BillDerwent
United Kingdom
Asked
— Edited
I've been trying to use the EZRobot wireless camera but whenever it is turned on, I lose bluetooth connection at a really low range (1-2m). With the camera off, the range is vastly increased. Is there an easy solution to this?
- Bill.
On one of our demo setups, we have a USB Bluetooth dongle right next to the camera dongle - with no interference. You can see the demo live at events such as maker faire and comic expo.
It's very strange to hear that you're having an issue. I do not have any suggestions - other than perhaps a different USB port, or a USB Bluetooth dongle
@Jstarne: nope, using the Bluetooth dongle sold on the EzRobot store.
@DJ: Not having heard of this before is, in itself, helpful! Knowing that this is an oddity means there must be a specific cause.
For historical purposes, and incase it helps;
All physical structure removed. EzB, battery pack, 1 servo, ezrobot wireless camera next 15cm away.
Ezboard is the other side of the room (About 5m), I can connect and operate servo fine, without issue.
After turning the camera on, the connection to the EzB drops within a few seconds. (No dialogs show, disconnects in the same manner as if you pull the power).
Attempts to connect result in a could not connect dialogue. Tried powering off/on the ezb, still no connection. If I unpair the bluetooth, it then fails to pair (the device shows in the available devices, but pairing fails (timeout) before entering the bluetooth pin code).
Turn camera off, bluetooth pairs straight away, connection to ezb completes without problem.
(Batteries on the ezb were new and fully charged and the camera was charged fully overnight)
I repeated the same basic process with both the bluetooth and camera dongles in different ports with the same result.
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Now, given that this isn't the first issue I've had with this bluetooth dongle (
McLinky Burger)) and that I now know this is an out-of-the-ordinary problem, I'm going to try replacing the BT dongle first. I have a laptop with bluetooth, but it has backtrack (linux) on it, so that's no good
Maybe that Bluetooth happens to be finicky.
Bill, where in the UK are you? I have a spare bluetooth dongle I got from farnell when I placed an order and needed to get above the minimum order value, I'll gladly send it your way (although I am useless at finding time to get to the post office so if you are close enough you could pick it up otherwise it could be a bit of a wait for the postman).
Thanks to you both for your replies, too!
@jstarne: It's one of those frustrating issues, because sometimes (Close range) everything works, and I'm all like, woo 'n stuff. Then it moves a few metres away and it all goes to pot.
@Rich: Yeah, I'm leaning toward the bluetooth dongle at this stage. The camera had (Note, past tense) worked without issue, although I've now got the dreaded blue-light-wont-go-off-and-all-I-get-is-a-black-screen
Eternal-Blue-Light problem. I notice you post a solution in that thread, Rich, but do you know of one that doesn't restrict the camera to working only when the EZB is on?
Additionally, thanks for the offer of a new dongle! I've got to head to a Maplin in the next few days for some unrelated supplies, though, so I'll see if I can't snag one up while I'm there. For reference, though, I'm not far from Northampton.
Thanks again! Let's see if a new dongle will make all my gremlins go away!
Well, this is an odd update. As mentioned before, I ended up with a Blue-light-of-death problem. Even when fully charged (Left for 24 hours) the light wouldn't go out. I was considering getting a new camera - it's something I had considered following previous problems. Before that, though, decided to try one more thing. I popped the case open, located the + and - pins that connect the battery to the board and shorted them briefly. (I do like to live risky!). My assumption was that this would interrupt the power completely, perhaps resetting the device. It did indeed work, the light went out. A few seconds later, I powered it back up and it worked correctly.
More curiously, and I cannot fathom this one for the life of me, my interference problem was also resolved. No ports were changed, no drivers re-installed. Just this one act and I no longer suffer connection drops with the camera on. I have absolutely no idea why, but for me, this seems to have done the job.
Any takers on explaining this?
Disclaimer: I do not recommend trying this! Shorting a battery could have consequences, so don't come blaming me (Or EzB) if you let out the magic smoke!
Not a clue why it fixed it. I will put it down to the old "turn it off and back on again" fix that works on pretty much everything.