Fluidnc webui hard to connect

[Michael_Melancon (Mike M)]

@DougJoseph

It does not look like the ones he linked me to on Amazon.

I wasn’t following the conversation. Just helping you get past the 404

[vicious1 (Ryan)]

That Amazon link seems better, it has an antenna included.

[DougJoseph (Doug Joseph (design8studio))]

@MakerJim

logs from the AP say about your connection attempts?

OK, so I found in another thread a reminder about a FluidNC command of $SS to get log info displayed.

I ran that command on the Jackpot, and the following is the relevant portion:

Jackpot WiFi log of trying

[MSG:INFO: Probe Pin: gpio.36:low]]

[MSG:INFO: Connecting to STA SSID:The-DR-is-IN_2.4GHz_EXT]]

[MSG:INFO: Connecting.]]

[MSG:INFO: Connecting..]]

[MSG:INFO: No SSID]]

[MSG:INFO: AP SSID FluidNC IP 192.168.0.1 mask 255.255.255.0 channel 1]]

[MSG:INFO: AP started]]

[MSG:INFO: WiFi on]]

[MSG:INFO: Captive Portal Started]]

[MSG:INFO: HTTP started on port 80]]

[MSG:INFO: Telnet started on port 23]]

ok

Re. “Connecting to STA SSID:The-DR-is-IN_2.4GHz_EXT”

That’s the correct SSID name. But apparently it’s timing out or something instead of connecting.

[MakerJim]

@DougJoseph

[MSG:INFO: Connecting to STA SSID:The-DR-is-IN_2.4GHz_EXT]]

Change your SSID to not have dashes or underscores and be less than say 10 characters…

[DougJoseph (Doug Joseph (design8studio))]

@MakerJim

Change your SSID to not have dashes or underscores and be less than say 10 characters

OK, will do.

[pony1023 (Steve)]

Do we know which one the esp32 is trying to use, 2.4 or 5?

Sorry if I should know this already.

The reason I’m asking, is 2.4 is better at longer distances and penetration through solid objects, but prone to interference. Can be challenging on the shorter distances.
5 is better speed, not susceptible to interference, challenged on the long range and penetration, but better on the short range.
(Trying to keep it simple, and text book so I don’t write another novel)

[DougJoseph (Doug Joseph (design8studio))]

@pony1023

Do we know which one the esp32 is trying to use, 2.4 or 5?

The SSID I gave it is unique to the 2.4 GHz band. I have never tried to connect it to the 5GHz band.

[DougJoseph (Doug Joseph (design8studio))]

@pony1023

5 is better speed, not susceptible to interference, challenged on the long range and penetration, but better on the short range.

Should I be trying 5 GHz band instead??

[DougJoseph (Doug Joseph (design8studio))]

@MakerJim

Change SSID to not have dashes or underscores and be less than say 10 characters

OK, I made that change, and got no joy.

Also, last night while flailing around with this, I had “tried out” enabling the “fast scan” setting on the FluidNC. Turns out that just makes it give up even sooner on trying to connect. Below is the log on it trying to connect, with the fast scan disabled, and using a shorter SSID, 10 chars, with no dashes, underscores, or periods.

[MSG:INFO: Connecting to STA SSID:DRisIN24ex]]

[MSG:INFO: Connecting.]]

[MSG:INFO: Connecting..]]

[MSG:INFO: Connecting...]]

[MSG:INFO: Connecting....]]

[MSG:INFO: Connecting.]]

[MSG:INFO: Connecting..]]

[MSG:INFO: Connecting...]]

[MSG:INFO: Connecting....]]

[MSG:INFO: Connecting.]]

[MSG:INFO: Connecting..]]

[MSG:INFO: AP SSID FluidNC IP 192.168.0.1 mask 255.255.255.0 channel 1]]

[MSG:INFO: AP started]]

[MSG:INFO: WiFi on]]

[MSG:INFO: Captive Portal Started]]

[MakerJim]

@pony1023

Do we know which one the esp32 is trying to use, 2.4 or 5?

ESP32s are 2.4Ghz ONLY.

