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Asked — Edited

Uart Wifi

Hello,

After unsuccessfully trying the UART WIFI suggested by this website, mainly because of power issues though I could have it to work and run for a little while, I tried another UART WIFI which seems much, much, much more reliable and user friendly since it has its own AP mode which allows you to configure it through web interface directly (you do not need to connect it to USB TTL module) and a quite efficient factory restoration process in case you input the wrong settings.

The model hardware name on Amazon is "Embedded Wifi To Serial Module RS232UART WIFI Board Module External Antenna"

I can get a connexion to EZB using both methods : typing directly the IP address + port into EZBuilder's connection or through serial emulation.

However, when I use serial emulation (HW virtual serial port) I get a repeating message such as : "Disgard incoming buffer (This should never happen)"

And if I connect through IP address directly I get something really weird : it says that I have to upgrade the EZBoard firmware and, most of all, it shows different versions numbers : 24.x , 14, 17...

Here is the full debug report in cas God (DJ) took a look at it. I remember someone had ordered the same device so I'm posting this in case he found the proper settings. I set the module to 9600 bauds, TCP server mode. Let me know if you need more details.

Here is the debug report.

EZB 0: TCP Server stopped
Camera Disabled

EZB 1: TCP Server stopped

EZB 2: TCP Server stopped

EZB 3: TCP Server stopped

EZB 4: TCP Server stopped

Attempting connection on 192.168.0.10:8086
Connection Failed: System.Exception: Controller Not Responding
at EZ_B.EZB.Connect(String hostname, String tcpPassword, Int32 baudRate)
Disconnected
Attempting connection on 192.168.0.10:8086
Connection Failed: System.Exception: Controller Not Responding
at EZ_B.EZB.Connect(String hostname, String tcpPassword, Int32 baudRate)
Disconnected
Attempting connection on 192.168.0.10:8086
Connected to 192.168.0.10:8086
EZ-B reports EZ-B Firmware V14.5
Connection Failed: System.Exception: Invalid Firmware Version. Please Upgrade.
EZ-B Reports v14.5. This copy of ARC requires v16

Would you like to view the help tutorial with instructions on how to upgrade the firmware?
at EZ_B.EZB.Connect(String hostname, String tcpPassword, Int32 baudRate)
Disconnected
Attempting connection on COM8
Connected to COM8 at 9600
EZ-B reports EZ-B Firmware V24.5
Connected
Disgard incoming buffer (This should never happen)
(...)
Disgard incoming buffer (This should never happen)
Disconnected [by user]


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#42  
Hello,

For some reason that I still have to find out (and thanks to you I got that there's something to find out) my current network config doesn't allow me to do it that way. However the fact that I can connect through WAN IP with HW from outside is a sign that I might have had two problems, and one fixed for now, one on my network config and one coming from my ARC installation. I remembered messing up some days ago with some windows services and this could also be the cause of my other pb (JPEG stream error message that we discussed recently). On the other hand I also think it's actually more likely to be another network / router issue since this happens on all my computers. I'll look into once I have the time to do so.

@Alan : at least you know that you can connect with the module we had gotten from Amazon, now.

Thanks for your help, again;
#43  
does it take time to connect ?
United Kingdom
#44  
Not a long time at all, I was surprised at how quickly it connected to be honest.

I'd say it's a network issue, no doubt something to do with the router (it usually is, routers can be a nightmare depending on what it is). With the cameras do you use UPNP or have you manually set up the port forwarding?

Networking can be an absolute nightmare on some hardware. I made a point of changing the router my ISP gave me for something much better (I highly recommend something that can run DD-WRT firmware - Buffalo routers now come with this as standard). That said, it may be due to a VPN, I tend to avoid VPNs when possible
#45  
Excellent news about the adapter you found working. I am going to contact Roving Solutions support about mine that is no longer receiving and see if there is any warranty coverage, or if they can look at my config file and see if I somehow turned off UART receive, but at least if that is a dead end, I know what I can do when I am ready to try WiFi again.

