Intro + WiFi help, please!


 
R

Richard_K

New member
Greetings. I'm a long time BBQ/Smoker fan, and have been getting along nicely with my Mavrick wireless probe, 57cm Weber SM & 57cm Weber Kettle for the last couple of years. This year I figured it was about time I did myself a favour and get a gadget to control the smoker temp while I'm away / sleeping. After looking at the DigiQ and CyberQ, then toying with the idea of building one myself, I came across the HM Project.

Due to my reluctance to balls everything up on my first solder attempt, I contacted another member who kindly put together the 4.3HM hardware, a fully assembled RD3, and a case for the HM & my Raspberry Pi 2 B.

Unfortunately, I'm having major issues trying to get the damn thing to connect to my WiFi. Apologies for the long post, but if this thing is going to get fixed, you need to know what I've already tried.

I've been through many, many hours of frustration before posting here. 10 hours alone just today, because I desperately need it working, and tested, before the weekend after next when three of us are cooking for approx 100 people.

First, I loaded the image found here http://heatermeter.com/devel/snapshots/bcm2708/ [openwrt-rpi.zip] using Win32 disk imager, changed the two WiFi lines in the config file [SSID and P/W] as shown in the instructions, put everything together, booted it up with my current WiFi adapter, and the unit came up with "no pit probe". All seemed ok, but I couldn't see it on the network.

I checked the instructions again and saw that only two WiFi chipsets are supported, so I ordered an Edimax EW-7811Un N150. I was still getting the same problem after installing that. I tried plugging a cat5 cable between the RPi and my router, but still nothing.

I thought my RPi might be dead, but when I opened the case and connected the 5v micro USB, the same message displays as when the 12v / 1.5A power adapter is connected to the HeaterMeter. I don't see an IP address pop up on the screen at any point, can't browse to 192.168.201.1, and heatermeter.com/devices doesn't show anything. I also ordered a new 16Gb Samsung SD card, just in case the [very old] 256Mb one I was using was the culprit.

I pulled the boards apart, reseated everything, tried the image from heatermeter.com/dl instead and set it to use the HeaterMeter AP settings, but still couldn't see the AP on my phone or PC. I then reset the config and tried plugging in the NW cable. I could finally see it under heatermeter.com/devices!

Only issue is that it won't find my WiFi. Briefly showed a few other WiFi networks, but after rescanning it can't find anything. Thought it could be a possible PSU issue, so I ordered a 12v / 2A replacement.

After it arrived I ran a NW scan, and saw my NW listed! I went in and configured the wwan interface, as per the instructions, but when I went to the Network Interfaces screen it wasn't showing as connecting, or getting an IP address. It was definitely set up for DHCP. I checked the security settings, the Bring up on Boot setting, tried changing the operating frequency between Legacy and N [Auto channel]. Nothing is making this bloody WiFi connect.

I've tried unchecking Bring up on Boot for the LAN, but that just ended up with a config reset.

I've tried both images available - the snapshot, and the one at heatermeter.com/dl.

Strangely, if I use the snapshot from here - http://heatermeter.com/devel/snapshots/bcm2708/ - none of my interfaces work. The blue light doesn't come on for my Edimax WiFi dongle, and I don't see a connection when I plug in my ethernet cable. The one at heatermeter.com/dl seems to work, but I'm still getting the pain-in-the-*** WiFi issues.

The VAST majority of the time, the HM/Pi will not find any WiFi networks when I run a scan. Sometimes, rarely, it'll see some BT networks that are next door, but not my Virgin Media Superhub 3.0 which is 1.5m away from the HM. So far, in all the times I've tried this, the HM/Pi has seen my wireless network 3 times. I can refresh the page and rescan 500 times without any networks showing up.

Trying to use the device in AP mode has never worked. I have deleted the partitions on the SD card, reformatted, and reloaded varying flavours [preconfigured, edited, default snapshot, varying heatermeter.com/dl versions] of the image many, many times, and I have never seen the HeaterMeter AP listed when I run a scan.

