I’ve tried various combinations of versions for both the Uno, the ESP, the firmware…no matter what, my phone disconnects and I loose control. However, I can still ping the rover from my PC (the pings never drop!). Sometimes the video even keeps going, yet the app says it’s disconnected. Very frustrating. I’ve brought the ESP firmware up to 1.4.1 (ota). I’m using the Arduino IDE 2.3.5. Sunfounder AI Camera library version 1.1.1 (have tried others with no success). I was starting to think maybe it was something silly like a loose cable so I reseated everything. It all looks good. I saw Rvr version 1.2.0 on github and gave that a try, but I actually had more issues. What is the right combination of versions I should be using? What other troubleshooting can I do? BTW, I am using the app on an android device. - I also tried the app on an iphone - same problems. I’m doing all this on my local network. When I try to run it as an AP, I can’t connect and it tells me the password is wrong (12345678), however I can literally see it in the code! So…something else is going on.
Oddly, when I have it connected via USB to my PC (to monitor the serial output), it seems it stays perfectly connected to the app on my phone. Could just be coincidence.
Help!
Minor update: I managed to make a connection finally using the ESP32 as an AP. However, I’m still having the same symptoms. It works for a few seconds, then disconnects. Reconnecting sometimes results in an instant disconnect, every now and then it stay connected for a bit. It’s really cool when it works! LOL.
Just wondering.. is your battery fully charged and in good shape?
Rationale.. wondering if the USB just gives enough boost to keep it running?
Just a random thought!
I was thinking that! And the battery does seem to drop off quicker than I would expect (It’s all brand new - was a christmas gift from my wife and I just put it together yesterday). However, even if I top it off completely, it will act up within a minute or two of use. I might try it with a separate power supply feeding the Uno board just to see if that makes a difference.
I let it charge good overnight. Same issue still. I had high hopes! It stayed connected for almost 30 secs.
Frustrating.. but I guess one more variable has now been eliminated…
Please try connecting in STA mode. If using AP mode, you may attempt to change the Wi-Fi channel as described here:
I’ve tried both. AP mode wouldn’t work at all at first (password would not work). So I switched to STA mode and was able to connect via the app (and ping it via my PC), but it would disconnect after a minute of use. I switched back to AP mode, after updating and confirming the “12345678” password, and have the same problem directly connected from the app. It just disconnects. What odd is that often the video stream continues! When in STA mode, same thing - frequent disconnects, video continues - and I can ping it the whole time. The only way to recover is to hit the reset button.
I should add, I did try changing the AP channel from 1 to 4, and even tried a few others. It’s made no difference.
The video stream appears to be continuing without interruption, which suggests this isn’t a network-related issue. Since we’re having difficulty reproducing this problem on our end, could you please provide:
The version number of your SunFounder Controller APP
Diagnostic data from these steps:
Connect the UNO to your computer via data cable
Open the serial monitor (baud rate 115200)
Check if any abnormal data is being printed
This information will help us better diagnose the issue you’re experiencing.
Thanks for the quick reply!
I am running 1.6.0 for the controller app.
Serial output (with notes preceeded by ***)…
GalaxyRVR version 1.1.0
Initialzing…
SET+RESET
…E (197788) wifi:NAN WiFi stop
ets Jul 29 2019 12:21:46
rst:0xc (SW_CPU_RESET),boot:0x13 (SPI_FASAo
00,c
[Init]
[OK] 1.4.1
[OK]
ESP32 firmware version 1.4.1
SET+NAMEGalaxyRVR
…[OK]
[OK]
SET+TYPEGalaxyRVR
…[OK]
[OK]
SET+SSIDfefster
…[OK]
[OK]
SET+PSK********
…[OK]
[OK]
SET+MODE1
…[OK]
[OK]
SET+PORT8765
…[OK]
[OK]
SET+START
…Connecting to WiFi …
ssid:fefster
psk:********
[OK] 192.168.60.109
[OK]
WebServer started on ws://192.168.60.109:8765
Video streamer started on http://192.168.60.109:9000/mjpg
Okie!
