Wifi hotspot time-out

Stations Receivers
1

I have a SG with RPI plugged into AC power. The SG is inside a locked building that’s difficult to get access to, so I want to leave the wifi on permanently since the signal is strong enough to connect to from outside the building. That way I can connect to the SG from outside and access isn’t an issue.

I visited the SG a month ago and left the wifi on, and verified that I could see and connect to the wifi from outside the building. I returned today and there was no detectable wifi from the same spot outside the building. The SG should not have re-booted since my last visit since it’s on AC power.

I’m wondering if the wifi hotspot ‘times out’ after a period? If so, is there anything explicit I scan do to tell the SG to keep the hotspot on? I had a similar problem in the past and we never figured out why the wifi was timing out. Hoping there is a solution now

Sydney

2

Interesting use-case… I’m afraid the current hotspot feature automatically turns off after 30 minutes. That’s pretty well stated in the docs. I wouldn’t count on the SG not rebooting at all just because power stays on…

3

I actually don’t see anything on the old or new SG site, or in the new Motus guide on SGs, that says the wifi hotspot turns off after 30 mins. Could you please point me to where this is stated?

4

Hi Sydney,

Just a heads-up that the SensorStation already does this (persistent WiFi). I use it all the time to check my station using my cellphone hotspot at our banding station.

Cheers,

David

David A. La Puma, PhD (He/Him) • Director, Global Market Development
celltracktech.com • (609) 889-0305 x104 • Book​​​ Time With Me

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5

Hi Sydney, it may not be explicitly stated here https://docs.motus.org/sensorgnome/connecting#option-1-wi-fi-hotspot (we’ll add that now) but it definitely does turn off about ~30 minutes.

6

Using the cell phone hotspot is not a bad idea.

  1. Configure the (client) wifi on the SG to connect to your cell phone’s or laptop’s hotspot (i.e. edit network.txt on the SD card)

  2. Boot the SG

  3. Start hotspot on your phone/laptop and verify the SG connects to it (prob takes 1-2 minutes)

  4. Connect to sgpi.local to verify that you will be able to download

  5. Write down hotspot SSID/password so you are sure to set it up identically on your phone/laptop in the future!

One advantage of this method is that there’s no hotspot wifi signal advertised while you’re gone. Disadvantage is that until you see the SG connecting to your hotspot you have no idea whether it’s still running.

Good luck!

Thorsten