Dawn Robotics Forum

I can connect to the Pi_Mini_Robot and open a web browser to connect to robot.

If can then initially move the robot once and the wifi then drops and it is no longer shown in the access point list on my device. I have to switch off/on the robot but the same thing happens.

Any ideas ?

Hi there,

Welcome to the forums. Apologies for the delayed reply to your question though.

It sounds like you're having problems with power for the robot. What type of batteries are you using to power it? Generally, non-rechargeable batteries (Alkaline) aren't powerful enough to run the robot and I'd recommend that you use rechargeable (NiMh) batteries instead.

If you have a wall adapter for your Pi then it can also be a good idea to try running the robot on that whilst you iron out any problems.

Regards

Alan

Hello Alan,

Thanks for getting back to me. I purchased the TeckNet iEP387 Power Bank with 2.54mm USB Power Cable - £25.99

If I connect the Raspberry pi to the mains plug then I am able to move the robot.

Any ideas ?

Hmm,

The power bank should be a reliable way of running the robot. Can you try charging it for about 7 hours using your wall adapter to ensure that it's fully charged? The LED charge indicators on the power banks can sometimes be a bit unreliable.

The other possibility is that your WiFi dongle is using an excessive amount of power, but if you're using the edimax EW-7811Un this shouldn't be a problem.

Hopefully fully charging the powerbank should help, otherwise we'll try to check to see if the entire Pi is flaking out, or whether it's just the WiFi.

Regards

Alan

Hello Alan,

I have now fully charged the Tecknet battery (four led's are on) but it is still dropping out after the initial move.

I am using the Edimax EW-7811Un - 150Mbps USB WiFi purchased with the robot.

What is the best way to determine what the problem could be ?

Kind regards

Clive

Hi Clive,

Could you please try logging into the Pi (either by attaching a monitor and keyboard, or by using ssh). Then, when the WiFi next drops out, could you please send me the results of running

ifconfig wlan0

Also, just had a thought. Can you please confirm that you're using just the powerbank to power the Pi and the robot, and that the UBEC that came with the kit is disconnected? The UBEC is just for running off AA batteries but I did have a couple of customers a couple of months back try to use it in tandem with the powerbank.

Regards

Alan