WS+null
[CAM_I] camera stream start on: http://192.168.60.109:9000/mjpg
WS+null
[CONNECTED] 192.168.60.144
WS+null
WS+null
WS+null
WS+null
WS+null
WS+null
WS+null
WS+null
WS+;;;90;;;;;;;0;;;;;;0;;;;;;;;;
RX:
WS+;;;90;;;;;;;0;;;;;;0;;;;;;;;;
WS+{“BV”:7.41,“N”:1,“P”:0,“O”:10.43,“J”:0}
WS+;;;90;;;;;;;0;;;;;;0;;;;;;;;;
RX:
WS+;;;90;;;;;;;0;;;;;;0;;;;;;;;;
WS+;;;90;;;;;;;0;;;;;;0;;;;;;;;;
RX:
WS+;;;90;;;;;;;0;;;;;;0;;;;;;;;;
WS+{“BV”:7.4,“N”:1,“P”:0,“O”:10.2,“J”:0}
WS+;;;90;;;;;;;0;;;;;;0;;;;;;;;;
RX:
WS+;;;90;;;;;;;0;;;;;;0;;;;;;;;;
WS+{“BV”:7.41,“N”:1,“P”:0,“O”:10.2,“J”:0}
WS+;;;90;;;;;;;0;;;;;;0;;;;;;;;;
RX:
WS+;;;90;;;;;;;0;;;;;;0;;;;;;;;;
WS+{“BV”:7.41,“N”:1,“P”:0,“O”:10.06,“J”:0}
WS+;;;90;;;;;;;0;;;;;;0;;;;;;;;;
RX:
*** trimmed redundant output
RX:
WS+;;;90;;;;;;;0;;;;;;0;;;;;;;;;
WS+{“BV”:7.63,“N”:0,“P”:1,“O”:27.42,“J”:0}
WS+;;;90;;;;;;;0;;;;;;0;;;;;;;;;
RX:
WS+;;;90;;;;;;;0;;;;;;0;;;;;;;;;
RX:
WS+;;;90;;;;;;;0;;;;;;0;;;;;;;;
WS+{“BV”:7.64,“N”:0,“P”:1,“O”:38.36,“J”:0}
WS+;;;90;;;;;;;0;;;;;;0;;;;;;;;;
RX:
WS+;;;90;;;;;;;0;;;;;;0;;;;;;;;;
WS+{“BV”:7.61,“N”:0,“P”:0,“O”:51.64,“J”:0}
WS+;;;90;;;;;;;0;;;;;;0;;;;;;;;;
RX:
WS+;;;90;;;;;;;0;;;;;;0;;;;;;;;;
WS+;;;90;;;;;;;0;;;;;;0;;;;;;;;;WS+;;;90;;;;;;;0;;;;;WS+;;;90;;;;WS+;;;90;;;;;;;0;;;;;;WS+;;;90;;;;;;;0;;;;;;0;WS+;;;90;;;;;;;0;;;;;;0;
RX:
WS+;;;90;;;;;;;0;;;;;;0;;;;;;;;;WS+;;;90;;;;;;;0;;;;;WS+;;;90;;;;WS+;;;90;;;;;;;0;;;;;;WS+;;;90;;;;;;;0;;;;;;0;WS+;;;90;;;;;;;0;;;;;;0;
WS+{“BV”:7.65,“N”:0,“P”:0,“O”:40.1,“J”:0}
WS+;;;90;;;;;;;0;;;;;;0;;;;;;;;;
RX:
WS+;;;90;;;;;;;0;;;;;;0;;;;;;;;;
[DISCONNECTED] 0.0.0.0
WS+{“BV”:7.66,“N”:0,“P”:0,“O”:39.81,“J”:0}
*** Got disconnected and attempted to reconnect here ***
*** In this particular instance, I DID lose video stream ***
[CONNECTED] 192.168.60.144
WS+{“BV”:7.66,“N”:0,“P”:0,“O”:39.81,“J”:0}
WS+{“BV”:7.66,“N”:0,“P”:0,“O”:39.81,“J”:0}
WS+{“BV”:7.66,“N”:0,“P”:0,“O”:39.81,“J”:0}
WS+{“BV”:7.66,“N”:0,“P”:0,“O”:39.81,“J”:0}
WS+{“BV”:7.66,“N”:0,“P”:0,“O”:39.81,“J”:0}
WS+{“BV”:7.66,“N”:0,“P”:0,“O”:39.81,“J”:0}
WS+{“BV”:7.66,“N”:0,“P”:0,“O”:39.81,“J”:0}
WS+{“BV”:7.66,“N”:0,“P”:0,“O”:39.81,“J”:0}
WS+{“BV”:7.66,“N”:0,“P”:0,“O”:39.81,“J”:0}
WS+{“BV”:7.66,“N”:0,“P”:0,“O”:39.81,“J”:0}
WS+{“BV”:7.66,“N”:0,“P”:0,“O”:39.81,“J”:0}
[DISCONNECTED] 0.0.0.0
WS+{“BV”:7.66,“N”:0,“P”:0,“O”:39.81,“J”:0}
*** Disconnected again ***
In this test, I did lose video but that is not always the case.
