Stratux - no wifi

Silvaire

Silvaire

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Silvaire
Does anyone know the internal workings of the Stratux? Specifically the wifi. My unit is about 2 years old, always worked fine but started having trouble about a month ago, I reflashed the SD card but I don't think that's the issue because it's intermittent, it will work and then it won't so I think it's a hardware problem. From what I've gathered the wifi chip is part of the Raspberry Pi board and I can get one for $50. Unless any gurus out there have any other ideas...
 
Which PI board did you use? IIRC, my WiFi was a USB plug-in, but I'll look it up to be sure. Mine's a bit older.
Make sure the SD card is seated properly. I had a similar problem, and reseating the card seemed to fix it.
 
I just repaired a Stratux for a friend with the same problem. His was one of the older models with a separate WiFi dongle and I could not get the dongle to work at all. I tried another dongle that I had around but still could not get it to work. I replaced the whole motherboard with a 3b which had the WiFI board build into the motherboard. It was around $35 for the motherboard and available at Micro Center. The 3b+ board still does not work with the Stratux software. The 3b is harder to find these days.
 
Mine was great when it worked. Unfortunately it wasn't reliable. The Dynon DRX I replaced it with has been reliable.
 
kshaw said:
I just repaired a Stratux for a friend with the same problem. His was one of the older models with a separate WiFi dongle and I could not get the dongle to work at all. I tried another dongle that I had around but still could not get it to work. I replaced the whole motherboard with a 3b which had the WiFI board build into the motherboard. It was around $35 for the motherboard and available at Micro Center. The 3b+ board still does not work with the Stratux software. The 3b is harder to find these days.
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I have the 3b+. You have to find the image for this board and also adjust rolling log settings so it doesn't fill up the card. Once I got that running, it works pretty reliably.
 
I have a crewdog stratux with many hours of trouble free operation. Never had to do anything to it but turn it on and use it. Never has to adjust a rolling log. I suspect that you have a hardware problem.
 
Mine was finicky and I got tired of that… I also upgraded transponders and just went with a stratus 3i for In… it’s just not a unit I want trouble with if I’m using it for Wx
 
Joe_B1 said:
I have a crewdog stratux with many hours of trouble free operation. Never had to do anything to it but turn it on and use it. Never has to adjust a rolling log. I suspect that you have a hardware problem.
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Mine was a crewdog also. I got tired of it's unreliability. Seems some users are lucky and some not so much.
 
I have built a dozen of these over the years...I still operate 2 at the airport and one at home. I have never had a wifi issue...must be a bad pi unit.
 
I had to replace my my 3pi motherboard as someone ripped out the charger cord and mangled the micro usb plug.
I also had problems with the first data card. I bought a larger aftermarket data card and had a friend flash it with the then current data.
Since, (last summer) it has been troubled free.
Remember, you need to access the unit via the WiFi address and shut it down via the on board menu.
Replace the motherboard, AND, flash a NEW data card. Should fix the problem. I was told NOT to use the 3pi+ motherboard. It causes problems.
 
AeroLudite said:
I had to replace my my 3pi motherboard as someone ripped out the charger cord and mangled the micro usb plug.
I also had problems with the first data card. I bought a larger aftermarket data card and had a friend flash it with the then current data.
Since, (last summer) it has been troubled free.
Remember, you need to access the unit via the WiFi address and shut it down via the on board menu.
Replace the motherboard, AND, flash a NEW data card. Should fix the problem. I was told NOT to use the 3pi+ motherboard. It causes problems.
Click to expand...
The 3b+ board consumes more electricity, but it as a faster CPU. It may not be relevant, but it is not problematic on its own.
The rolling log hack frees you from having to shutdown the box after every flight, without the risk of data card corruption.
 
MacFlier said:
The rolling log hack frees you from having to shutdown the box after every flight, without the risk of data card corruption.
Click to expand...
This may explain why it isn't reliable for some. I certainly wasn't shutting it down manually. Wouldn't want the hassle when better options are available.
 
I have never shut mine down, just yanked the plug after landing.
 
Okay I brought it home and have it on the desk now and of course it appears to be working fine The board I have is a 3B v1.2

I'll let it run for awhile but probably not gonna fail unless I take it up on a flight. I found a board online for $35 + $9 shipping. On Amazon they are $60.
 
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Steady red and green leds are correct. Steady red means you are supplying proper power. Steady green means the cpu and software are working properly. The leds have no other function. If the red led blinks, it means your voltage is borderline.
 
