iRFR lost connection

[meatpopsicle]

Anybody had their iRFR quit working in the middle of the day? Iphone reports lost host. Unable to connect. Worked fine one minute, then just unable to connect the next.

Tried rebooting router, checking connections...can't reboot the console till the end of shooting day. I'm set for hard IPs. Disabled DHCP in console and gave it 10.101.100.101, iRFR is set for 104.

Worked great for 1st 2 weeks.

 

[Goph704]

try checking the IP on the router itself and see if it's reset it's IP.

 

[cpf]

Rebooted the phone?

 

[Gern]

Anybody had their iRFR quit working in the middle of the day? Iphone reports lost host. Unable to connect. Worked fine one minute, then just unable to connect the next.

Tried rebooting router, checking connections...can't reboot the console till the end of shooting day. I'm set for hard IPs. Disabled DHCP in console and gave it 10.101.100.101, iRFR is set for 104.

Worked great for 1st 2 weeks.

My iRFRs work on stages with out a full crew, and seldom work on stages with a full crew.
My show is on 2 side by side stages approx. 145' x 110', perms at 35' & 45'. Full crew is over 100 members on stage when shooting.
I think it is a combo of too many personal electronic devices in the area chewing up the 2.4GHz bandwidth, and not a powerful enough WAP.
I just got a window text message I've never noticed before, saying No Connection Connection failed Host is down.
Usually it is just,
No Connection
Wait for connection timed out.
I can always get connection with strong batteries on my ETC RFR; any amount of people loaded on the stage.
I can always get connection with my iRFR when there are not 100 people on stage. When the iRFR is working and then the company moves to the stage, it will usually not connect, giving the window text:
No Connection
Wait for connection timed out.

 

[meatpopsicle]

My iRFRs work on stages with out a full crew, and seldom work on stages with a full crew.
My show is on 2 side by side stages approx. 145' x 110', perms at 35' & 45'. Full crew is over 100 members on stage when shooting.
I think it is a combo of too many personal electronic devices in the area chewing up the 2.4GHz bandwidth, and not a powerful enough WAP.
I just got a window text message I've never noticed before, saying No Connection Connection failed Host is down.
Usually it is just,
No Connection
Wait for connection timed out.
I can always get connection with strong batteries on my ETC RFR; any amount of people loaded on the stage.
I can always get connection with my iRFR when there are not 100 people on stage. When the iRFR is working and then the company moves to the stage, it will usually not connect, giving the window text:
No Connection
Wait for connection timed out.

Exactly my situation. I'm in Kaufman's E (the big house) on Orange is the New Black. Yesterday I couldn't log on and I couldn't get into the router. This morning I can do both. I think the router access is my flummory (I was hooked up by ethernet or wireless but not both). The iphone hooked up with factory settings in the router (router obtaining dynamic IPs and static in Ion and Iphone) Then an hour ago the phone wouldn't connect reliably, when it did the signal strength on irfr was one bar. Now an hour later its rock solid. There are 2 other stages here, both with Ions but I don't believe they have their remote hooked up. I do have an open network (labeled lightingnotinternet). Maybe somebody is logging on by mistake.

We have a crew of 80 or so but the airwaves are crowded with s***. Its a bummer cause with out it I'm locked in my tent (they wouldn't build me a room - art dir thought it would be "to permanent and they would have to move me after ep 3" - hah)

Glad there's another LCP on here ;D

 

[icewolf08]

I have heard about issues will wifi connections specifically with the iRFR and Eos family consoles. There are a couple things that I would check. First, make sure that your wireless network is not on a channel that overlaps with any other wireless networks in the space. I have this problem at my theatre, as there are multiple wireless networks in range. When we ran a survey app the spectrum was pretty crowded. We did manage to find a clear channel to slot into though.

The next thing that I would try is turning off the SSID broadcast on your WAP. I have heard (though not confirmed myself) that due to the shear number of people with devices that constantly look for wifi networks some WAPs bog down just due to the number of requests they get to join. It doesn't matter if you have security (WEP or WPA) set up as each device is still seeking out the WAP to ask for it's SSID and such. According to one of our LDs, ETC told them to disable the SSID broadcast and it worked fine for them.

I have never had any issues where I got any errors from the iRFR app. I mean if you put your iDevice to sleep and wake it up later it has to reconnect to the wifi before it can connect to the console again. Because of that I have seen a "Socket Not connected" message, but as soon as the iPod reconnects to our wifi, it works fine. We use an old Linksys WRT54G router (running DD-WRT firmware) as our AP, and every now and then I have had issues connecting to the network but they were always fixed by rebooting the WAP. The interesting thing is that when we used the WAP with out old strand network, it was setup without security, and required static IPs and everything, so it was secure enough, but I never had the connection issues. Some client devices are less compatible with some types of security, so you may try changing the security type that you use as well.

Hopefully some of that will be helpful.

 

[meatpopsicle]

Extremely helpful Alex, Both the channel idea and the SSID broadcast. Will try and report back.

Edit:
Immediate improvement. My pc has a WLAN utility so I was able to do a cheap and dirty spectrum analysis. Found an unpopulated channel and sat on it. I'm sure having the router not get pinged by every searching device had an equal improvement. At least, at this moment I have a rock solid signal and no dropouts any where on stage (fingers crossed).

Craft service here I come.


Thanks

 

[SteveB]

Craft service here I come.
Thanks

Then maybe Staples for a comfortable chair !

 

[derekleffew]

Then maybe Staples for a comfortable chair !

Remind me sometime to tell you about the havoc that ensued when the Master Electrician forgot to include "comfy chairs" for the LD and Programmer s on the Lighting Shop Order. The show almost didn't happen.

