Robot to Driver Station Connectivity Issues

[cfindley39]

We have been having rampant connectivity issues on practically every day that we practice with our robot. We have been able to practice but only after extensive setup and troubleshooting. Our practice robot is using the most recent router and driver station and we are using C++. We have been having some unrelated electronics problems although we mostly have been able to resolve this quickly. The router lights are on and blinking properly and the WIFI appears on the computer and are able to connect to it. The issue lies in that when we connect to the router, it will sometimes read limited connection and not connect to the driver's station at all, saying no robot communication (the communication and robot code lights are off). Some times after working with it, we will be able to get limited connection to the drivers station. However, today, we are experiencing a new problem. The router is on, the robo-rio is able to connect to the router and we are able to ping it from the computer. In spite of this, and though we are connected from the computer, the driver's station is unable to connect. Even a wired connection was unable to resolve this problem. However, after several attempts and different computers, we managed to get this to work. We have done extensive checking of all wiring to the router and robo-rio and are confident in it as well as switching computers to ensure the operating system is not the problem which did nothing. Does this sound similar to anything anyone has experienced or anything that you might know of?

Seemingly unrelated but maybe connected issue, when we are able to finally get communications recently, our driver's station will lose communication every 11 seconds for approximately half a second though will reconnect immediately afterwards.

Thank you

[Mark McLeod]

At a guess the 11 second interrupt is commonly attributable to an update service running on the laptop.
Open the Task Master processes and see what pops to the top of the list when the disconnect happens.

Possibilities for the other issues include firewalls, anti-virus and the like.

What OS are you usually running?

[protoserge]

Are the following true?

Are you using static IP? If so, do you have the right address?
Firewalls off (public domain especially).
IPv6 disabled.

Those are the most common issues aside from robot wiring. Tug and jiggle all wiring from the battery to the radio and roboRIO. Nothing should happen. If you see the RSL flicker, you likely have bad wiring.

[plnyyanks]

Originally Posted by protoserge

Are the following true?

Also wiggle the all the wires going into the Anderson battery connectors (on both sides), your battery lug nuts, and ensure that your PDP fuses are all the way in.

[Alan Anderson]

Originally Posted by cfindley39

...when we connect to the router, it will sometimes read limited connection...

Are you talking about the "limited connectivity" message from Windows? That just means it doesn't have an Internet connection. It's normal to not find the Internet on a robot.