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MVP-5200i Wifi indications
Brent Simpson
Posts: 36
Am wondering if anybody else is having problems with the Wifi links as the Touch Screen Roams? We have 4 access points around the house. All channels are seperated as best we can (11, 1,6,11). The annoying part is the 5200i indicates it has reasonable signal level and signal quality (about half on the levels bars) but it stalls and seems to display old DATA and info when buttons are selected. Worse is that the NI-4100 seems to stall trying to require the Touch Screen. When the link is broken between controller and 5200i it takes 30 - 40 sec to recover and while that isn't long - when the client is standing there trying to do something it really doesn't look good. It appears that signal and quality bars need to indicate more than 75% for it to work well or aren't these very accurate?
I've wandered around with network stumbler and we have reasonably good coverage.
The frustrating thing is that if we leave the 5200i in the drawer (where coverage is good) and link into it using an iPhone, we have much better reliability. In other words the iPhone seems to have better Wifi reception.
Am I expecting too much here?
Is there a way of indicating the link has dropped out on the Touch Screen?
I've wandered around with network stumbler and we have reasonably good coverage.
The frustrating thing is that if we leave the 5200i in the drawer (where coverage is good) and link into it using an iPhone, we have much better reliability. In other words the iPhone seems to have better Wifi reception.
Am I expecting too much here?
Is there a way of indicating the link has dropped out on the Touch Screen?
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http://amxforums.com/showthread.php?t=6627
but it appears you've already been there, done that.
Unfortunately for some reason beyond my comprehesion these will never work as good as a laptops, iPhones or any other significantly less expensive device. God only knows why. The best you can do is try and give them the strongest signal in the areas of prime use so that in these areas there will always be a clearly stronger AP to connect to. Then as you roam which for the most part they won't do to much of there will be fringe areas that are weak or where signal strenght of 2 or more APs will at the same levels in which case the TP's connection logic just farts and can't decide who to connect to. I think it then runs the fnInyMenyMinyMo(INTEGER nLevel) function but without fingers or toes it has a hard time.
You really need to get a WiSpy or some other spectrum analyzer and see what evil 2.4ghz devices are in the house and possibly stepping on your wi-fi too. Pana Cells, Microwaves and a host of other devices could be really screwing things up. So why does the iPhone work so well or the laptop?
I'm working on it though - I figure if I can proved a better indication of a failing link (PopUp) at least they can see theres an issue.
Maybe we've just been giving AMX a bad rap for no real valid reason.
This is one thing I have never understood. When the TP loses its connection why do all the channels and levels go back to their default values rather than just keeping them wherever they are? Then when the TP loses its connection briefly it doesn't reset everything and can continue along without much disruption.
Paul
My questions should have been;
- Are the TS strength and quality level indications accurate?
- How would I display a PopUp to indicate as soon as the link is compromised? e.g. you can stop pressing buttons now - nothing is going to happen....
- Is there some thing the Touch Screen can display to show the status of the link when it's retrying with the Controller telling to?
Client is very technical - he founded a very large computer company early on so want's all the answers now - if not sooner!
You could put the copy the connection status ball from the set up pages or the Link quality and signal level buttons from the protectedSeconadryIP page (TPD4 >file>Open Sytem Page Template).
Or create your own buttons with the values used in the set up pages as shown in the pics. Now these level are set to display so maybe if you create your own (or copy/paste) you can change the Level Function to active and then write code to handle these levels.
If you just put an obvious connection icon on the panels I think the customers will get the idea. Yolu could also make the offline button state the full screen. You would have to make it pass through so the other button on the page would work and you could still push buttons, you just wouldn't see what you're pushing and those button pushes would get queued and run when it comes back online so that might not be a good idea.
since the master is "in charge" and updates the values on the panels, if the panel disconnects from the master it has no idea what those values should be. So as a matter of protocol all devices are required to reinitialize their values upon connection and wait for the master to update those values (that's what the online: event is for). For example, if a panel shows the light in the room on and then disconnects from the master and the light is turned off during that time, when the panel comes online we would rather reset all values then display a value that is incorrect. One could argue that most values are incorrect anyway when the panel resets them (the light could still be on, right?) but in most cases it is more obvious that the panel is disconnected when you see these values. It keeps things much cleaner from a protocol standpoint and the NetLinx code should really be updating those values anyway. The master will update all channels and levels automatically without any NetLinx code. But the NetLinx code needs to update the variable text that appears on the panel (the master doesn't maintain these).
Yes, I always prefer obviously wrong to just slightly wrong, but it would be nice to be able to turn that feature off when a less than optimal connection takes the panel offline for a few seconds every once in a while.
What do you mean? The master doesn't reinit the panel once its back online without code to tell it what to do in the online event as you mentioned.
Paul
Brent, I don't know if RF coverage is the issue for this installation but I thought I'd pass this along. Perhaps there's something here you can use to add to your current Site Survey procedure or to use for comparison. It's a simple technique for doing a Site Survey that "should" give pretty good results:
(NOTE: You should not have a master connected to the panel for this procedure.)
1. Start with a single AP, put it in a "good" position that you expect would give good coverage.
2. Get the 5200 associated to the AP.
3. Go to the Tools::Statistics setup page and monitor the Signal level value. While walking the room and adjacent hallways (and other rooms, above and below room with AP) define a perimeter where the Signal level is -65 to -70 dBm. You will need to push the "refresh" button to update the Signal level as you walk.
4. Move the AP to a new position in the house (good guess work is valuable here) and take another survey. Make sure you get some overlap (unless dead zones are in areas where you don't need the panel to operate).
5. The less APs you use to get coverage the better, more than 3 and you have to deal with interference.
6. Watch out for "hidden node" issue. This occurs when the panel is between 2 APs on the same channel and the panel can "hear" both APs but the APs cannot hear each other. This will cause interference.
Hope that helps...
Ok. That was a dumb mistake on my part. The master also reinitializes all of its state values when the panel come online. You are right. An online event would need to send these back to the panel. Sorry for the brain fart.