Stoker Black Box wifi drops constantly


 
G

Gerd H

TVWBB Super Fan
Is anyone else having an issue where the wifi connection on the wifi stoker drops, very very frequently?

I would say it stays up for 10-15 minutes then drops, never to return unless I power off reset. It comes back on line after powering up, and drops again in 10 minutes.

Trying to diagnose if there is a correlative reason yet, but I think not. It drops without changing any parameters for example.

I have not talked to the stoker guys about this yet, still want to see if I can gather specifics on what might prompt it, and plus I can't be sending the unit off to them right now anyway.
 
I've had zero issues with mine.I'm about 60ft from router with 2 walls, have you tried another wireless device to make sure your getting a good signal?

Clinth
 
Definitely not a distance issue.

Stoker is in the same place as my old white box with wifi bridge was, and it connects just fine every time.

Yesterday, I did some more testing, and I may have found something that causes the wifi to drop. I will test it some more, but it appears that actually using the "5 minute blower off" function from the stoker may be killing the wifi. (yup, sounds crazy)

Like I said above, I am going to continue to try and diagnose it to see if I can get consistent results before reporting anything. Curious if anyone else has seen anything similar.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Jeff Sch.:
Yep, I'm seeing exactly the same thing with mine. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Jeff, can you clarify that you are seeing "random" drops, or drops associated with when you turn off the blower?

When did you get your black box?
 
Mine drops also. Thought it was an issue with old modem/router.But maybe not if others are having trouble. If I set up the old way it works fine. But if I use wifi connection at some point during the cook it drops.I would'nt say as often as 10-15min kind of a random thing. I do not have the lid open feature on or make any changes to temp. This for some reason causes stokerlog to freeze up. I have to shut computer down to get frozen stokerlog window to disappear. Kind of a let down.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Gerd Hilkemeyer:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Jeff Sch.:
Yep, I'm seeing exactly the same thing with mine. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Jeff, can you clarify that you are seeing "random" drops, or drops associated with when you turn off the blower?

When did you get your black box? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I got my black box about a month ago. My symptoms are pretty simple - If I leave the display on the "turn off blower for 5 minutes" screen, the whole unit locks up and needs a reboot. I haven't narrowed it down to a specific period of time at that screen, but it's pretty reproducible, I'm seeing it on every cook.

I don't have solid timing, which I'm going to try to get next cook, so that I can send to Rocks.
 
Started a cook at 8:30 last night.

Stokerlog was able to keep up until 1:30am.

Woke up at 5am to check progress and couldn't get Stokerlg to connect to the Black Box. I can't get the http IP Addr /wifi.html or main. html to work either.

I had to put on a coat and go outside to see if everything was still ok. Luckily the WSM was ay 223F and my Butts were at 148F.

I can ping the wireless IP though ...

Not sure if this is the same issue or not. I will go re-start the black box when it gets lighter in case something happens ...

Cycled the power and StokerLog is back in business. I did have the Black Box on the Temperature Scan. Maybe I should just have it on the main menu level ???
 
I am having the same problem Ron B.

It's not a consistent thing. It happens randomly. Stokerlog hangs, and when I try to hit it up via web browser, nothing. Power cycling the Stoker will restore connection, but it happens enough that I don't dare go to sleep and allow the Stokerlog alarms to wake me. I set an alarm for every hour.

Kinda defeats the purpose of having the Stoker if I still can't sleep and cook.

I do not have my computer set to sleep. I'm not quite sure what is causing it. Really annoying though.
 
I'm starting to wonder if this is not a Stokerlog issue. I also have Stoker Web installed, and ran it for about 12 hours today without dropping a connection during a cook.
 
I made sure the Stoker was left at the top menu level. I installed the mouse jiggler program to keep my computer awake.

Everything worked great, except for the one telnet problem.

I also realised I had an old version of StokerLog. I'll do ribs tomorrow and see how it behaves ...
 
I have the same problem with stoker dropping out. Since I don't normally use stokerlog I'm confidant that it's not the problem. I ran the stoker inside the house about 3 feet from my router and it ran over 14 hours before I stopped it. When using a network cable everything works great.

Joe
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by R Coffman:
I'm starting to wonder if this is not a Stokerlog issue. I also have Stoker Web installed, and ran it for about 12 hours today without dropping a connection during a cook. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

The issue I identified in my OP has nothing to do with Stokerlog.

My issue is wifi itself on the stoker dropping "intermittently", I have not had time to do more diagnostics, but I THINK it has to do with setting certain options on the stoker (whether that is turning a blower off for 5 minutes, selecting a menu, changing a target temp, etc I am not sure.)

Poitn being, my issue has nothing to do with stoker log as a cause, although Stoker log may reveal the symptoms.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Jeff Sch.:
I got my black box about a month ago. My symptoms are pretty simple - If I leave the display on the "turn off blower for 5 minutes" screen, the whole unit locks up and needs a reboot. I haven't narrowed it down to a specific period of time at that screen, but it's pretty reproducible, I'm seeing it on every cook.

I don't have solid timing, which I'm going to try to get next cook, so that I can send to Rocks. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thanks Jeff, can you please keep us (me) posted on this!
 
On my most recent cook, I had a LOT of drops. My stoker sits on a metal table and is about 40' from my wireless router. PC's have no issues with signal on this network.

I'm beginning to think that the WiFi radio is VERY weak (or needs some software tuning) in the black box unit.

I'm going to get a wireless extender and put it next to the Stoker and see if that improves things.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Gerd Hilkemeyer:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Jeff Sch.:
I got my black box about a month ago. My symptoms are pretty simple - If I leave the display on the "turn off blower for 5 minutes" screen, the whole unit locks up and needs a reboot. I haven't narrowed it down to a specific period of time at that screen, but it's pretty reproducible, I'm seeing it on every cook.

I don't have solid timing, which I'm going to try to get next cook, so that I can send to Rocks. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thanks Jeff, can you please keep us (me) posted on this! </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
 
7 hour cook yesterday, not a single drop. Used StokerX on my MacOS machine to monitor it, with occasional checks of the Stoker's built in web interface. Changed temp twice, once via the Stoker WI, once via StokerX.

Now I'm baffled, not a single drop or need to reset the box.
 
Same problem here.... will be chugging along no problems... then all of a sudden I cant get the web interface...

stoker log will keep running.

If i'm running stokemaster it will disconnect

Usually I will be able to continue to see the temps on the stoker display... sometimes it seems to lock up...

Any ideas on a fix?

I'm going to try and see if this still happens with a wired connection

Jeff

(Long time lurker... first time poster!)
 
I have the same problem with the New Stoker with built in Wifi dropping offline after about 30 minutes.

I have both the Old Stoker with game adapter and the New Stoker running together.

The Old Stoker has been logging on Stoker Log for 29 hours and the New Stoker logging on Stoker Log stop every 30 to 45 minutes and I have power off and power on the New Stoker.
 
Do you have a smartphone? If so, download WiFi analyzer and go next to the stoker. Make sure there is no strong neighboring access point broadcasting on the same channel. Since stoker sits outside, it gets exposed to much stronger signal from your neighbors. At the same time, your in-house access point puts out less signal when you go outside. Here is a quick example:

d900b6%7Cf753_10-Wifi-Analyzer-1.jpg


The green and yellow access points on the left are overlapping and will cause problems like that.

Alternatively, put wifi stoker a few feet away from your access point and run the longevity test again. If it fails there, then you need to let Rock know about it.
 
what can be done when they are overlapping like above.
At contests I have had problems with dropped connections but its so speratic that I can reproduce it.
It would make sence to check the wifi with all the teams using connections and hot spots.
 
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