[MakerJim]

@DougJoseph

OK, I made that change, and got no joy.

Still need to see what the repeater/AP thinks happened from its’ log.

[DougJoseph (Doug Joseph (design8studio))]

@MakerJim

need to see what the repeater/AP thinks happened from its’ log

It’s unchanged from when I previously posted here:

@DougJoseph

I found a way to view logs of the extender. I found entries from where my laptop connected to it, saying thing like, “received a request packet from <.mac address.>” — and those were followed by “DHCP obtained an IP address of <.ip address.>” —

But, and this is the kicker, the MAC address of the EPS32, is never in the list anywhere. It’s like it’s not even trying to connect. I don’t understand this.

According to the MAC address of the ESP32, which I obtained from it, there is no record of its efforts showing in the repeater’s log.

[MakerJim]

@DougJoseph

According to the MAC address of the ESP32, which I obtained from it, there is no record of its efforts showing in the repeater’s log.

There’s something in the repeater that is incompatible with the 2.4Ghz radio on the ESP-32.
Can you post a screenshot of your config page(s) for that.

@pony1023

but I’m not a fan of extenders, vs adding a AP or router.

I’m not a fan of extenders either, but they do work and do have a place.
If it were me, I’d also pull copper and install a dedicated AP. For the reasons you outline.

@pony1023

Again, if that came across as “man-splaining”, my apologies.

We have a pretty technical group, so no need to dumb things down.

A repeater is a dual mode client/AP, not really a bridge. WiFi bandwidth usage doesn’t scale linearly nor degrade gracefully. An extender has to recieve and transmit twice for every packet- once from the downstream client and once for the upstream AP. This chews up spectrum and time.

But I don’t think this is the core issue here. I think what is happening is an incompatibility in the AP settings on the repeaters’ settings that the ESP32 can’t connect with.

[DougJoseph (Doug Joseph (design8studio))]

@pony1023 Thanks for all the info.

The main router is 1st floor, back of house. The repeater is first floor, front of house. The LowRider is in the basement, roughly under the repeater. The repeater is currently at a diagonal above the Jackpot.

Wifi can be great, or can be a nightmare.

I’ve been multitasking, in order to try to make headway on other things while nitpicking at this one thing, and I so deeply appreciate everyone’s help. I may just shelve it again like I did months ago. Or maybe I will peck away until I solve it.

[DougJoseph (Doug Joseph (design8studio))]

@MakerJim and @vicious1 and @Michael_Melancon, thanks for helping.

[pony1023 (Steve)]

So, it’s not going to hurt to try.

But I don’t necessarily feel the close proximity to the repeater and using 2.4 is the issue. I agreed with Jim, it’s more than likely something else.

I am more curious if the esp can connect to the main router, considering the other factors you shared. Knowing it’s longer range, and better penetration, if the results are the same, maybe would be more supportive to the theory it’s something else, and not the network at all.

[DougJoseph (Doug Joseph (design8studio))]

@pony1023

I am more curious if the esp can connect to the main router,

From my initial attempts months back, I was not able to connect to the main router. My memory is hazy on whether I tried both bands, but I suspect I tried 2.4.

[pony1023 (Steve)]

@MakerJim

If it were me, I’d also pull copper and install a dedicated AP. For the reasons you outline.

Yeah, I also acknowledge not everyone has the luxury of doing what I feel is the correct solution.
Sometimes easier is the best option.

[Dreyfus]

Might be interesting to put something like esphome or tasmota on your esp32 as a test to see if it has problems getting on wifi, that would tell you if it’s environmental or fluidic

[SupraGuy (Dan)]

@DougJoseph

My aim was to get it so my laptop would not have to disconnect from the house wifi to connect to a different wifi (in this case the AP of the ESP32, or in the proposed case, the other router).

Just askin’ here, but what’s wrong with adding a $5 USB Wifi adapter? I did that when I started playing with Fluid. The adapter is still in my laptop and will connect to Fluid in AP mode, but it does get confused when I have 3 or 4 of them powered up. They are all joined to my wifi in STA mode now, at least the two in use.