Should I see anything on the screen after putting in an SD card with a fresh image? It goes to No Pit Probe, or the temp of the Pit Probe [when inserted] straight away. No messages or activity to suggest that it's doing anything with that image, but it shows up in http://heatermeter.com/devices/ straight after I plug in a cable.

My Edimax glows solidly blue all the time. No blinking etc. I have also never been able to connect to the HM by using the 192.168.200.1 address. I can only connect using the DHCP address.

These are the devices I have:
WiFi dongle - https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B003MTTJOY/
SD card - https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B013UDL5V6/
PSU - https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01D4ZYEWM/

Let's have some images to break up this text:

GWj3KLM.png


Y996nEj.png


JdTNaJM.png


PcCBNlc.png


After rebooting the Pi and doing a scan, or plugging in the NW cable and running a WiFi scan, it'll find 3-5 BT networks, but not [or VERY rarely] mine. I've got about 30 seconds after rebooting or plugging in the NW cable where it'll find some wireless networks, and after that it won't find anything, no matter how many times I refresh the screen.

My hub has two networks - 2.4GHz and 5GHz. Originally they were named the same thing, with the same password, but I've tried changing them to different names and still can't see my WiFi networks after a scan.

I set up a hotspot and connected the RPi to my TV with a keyboard attached. Should ifconfig show the wlan0 straight away, because all I can see is br-lan, eth0 and the loopback address?

Can't find the commands sudo or nano, and nano isn't located in /usr/bin/ like it should be. I checked and there's no /etc/network/interfaces file. Tried to use vi to edit it, but there's nothing there. Went in to /etc and there's no network directory.

LfIyBZm.jpg


biw2LuR.jpg


It was time to try a raspbian build to see if my Pi & WiFi adapter were working properly. Both worked flawlessly. The adapter connected to my WiFi straight away.

9G6Jm6V.jpg


Opv3v9m.jpg


Tried a fresh re-image, powered it up with the HM still disconnected, and I'm seeing the same issues as before:

No wlan0 listed in ifconfig, no /etc/network folder, no sudo command, no nano etc etc.

Whether they're included in the build or not, I'm not sure, but I'd expect the wireless interface to show up under ifconfig at least.


Again, the image I'm using is the one from http://heatermeter.com/dl/. I chose "Raspberry Pi 2 or 3", selected "default (HeaterMeter AP)", then downloaded and wrote the image.

If I use the openwrt-rpi.zip image from the snapshots folder [http://heatermeter.com/devel/snapshots/bcm2708/] then none of my interfaces work; not even the LAN cable.

Please help, because at this point I'm really regretting not buying a CyberQ or FlameBoss 300.
 
I have to admit I only skimmed your post lightly...
I would suggest you use a wifi with a supported chipset, go here http://heatermeter.com/dl/ and DL the latest snapshot release, make sure to select the rPi board you are using and setting your wifi info, then flash your SD card with that image. Give the HM time to boot, and reboot of need be. If it doesnt connect to your wifi try dropping wifi security from your router, if it connects then enable security on your wifi again. For some strange reason my new router would not allow my HM to connect until I disabled security (even though I set the wifi info in my hm properly), but it connected while security was down and was able to connect after security was enabled after that. Strange scenario, I blame my router not the HM for that issue.
 
I experienced a similar issue to what Ralph describes in regards to the wifi security. I also had a punctuation mark in my wifi name (SSID) on my router which initially seemed to mess with the Pi. Once I removed both the security and the punctuation, edited the HM config file, it connected within less than a minute of powering up. I enabled my wifi security, changed the HM config file accordingly and it has been good ever since.

One difference here though is i am using a Rpi ZeroW which has built-in wifi. I am amazed how well this little unit works with that tiny built-in wifi antenna through a couple of brickwalls and my HM enclosure!

Richard if you can get your hands on a Pi ZW it may be worthwhile even if it is just to test.

Once you get this going, I am sure you will then be glad that you did choose the HM :)
 
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One thing, you should be looking in /etc/config/network, not /etc/network. Here's a page that might help. Also, you are logged in as root. sudo isn't required. vi works for me. I'm not positive about the chipset required for the wifi modem you are using, but if you can determine which one you should be using, you can see if it's loaded using lsmod. If you need to load a module, you can load it with modprobe. But, if you are having to load it, you may not have the correct image. I recently had issues with my wifi on my pi3. My problem turned out to be the builtin wifi modem on the pi.
 
