WiFi/S3 troubleshooting

The below steps can be useful in troubleshooting WiFi connectivity issues.

Check the basics

  1. Set up your S3 bucket as per our S3 guide
  2. Verify that you can login via CANcloud by loading your Configuration File
  3. Ensure that you have followed the WiFi setup guide
  4. Ensure your WiFi uses 2.4 GHz (not 5.0 GHz)[1]
  5. Ensure that the device is near the WiFi router with clear line-of-sight
  6. Power the unit for 5 min and see if it uploads the device.json to your S3 bucket

If the device still fails to connect, proceed to the next step below.

Verify a connection to our S3 test server

To start with the basics, ensure that you can connect in a ‘simple setup’:

  1. Enable your smartphone’s shared WiFi in ‘compatibility mode’ (2.4 GHz)[2]
  2. Test if your PC can connect and browser the internet via your smartphone WiFi
  3. Download our test Configuration File: FW 01.08 | FW 01.08 (incl. GNSS/IMU)
  4. Load the file in the config editor and add your smartphone WiFi details
  5. Create a backup of your original Configuration File on the device SD card
  6. Add the test Configuration File to your SD card
  7. Power on your device with a suitable power supply (7-32 V DC) for 5 min
  8. Log into the S3 test server via CANcloud and check if your device uploads the device.json
  9. If the device does not connect, review the syslog.txt file on the SD for further diagnostics
  10. If the syslog is empty, check your WiFi name/pass for typos (e.g. trailing spaces, …)
  11. Optionally test with another WiFi access point (update the Configuration File accordingly)

If it is still not connecting, please send us an e-mail with a zip of the entire SD content, details on which WiFi access points you have tested and a description of your setup.

If the device connects, proceed to the next step below.

Test your original WiFi access point access

Below we assume that you have verified that your device connects to our S3 test server using your smartphone as WiFi access point. Next, you’ll test if the original WiFi access point works.

  1. Use CANcloud to login to the AWS S3 test server
  2. Delete your device Configuration File from the S3 test server[3]
  3. Configure your device via the SD to use your original WiFi access point only
  4. Wait ~30s to see if the device loads the new Configuration File, power cycles and reconnects

If the device does not update the device.json file after the change, check the following:

  • Double check if the SSID/password are correct
  • Ensure that you are not using e.g. ' or similar in the SSID
  • Check if the blue LED lights up (it should light up with each sync attempt)
  • If it is a corporate WiFi access point, check if e.g. MAC address white listing is required

If the device connects via your original WiFi access point, proceed to the next step below.

Test your own S3 server access

  1. Log into your own S3 server via CANcloud, while connected to your original WiFi access point
  2. Delete the device Configuration File on your own S3 server[4]
  3. On the device SD, update your Configuration File to use your own S3 server details again
  4. Check if the device is now able to connect to your own server (i.e. is the device.json updated)
  5. If the device is still unable to connect to your server, check the below:
    • Verify that all your server details are correct (see the S3 server guides for syntax)
    • Verify that you do not use https:// in your endpoint (if you have enabled TLS, disable it)[5]

If you’re still unable to get started after trying the above steps, contact us and describe your results from the above tests. In your mail, please include your Configuration File.

[1]If you use a smartphone as your WiFi access point during testing, ensure ‘maximize compatibility’ is enabled. This forces it to use 2.4 GHz rather than 5.0 GHz.
[2]A smartphone shared hotspot is typically a simple WiFi access point in the sense that no firewalls, whitelisting etc. is involved - hence it is useful for troubleshooting purposes. If you are using an iPhone as hotspot, you must open to the ‘internet sharing’ tab before the hotspot becomes visible and you must enable ‘maximize compatibility’
[3]The 10 second frequency is mainly for testing purposes. For your final setup we recommend setting the sync rates back to their original values
[4]The device will automatically upload the Configuration File from the SD card when it connects to an S3 server. If a change is made after this to the Configuration File directly on the SD card, the device will perform an over-the-air update and download the Configuration File from the S3 server. To avoid confusion, it is therefore recommended to delete the S3 Configuration File during troubleshooting
[5]HTTPS transfer is an advanced feature. For troubleshooting purposes we recommend to first get the simpler HTTP transfer to work. If you are using a MinIO S3 server and you have enabled TLS, you can temporarily remove the TLS certificates and restart the server