Issues

[lonewolf41]

I have read the other post about glitches and mine may fall into the same category, but figured I would post my dilemma just in case anyway as I would like some feedback/opinions.   I have attached a sketch of my layout.  I have two totes that each have 4 controllers in them.  The controllers are mounted  side by side and back to back with a piece of 3/8" plywood in between for a mounting "plate".  In my rush to get things hooked up, I didn't realize that I had my totes turned 180 degrees from where I wanted thus putting the controller with the wireless module on the outside away from the transmitter rather than towards it.  I have all V2 wireless equipment hooked up and all firmware is from the coop...nothing flashed. 

The controllers on the left work OK.  The ones on the right are having lots of trouble with dropping I assume getting the commands as lights stay on when they shouldn't and don't come on when they should.  This is not one or two dropped commands, but can last a couple of seconds and happens pretty much continuously.  My transmitter is laying on its side in a bedroom window taped to the glass about 5-6 feet above the controllers which are about 20" off the ground.  As you can see from my sketch, the antennas are not parallel to each other, but can see each other...except for the plywood backing plate.  I can't move the module to the inside controller as (in my infinite wisdom) I didn't put the wireless connectors on the other controllers knowing that I wouldn't need them on any but one since the other three use CAT5 from the controller with the wireless. 

I could turn the totes around, but that means plugging and unplugging everything and getting it all back in the same outlet.  I can do, just time consuming.  My questions are:

     Is the plywood between the transmitter and RX causing my issues?  I plan on adding a plywood "lid" over the whole box to shed rain so I will have more wood in the way.  I guess I am now questioning if I should do the "lid" now.
     Does the transmitter have to be oriented vertically or standing up?

Thanks,
-Keith

[Made2Rock]

I had simliar problems where one Rx would have trouble receiving a signal and would "Jump" during the sequence or I have a channel flash on. I was short on time and did a few things at once but maybe this will help you.

I got the Tx up off the floor to around 5' high (you already have yours higher). I changed from Uni3 to Uni1 and I also swapped one of my Rx with a Tx and changed there function. This fixed my problem and I have not had time to go back and determine which step actually helped and what did not. Now you may not be able to swap a Rx with a Tx and change a jumper but maybe swap your Ex/Rx from one LE to another and see if the problem follows the Ex/Rx.

This is not much help but this got me from being dead in the water to up and running without any hiccups in my show.

Good Luck

Joe

[lonewolf41]

Here are a couple of pictures to put everything in perspective.  The controller box pictured is the one labeled A-D in the other pic.

Thanks,
-Keith

[vairmoose]

Keith:

Instead of rotating the whole tote, to get the LE with the Ex/Rx into the middle,  my suggesting would be to either swap the  inside bottom (per the figure) non-wireless with the wireless LE in the same tote (only having to move the wiring for 32 connections) ;  or ..    remove the inside - bottom LE and add the wireless connector (temporarily disconnecting 16 pairs of wires) ,,   then move the Le/Rx to the inside LE.    

 The wood is probably degrading the signal some... but  the real source of the interference/blockage is that LE (active electronics)  that is blocking the straight line between the transmitting antenna and the receiving antenna.    

Larry

[RJ]

Yes laying on their side with plywood between them would have a bad effect. This is not elevated and line of site.

When the antennas are not in the same plane the loss of signal is great. When materials that block the signal are in close distence of the units then this is also a great destroyer of signal.

So the two together will have a ill effect.


RJ

[lonewolf41]

Keith:

Instead of rotating the whole tote, to get the LE with the Ex/Rx into the middle,  my suggesting would be to either swap the  inside bottom (per the figure) non-wireless with the wireless LE in the same tote (only having to move the wiring for 32 connections) ;  or ..    remove the inside - bottom LE and add the wireless connector (temporarily disconnecting 16 pairs of wires) ,,   then move the Le/Rx to the inside LE.    

 The wood is probably degrading the signal some... but  the real source of the interference/blockage is that LE (active electronics)  that is blocking the straight line between the transmitting antenna and the receiving antenna.    

Larry

Yea, had thought about the LE blocking some too but figured since the module sticks up above the board and the transmitter is higher yet that the signal would pass over the boards.  I might try either disconnecting one controller and soldering connectors onto it or see how I solder outside.    Either one would be a pain in the rear since I have them hard wired...but hey, at least I only have 16 connections since the neutrals are common and wired to the outlets.

Thanks for the input.

-Keith

[lonewolf41]

Yes laying on their side with plywood between them would have a bad effect. This is not elevated and line of site.

When the antennas are not in the same plane the loss of signal is great. When materials that block the signal are in close distence of the units then this is also a great destroyer of signal.

So the two together will have a ill effect.


RJ

So if I move the receiver to the other side of the box (transmitter side) would that be enough or do I need to reorient the boxes so the antennas are in the same plane?  I realize there is some speculation here, but looking for a best guess.  I assume I also could "remote mount" the receiver by using wires to bring it to the edge of the box and pointing directly at the transmitter.  If I use the same wires as shown in the wiki for using the EX/RX for other items but wire it to the location on the Express board for the wireless (hooking up 3 wires instead of , would that work?  Also, is the TX laying down OK, or does it need to be vertical?  Didn't know if that mattered or not.

OK, after rereading the wiki, it looks like I would need to hook up all 8 connections from RX to express, but that would still be better that moving the entire box which is pretty well stuck as some of the wire runs are tight already.

Thanks for your help!!

-Keith

[n1ist]

There are only three active pins on the EX/RX wireless.  Look at You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login and jumper those 3 between the EX/RX and Express.  I'd twist the wires (at least the data and ground ones) and use suitable gauge to reduce voltage drop.
/mike

[RJ]

Biggest change you can make is to pick the transmitter up.

The antennas both need to point up the same direction as they do in an express mounted up right.

The plywoods needs to be below the pcb edge to not cause issues. The plywood is an issue a it is in the near field and will have more effect than a tree in the way. There should be nothing around the antenna. 2.4ghz does not like items near its radiating device (Antenna).

So to fix this get the EX turned to face the TX.

Get the TX standing upright with nothing around it for a few inches.

Any height off the ground will help a lot.

RJ

[lonewolf41]

Thanks for all the feedback.  Tonight I will mount my transmitter as high in the window as I can and mount it vertically.  I will also be moving my receiver modules to the transmitter side of the box.  I went ahead and flashed the receivers with the firmware from the wiki last night.  Just to be sure I didn't miss anything, it looks like all version 2 wireless equipment uses the same firmware.  I only found one version and that is what I used. 

Thanks again for the feedback and lessons learned...especially about transmitter orientation.  I'll report back on my results.

OH, one other thing I noticed.  With version 1.2 equipment last year, my music and lights were perfectly synced.  This year, I had to cut off 75 milliseconds off the front of my sequences to get the music and light to be in sync.  In other words, on the preview screen, the lights came on at the right time with the music, but the lights in the yard were 75 ms behind.  Easy to fix, but just an observation.  Didn't know if anyone else noticed that or not.

Thanks again,
-Keith