We have a real tricky problem with setting WiFi credentials via softAP on about 100 units…
So at present we have about 1,000 Photons installed working great on site, however a new customer with a rather large market (think millions) wanted a product custom made to their own enclosure, so we simply used the same components re-arranged to suit a different shape board. Simple right?
After producing 100 of these new products, early tests at our offices were positive so we sent them off (Feb 2020).
Next thing we knew they were getting all sorts of problems with the WiFi settings, so we went down to take a look thinking it would be something trivial; not quite. Here we reproduced the problem on several randomly chosen units:
- Power on for first time - blinking blue - connect to Photon via WiFi shows “Connecting” -> “Obtaining IP address” -> “Connected, no internet”.
- Enter credentials works fine. Lets say the WiFi password was entered incorrectly, the Photon enters listening mode again - blinking blue. No change in firmware.
- Attempt to connect to Photon via WiFi and now the connection switches between “connecting” and blank, sometime gets to “checking internet connectivity” for a second, before blanking again. Never able to connect.
All the other solutions to softAP issues we’ve faced before (for example seen in Photon SoftAP mode - mobile cannot obtain address) do not help, including:
- Power cycling
- Configuring static IP 192.168.0.2
- Swapping WiFi antenna (several different ones tried with firmware which specified using external antenna)
- Loading updated firmware and entering safe mode
The weird thing is, the problem cannot be reproduced at our offices, only at the customer!
The project, due to Corona, has been put on hold but we will need to solve this as soon as lockdown restrictions are lifted which will be soon.
This is evidently a hardware problem (because we have the exact same components running fine elsewhere) so I’m not expecting an absolute solution, but please help as I’m at a loss!!
Next time we test, what is the best way to accurately record what is going on to pinpoint the problem?