One of my Reach units has become very inaccessible through the WiFi using either my phone or my Windows 7 64 bit computer. It is the one that I am using for the rover. It worked perfect last week, then two days later and an hour’s drive from home would not connect. After removing power several times I finally got it working but was unable to collect any fixed data.
Today, I tried again and the results were worse using my home WiFi and checking status using Fing. Fing could see it, but it continued to time out. Inside and about 3 meters from my router it worked after a restart.
Also, I had to reset my WiFi settings to get on my home WiFi network. The Reach device for some reason lost this setting. During the reset, the network and password were still being held by the device open using the IP address that Fing was seeing. The IP address did not change.
My results are so unpredictable, that taking the units to collect Fixed field data makes me think twice about going.
Can you show us a picture of how Reach is situated in your rover setup?
I have noticed a performance difference if I have Reach’s wifi antenna facing the wrong way. At other times it can be affected by near metallic objects such as the tripod mount, ground plane, etc.
Back at home when downloading logs, sometimes I have had interference problems where it is almost impossible to load the ReachView app in my web browser. To fix that, I’ve done things like:
- move both Reach units to slightly different spots and adjust their wifi antenna orientation.
- move or stand up the wireless router box so that it faces on a different angle
- reboot reach or the router
After one or two adjustments like that, usually the ReachView app loads quickly and the log downloads are fast.
Bide,
Thank you for getting back with me and for your experience.
I had the 3DR radio taped to the Reach unit with electrical tape and Velcro.
I cannot send you a picture of that configuration, because I removed the tape and separated the radio and the Reach.
When I powered up the Reach used as the rover. It connected in on a few seconds after it had finished it’s startup sequence.
More than likely, connecting the two units together blocked some of the WiFi signal and severely limited the range.
Here are a few pictures of the Reach and radio inside the mount after I removed the tape and disconnected the units.
Bide,
I consider that this issue is solved, so thanks again for your help.
I think that my mount needs to be a little larger so that I have more room inside to position the Reach and the radio to avoid this issue.
Larry’s brother, Rolly, 3D printed the mounts using nylon which is very tough. Therefore they are one of a kind. The next ones will be larger to accommodate these changes.
Hopefully, my next trip to the field will be more successful at getting “fixed” data collection.
Ray
I see what you mean about the space. Still, I am jealous of your cool yellow rover head.
It appears that Reach’s wifi antenna was facing the 3DR radio. I was concerned about this too and I installed mine in a bigger box with more space. I have no problems with this setup, and perhaps they could be installed closer together:
p.s. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe the wifi antenna to be at bottom left corner below the word “What”.