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In my quest to get my GameFrame running reliably again I decided to replace the photon board which required getting a new adapter board. You have to order three each time but I only needed the one. I’ve got it all put together and running (and testing) but I have the two left over adapter boards.
If anyone wants or needs one I will be glad to mail them to you for free.
Patrick
You mean you replaced the Teensy with a homemade Photon Wi-Fi Adapter? How did that go? What problem were you having, and did it fix it?
No, I had a Photon already but it was constantly losing connection to my router. I had to reset the photon a few times a day in order to be able to send requests to it. I have other devices (like an octopi) which never seem to lose connection. Both devices are on static IPs on my LAN. I decided to get a replacement Photon board which meant I would need the GameFrame adapter board too. I ordered from OSH Park (you get three) and then soldered it together. I went through the setup for the Photon and loaded the latest GameFrame bin file.
So far so good. I will have to let it run a few days to see if the behavior has changed. I’m hoping so.
That’s crazy if it fixes it for you. Let me know if it doesn’t and I can get you firmware that enables the external antenna you can buy for Photon.
I’d be surprised if it needed an antenna. The GameFrame is literally 10 feet from the router in the same room. Nothing but air between them. Even the same height from the ground.
I noticed that the back cover for the GameFrame is darkened where the Photon rests against it. Maybe it got too hot and was going bad? Not sure. Maybe I should cut an opening in the cover where the board touches it.
Anyway I currently have the GameFrame sitting on my desk with no back cover right now and waiting to see if it stops responding to commands sent. Currently still working correctly but it will be few days before I am convinced this fixed it.
Ah, you’re talking about the commands, not just general connectivity? I can’t send http commands to my Game Frame after a day or so, because the web server library has never been very stable. But you should be able to send UDP commands anytime, and it should be able to receive events from IFTTT or another use of the Particle API. Do those fall offline for you too?
Yes these are the UDP commands or from IFTTT. I would notice that it wasn’t turning on/off or changing modes when it was scheduled. I could restart the GameFrame and then I could send the commands and it all worked again. It seemed to be getting worse recently. Previously I might have to reset once every few weeks. Currently it couldn’t go more than a day without rebooting. I felt that the Photon might be the issue but wasn’t sure. I decided to replace the Photon and see if things improve. If not then back to the drawing board.
Interesting. I have my cardboard back removed, so hopefully that helps. Please let me know how it goes.
Well my theory fell flat. The new Photon did the same thing after about 10 hours or so. I don’t see anything in my router config that would kill the connection after a period of time.
I guess I could try the antenna as another route since this didn’t work.
Here is firmware to try. New commands:
antenna internal // selects the CHIP antenna
antenna external // selects the u.FL antenna
wifi_signal // Gets the signal strength as a percentage (0.0 – 100.0)
wifi_quality // Gets the signal quality as a percentage (0.0 – 100.0)After changing your antenna, you must reboot your photon. The setting is “sticky” so it will remember your last setting. I’m curious if this helps!
I ordered the antenna and flashed the new firmware.
I’m sorry but I don’t understand the “wifi” commands. Is the integer value that is returned from the UPD command the value I am looking for? When I tried the signal I get “11” and the quality is “12” so that can’t be right.
Oh, interesting. Yes, that’s correct. I get 100 for both. My EERO Pro 6 is about 10 feet from my Game Frame. Maybe experiment with moving the Game Frame around the room and see how the values change. Or perhaps try another router, or using your phone as a hotspot.
I tried various locations and the two values really didn’t change much. I even placed the GameFrame against the router and the values stayed the same. I don’t have another router but tried using my phone as a hotspot but the photon wasn’t able to connect for some reason. (Device and password were correct)
So I will wait until the antenna arrives to see if that helps or not. I appreciate you helping me troubleshoot this issue but I feel bad that bothering you during Thanksgiving.
I’d be interested to know more. The flakiness of the wifi is one my biggest complaints about the Game Frame.
In my case the web interface goes out then after about a month or two (I can’t ever remember) the wifi loses connection. I hooked it up to a power switching plug and had Home Assistant reboot it when it can’t ping it but there should be a better solution.I should have the new antenna by Thursday or Friday this week.
Is there a command to reboot the GameFrame? If the antenna doesn’t help I could reboot every fifteen minutes and see if that keeps it alive over time.
I also ordered a wifi extender to see if connecting to that might make a difference. Also will be nice to extend the range of my wifi around the house.
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