Router Problems

[Sonicnine1]

Our router keeps disconnecting, any suggestions?

[Mark McLeod]

I suggest you be a bit more descriptive and provide the circumstances.
For instance,
How can you tell it is disconnecting (what are the symptoms)?
How is it hooked up (wireless/Ethernet/combination)?
What is it disconnecting from (laptop/cRIO/camera)?
Are the status lights on the router doing anything unusual?
What do the Driver Station Diagnostics tab indicators showing?

[Sonicnine1]

I suggest you be a bit more descriptive and provide the circumstances.
For instance,
How can you tell it is disconnecting (what are the symptoms)?
How is it hooked up (wireless/Ethernet/combination)?
What is it disconnecting from (laptop/cRIO/camera)?
Are the status lights on the router doing anything unusual?
What do the Driver Station Diagnostics tab indicators showing?
1. It Just Turns off with a red light and disconnects
2.Ethernet into the robot then wireless to the classmate
3. The WI-Fi from it goes down, so the power is disconnecting
4.The power light will go orange-red then reboot, but that sometimes dosent reconnect
5. The Diagnostics tap says disconnected

[Mark McLeod]

Hopefully it's just a power problem:
I assume you have it wired to the robot?
What does the power wire connect to, from where on the Power Distribution Panel is it drawing power and what's wired in-between?
Where did you get the power cable with the DLink barrel connector from-cut off the wall adapter that came with the DLink or a Radio Shack or other purchase?Proper DLink wiring:

The DLink barrel connector gets wired to the 5v side of the 12v/5v converter
The 12v/5v converter gets wired to a little white mini-wago connector
The mini-white wago connector plugs into the Power Distribution Panel at the very special 12v receptacle reserved just for the DLink.

[Sonicnine1]

We have it wired to our power distribution board through the 12V to 5V inverter, going to some cables we used last year. A team that was in it longer, Team 360, helped us wire our D-Link, I think the power is fine. Let me explain the issue again. Our D-Link works fine, until we hit a bump (a crease in the carpet) or accidentally ramming it into a wall (like a robot hitting us in the competition). Then we lose connection to the robot and the router from the field control system. The power light turns red on the D-Link router, which it does anytime we plug it in (it turns blue later, Im assuming that red means it is starting up). We do not want to have this problem in the competition (we had it last year, we couldn't play after our robot was hit until the next match). Any idea why it is doing this and how we can fix it by the competition?

[Mark McLeod]

It's the power.
The DLink is rebooting because it momentarily loses power. It only takes a jitter.

If it does it only when you hit things, then it's probably a loose barrel connector that's getting jarred when you hit. That's often because it isn't the right barrel connector or it's just too loose a fit.

If it does it when you put the robot snug against the wall and push as hard as it can, then that's probably miswiring (because the dipping battery voltage is the likely cause).

[catacon]

I agree. It's a mechanical problem, i.e. you have an electrical connection that is not mechanically sound. Any impact is causing a connection to come loose and momentarily interrupt the power to the router.

[Alan Anderson]

There are still a few questions that you didn't answer. What power connector are you using to plug into the D-Link, and where did you get it?

...going to some cables we used last year.

Are you telling us that there are fabricated components on your robot that were made before Kickoff this year? :ahh:

[cybercats]

We have the same problem with the wireless bridge. Whenever the robot shakes a fair amount, it immediately disconnects (and the power icon turns from blue to red). We tried shaking it with our hands while keeping the wires depressed in the back, yet it would still disconnect. Do you guys think this is still a wiring problem for us?

[JDL]

Ours has a really *insert long string of expletives* power connector. The thing feels like it's moving around on the PCB inside, the center pin isn't centered either.

[toastnbacon]

We have the same problem with the wireless bridge. Whenever the robot shakes a fair amount, it immediately disconnects (and the power icon turns from blue to red). We tried shaking it with our hands while keeping the wires depressed in the back, yet it would still disconnect. Do you guys think this is still a wiring problem for us?

I would say so. Go through everything that runs from the PD to the router, see where/if you lose power. We had the same problem a while back, we had to re-soder the connection to the adaptor.