Can't regain wifi signal

[happydays]

Folks

Quick help issue. Using a stock PV+, I have flown behind buildings or trees a couple of times and lost line of sight while using waypoints. Obviously FPV drops as a result of of losing line of sight, but my issue is that it won't reconnect at all even when in again at very close range. I'm using all the latest upgrades, on an iPhone 5 with iOS7. The wifi indicator on the phone advises that there is no connection at all. I have to land or get really close to establish the connection again. Using waypoints the craft comes back home ok and I can regain control by flicking S1 into Atti and back again.

Strange given that the wifi is only connecting to the repeater which is a few inches away. I haven't bought the wifi boost app yet, but I'm going to to reduce drop (if possible)

Any thoughts?
CBS

 

[DCGOO]

I don't know this will work, but it might help. Before your next flight, you might try a "Reset Network Settings" on your iPhone. That will clear out all the remembered networks from your iPhone and narrow down the search after your Phantom network disappears. Settings -> General -> Reset.

I really doubt the boost app will help much with the "Hidden behind object" problem. It will mainly increase your line of site range. But when you drop behind a building, the signal is just gone.

 

[DCGOO]

Before your next flight, you might try a "Reset Network Settings" on your iPhone. That will clear out all the remembered networks from your iPhone and narrow down the search after your Phantom network disappears.

When the iPhone loses a wifi signal, it automatically tries to recover any Wifi network it has been on before. Most folks have dozens, if not hundreds of networks they have connected to. Resetting Network clears all of that history. Only bad thing is you will have to re-enter any passwords you use when you go back to Real Life.

 

[flyNfrank]

Before your next flight, you might try a "Reset Network Settings" on your iPhone. That will clear out all the remembered networks from your iPhone and narrow down the search after your Phantom network disappears.

When the iPhone loses a wifi signal, it automatically tries to recover any Wifi network it has been on before. Most folks have dozens, if not hundreds of networks they have connected to. Resetting Network clears all of that history. Only bad thing is you will have to re-enter any passwords you use when you go back to Real Life.

I was going to add the same info. Yep, you should be able to go to the bank with DCGOO's advice on this one.

 

[happydays]

Done that already about a week ago. PITA as it wipes all stored wifi passwords. Nightmare.

Still dropping the wifi signal upon disconnection. If I understand this right, the phone connects to the extender on the TX, right - then the extender connects to the airfcraft. If the TX to aircraft signal drops when it goes behind a tree, why would the phone to TX connection drop? Maybe it's the phone/TX connection that is the problem?

 

[BlackTracer]

Done that already about a week ago. PITA as it wipes all stored wifi passwords. Nightmare.

Still dropping the wifi signal upon disconnection. If I understand this right, the phone connects to the extender on the TX, right - then the extender connects to the airfcraft. If the TX to aircraft signal drops when it goes behind a tree, why would the phone to TX connection drop? Maybe it's the phone/TX connection that is the problem?

No I believe it is a 2-stage connection that your device connects to. Although your device is connecting to the extender, the extender-to-phantom must exist for the phone-to-extender-to-phantom to be available. In other words if the extender only is powered on and not the phantom, the wifi network will not be available. So if the phone-to-extender is ok, but the extender-to-phantom is broken, the whole thing is broken. So if you get a "Phantom Connection Broken" black and white triangle with the exclamation point, it will only reconnect if the complete connection from phone-to-extender-to-phantom is complete.

 

[happydays]

Not getting any triangle on the screen, just a rotating dotted circle type thingy, then it goes black and nothing else. On the waypoints screen the aircraft remains in the same position even though it is clearly visible moving across the sky (when it comes out from behind the tree).

 

[cahutch]

... If the TX to aircraft signal drops when it goes behind a tree, why would the phone to TX connection drop? Maybe it's the phone/TX connection that is the problem?

As I understand it, when the Extender loses connection with the Phantom, it disconnects any clients connected to it. It won't allow any connections to the TX until it establishes (or re-establishes) the link to the camera.
It's Annoying. I've had to stand around for several minutes waiting to get the Phantom_xxxx network to even show up so I can connect to it.

I wonder if linuxkidd could help us out with a hack to fix this behavior? There must be some programming in the extender that requires the phantom link to be active to accept client connections. Maybe the programming could be altered.

 

[happydays]

That's why I'm wondering if the booster app might be of use here?

 

[BlackTracer]

Not getting any triangle on the screen, just a rotating dotted circle type thingy, then it goes black and nothing else. On the waypoints screen the aircraft remains in the same position even though it is clearly visible moving across the sky (when it comes out from behind the tree).

I have only used the android app, so tell me what does the iPhone app display if wifi signal is lost? The triangle or just the busy icon? If it displays the triangle when wifi signal is lost then u r not losing wifi in the "normal" way. Something else is going on. Is the scenario u r in a special case where the busy icon is displayed, when in other wifi loss cases you get the triangle?

 

[happydays]

First time I ever got the wifi drop. I haven't seen the triangle at all, just the round circling bar thingy.

When exiting out of the camera page in the app to the home page (camera, album, news, settings) there is no wifi listed in the top bar section. It is blank - usually indicates the phantom wifi identifier. Then I have to take the craft in really close to re-establish the wifi connection again. PITA.

 

[wattage]

That's why I'm wondering if the booster app might be of use here?

