Well, my experience thus far with SparkCore has been very frustrating. For starters, on the weekend, was able to setup a core using iPhone 6 and the app and flash an LED at a friends house (read as different router than at home). Returned home, started application and tried to change WIFI that core was using. No success. Tried several times, flushed cache on core, still no success in getting connected. Decided to go at this with USB, managed to connect and get core connected to WIFI but once the core connects, it seems to drop the COM port connection so trying to obtain Core Id with terminal with āiā command not possible. Tried following directions for installation of CLI via node.js but installation fails due to some serial port package.
Iām willing to accept āuser errorā but at this point not sure how to proceed given I have not been able to claim the core and therefore not be able to play around with the build IDE.
Only one suggestion, out of several, after you entered your credentials over USB and the āwā command, you need to put the Core into listening mode again by pressing the mode button till the RGB LED goes blue blinking again. Then you can enter the āiā command again.
Possible reasons for your problem to go via your iPhone at home might be either a WiFi channel beyond 11 or the use of 801.11n while the Core only supports b & g.
To get around this, try forcing your router to use a channel <= 11 and only to use b & g for the claiming process. Afterwards you can reactivate n - but channels need to stay ālowā.
Thanks for the reply. You are absolutely correct about a few things in your post. I did not realize that I had to reactivate the listening mode after attaching to the WIFI. Second, once I downgraded my router to Wireless G, everything connected and I was off to the races.
Thanks again and off to continue the āGetting Startedā section
@Moors7ā¦Iāve made the changes to my Router and things are a bit better now with respect to connecting to the Wifi. In your experience, does it normally take 2-3 attempts with the iPhone app to get the core re-established on a different network? This is what I typically see as I travel a fair bit and in my spare time am playing with the core usually over different networks.
Glad to hear that itās better now!
I too, have indeed experiences times at which I had to try several times before it connected. The Smart Config is using a clever āhackā to transmit your credentials, and itās possible that things go wrong there. Itās not an ideal scenario, but one which will mostly likely will be fixed with the coming of the Photon.
The Core (CC3000 chip) can store up to 7 different pairs of credentials, so you shouldnāt have to reconfigure them every time, unless you factory reset the Core.
I donāt know is this will be of much use, but itās worthwhile checking out; Xiaomi makes these tiny WiFi USB sticks, which can be bought cheaply at DX.com for example. You can use these to share your computers internet connection by setting up a local hotspot. This way the Core always sees only one accesspoint, regardless of where you are and what connection youāre using. There are also versions with USB data storage, so youāll at least have a USB stick if it doesnāt work out.