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Bench Test Setup Without WiFi Module?

Hi there,

This is my first post, so first off I'd like to think you Costas for the awesome work you've shared. If you need any help from a experienced mech eng from the marine tech industry, I'd be happy to pitch in.

I'm bench testing your software to get a feel for how things work before I customize it for my purposes. I can't get it to connect to the Android app with my current setup which includes just the pi3b, camera, and an ethernet or wifi connection directly to the pi. I don't have the your WiFi module (yet) and was wondering how to connect the android app without the WiFi module... or alternatively how I can emulate that Wifi module. Happy to buy one from you as I'll need it soon, but I don't want to have to wait until it comes.

Cheers,

Derek

7 comments

7 Comments

costassoler

Sep 11, 2020

Okay, Android 9 should definitely work with the newest update, and if you’re able to see the feed on your browser, it sounds like everything is working on the Pi side. My idea now is that something odd might be happening in your router to obscure the host names of some devices. I found this thread about a similar issue on the Archer C9 - might be relevant? https://community.tp-link.com/en/home/forum/topic/83983 Is there another router you could try connecting to? Honestly, you might have better luck if it’s not a highly secure one! Or it might be worth poking around your router and android’s security preferences. I’d definitely try connecting with a different router, at least to rule out an issue with the current one. Let us know!! -Costas

Derek Puzzuoli

Sep 11, 2020

Replying to

Hmm, I don't have another router but I could potentially bypass it setting up an adhoc network. I didn't see anything in the code that looked like it would be picky about that, but let me know if that won't work for some reason.

costassoler

Sep 11, 2020

Replying to

Never tried an ad hoc from the pi before, but it sounds like it might work as long as the hostname stays the same. It might also be worth a shot setting up a hotspot with your phone?

Derek Puzzuoli

Sep 11, 2020

Replying to

@costassoler Yes that might be much easier. I'll get back to you with results soon.

costassoler

Sep 10, 2020

Hey Derek! Thanks so much for your post, and welcome! This should be streaming video, especially if both the pi and your android are connected to the internet. I do have a couple questions though. What version of android are you running? What version of Raspbian are you running (I don’t think this should matter but good for reference) and what model WiFi router are you using? I usually use my house WiFi when I don’t feel like connecting the Model C WiFi module. Another question- which browser are you using to view the stream? One last question for now, are you able to ping the raspberry pi on your network? If you “ping raspberrypi.local”, does it work? Sorry that this is more questions than answers! We’ll get this sorted out. Worst case, I’m sure I can push a new option to the app next week that lets you type in your RPi’s IP address. Thanks for exploring with us! -Costas

Derek Puzzuoli

Sep 10, 2020

Replying to

Thanks for such a quick reply Costas! Questions are all good. Answers below.

Android version: 9

Raspbian: latest RPi OS with gui (the mid-sized one, not the one with recommended software)

Wifi Router: TP-Link Archer 3150

Browser: Chrome both on PC and Android tablet (stream alone works fine on both if I use the IP address of the pi, but only works with hostname "raspberrypi"on the PC)

Looking forward to getting this working!

Derek Puzzuoli

Sep 10, 2020

To add a bit more detail, it looks like the scripts are running find on my pi. Here's a screengrab of my systemctl status. Tell me if it doesn't look right.

Right now, I've just got the WiFi on the pi and Android tablet connected to the same network to see if it works. I'm guessing that's where I'm going wrong at this point because it's not working.

I've read other posts for guidance and have been trying a few things to figure this out. When I comment out ControlServer.py in the crontab and try to run it manually in the CLI, I get to "waiting for connection" and then when I start the Android app I get no connection and no video to the app. Also I don't get video if I go to http://raspberrypi:8000/stream.mjpg, but I do get the stream on Android if I use the IP address instead of "raspberrypi" (which I can verify is my hostname).

Hope this helps explain.