Problems using the Android app with Android hotspot and an edimax wifi dongle

S.L.P. image questions, stereoscopic video livestream and recording, stereoscopic photo capture etc.
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directive0
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Problems using the Android app with Android hotspot and an edimax wifi dongle

Post by directive0 »

Hey,

I have a StereoPi deluxe kit I'm using the included compute module, the included SLP (v0.2.3) sd card, and an edimax wifi dongle. I have edited the stereopi.conf file as directed here and have succesfully connected the StereoPi to my Pixel 3A's wifi adhoc network.

Everything seems good when I power on the stereopi and open the StereoPi app. As soon as the app loads I can tap the screen to get the "web admin" option and selecting it takes me to chrome and I am able to review and change settings in the web admin panel. But if I remain in the android app I am given a red refresh icon at the bottom of the screen and then tapping again I get a "STEREOPI NOT FOUND" warning.

Please advise. How can I get streaming video from the device?

directive0
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Re: Problems using the Android app with Android hotspot and an edimax wifi dongle

Post by directive0 »

For anyone reading I fixed my own issue. It was powersupply related. There was 5Volts being applied to the GPIO that seemed to cause problems. When I removed that power source everything works fine.

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Re: Problems using the Android app with Android hotspot and an edimax wifi dongle

Post by Realizator »

Hello directive0,
I'm glad you've solved your problem.
Could you please give us some more details on your setup? Did you have two power source connected to the StereoPi (power pins + GPIO), or just use two different powering approaches?
Eugene a.k.a. Realizator

directive0
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Re: Problems using the Android app with Android hotspot and an edimax wifi dongle

Post by directive0 »

Hey,

Yeah so I'm building an enclosure for a fully portable stereopi system. It uses a raspberry Pi UPS hat to power the device. I've found that it functions off battery power (supplied through the GPIO 5v rail) and also works using the included 5v usb cable in the appropriate molex connector, but not both at the same time.

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Re: Problems using the Android app with Android hotspot and an edimax wifi dongle

Post by Realizator »

Directive0, could you please give us a link to the UPS hat you're using?
Eugene a.k.a. Realizator


directive0
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Re: Problems using the Android app with Android hotspot and an edimax wifi dongle

Post by directive0 »

Yeah looks like I still get weirdness with this setup. Taking a picture over adhoc makes the wifi connection drop out. Hmmm

stereomaton
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Re: Problems using the Android app with Android hotspot and an edimax wifi dongle

Post by stereomaton »

It sounds like power issue again.
Can you describe your full setup: which board powered by which method (connector) with which source (battery/adaptor) and whenever possible at which power rating?
Stereophotographer and hacker
Despite my quite active participation in the forum, I am not in the StereoPi team
StereoPi (v1) Standard Edition + CM3Lite module + a few cameras

directive0
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Re: Problems using the Android app with Android hotspot and an edimax wifi dongle

Post by directive0 »

Sure.

In portable operation my intention is to use the StereoPi board connected to the Raspberry Pi UPS hat through the 40 Pin GPIO connector. The UPS hat is rated to supply 5volts at 3 amps in this manner. The UPS hat uses an 18650 LiPo battery as a power source.

Usually a raspberry pi would be able to then seamlessly switch between the UPS hat and the Micro USB power jack, but I realize that the MicroUSB jack on the StereoPi is for uploading firmware only. So I guess thats the problem. I'll just have to use a USB power bank or something.

stereomaton
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Re: Problems using the Android app with Android hotspot and an edimax wifi dongle

Post by stereomaton »

If you power only the stereopi, its cameras and wifi dongle from your 15W source, the power should be enough. I personally use a simple 10W power bank with similar setup without problem.

I didn't catch why you talked about USB (a distinct problem?), but I should remind you something about it.
On the stereopi, there are two USB-like connectors. One has a special cable with a white JST connector and is used to have a reliable power under vibrations (which would not be the case with regular USB connector). The second is a regular micro USB connector which is connected to the USB lines of the processor, and can possibly power the board but see afterwards. In your case with the powering hat, you do not need to use neither of these connectors.
The processor has sadly only one USB port (which can be used as master or slave). Thus there is a trick: when you plug a connected cable into the micro USB connector, the electronic switches to slave mode and disables the master mode (well, there are software parts to manage manually to be fully a slave). This allows for example to program the emmc for modules which have one, or to appear as a USB device with the right software configuration. As a consequence, it also disables everything that is connected to USB such as WiFi dongle and Ethernet connector.
https://wiki.stereopi.com/index.php?tit ... lient_mode

You should double-check (I had a quick look on mobile, which is not easy with schematic separated in multiple files) but it seems like there are only a switch and a fuse between the JST connector and the 5V of the hat, thus I would advise to not connect them at the same time (using the micro USB at the same time is safe if the hat is protected against reverse current, but will disable the master mode).
Stereophotographer and hacker
Despite my quite active participation in the forum, I am not in the StereoPi team
StereoPi (v1) Standard Edition + CM3Lite module + a few cameras

directive0
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Re: Problems using the Android app with Android hotspot and an edimax wifi dongle

Post by directive0 »

Okay that all makes sense. I was only able to get it to work when powering it either from the 5VCC white connector or through the GPIO connector with the UPS hat. But now I can't get it to work with either power sources.

The StereoPi boots up, and I can connect to it (either through wired ethernet, or wireless dongle) but it will not stream the cameras or allow me to take pictures. The web interface works and I can change settings and whatnot but no video, no photos. This is with either the white connector 5VCC or the UPS hat.

I wonder if I broke something?

Is there some way to troubleshoot this? I'd love to know if its a camera problem, or a power supply problem or what. Maybe I should try reimaging an SLP install and start over. I'm kind of at a loss.