Thanks for the suggestion, but I'm still getting nowhere after disabling the WiFi security. Tried rebooting the box after loading a fresh image [config done on heatermeter.com/dl] and waiting 5 mins. It just will not connect. I attached my ethernet cable to see what was going on, and I can't see any networks if I run a scan.

HvlPiW8.png


I know the RPi is good, and the wireless adapter is definitely working with a Raspbian build, and it's a supported dongle [Edimax EW-7811Un].

Part of me suspects my router, but why will it not find any other networks 30 secs after booting up? Anyone else in the UK had issues with the Virgin Superhub 3.0?

Surely the RPi and dongle can't be at fault because they work flawlessly in Raspbian?

The HM can't be at fault, because the WiFi dongle plugs directly into the RPi.

I've ordered another RTL8192CU based dongle, just in case it is at fault...
 
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Sorry about not responding to this but I have been out of the country for the last week and am leaving again tomorrow so I am not sure there will be enough time to resolve this.

1) The reason no openwrt-rpi.zip images work is because those are for Pi A, B, A+, B+, and Zeros. The Pi 2 and 3 both use the openwrt-rpi3.zip image. The other image won't even boot, which is who you see nothing when using that.
2) The Edimax (rtl8192cu) adapter doesn't work on the snapshot images in AP mode, the kernel driver no longer supports this.
3) I can reproduce what you're experiencing in client mode with the latest snapshot image, a Pi 2, and the same Edimax dongle. There's something going wrong with the keying or something so it can't associate with the AP. I'm not sure what is going on here and it will probably take a while to figure out where it goes wrong. It might be related to the recent change in LEDE that fixed other adapters without multiSSID support but I haven't had time to get into it and it really is hard to troubleshoot due to the new asynchronous ubus network architecture in LEDE/OpenWrt.

So the "good" news is that you're not alone in your issue, but the bad news is that I am not sure it will be resolved in the 36 hours I am home while trying to turn around for another trip. I can say that the RT5370 adapters I have here work in both AP and Client mode on the same snapshot, as well as the RPi3 internal wifi adapater so if you're looking for a sure thing to get up and running before I am home for a stint next week, try one of those adapters.
 
Phew! Thanks Brian. I thought I was cursed.

As long as I know that it's not my HW, or something I completely missed, that's fine. I am currently running the HM & RD3 to test them, and I'll use my Maverick to check the meat temp.

Don't rush - now that I know the issue, I can deal with it until it's resolved. If you could update this thread, or shoot me a PM when it's done, that would be awesome.

Many thanks

Also, thanks to JHalasz for doing a top quality job putting my HM & RD3 together, and for the email support! Highly recommended.
 
I just spent the last 3 hours debugging into this and following the setup of the client mode. It looks like it is coming down to the driver itself and possibly not the LEDE scripts and netifd. Sometimes it initializes to the point that it can resolve the SSID (wifi network name) to a BSSID (the mac address of the wifi AP) but then fails to authenticate after 3 attempts timeout and nothing is received at which point it stops looking. Sometimes it can't even find the BSSID and just continuously switches channels looking for the AP. Sometimes it actually can authenticate on one of the tries, but DHCP fails to work-- this is the one you're seeing where you actually get scan results back sometimes.

It looks like in all cases it is coming down to the TX rate going to 0 and then nothing ever comes back. Interestingly, the router shows it as having assigned an IP address to the device but looks like that never fully completed on the device side. Either way, there's something really wrong with the rtl8xxxu-based driver it seems. It definitely worked a while back, but I'm not sure where we lost it.

That's all the time I've got for this today probably, unless I have some time tonight. I will post back when I have it worked out though and thanks for reporting this because it is a pretty major problem.
 
