Reef Angel Forum

Any idea why I have to unplug and reset my Wifi adapter each night? It's likeit loses connectivity and just unplugging it and plugging back in resets it. quite annoying.

When did you get this unit?
Has it always been like this since you got it?

Thanks Rimai,

I got the unit in Feb of 2014. Just started happening recently.

Did you change router or setting in it?

the first time it disconnected it would not reconnect with a reboot (unplugging it) even after i restarted the router. I had to reprogram it with the WIFi tool.

When it disconnects does the second light flash blue? This is what happens to mine.

-LeoD

Mine doesn't do that every night, but every once in a while I have to unplug the wifi module from the head unit and plug it back in. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad it's an easy fix but it is frustrating!

oftheangels wrote:When it disconnects does the second light flash blue? This is what happens to mine.

-LeoD

Yes, that is exactly what happens.

I get something like this too. I get a situation, perhaps once per day. Perhaps more or less often, where the blue light blinks. I think the only way to recover is to remove power from the WiFi adapter. Rebooting the router has no effect.

Here are two things I need to investigate I think.

I am very new. And I set up my controller with the wizard, durin which it asked me to input an IP adresses. But my internet for some reason did not work. So I ran the WiFi wizard. So as a result, at the end of my scetch the IP is listed as one thing, but the wifi wizard programmed something slightly differently into my WiFi adapter. I guess this could be the cause that it does not recover?

Also, it seems to happen more or only when I am home and messing around with the portal online and also accessing via 3g on my phone.

I'm having this exact same issue. The wifi attachment will occasionally stop working and the blue lights will start blinking until I disconnect and reconnect it. I did change to a netgear router but I'm not sure if that would have anything to do with the issue. I didn't have the issue with my old router, when the the router was working. I'll be anxiously following this thread and really appreciative of any tips that come up.

This thread addresses this same issue. The fix there works for most, but not all people.
http://forum.reefangel.com/viewtopic.ph ... 1&start=70

Thanks! I really appreciate the link.

My issue turned out to be my verizon router (not the wifi module). I never did figure out why this was happening but when it happens I would get an AP-LOST message and the blue light would start flashing. I tried a ton of different settings to no avail... I did stop the blue light from flashing (and the error by using "set linkmon 0" however it would loose it's ip connection and never reconnect.

The only solution I found was to use an additional wifi router (in my case an airport express) along with my verizon router. Essentially I have two wifi networks in my house now (one from verizion router and one from apple router). It makes port forwarding a bit tricky but it works...

-LeoD

-LeoD

You probably could have reserved the reservation and/or made it static. Sounds like it was having DHCP issues.

Tried that as well... turned off dhcp and it still looses connection to the router just the same.. Eventually I gave up out of frustration.

Still having this issue. I had Verizon replace my router and everything. I am getting very frustrated now. it connects for a little bit and then starts blinking blue. Really starting to regret my decision to get this over the Apex. What should I do next?

Yup, I tried the same thing (had Verizon replace my router) No go.

What I am doing now is running the wifi attachment in 'Soft AP' mode. This creates another wifi network (I called mine 'reef'). When I want to use the ReefAngel App (iPhone) I switch networks and fire up the app. Everything works this way but obviously I can not access my controller from the Portal.

I also thought about switching to the Apex but I really like the ReefAngel and am a big proponent of open source. One option I am investigating is hooking up a wired ethernet adaptor in place of the wifi and using a wifi bridge like the airport or tp-link to bridge wired to wireless. If I get anywhere with this route I will let you know.


-LeoD

I have messed around with the Linkmon also. Set it to 0, 30, 3000. I do not experience any changes in bad behavior, except for when I set it to 0 and it lost connection I believe stayed with the green LED flashing instead of the usual Blue flashing to tell that I am disconnected.

