also confirmed the wifi connection between ESP and router is not the problem.

Sometimes one ESP will be running fine, and another will be having connection issues. The next day, the first one will have issues and the other will be fine.

So I added a bit of code to see if I could time the connection:

    server = "api.thingspeak.com"
  timer= millis();
  while(client.connect(server,80)){
      delay(10)}
  t=millis()-timer;
  Serial.print(t);

The devices now connect every time. But the connection can take up to 180 seconds. Some ESP's updating to older channels are much more reliable and connect within a second or two; it seems as though the more recently created channels take longer to connect to.

I'm reaching out here because I can't really think of where to begin trying to fix this. Why does a browser succeed immediately updating a channel with the api.thingspeak url but the ESP takes up to 180 seconds? Why do I not have any problems connecting the ESP via a mobile hotspot? Why does the same device work for weeks then suddenly play up?

I think I've isolated the problem to either the router or the thingspeak api, and I can't find anything wrong with the router.

Might be worth noting that I have an ESP in a heat pump which updates every 15 seconds to thingspeak by MQTT and it hasn't skipped a beat in months so maybe I should upgrade them all to MQTT.

Is the api just that flakey?

Answer 1

[Christopher Stapels]

Also answered here.