New WET610N Bridg

[johncap100]

I got the new WET 610N Bridge because our old bridge was having problems.
It worked great at the regional, but now i am back home and trying to set it up to communicate with the router. I reset the router to the default and can ping to it. i pressed the reset button on the WET 610N and according to all i hear the new default address should be 169.254.1.250, but i cannot ping to it. I thought i would be able to follow the same instructions as for the old bridge, but no go, any help is greatly appreciated.

[Mark McLeod]

Directions are here (http://www.usfirst.org/uploadedFiles/Community/FRC/Game_and_Season__Info/2010_Assets/Configuring%20the%20WET610N_Rev0.pdf) linked from the FIRST Competition Manual webpage.

[johncap100]

i did look at that and have yet to use it as it states how to configure to use on the playing field and i my first thought that would not necessarily apply to using the router at home, but i will try it
thanks

[Mark McLeod]

Skip the Security Mode part in step 6, but do the SSID as team number to match what you did on your router.
Otherwise, it all looks good for home use.

Your router should be setup for home use according to chapter 2.10.2 of the Control System Manual (http://www.usfirst.org/uploadedFiles/Community/FRC/Game_and_Season__Info/2010_Assets/2-2010FRCControl%20System-Getting%20Started-Rev-0.7.pdf).

And you have the option of cabling your Classmate to the router or using the wireless setup described in chapter 2.10.4

[johncap100]

so what do you think that the "security mode" , "Encrypton" and "Passphrase" should be set at?


when you said skip the security mode doyou mean to leave it blank?
thanks

[Mark McLeod]

I'd leave security at none or blank.

You can use it if you want to and makeup your own passphrase. It just has to be set identically on your router and any other wireless device connecting to your network, e.g., Classmate wireless.

[johncap100]

well i have set up the wet 610n bridge as instructed in the directions.
I have reset the router and the two will not communicate. I can connect the bridge directly to the computer and there is good communication, i can connect the bridge through the router to the computer and there is good communication from the computer to the bridge via the router, but if i disconnect the bridge in any way from the computer there is no communication. I have gotten the new bridge to solve these problems, to no avail. I guess the next step is the get another router and try that, there just seems to be a communication issue between the bridge and router. any ideas?
is there a way to somehow find out if the router is sending out signals correctly to the bridge, i had felt that the old bridge was the issue, but now ii may be the router.

thanks

[Mark McLeod]

I just checked a new router that was used by a team last weekend and just needed to set the Security Mode to Disabled.

There isn't much to the WET610N wireless settings. The only thing you have to do is set the SSID to your team number, and make sure the IP address matches your team.

On the router's wireless settings you must have the identical SSID set and a matching team IP address.

[johncap100]

I agree it should be very easy and simple that is why it is quite frustrating.

I don't recall a place to disable the security on the router. Can you tell me where that is?.

I did disable the security on the bridge.

and i have set the ip addresses and the ssid two times to make sure they match.

i did get the router to communicate with the bridge one time but only briefly, for about 15 seconds and then it stopped?? that is why i am thinking there is a hardward problem???

thanks for your suggestions anything is helpful at this point

[Mark McLeod]

I don't recall a place to disable the security on the router. Can you tell me where that is?.

It's under the Security tab.
To be on the safe side look at all the tabs under Security and turn everything off.

Twice checking the SSIDs is enough :)

[johncap100]

well i disabled all the security items on the router as well as any on the bridge.
still have connection problem, it connects sometimes and sometimes not.
i ordered a new router and will see if that helps with the problem.
i just seem to have a wireless connection problem. when the cables are attached communication is great but when i try to go wireless from router to bridge ??????
i should have the new router by tuesday and will let you know thanks

[Tom Line]

Rather than start a new thread, I thought I'd post here.

We just purchased a new bridge so that we could run 2 robots at the same time and to have a spare. After a nightmare of configuration (who decided it would be a good idea to NOT SET A STATIC IP on these things?), we tried it out.

It takes 3 times as long to connect to our router wirelessly. Then, when it is connecting, we see a flash of "teleop disabled" on our classmate, then 30 more seconds of no comm, followed by them finally linking up.

Is this standard operation? Why is so very different from the original bridge?

[Mark McLeod]

That's the way the new bridges behave on the field too.
They link up, go away, and link up again.
That's what slowed down match turnover at quite a few Regionals.

Their use on the practice fields used up most of a team's allotted time slot just waiting for them to boot up and start working.

[Pat Fairbank]

It takes 3 times as long to connect to our router wirelessly. Then, when it is connecting, we see a flash of "teleop disabled" on our classmate, then 30 more seconds of no comm, followed by them finally linking up.
I was on field support at the Greater Toronto Regional, and this was pretty much standard for the one team who had the new radio. They'd show as connected for a few seconds, drop out for a while, then come back again for good.

Knowing what a pain the new bridges are, when our old and reliable one broke at the end of Waterloo I found and ordered a refurbished WGA600N online. Seems to work great.

[Mark McLeod]

If you only have two robots you can simplify matters by using your old bridge on one robot and using the router itself on the other.

[johncap100]

thanks for all the info.
i did finally get the new bridge working and it takes alittle while to connect but once if does it seems to work fine. i did not need the new router but now i hae a extra to work on another bot.
hope these bridge issues re corrected for next year.

[Tom Line]

Frankly, I hope they dump the WET610N as a recommendation and go with one that doesn't take a ridiculously long time to connect. With all the gaming adapters out there there HAS to be another as good as the original "wagon" as we call it.