Silvaire said:
Okay I brought it home and have it on the desk now and of course it appears to be working fine The board I have is a 3B v1.2

I'll let it run for awhile but probably not gonna fail unless I take it up on a flight. I found a board online for $35 + $9 shipping. On Amazon they are $60.
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I'm sure you checked this, but was your tablet actually connected to the Stratux WiFi? I need to go into settings and choose the Stratux if my iPad locked onto the FBO WiFi before I turned the Stratux on. It depends on where they parked the plane- if it is parked far enough away from the main building, it loses the connection to the FBO and finds the Stratux quickly.
 
Both led's are lit when it's working and yes the ipad is connected to Stratux. When it's not working the green led is out and Stratux does not appear in the list of available wifi's in ipad settings. I ordered a new board.
 
I presume that everyone knows to check the local network setting for Foreflight. Apple added that setting with one of the IOS revisions. If you do not have that setting turned on, the WiFi will not connect to Foreflight.
 
Update: I played around with it some more and found that it works fine when powered by the battery. I previously had it powered directly from the aircraft Acc buss because I have it mounted under the panel with an external gps puck and coax extenders for the antennas so it was a pain using the battery because there is no switch and it's difficult to unplug it every time to turn it off. So I found a micro USB patch cable with a switch and it works fine however I found that even when I plug the Acc power into the battery as a pass through charge it kills the Stratux. So the problem is most likely my Acc to USB power adapter. I'll get a new one and report back, For now it's working but only on battery.

Looks like I'm gonna have a spare Raspberry Pi board...
 
Silvaire said:
however I found that even when I plug the Acc power into the battery as a pass through charge it kills the Stratux.
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They informed me at the Crewdog booth at Osh, it won't (and isn't meant to) work in that configuration. I guess the battery doesn't support charging and discharging at the same time or something of that nature.
Just passing along for troubleshooting purposes.
 
This battery pack (EasyAcc) came with the kit and is supposed to allow pass-thru plus it worked that way before when I first got it. Also the Stratux itself was working for a couple of years with direct power connection until it began to fail intermittently a month or so back. Now it appears to not work at all with that power source connected either to the Stratux or through the battery. The current adapter is a 2.4A, I ordered a 4.0A quick charge adapter on Amazon that will be here tomorrow. I'll see if that works.

As for the spare raspberry pi board I guess there are all sorts of projects and uses for them. Maybe a DIY wifi weather station for the home using some slick and inexpensive little USB sensors that are available.
 
i've always seemingly had bad luck with stratux. have had two brick on me so far
 
SUCCESS!! Well, sort of... I installed a new 4 amp quick charge port and it's back to operational status but only if I power it directly. The battery will still not allow pass-through charging. I thought it was supposed to or that it did but maybe not. Anyway I use the new hardwired adapter to also charge the iPad and it solves another problem in that before my iPad charge wouldn't keep up with ForeFlight running and would eventually run down after about 4 hours. Now it stays at 100%. I suppose I could use the third port to keep the Stratux battery topped off for a backup if I could find a switchable micro USB splitter. I imagine something like that exists somewhere...
 
Seems like if one doesn't mind dilly d1(&ing with it and intermittent failing, the stratux is a fine device. There are more reliable options available for those who don't wish to suffer the aforementioned.
 
kshaw said:
I presume that everyone knows to check the local network setting for Foreflight. Apple added that setting with one of the IOS revisions. If you do not have that setting turned on, the WiFi will not connect to Foreflight.
Click to expand...

What are you referring to here? It doesn’t appear you are referring to the URL numbers provided in the Stratux setup video from CrewDog. I’m not familiar with any “local network settings for ForeFlight”.

Edit: after looking further I believe you are referring to Allow ForeFlight to Access Local Network button in General Settings.
 
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FORANE said:
Seems like if one doesn't mind dilly d1(&ing with it and intermittent failing, the stratux is a fine device. There are more reliable options available for those who don't wish to suffer the aforementioned.
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Read the whole thread - I had a bad usb power adapter, it didn't have anything to do with the Stratux unit itself and other than that issue I've never had a problem. If there is anything to be gleaned from this it's that the quality of usb adapters varies and I've found the same to be true with the connector cables.
 
TrueCourse said:
What are you referring to here? It doesn’t appear you are referring to the URL numbers provided in the Stratux setup video from CrewDog. I’m not familiar with any “local network settings for ForeFlight”.

Edit: after looking further I believe you are referring to Allow ForeFlight to Access Local Network button in General Settings.
Click to expand...
Yes, that's it.
 
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