In my experience it isn't really. I lost connection in the below video at 2,000 ft even although it was quite stable up 'til then and it dropped as I was getting closer to home. It didn't reconnect until it was 400 ft away. This was running V1 of the booster app.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Sqx0tghilk[/youtube]

 

[DCGOO]

That's why I'm wondering if the booster app might be of use here?

The booster app (as I understand it, I've never tried it) allows the extender/phantom to be configured for more transmitter power. But all the transmitter power in the world will not be effective enough to penetrate a building. Now, if you removed the extender and placed it high above the obstacle in question, it would probably work. Line of site is critical for 2.4 GHz to work. You can get farther away with the boost app maybe. But not behind a building or trees. The 5.8 GHz control link is even more critical. But I guess you were flying autonomously at that point.

 

[slothead]

That's why I'm wondering if the booster app might be of use here?

The booster app (as I understand it, I've never tried it) allows the extender/phantom to be configured for more transmitter power. But all the transmitter power in the world will not be effective enough to penetrate a building. Now, if you removed the extender and placed it high above the obstacle in question, it would probably work. Line of site is critical for 2.4 GHz to work. You can get farther away with the boost app maybe. But not behind a building or trees. The 5.8 GHz control link is even more critical. But I guess you were flying autonomously at that point.

I'm not sure that I fully agree with this conclusion. in my house my computers penetrate as many as 9 or 10 household walls to get to my wifi router. If it is a heavily metalized building (a Faraday cage effectively), then I can understand the booster not helping, but any non-metallic (tree, barn, wooden house, etc.) why wouldn't the booster have the same effect as my computers/wifi router propagating the signal through my house? Is there something I am overlooking here?

 

[cahutch]

Yeah, given enough power you can get through almost anything but going behind an obstacle causes a large drop in signal strength.

External walls aren't the same as internal walls. In the US most external walls on newer construction have foil backed insulation and in my case I have cement siding so my WiFi drops significantly outdoors.
My neighbor has Stucco which will kill WiFi dead in it's tracks. Even window glass has a metal film to block UV but it also kills high frequency radio signals.

 

[flyNfrank]

The Booster app or should I say any added power will extend the distance before there is a connection broken or lost signal. I did not see anything wrong with the re-connect in the above video. Looked normal to me. Not sure why it lost connection, but the the reboot went ok in my opinion.

But....I did notice one thing that threw up a red flag. And that was the fact that y ou have the video setup to reconnect if a connection is lost. That right there alone is not good. I'll try some analogy that I hope anyone reading this can follow. When you are flying at any kind of distance, the most important thing is to do whatever possible to maintain the clean clear point of view between both the quad and controller. Running the video camera has a demand on the system more then anything else. When set to continue recording when a connection is restored, is like having a week battery in your vehicle and having your air conditioner on and set to high. When attempting to start the vehicle, it going to stress the battery even more thus reducing your chance of getting it to start at all. Btw, have you heard your motor speed change when video is pressed to activate? Hover somewhere in ear distance and then press to activate video. So as you know, when a connection is lost, the important thing of all is to at least get another connection, and to get it live asap. You can always come back and click on the video to start again after the fact.

I'm not totally sure what is going on with it not wanting to reconnect to your wifi source. But I do know that if was there in person to help figure it out, the 1st thing I would do is clear all networks from the wifi list except the one for your quad. And fly and test the connection, ect.

 

[happydays]

The last instance when it occurred was when I was 25 miles away from home in an unknown location so there were no other wifi networks that I had connected to previously.

 

[AHill]

The last instance when it occurred was when I was 25 miles away from home in an unknown location so there were no other wifi networks that I had connected to previously.

I was in a new location, lost connection and the Phantom connected to an unlocked Wi-Fi signal (I had never connected to previously) and the screen switched to ground station screen, didn't know what was going to happen. I could barely see Phantom, I was able to bring it closer but it stayed connected to other Wi-Fi with no info on screen from Phantom, just Ground Station screen. When I figured out what had happened I was able to reconnect to range extender but it took some time. I flew very near and cautiously for the rest of the trip and it didn't happen again.

I had loaded ground station software the day it came out and left the next day for a 2 week sailing trip so I had no Wi-Fi to see if any others had that same problem or if they had a fix for it in next software version. When I got home there was an upgrade to software, I loaded it and did not see any others that had same problem so I dismissed it as a fluke or it may have been fixed in new software.

Is there any way to keep it from trying to connect to other unlocked Wi-Fi signals if it loses connection (Android- Nexus 7 new version)? I know other have said to have it forget known Wi-Fi's but it still tries to connect to unlocked signals. I only use tablet for Phantom display so only need to connect to other Wi-Fi is to upgrade software.

 

[cahutch]

It happened to me last night. Got out to 698 meters and lost WiFi but still had TX. Initiated failsafe and it came home but never reconnected video even after it was on the ground at my feet.

I checked later, and though I didn't realize it at the time, my phone had connected to a different WiFi network when I lost the phantom.
I wish there was a way to prioritize WiFi networks in iPhone so the phone would switch back to the most preferred network when it's back in range. Instead of staying on whatever network it's on.

In the mean time, I will remember to "forget" any other WiFi networks in the vicinity before a flight.
And if I lose WiFI, I'll take a moment re-orient the antenna, check the WiFi screen and try to re-connect.

I'm not sure the App will automatically reconnect after it drops. In the past I have been connected to the WiFi and have had to kill the app and re-start it to get picture back.