 

[meatpopsicle]

I stole the best boy's comfy chair from the office. I wasn't popular...but she couldn't argue. I'm in it 12 hours a day.

 

[Gern]

I, too, do not broadcast SSID, and have it password protected.

Chairs, now that is a whole other story.

I do broadcast chairs. I have lots of them in many styles. I bring em on all the shows. Directors chairs, soft bottom, directors chair hard bottom, office, task, managers chairs. I even bought a Tempur Pedic seat bottom. I have never had a true Herman Miller Aeron chair.
I some times think production should have to provide me a quality chair. I especially feel this on the 16 to 18 hour days.

 

[meatpopsicle]

I, too, do not broadcast SSID, and have it password protected.

Chairs, now that is a whole other story.

I do broadcast chairs. I have lots of them in many styles. I bring em on all the shows. Directors chairs, soft bottom, directors chair hard bottom, office, task, managers chairs. I even bought a Tempur Pedic seat bottom. I have never had a true Herman Miller Aeron chair.
I some times think production should have to provide me a quality chair. I especially feel this on the 16 to 18 hour days.

You know on my live gigs you can rent the chairs from the lighting vendor. We could put in our box rental, but the props dept might get their panties in a twist.

What do you use to plot your rigs with?

 

[Gern]

I am using VW2012. I get to upgrade to 2013, and will do so soon.

 

[meatpopsicle]

I am using VW2012. I get to upgrade to 2013, and will do so soon.

I use wyg. integrates well with art dept on VW.

 

[Gern]

I'm currently looking into pre-vis software, ie., ESP Vision, Light Converse, Capture etc...
But, since I'm not experiencing connectivity issues, I'd expect to get bumped over to a different/new thread.

 

[jraynak]

First, make sure that your wireless network is not on a channel that overlaps with any other wireless networks in the space.

Seconded!

Would that I had found this post yesterday, but after about 5 hours of troubleshooting (including a call to ETC), changing the channel on the WAP finally did the trick.

(Including the following for search visibility: iPad iPhone iRFR RFR does not connect to Ion)

 

[Sayen]

It's worth it to spring for a quality wireless unit too, especially if you notice problems with more people in the room. I've helped a couple of local theaters here set up the wireless for their ETC consoles - cheap routers just don't hold up. There's a huge difference in a $15 dollar router and a $60, and it seems like that's one place people like to try to save money on the lighting rig.

 

[STEVETERRY]

Extremely helpful Alex, Both the channel idea and the SSID broadcast. Will try and report back.

Edit:
Immediate improvement. My pc has a WLAN utility so I was able to do a cheap and dirty spectrum analysis. Found an unpopulated channel and sat on it. I'm sure having the router not get pinged by every searching device had an equal improvement. At least, at this moment I have a rock solid signal and no dropouts any where on stage (fingers crossed).

Craft service here I come.


Thanks

Ted, thanks for starting a thread that gives me an opportunity to get on my soapbox!

The situation described is one where the device stops working when the 2.4 gHz band gets crowded. In this situation, the user of the mission-critical device (you) has no control over other users in contention for bandwidth. My observation is that people tend to get seduced by the convenience of wireless devices, but when they stop working, those people tend to get amnesia and forget that they cannot own the bandwidth exclusively--it's a limited, finite resource!

That is why I always recommend a wired solution when that is possible, especially is a mission-critical, real time application such as a professional lighting system. This is especially true for DMX512 links or network links carrying DMX512 data.

If you lose the RFU, it's an inconvenience. If you lose control of the dimmers and the movers, it's a disaster.


Cheers

ST

 

[SteveB]

If you lose the RFU, it's an inconvenience.
ST

I think in most of the posts on this issue, it's not a case of using WiFi to connect the console to the racks and/or other devices, it's a case of using either a WiFi system or the RRFU to the desk, that becomes the issue.

It could be argued that one of the less-then-smart things ETC has done is to make it extraordinarily easy to use Android or iOS device as a replacement for the dedicated RRFU. It's been a HUGE cost savings for countless users to be able to purchase a $50 app for an existing phone or tablet and with the addition of a (sometimes too cheap) WiFi router, eliminate the purpose built RRFU. Sometimes that comes back to bite us in the butt, with crowding in the 2,4ghz frequencies becoming more and more an issue. I wonder if there's any product ETC makes or sells that has as many tech. service calls as the iRFR/aRFR and that brings in zero profit in sales.

Mind that I am not complaining and applaud and thank ETC for the iRFR/aRFR app's. The ***** is that we all come to rely on them and in some installations, the RRFU is not the purpose built unit from ETC that may be a bit more reliable, yet with a great deal less functionality, but instead an iPad. Sometimes that's not always a good idea, or at least becomes more trouble then the little you paid for it.

The thing is, and Ted's usage is a case in point, the RRFU or whatever you use, is not a device that becomes inconvenient to lose. It's a major issue when it doesn't work !. And here's no hardwired alternative unless you hard wire a laptop as a client, or add a rolling hardwired Ion.

So a lesson learned is to become very proficient in how you use WiFi.

 

[STEVETERRY]

The thing is, and Ted's usage is a case in point, the RRFU or whatever you use, is not a device that becomes inconvenient to lose. It's a major issue when it doesn't work !. And here's no hardwired alternative unless you hard wire a laptop as a client, or add a rolling hardwired Ion.

So a lesson learned is to become very proficient in how you use WiFi.

Indeed--but there are big issues totally outside your control--like many users scrambling for bandwidth.

Don't assume your "skill" in WiFi, no matter how good it is, can produce a 100% reliable connection!

Wired if possible!

ST