watchdog – Watchdog Timer

The watchdog module provides support for a Watchdog Timer. This timer will reset the device if it hasn’t been fed after a specified amount of time. This is useful to ensure the board has not crashed or locked up. Note that on some platforms the watchdog timer cannot be disabled once it has been enabled.


Example usage:

from microcontroller import watchdog as w
from watchdog import WatchDogMode
w.timeout=2.5 # Set a timeout of 2.5 seconds
w.mode = WatchDogMode.RAISE
class watchdog.WatchDogMode

run state of the watchdog timer

Enum-like class to define the run mode of the watchdog timer.

RAISE :WatchDogMode

Raise an exception when the WatchDogTimer expires.

RESET :WatchDogMode

Reset the system if the WatchDogTimer expires.

class watchdog.WatchDogTimer

Timer that is used to detect code lock ups and automatically reset the microcontroller when one is detected.

A lock up is detected when the watchdog hasn’t been fed after a given duration. So, make sure to call feed within the timeout.

Not currently dynamically supported. Access the sole instance through microcontroller.watchdog.

timeout :float

The maximum number of seconds that can elapse between calls to feed()

mode :WatchDogMode

The current operating mode of the WatchDogTimer watchdog.WatchDogMode.

Setting a WatchDogMode activates the WatchDog:

import microcontroller
import watchdog

w = microcontroller.watchdog
w.timeout = 5
w.mode = watchdog.WatchDogMode.RAISE

Once set, the WatchDogTimer will perform the specified action if the timer expires.


Feed the watchdog timer. This must be called regularly, otherwise the timer will expire.


Stop the watchdog timer. This may raise an error if the watchdog timer cannot be disabled on this platform.