Color Control GX wifi reliability

Question

question

Dimitri Garder asked Oct 17, '18

Color Control GX wifi reliability

Hi Victron, the CCGX manual states "Because of the aforementioned improvement in sending of backlog data, the data logging is also highly resillient to bad internet connections." I have not found this to be the case. My system is on a wifi network that at times experiences a poor signal. When the CCGX system loses its connection to the wifi network, rather than retry it reverts to "Failure", and never attempts to reconnection again. As a result I experience long periods when I'm away and cannot access system status. Essentially the remote logging doesn't work. Is there a workaround, or a way to force CCGX to reconnect to a spotty wifi network?

CCGX Color Control wifi

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Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) answered · Oct 18, 2018 at 11:21 AM

Hello,

That reference in the manual is in regards to a strong local wifi signal, but a bad internet connection.

The CCGX is excellent when the quality of the internet connection is patchy, but not so good when it can’t connect to a local network at all.

Though still data should not be lost and stored on the device itself until the connection is restored. Consider another way so that the variable part of your internet connection is routed through a very reliable local wifi or wired network to the CCGX.

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Dimitri Garder commented · Oct 19, 2018 at 11:52 AM

Thank you Guy. So I take it that this is a known behavior of the CCGX? I was trying to understand whether this was a malfunction or just a limitation in the wifi client? Local device storage is limited to 48 hours, so I'm using a USB storage device to increase storage, yet it would be nice to have remote monitoring capabilities. To accomplish that, I assume a cellular modem/router is the best alternative?

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Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) ♦♦ Dimitri Garder commented · Mar 31, 2019 at 10:03 AM

Hi Dimitri,

I have personally had a very good run with the long range wifi dongle attached to a CCGX in my shed.

My CCGX has been connected and stayed connected for over 12 months.

But I also have a very reliable local wifi network.

I have heard from other users that have had issues when the CCGX has booted up and their wifi networks were unavailable for whatever reason, and the CCGX gave up looking for the wifi and then didn't find it when the wifi came back. At that point the system required some user interaction.

So I can't say that this is 'known behaviour' or a 'known limitation', but it isn't completely unheard of either.

The CCGX fairly matches my experience with WIFI devices across the board, it is never as reliable an an ethernet connection.

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Modifications Space

Node Red Space

Answer 1 · 2018-10-17T12:50:00Z

mikeb answered · Oct 17, 2018 at 12:50 PM

Hi

I have a system running in France that relies on a guy that’s on site having his internet dongle in the area of the installation

But at times he takes this dongle to the shops with him. What I have done is purchased a after market WiFi bridge a Vonets VA11g to be exact and use that for the colour gx internet access point

Hope this help

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Answer 2 · 2018-10-17T12:53:52Z

mikeb answered · Oct 17, 2018 at 12:53 PM

See pic

You just need a power supply from 5-15v for it

127e03e8-9e48-4ae7-88be-33a5b61afe46.jpeg (220.9 KiB)

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Dimitri Garder commented · Oct 17, 2018 at 08:33 PM

Thanks mikeb, I had considered this but it seems like this could run into similar issues if the device ever powered down for whatever reason, or there was some other cause of interruption of service. It's unusual behavior for the CCGX wifi client to fail to attempt a reconnect to a known network. Have any other users encountered this, and anyone find any workarounds using an existing wifi network that is stable, albeit with a spotty connection?

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Answer 3 · 2018-10-18T05:04:21Z

mikeb answered · Oct 18, 2018 at 05:04 AM

Hi

I have also uses a proroute m2m router

Have a look at the spec and see if it would be of any use to you

Regards mike

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Answer 4 · 2018-11-05T15:56:41Z

rjkee answered · Nov 05, 2018 at 03:56 PM

Occasionally, my dashboard etc. will update but I cannot access the Remote Console on the CCGX. When I try, I get the following message: Failed to set up a connection to the CCGX. Check your connection and try again. Why can I not access the Remote Console?

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mvader (Victron Energy) ♦♦ commented · Mar 31, 2019 at 08:54 PM

That migut be related to changes in the public IP address of your internet connection. See also our trouble shooting ccgx / vrm connections document.

There is no solution or work around.

Except waiting: we are changing the behaviour of that so that it can cope with this. No time line though; sorry.

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Answer 5 · 2019-03-31T06:31:56Z

Lionel SEYDOUX answered · Mar 31, 2019 at 06:31 AM

Hi everyone,

Same problem: On my CCGX I have a WiFi dongle toward a modemrouter toward a 3G antenna toward Internet toward VRM. Worked fine for one week but after an automatic update of GGCX the communication was lost. Last tome I could reset the communication, but now I am 200 miles away. ToDo:

- check the quality of that USB WiFi Dongle:

- Replace it by a Cat5 cable (8m)

Any better idea?

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JohnC ♦ commented · Mar 31, 2019 at 08:27 AM

If your router is enabled for remote access, maybe try rebooting it. Also possible that the GX wifi needs relogging into with the password, etc.

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Lionel SEYDOUX JohnC ♦ commented · Mar 31, 2019 at 07:52 PM

Yep! but I am 200km away!

Las week I reconnected on CCGX (menu - WiFi...) but now?

Hope to get there next week-end or following. Will report.

Good luck to all!

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Mark commented · Mar 31, 2019 at 11:26 AM

Yes I’ve experienced the same issues in the last 2 weeks!,my CCGX has been connected via WiFi with good coverage for 18 months with no issues whatsoever,but of recently the CCGX comes up as WiFi failure,and wont auto reconnect.rebooted both router and CCGX and logged out & back in to no avail,especially with no issues with all other connected WiFi devices to the same router!frustratig when away from the site.

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Answer 6 · 2019-03-31T20:48:22Z

mvader (Victron Energy) answered · Mar 31, 2019 at 08:48 PM

Hi all,

The CCGX WiFi indeed isn’t always reconnecting in case it loses connection; it seems to be related to the quality of the signal; or the router.

We haven’t yet been able to resolve that. And it might or might not be specific to the CCGX; or for all GX devices.

But, a solution, or you might call it a work around, is on its way: in the next release there will be a function that reboots the whole device in case it hasn’t been able to send data off to vrm for a while.

More info in here: https://community.victronenergy.com/questions/11876/venus-os-v23035-available-for-testing.html

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