I did install the Macro that Rimai asked me to install, and there seemed to be no change except perhaps that I notice that the WiFi adapter DOES eventually reconnect on it's own, but its not acceptable behavior. Perhaps the connection lasts for a few minutes or a day, connection drops for perhaps a few minutes or a day while the Blue LED flashes, and then re-connection on its own occurs.

I can always reconnect immediately by rebooting the controller or even just unplugging the WiFi adapter from the controller.

I also tried autoconn setting, but that seems to make no difference.

I did try different channels on the router and that did not help either. I did use my Android to try to find the least used channel in my apartment. I found two channels that seem relatively clear, but the airwaves are definitely crowded here and networks pop up all the time.

I am getting an external 3dB antenna tomorrow and will try that. $12 off Amazon. My signal strength using the Android app does seem pretty good though.

I have been advised that I can get this to work using a different router that passes through to my ATT router/modem. I have a linksys router that I can use if the antenna does not work out.

Can you try that old router and let us know?
Make sure to set to WPA2-PSK with AES encryption.
I've heard of a couple people that had issues with wpa1 or mixed.

The arduino Ethernet board can be used as direct replacement of WiFi attachment.
You just need to upload the code to the board.

This board or any knockoffs https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoBoardEthernet
I do believe it is a route compatibility issue somewhere though.

This is the code: http://forum.reefangel.com/viewtopic.ph ... de&start=0

Thanks Roberto,

I am 100% certain this is a problem with the router that Verizon supplies. I have tried setting up an air port express wired to the verizon router and it did the same thing (LOST-AP error). However, when I setup the airport and do not connect it to the verizon router it works fine... I can access the RA through the new network but obviously don't have internet/portal access. <---- Really strange! I suspected it was something going on with DHCP but I assigned a static route, ip, etc... and that made no difference. I do have a large number of wifi connected devices in my house (~30-40) but the router says I have a full 256 ip's to distribute... I have tried the various authentication mechanisms that the Wifly supports with no luck either...

I'm disappointed that I can't get the internet access to work but I won't give up that easy.

-LeoD

Ok, well here is an update:

I reworked all the settings on the "new" verizon router. I disabled WEP and added WPA2 authentication. Reprogrammed my WIFI adapter and after the 2nd or 3rd attempt, it finally came back with an 192.168.1.11:2000 address. Previously it connecting to the Wifi (I could see it in the verizon router config) but was reporting its address was 0.0.0.0:2000 on the Wifi setup program.

So far, i have not lost any connection. Fingers are crossed!

spoke too soon. it went offline at about 1:30 for no reason. what do i need to add the ethernet adapter. this is ridiculous what a waste of money this thing is.

OK.. so I am updating this again. Came home to find the Power bar had tripped the breaker. What is the max wattage of heater that can run on this thing. I have a pair of 300w's running.

Are you able to try with another router?
The max wattage is 1000w.

rimai wrote:Are you able to try with another router?
The max wattage is 1000w.

thanks for the info Rimai,

As of now, the wifi has not disconnected again. I did see condensation inside one of the 300w heaters so i removed it from the system. So far so good! Guess I should get a larger quality heater and test.

@oneboss302 this is great news. I have already added WPA2 to my config but I did not disable WEP. I wonder if that is the 'secret sauce' I will try it this evening and post back here with the results. Great find!

-LeoD

oftheangels wrote:@oneboss302 this is great news. I have already added WPA2 to my config but I did not disable WEP. I wonder if that is the 'secret sauce' I will try it this evening and post back here with the results. Great find!

-LeoD

Hoping you were able to make the change and keep the connection alive now. Mine is flawless now.

oneboss302 wrote:

oftheangels wrote:@oneboss302 this is great news. I have already added WPA2 to my config but I did not disable WEP. I wonder if that is the 'secret sauce' I will try it this evening and post back here with the results. Great find!

-LeoD

Hoping you were able to make the change and keep the connection alive now. Mine is flawless now.

Well, that lasted a few days but now offline again. I am looking to move to the Ethernet shield now. this wifi adapter is not working out. VERY DISAPPOINTED.