Oh snap I was thinking about this during the day today and remembered that my Pi that I use when assembling and flashing HeaterMeters has the same Edimax dongle and works perfectly. I flashed the latest firmware and it still works, reboot after reboot. This is on an original Pi B though, so it appears that the issue only exists with the Edimax dongle on the Pi 2 and possibly Pi 3 (but not tested yet because it has it's own Wifi). This is going to be a fun one to track down if the issue only is manifested on one platform and not another. It might have something to do with running on a multicore system? Both the 2 and 3 have multiple cores and the B is only single core.
 
Bryan Mayland said:
.... it appears that the issue only exists with the Edimax dongle on the Pi 2 and possibly Pi 3 ......
Click to expand...
I tried my Edimax on the pi3 that I mentioned having a wifi issue with. I couldn't get it to work, but I figured the image just didn't include the drivers since the pi3 has builtin wifi. So, I didn't mention it. But, I did want to let you know in case it was helpful for you to troubleshoot.
 
Thanks for the additional info, Darren. I must not have tested the 8192 driver on the Pi 2 or 3 so I apologize for this being so broken for so long!

I've posted a new snapshot firmware with a new driver for the rtl8192cu. It seems to work for me now on all platforms and AP mode has been re-enabled for this driver. This should be resolved. Let me know if there's a combination that fails.
 
IT WORKS! Bryan, you're the man!

Now I just need to configure the PitDroid app etc. For some reason I can connect fine on my PC, but my mobile phone is having none of it. Can't access the IP address, and heatermeter.com/devices is showing an error next to the IP address. I'm definitely on the same WiFi network, so I'm not sure what the issue is...

Once I figure that out, I need to get an external address set up. I've registered with No-IP, and set up port forwarding for myHMipaddress:443, but can't see the service using portchecktool.com. I saw some information mentioning to update the packages, then search for luci-app-ddns, but I can't find that package when I search for it.

Soooo close!
 
I've just plugged my Maverick food probes in, and they're both reading -0.4°, while the pit probe is reading 58.4°. Guess I need new probes for the HM?

I think my Maverick came with 2 straight probes, but I came across a 3rd, 90°-angled one when rifling through the kitchen a few weeks back. The angled one works in the HM, but not the straight ones. Unfortunately it's also currently reading 45°F less than the straight ones when they're plugged in the Maverick. I tried testing the angled probe in the Maverick, but it doesn't fit properly, so I have no idea where it came from! [Mystery solved - the wife told me it came from this - http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/products/...hermometer-timer-digital-black-art-20103016/]

Got a brisket ready to go on tonight... I'll check the pit temp via the Maverick and base the HM pit temp set-point on that.

For future cooks, should these probes below all work? Any other recommendations for decent, HM compatible probes from the UK? Ideally with a longer lead length.

https://thermometer.co.uk/probes-leads-fittings/1100-dot-chefalarm-penetration-probe.html
https://thermometer.co.uk/probes-leads-fittings/1101-mini-needle-probe-for-chefalarm.html
https://thermometer.co.uk/probes-leads-fittings/1175-penetration-probe-for-dot-or-chefalarm.html
 
RalphTrimble said:
Make sure you select the proper probe type in the HM config...
Click to expand...

DOH! I've set the angled one to ET72/73, and the Maverick ones to ET-732, and now they're all reading ~5°F less than the Maverick. Much, much better - cheers Ralph!

Edit: Changed the resistance from 10k to 8.5k, and now they're all spot on compared to the Maverick

Just the app to sort out now.
 
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You might want to try disabling your phone's mobile data connection (4G or whatever) and see if you can access it on the wifi. Maybe it is trying to get there through the cell network? Also maybe check the IP address of your phone versus what's showing in heatermeter.com/devices to make sure they are on the same network. One thing to note about the HeaterMeter device page is that it always tries to communicate over HTTP (not encrypted) to port 80 on the HeaterMeter device from the local device. Not sure if anything there will trigger an "Aha!" moment, but there's some extra information.

As far as the No-IP, that's best set up at your internet router, because the HeaterMeter itself isn't actually on the internet. That's why there's no ddns support built into HeaterMeter-- you always need to add a port forwarding on your internet router even if HeaterMeter is registered with a DDNS service.
 
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