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Asked — Edited

Ezb 4 Wifi Connectivity

So my plans for my robot consist of 3 EZB 4 controllers. 1 will be mounted in the head, 1 at the lower drivetrain level, and 1 inside the all aluminum body. Eventually I will have a mini itx computer onboard this machine. My question is will the wifi signal penetrate the aluminum body? If not will there be a usb adapter instead of wifi that could connect into onboard computer? And finally would I still be able to use the remote via mobile devices IOS/Android to control the robot remotely? Thanks Chris


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Synthiam
#1  
The WiFi makes it really easy for that configuration type. What you do is configure one of the EZ-B's to be a WiFi HotSpot with password, that is the default setting. Then you configure the other EZ-B's to connect to that EZ-B over WiFi with the password.

Now you have all EZ-B's on one WiFi network. You simply have your MiniITX or Android device connect to that network.

You _can_ connect a TTL USB Serial Adapter to the EZ-B v4, but it will require modification to the EZ-B which I do not recommend. The WiFi configuration is the easiest and most versatile.

PS, It also means a lot less wires:D Which is my favorite part!
#2  
Can you connect ez-bs to a router via wifi or do you have to do the linking process?
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Synthiam
#4  
@technopro, you can connect 253 EZ-B's to a router - or you can connect to them directly.
#5  
Thanks for the quick reply, I guess more of the question was geared at will the wifi signal pass through the aluminum? At first I will not have the mini itx inside the aluminum shell but one ezb4 will reside inside. It will need to conect to my home network. Will it pass through the aluminum body? Thanks Chris
United Kingdom
#6  
It's difficult to say for sure as it will depend on the thickness of the Al and the strength of your router's wifi signal amongst other things. Metal will always absorb some of the signal, some more so than others, from memory Al isn't too bad (or at least there are a lot worse metals).

Your best bet is to test it with a cell phone or tablet and either the actual robot or a mock up of the compartment where the EZ-Bs are intended to go. This way you can check your signal at various distances from the router/access point before getting the EZ-B(s) and running in to issues...

Could you not throw on an external antenna to avoid any issues?
#7  
Not against an antenna, just not sure if there is a place for an external antenna on the ezb4. Is there a jack for one? Or would I solder one directly to the board? Thanks again. Chris
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