Lost access to a tasmota device

[dac2020]

I've not used some of my tasmota devices in a while so when I came to use a tuya 2-outlet plug I had already converted, it would not come up with the AP. I don't see it on the wifi network. Usually, they would just show up after I plug them in, then I'd use a laptop/pc to reach it at 192.168.4.1.

To get back into it, I did this and I got the AP back.
Using built‑in recovery: power off/on 6–7 times with a couple seconds between toggles; on the next boot it came up showing the wifi page.

What can cause this? Is it because it's been sitting in a drawer for almost a year?