Once the first disconnect happens, subsequent connections from the app get disconnected very quickly - until I do a full restart/reset of the rover.
Those subsequent disconnects look like this:
WS+{“BV”:7.65,“N”:0,“P”:0,“O”:40.1,“J”:0}
WS+;;;90;;;;;;;0;;;;;;0;;;;;;;;;
RX:
WS+;;;90;;;;;;;0;;;;;;0;;;;;;;;;
[DISCONNECTED] 0.0.0.0
WS+{“BV”:7.66,“N”:0,“P”:0,“O”:39.81,“J”:0}
[CONNECTED] 192.168.60.144
WS+{“BV”:7.66,“N”:0,“P”:0,“O”:39.81,“J”:0}
WS+{“BV”:7.66,“N”:0,“P”:0,“O”:39.81,“J”:0}
WS+{“BV”:7.66,“N”:0,“P”:0,“O”:39.81,“J”:0}
WS+{“BV”:7.66,“N”:0,“P”:0,“O”:39.81,“J”:0}
WS+{“BV”:7.66,“N”:0,“P”:0,“O”:39.81,“J”:0}
WS+{“BV”:7.66,“N”:0,“P”:0,“O”:39.81,“J”:0}
WS+{“BV”:7.66,“N”:0,“P”:0,“O”:39.81,“J”:0}
WS+{“BV”:7.66,“N”:0,“P”:0,“O”:39.81,“J”:0}
WS+{“BV”:7.66,“N”:0,“P”:0,“O”:39.81,“J”:0}
WS+{“BV”:7.66,“N”:0,“P”:0,“O”:39.81,“J”:0}
WS+{“BV”:7.66,“N”:0,“P”:0,“O”:39.81,“J”:0}
[DISCONNECTED] 0.0.0.0
WS+{“BV”:7.66,“N”:0,“P”:0,“O”:39.81,“J”:0}
[CONNECTED] 192.168.60.144
WS+{“BV”:7.66,“N”:0,“P”:0,“O”:39.81,“J”:0}
WS+{“BV”:7.66,“N”:0,“P”:0,“O”:39.81,“J”:0}
WS+{“BV”:7.66,“N”:0,“P”:0,“O”:39.81,“J”:0}
[DISCONNECTED] 0.0.0.0
WS+{“BV”:7.66,“N”:0,“P”:0,“O”:39.81,“J”:0}
If you are experiencing automatic disconnections, we recommend changing the Wi-Fi channel to see if this resolves the issue.FAQ — SunFounder GalaxyRVR Kit for Arduino 1.0 documentation
Yes, and as stated I’ve already tried numerous channels. I even used a wifi scanner app to make sure I was choosing a quiet frequency. It does not make a difference of help with the problem. This isn’t a network problem - I can continue to ping the ip address of the rover without interruption.
We recommend updating the SunFounder_AI_Camera to version 1.1.1 in your IDE, then re-upload the galaxy-rvr.ino code and check the connection. If possible, please provide a video for us to better analyze and resolve the issue.
Reference link:
Hate a me-too, but… me too. I’'ve been seeing this for a while. At first I thought it was a wi-fi connection / stability issue and swapped out my ESP32 for one with an antenna. I see the same thing as the OP where, when connected to USB, the connection is stable.
I’m also running latest of everything. I’ve swapped batteries as well thinking this is probably a power problem (the ESP is HARD on batteries when wi-fi is fully on).
If anyone needs logs / files from me, let me know. (FWIW, I had all the same problems getting various library versions to work and had to fall back to binaries, and would love to get that resolved).
What brand of mobile device (mobile phone, tablet) are you using?
What is the system version? Please tell us so that we can reproduce and solve the problem.
The ESP32 module can connect and work normally at the beginning, right?
Is it only after using it for a period of time that the connection is disconnected?
I’m pretty certain it’s not a phone issue. I’ve tried the app on both my Samsung Galaxy S23, and an iPhone 16. Same result. It does work at first…sometimes for a minute, sometimes for 10 seconds. I can’t find a pattern or a cause. Sometimes it’s just standing still and disconnects. I haven’t been able to use it for more than a minute or two before a disconnect. And yet a ping setup on my local workstation to the ESP32 just keeps pinging along like nothing happened. I’m leaning towards this disconnect being caused by a problem between the ESP32 and the rover board or Arduino. My next step was to take it apart again and look for cold solder joints and/or check the wiring/connectors.