F16V5 WiFi

[DaSarge]

Anyone else have issues getting the F16v5 to maintain the WiFi SSID/Password?

Also what is required for a RTC for the F16v5?

[DaSarge]

Bump

[JonD]

Anyone else have issues getting the F16v5 to maintain the WiFi SSID/Password?

Also what is required for a RTC for the F16v5?

I have learned my lesson and no longer buy controllers that don't have manuals, but I believe all you need to do for RTC is to install a battery into the battery holder and set it to the correct time.  Think the Falcon v3 and v4 models use a CR1225 battery.   

If you have a FPP player, you could just set Falcon F16v5 NTP server setting to point the FPP player.  The controller would then always pull the time from FPP.   

[DaSarge]

But back to the original question.  I am trying to set up the WiFi on the controller, the Access point is no more than 15 feet from the controller, I set it, but it never acquires the IP address from my network.  With Xmas just around the corner I need to get this controller up and active or I am going to have to go back to my LOR stuff which I don't want to really do. 

[JonD]

I have not seen others mention this issue, but Falcon Wifi use is rare.  Wifi can work just fine, but has limitations.  You can use Wifi to manage the controller, and to transfer files to an SD card using multisync, but you can't typically run a light display directly over wifi as there is too much latency.  As long as you are aware of that no worries.

I do not own a F16v5, but I own several F3 and F4 series Falcons.  I have limited Falcon wifi experience, but did play with it one summer.  The wifi is not the strongest and you may need to attach an external antenna at some point, but it should not be loosing the password.  The password will not save until it has connected once.  Is it loosing the password, or just never connecting and never saving it?

You could try manually assigning an IP, but it almost sounds like to me it is not connecting at all.  You could try connecting it to a different SSID to rule out your network.  You may need to reach out to Falcon Support, or jump in the xlights zoom room if you are still stuck.

[DaSarge]

ok, to alleviate the issue with WiFi, I have gotten a pair of WireLine to Ethernet adapters.  this will hard-wire the F16V5 to the network via Cat-5 cable

[JonD]

I have gotten a pair of WireLine to Ethernet adapters.  this will hard-wire the F16V5 to the network via Cat-5 cable

This may not resolve the problem either, but might be worth trying.  I have seen those only support 10-15mbps connections at longer distances and have seen a lot of error correct latency.  I am crossing my fingers for you!

Worst case you could always place a FPP Remote Pi in the falcon box.  Connect the Pi ethernet to the Falcon, then connect the Pi wifi to your network.  You could then upload your sequences wireless to the FPP Remote local SD card in the Falcon box, and use multisync.  The FPP multisync will do the heavy lifting to the controller removing latency issues, and the Pi just uses the wifi connection to tell the controller what and when to play (timing information).  A lot of people use it this way and are happy with it.  It would work better and be more supported than trying to use the Falcon Wifi.

[breese]

While I do not have a v5, Looking at the spec sheet this board has 2 ethernet ports.
You can run an ethernet cable from the access point to the v5.

[DaSarge]

I have gotten a pair of WireLine to Ethernet adapters.  this will hard-wire the F16V5 to the network via Cat-5 cable

This may not resolve the problem either, but might be worth trying.  I have seen those only support 10-15mbps connections at longer distances and have seen a lot of error correct latency.  I am crossing my fingers for you!

Worst case you could always place a FPP Remote Pi in the falcon box.  Connect the Pi ethernet to the Falcon, then connect the Pi wifi to your network.  You could then upload your sequences wireless to the FPP Remote local SD card in the Falcon box, and use multisync.  The FPP multisync will do the heavy lifting to the controller removing latency issues, and the Pi just uses the wifi connection to tell the controller what and when to play (timing information).  A lot of people use it this way and are happy with it.  It would work better and be more supported than trying to use the Falcon Wifi.

What IP address do I give the F16?  I can configure WiFi on the FPP  

[JonD]

What IP address do I give the F16?  I can configure WiFi on the FPP   

Difficult to answer not knowing how your network is setup.  In short, the main FPP player would send data to the FPP Remote located in the Falcon controller box via WIFI adapter.  The FPP Remote in the Falcon box's Ethernet interface and Falcon controller itself would be on its own network.  You could pull any private address range out of thin air as long as it does not conflict with others. 

I have set this up in the past, but my network is far more advanced than the average household.  I am not sure telling you how I set it up, would be doing the average person any favors.  Hopefully someone else will see this and have some better feedback, but if they don't jump in I will follow up.  They may need a map of your network to be able to help.

[jnealand]

Based purely on reading multiple forums and facebook pages, I would say a couple things.  1.  The player functionality in the controllers is not very robust and neither is the hardware to support that functionality.  2. Very few folks use that function and those that tried have had multiple trials and tribulations to get it to work, if ever (satisfactorily).  3. The controller was never designed to be a full function FPP, but just a basic player.

You are much better off putting a full function Pi in front of the controller.  I have a bunch like this and they work great.  The pi connects to the controller via an ethernet cable and connects to the show/home network using wifi where the FPP master resides.  Setup is documented in the FPP manual.