syscan wifi problems

[davehowat]

Hi all ,so been busy buying stuff ,from Eyepiece too another eq5 pro and a wee  zenith star 66mm apo. Got my baader zoom ,it's fab ..however the syscan wifi adapter is causing problems. Have managed to get it too work on the 2 eq5 pro ..it simply falls out then refuses too connect and  even reset and reinstall the app it can't connect or find WiFi (WiFi on my phone shows me the esp WiFi rather than syscan ,but just doesn't connect ..any ideas .will get some pictures when I get back later

[davehowat]

So this is what happens ,I turn on eq , the dongle lights up ,then check wife and it goes from obtaining ip address to saved .but no connection on the app (see photos) I have checked with WiFi management app and it shows dongle working then disconnecting ,any ideas ,I even took it to a local field with no internet or WiFi near it ,still would not connect

synscanwifi_102(2).pdf

[Cornelius Varley]

Is ESP-CEEA8B your home network wi-fi SSID or the Synscan wi-fi ? The synscan wi-fi usually has an SSID such as "Synscan_wifi_####".

[davehowat]

It's the syscan wifi .. not my home network as I had turned that off ,but even ended up in a field to get away from any possible WiFi issues

[Simon128D]

Something odd there for sure. I use a Synscan WiFi and that is not what the SSID is meant to be. I will try to take some screen grabs of mine soon 

May I ask what your phone is and where did you get he app from, the Play store or did you download the newest version from Skywatcher website and install on Android in developer mode to allow unsigned install of an app outside of the store? 

[bomberbaz]

I concur with others on here, the SSID name doesn't seem correct. 

I have also checked reviews on the FLO site and there is no reference in them to a different address name, something I would expect to be mentioned from buyers as they are generally very diligent and going to report oddities.

I would be getting out my user guides, resetting everything back to before you installed the adaptor, including the phone app and start over. 

 

[Simon128D]

The one thing I can be certain of is that the WiFi SSID from the dongle will always be "SynScan_WiFi_****"
**** being the unique ID for each dongle. 

You can see mine in the images below. 

This is how the WiFi appears in WiFi settings on my phone, after I have connected to it. The "internet may not be available" is totally normal and desired and the "!" on the WiFi icon on the notifications bar at the top of the phone should be there.  

 

When I load up SynScan Pro app and press on connect at the top it instantly connects and briefly displays the IP address, like this: 

Once connected you'll see "Equatorial Mode" or "Alt-Az" mode, depending on your mount and thats all there is to it. 

The ESP SSID you are seeing is not any Skywatch SSID I have ever heard of, so not sure what it is. These dongles trasmit a Wireless G signal, so unless your phones WiFi chip does not support wireless g is the only idea I can think of right now. 
I find the app is broken on my S21 Ultra so I use my old Galaxy S8 as my hand controller now - which is what you see in the photos. 

Edited November 5, 2022 by Simon128D

[bosun21]

I just set mine up just now as I don’t use it. The dongle WiFi is definitely “Synscan WiFi _**** with the asterisks being the number for that particular dongle. Where did you get it from? Could someone have possibly rewritten over it? Just a thought as it’s a strange one alright.

     Ian 

[davehowat]

Got from FLO yesterday

[davehowat]

Ok thanks ,I get the WiFi networks address but even on my second eq it stills give the ESP-CEEA8B access point .the syscan app even on another 2 android phones and an iPhone and laptop can't connect .I'm sure I read somewhere about solutions but have emailed flo as well

[happy-kat]

you can change the wifi channel it uses from the default

[bosun21]

You could try and factory reset it by powering the dongle and not connecting or accessing it for 1 hour. Give this a try. If this doesn’t work, I’m stumped.

[davehowat]

I know re the Chanel ,it's set too 1 as have WiFi manager app but can't change it manually as I can't access the WiFi point ,I thought it was because of the WiFi signals were I live but went to a country lane and the Esp WiFi still came up .

[davehowat]

Dongle was down for 3 hours and then 2 hours .thanks anyway will need to keep searching the web lol

[bosun21]

1 minute ago, davehowat said:

Dongle was down for 3 hours and then 2 hours .thanks anyway will need to keep searching the web lol

Was it still powered? as it has to be powered for the hour.

[davehowat]

Yeah was still powered for 2 hours then went out so turned it off then came back tried again ,left for the3 hours ..same result

[bosun21]

I may have read your post wrong, but after you connect to the WiFi on your phone you need to press connect (grey box) on the Synscan app

[davehowat]

Hi I do ,the app tries to connect then failed connection ...found this on cloudy nights

Oddly, the WiFi adapter was backordered, and when I finally got a unit from a new shipment, it had firmware v1.05 from July 2018 on it (the network was the old "ESP_######" format instead of SynScan_WiFi_####) which is at least TWO firmware versions ago -- v1.06 and v1.07 have since been released (that's why I put "brand new" in quotes). And I can't update the firmware because I'm Mac-based and Synta only has a Windows loader at this time (they promised me that they're currently working on a Mac loader, but they won't give any estimate of a release date). Sky Watcher claims it was a very rare fluke that I got old firmware, so my dealer agreed to take mine back for a new one which hopefully has the latest firmware. 

[bosun21]

At least you got to the bottom of the problem. Goodnight 👍

[davehowat]

This is another link ,even mentions ,silver foil hat on the dongle ,,

 

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/758774-synscan-wifi-adapter-firmware/

[bomberbaz]

As you have already contacted flo, it could result in a return and replacement dongle.

That said, have you tried using another phone to access the dongle or even a factory reset of your phone.

[davehowat]

3 different phones and iPhone and Windows laptop all show same ESP-CEEA8B WiFi hot point even factory reset on dongle same WiFi

[wulfrun]

Just to throw a bit of confusion in the discussion...

I bought same dongle a year or so ago and mine doesn't use the "SynScan###" etc SSID either. I'd have to fire up it and the old phone I use with it to see what it does use. However, it's not caused any issue, works just fine.

[StevieDvd]

It's likely there are 2 (or more) errors which affect the SW wifi dongles.

The wifi chip they use is an ESPxxxx which broadcasts it's own SSID - Skywatcher now change this is in the firmware startup to SynScanWiFi_xxxxx and their apps look for that to exclude other devices when scanning for the dongle. 

• If the startup frmware fails the device keeps the ESPxxxx SSID but can be accessed by the firmware updater but not the Synscan app
• Older devices (older firmware) don't try to change the SSID and get to the point where they can be accessed by Synscan & firmware apps.

See Revision.txt which shows the bug fixes.

Note the old reset time was at one time 24 hours!

[davehowat]

1 hour ago, StevieDvd said:

It's likely there are 2 (or more) errors which affect the SW wifi dongles.

The wifi chip they use is an ESPxxxx which broadcasts it's own SSID - Skywatcher now change this is in the firmware startup to SynScanWiFi_xxxxx and their apps look for that to exclude other devices when scanning for the dongle. 

• If the startup frmware fails the device keeps the ESPxxxx SSID but can be accessed by the firmware updater but not the Synscan app
• Older devices (older firmware) don't try to change the SSID and get to the point where they can be accessed by Synscan & firmware apps.

See Revision.txt which shows the bug fixes.

Note the old reset time was at one time 24 hours!

Cheers so can I change the software ? Or just send back to Flo looking for a new one ? Don't want too be back and forward with parcels etc .thanks for the input