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Re: Problems using the Android app with Android hotspot and an edimax wifi dongle

Post by Realizator »

Hi Directive0,
For the troubleshooting I'd prefer to use separate microSD with the Raspbian image and our dt-blob.bin (unzip it!) written in a /BOOT partition. The easiest option is to write one of our ready-to-use OpenCV Raspbian image. Both of the images (Stretch and Buster) has a GUI, so you can test your setup using a monitor, keyboard and a mouse. You can download that images in our download section (bottom-right part of our Wiki's main page).

According to your description, I can suggest you have some contacts issue with the cameras.
To say briefly, I usually check, if it is everything Ok with the contacts (with the GUI-based Raspbian), and if it is Ok - I just change micro SD with another one (SLP in your case) and check software issues.
Recommended steps:
1. Boot with desktop-enabled Raspbian (not SLP)
2. Run this command once:

Code: Select all

vcgencmd get_camera
If you see this answer:

Code: Select all

supported=2 detected=2
it means that system understand that it has 2 cameras (dt-blob has been load successfully), and both cameras can "talk" over I2C.

If you see "supported=0" - please check dt-blob.bin is putted in /BOOT partition
If you see "supported=2 detected=0" or "supported=2 detected=1" it means you have a connection issue for 1 or both cameras. Try to reconnect camera ribbon cables, or reconnect it vice-versa (that is, connect cable side from the camera to the StereoPi and from the StereoPi to the camera).

If you see "supported=2 detected=2" you can still have no images. It means that camera connection is poor, and not all cable ribbons lines has a good connection. You see, I2C (used for "talking" with the cameras) needs just 2 lines, but for the data transfer you need all 15 lines.

3. Test your cameras separately by these commands:
raspistill -cs 0
raspistill -cs 1
After each command run you should see 5 seconds preview from each camera.
4. If step 3 is passed, try to test stereo capture:
raspistill -3d sbs -o 1.jpg
Please notice, that you'll not be able to preview stereoscopic image, but saved 1.jpg should be stereoscopic.

After these debug steps, you can insert SLP micro SD card and check a software part.
Eugene a.k.a. Realizator

directive0
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Re: Problems using the Android app with Android hotspot and an edimax wifi dongle

Post by directive0 »

Hey Realizator.

So I tried all your suggestions. Used the OpenCV image and got "2 supported, 1 detected". Tried with different cameras, different ribbon cables. Reseated them many times. Still no camera detected.

Its so weird because my setup was working fine for like 20 minutes. I was taking photos of my family and it was all great. Then I took one photo and all of a sudden is stopped working.

Could it have gotten damaged in some way by using the UPS hat?

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Re: Problems using the Android app with Android hotspot and an edimax wifi dongle

Post by Realizator »

directive0, I've ordered one UPS hat to test it with the StereoPi, but delivery to us is a long story (a couple of weeks). Theoretically it shouldn't burn out the cameras, but this life is a full of surprises, so we need to test it.

According to your tests, something is wrong with your hardware, but we need to localize it.
One hypothesis is that one of your cameras is not working. Have you tried to swap them?
Connect both your cams and try to use raspistill -cs 0 and raspistill -cs 1 to find working camera.
After finding good cam try to use it as a reference and test with it:
- both ribbons
- both CSI camera connectors on the StereoPi
(I think you're powering off your setup before all cameras swaps...)
If all tests with the good camera are passed, it means you just lost one camera.
You can also find a situation, when both cameras are working, but only in the same CSI camera connector on the StereoPi. It means board's CSI connector is broken. I think this second scenario has a very low possibility.

In any case, we'll help you to find a problem and solve it.

Could you please share your tests results?
Eugene a.k.a. Realizator

directive0
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Re: Problems using the Android app with Android hotspot and an edimax wifi dongle

Post by directive0 »

okay I ran

Code: Select all

raspistill -cs 0
and got a live view of the camera; so far so good. I then tried

Code: Select all

raspistill -cs 1
and got:

Code: Select all

mmal: Cannot read camera info, keeping the defaults for OV5647
mmal: Could not select camera : error 3
mmal: main: Failed to create camera component
mmal: Failed to run camera app. Please check for firmware updates.
I then powered down and swapped the cameras. Powered back up and I ran

Code: Select all

raspistill -cs 0
and got a live view of the camera; so far so good. I then tried

Code: Select all

raspistill -cs 1
and got the same error message.

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Re: Problems using the Android app with Android hotspot and an edimax wifi dongle

Post by Realizator »

directive0, please try the last test: swap the camera with the ribbons (but not only camera modules). We need to check, if it is a camera or a ribbon issue.

You see, camera connection schematic is a very simple (I mentioned this schematics fragment in this post). It means, that all cameras pins are connected to the Compute Module directly (with a few resistors and capacitors). I mean it is not easy to burn out StereoPi part, but actually Compute Module can be damaged by your UPS hat issue. Do you (occasionally) have another Compute Module to check this? I can initiate replacement procedure for your StereoPi board, but we have some possibility that it will not help you, if the problem is in your Compute Module.
Eugene a.k.a. Realizator

directive0
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Re: Problems using the Android app with Android hotspot and an edimax wifi dongle

Post by directive0 »

I will swap the ribbons tonight but the cameras both work fine on other Pi's so I'm not at all convinced the ribbons are the problem.

I do not have another computer module.

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Re: Problems using the Android app with Android hotspot and an edimax wifi dongle

Post by Realizator »

Ok, I see. I send you email (to the address you've used for registering on this forum) concerning replacement board delivery, please reply.
Eugene a.k.a. Realizator

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