Lost WiFi

[JCurtis]

Probably great for charging laptops or mobiles from a mains supply but goodness knows what it's pushing in rf wise or how smooth the current / voltage is as it approaches its maximum. I'd be interested to hear Jeremy C's views.

It's hard to comment without physically getting hold of one.  The website reads as a high frequency switching converter, which will reduce the size and weight.  From an MIT article these things could be running at 30MHz to 100MHz.  Interesting design idea though, but at these frequencies things get quite critical in physical design, down to PCB makeup and components.  They have been a while in development as it started as a KickStarter project since May 2014.

The power needs of a PAW are quite 'spiky' rather than battery charging that essentially is a constant draw, I wonder how rapidly these response to a change in demand?  The screenshot attached is a few seconds of PAW power draw I took earlier in the year, it shows how much the load varies all the time. 

As we well know - all power supplies (whether power packs, car USB adaptors or whatever) definitely are NOT equal.

With you there, there are some real shockers (pun intended!) out there.

[MrSums]

Let me be very clear -  if I cannot get this piece of kit working under controlled circumstances in my house,  I am Not about to put it in my airplane.

Your instructions say it needs 2A power supply and I have now tried with 3 supplies all rated at 2A or above.  All have generated the same results.  My car supply equally "failed".

So either the requirements are too sensitive - in which case 2A should not be the minimum - or the wifi dongle is at fault.  I'm happy to try another dongle.  Not happy to try yet another power supply.

Your call

[JCurtis]

Let me be very clear -  if I cannot get this piece of kit working under controlled circumstances in my house,  I am Not about to put it in my airplane.

Your instructions say it needs 2A power supply and I have now tried with 3 supplies all rated at 2A or above.  All have generated the same results.  My car supply equally "failed".

So either the requirements are too sensitive - in which case 2A should not be the minimum - or the wifi dongle is at fault.  I'm happy to try another dongle.  Not happy to try yet another power supply.

Your call

I was replying to exfirepro in my post above as he asked a question, I think you need a replacement WiFi dongle.

[exfirepro]

Robert (MrSums),

My apologies if my earlier post has caused you concern. As I said previously, a faulty WiFi dongle is certainly a candidate for your problems and this can be easily tested by swapping to a replacement dongle. I'm sure Lee will already have put arrangements in motion to send you one.

My earlier comments (as were Lee's) were driven by users experiencing failures caused by either using a power cable other than the one supplied, (with thinner wire causing an excessive voltage drop), or using a power supply which though rated at 2 amps or more, doesn't actually supply that level of current without a serious drop in voltage. These two issues between them have proved to be the cause of a significant number of failures in the past, so whenever I come across a power supply which is 'new' to me, my instinct is to treat it with some caution until I (we) can establish the provenance of the supply and confirm the accuracy or otherwise of manufacturers' claimed figures. The fact that you had given no details of your 'car supply' only served to reinforce my concerns that this might again be the cause in your case, hence my 'question' to Jeremy, who has far more expertise than me in that particular area.

Having set up and run six PilotAware units of my own, (four 'home-built' and two Classic Kits) together with over 18 months of front-line development testing in aircraft against a significant variety of other electronic conspicuity systems, as well as assisting and providing support to countless other users in setting up and operating their units, I can assure you that my interest is firmly focussed on ensuring that you get your unit working effectively and to your full satisfaction. I will be extremely happy to see your unit working properly and for my 'suspicions' to be proved wrong.

Best Regards

Peter

[Admin]

Hi Robert

Please pm me your address, I will get Dave Styles to pop one in the post

Thx
Lee

[MrSums]

Update: received replacement wifi dongle and all ok now. I did swap the dongles back and forward a couple of times using the same power supplies and the original never lasted beyond 15 minutes. The replacement works happily up to 5 hours.

Thanks for all your help.

[MrSums]

Hi Lee,

Did you receive the faulty dongle and check it through?

Kind regds

Robert