Based on this discussion, I uninstalled Hamachi VPN (which I virtually never use anymore anyway), and it appears to have resolved a problem I have been having on my Windows 2003 server where any internet downloads were acting like it is on dial-up speeds even though I have 25 mbs FIOS. Other things besides downloads worked fine. I could even stream decent video over RDP from it.

Alan
#46  
@Rich : I use my own port forwarding for the ipcam. I'm gonna first work arround this possibility since changing the router would be frustrating since 1stly it would mean I cannot find what's really wrong while these cams work fine otherwise than with ARC and 2ndly it would be frustrating since it's an expensive a/c 200$ router that I made to myself as a christmas gift, so there's some psychology involved :).

@Alan : Have you tried to hard reset it ? I personally did it by hooking it up to an arduino board with ethernet shield and an I/O switch program accessed in browser. I could not hard reset it using logical signal from EZBoard. If my memory is good it worked only while I sent low signal for little more than 1 second to the nload pin DURING BOOT UP and then returned to high signal. But I also remember having to mess up a little bit with it before it kicked in. one Other thing (I need to double check on that but I'm almost sure) : the connection worked only by connecting TXD to TXD and RXD to RXD on the EZBoard...

Elfege
#47  
The roving networks board has a hard reset jumper, which I did use which is why I am contacting the vendor. The board is totally dead (totally my fault, so I won't be contacting the vendor.

Alan
#48  
@elfege how did you make the first connection to the card in order to set it up?
I have tried setting the IP on the computer but could not make any connection.
#49  
You have to connect your computer wifi to the module. It appears as an adhoc network. You may find all details in the manual.
#50  
It was the power. For some reason I can't power it from the EZB.
#51  
@elfege Sorry to bother but could I ask you to post screenshots of all your settings in the wifi WEB app config?
#52  
Just look back in the history of this thread, there are screenshots posted already. For the power, you must power it from 3.3v port, just where the bluetooth took its power from. It works for me.
#53  
I have seen those screenshots but I must be missing something as it is not working for me.
I would really appreciate a full set of screenshots so that I might easily and quickly find the issue.
#54  
What is not working exactly ? Can you access the web interface ? Have you double or even triple checked your connections ? As I said in a previous post you must connect TXD to TXD and RXD to RXD and not, as it is usually supposed to be, TXD to RXD.

Use the doc named USR-WIFI232-X-V4-en.pdf in the cd-rom provided with the device. It shows all the screenshots you need.

Best,
Elfege
#55  
For info : TXD pin is the one right above the ground pin on the wifi module.
#56  
Sorry : you may need to read two docs : USR-WIFI232-start-en.pdf for the screenshots and web config ; and USR-WIFI232-X-V4-en.pdf for all technical details such as pins labels, etc.
#58  
Just a question of curiousity : did you also have to connect TXD to TXD and RXD to RXD ?
#59  
@elfege YES! I did! RX to RX, TX to TX.
But that was not my issue. I could not connect to the unit once it was connected to my network... and the issue was that I did not switch it to STA and kept it on AP.
Once it was on STA I could easily connect to it. When I saw an error I tried switching between the RX and TX.
#60  
Indeed, as long as you had not set the STA mode you could not use the server mode through your router. I just wanted to make sure that my serial connection was not due to a singularity of my EZB. Thanks for the answer. Happy you could connect through wifi. By the way, you can now connect any remote computer with ARC and HW virtual serial port installed, provided that you set up your port forwarding properly. Don't forget to set a different port number on external and internal ports.
#61  
It looks like Roving Networks is going to replace my device, but given that it is twice the cost of the one now being discussed in this thread, and a good bit more complicated to set up (if it will work at all for this use, which I have not yet shown) I am not going to recommend it as an EZ-B solution. I will be ordering one of the ones discussed here for my WiFi robot needs and use the Roving Networks device for another project. It supports connection to several sensor devices and can auto-sleep, wake up and deliver sensor data via web or ftp and then go back to sleep, so there are a bunch of ideas I have for it.

Alan
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