WiFi Ranger master thread

[Gene]

Originally Posted by CrawfordGene

I just got the message about the split and noticed I started the thread. I forgot that.

No wonder I forgot I started it. I didn't. When they split the threads my name was the first on this one. At least I have some memory left about something.

Gene

[CanoeStream]

Gene, then we've gotta hope that I'm doing as well by the time you're my age. eh?

[slowmover]

Another good thread. Glad I'll be starting from scatch on this issue (another old trailer).

[masseyfarm]

This MASTER thread for the WiFiSky has specific information intended for the ALUMINUM skinned trailers and motorhomes. It is a great unit that was designed and offered for this application. Thanks again to WiFiRanger for the great offer and product.

That said, I found with the Clipper after testing, I had other obstacles that were easier to overcome by moving the location of the SKY unit.

If you have other mounting challenges, my Clipper mounting may be of interest.
http://www.airforums.com/forums/f313...ml#post1143679

Dave

[Skater]

Originally Posted by masseyfarm

This MASTER thread for the WiFiSky has specific information intended for the ALUMINUM skinned trailers and motorhomes. It is a great unit that was designed and offered for this application. Thanks again to WiFiRanger for the great offer and product.

What I found with the B190 (fiberglass top) was that Wifi reception was almost never a problem. In fact I had a Sirius antenna mounted atop the cabinets inside the camper and always had good reception there, too.

That said, I found with the Clipper after testing, I had other obstacles that were easier to overcome by moving the location of the SKY unit.

Makes sense. I think one of the ideas behind the mount on the TV antenna is that you can raise the antenna, rotate it, etc. to help with reception if needed.

If you have other mounting challenges, my Clipper mounting may be of interest.
http://www.airforums.com/forums/f313...ml#post1143679

Nice job with the mounting of the switch. That looks very sharp.

[Gene]

I installed and it doesn't work. Mine has a red button and I can't tell if it is on or off. A toggle switch would have been better or a button that stays in when on or a lighted button. The antenna booster still works and the TV works, so it is likely that I attached the wires correctly.

I didn't check the fuse. I'd have to remove the plate from the wall, not an easy thing.

I'm supposed to get a control panel on my browser. I tried it with the iPad2 and nothing in every possible combination with antenna booster and the red button.

I am very disappointed.

Gene

[slowmover]

I am very disappointed.

You mean, relative to another day in the caliche dust and 60% humidity/ 83F South Texas heat out at a drilling rig kind of day?

Disappointed . . okay. Very? Hah-ah, CG.

(Though I am grateful for all that is in this thread, and to its' participants).

.

[Relentless]

Gene;

Since we are only a year apart in AS age, mine is an 07, we should work the same.

I have an iPad 1. I did not install the booster because I did not need it. I went to settings, hit " wifi" on the menu and the ranger came right up.

However, we have been on the road 4 weeks now, stayed in more than a dozen RV parks and have never needed the ranger. The biggest problem is capacity, not strength of the wifi systems we have encountered.

John

[masseyfarm]

Gene:
Make sure the antenna is energized.

Wait at least 2 minutes for the Sky to boot up, (took that long on a cold morning here?) and although I have not got an Ipad, I have a Nokia X7 and the SKY shows up after you search for WiFi. Press connect and try to open a home page, ie:Goggle, or other favorite you have stored on the phone, and the control panel appears after using the password supplied.

When it connects to your desired signal, it will take another short moment to test signal and request permission to connect to that signal.

Then go to INTERNET and the home page should appear of the host router, ie: starbucks, etc.

Mine works great and I AM IMPRESSED with this unit at this point.

The unit consumes little energy and I leave mine on all the time now that there is lots of sun to energize my solar banks.

I have changed the password to keep other poachers in the dark.

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f313...ml#post1143679

Dave

Originally Posted by CrawfordGene

I installed and it doesn't work.

I'm supposed to get a control panel on my browser. I tried it with the iPad2 and nothing in every possible combination with antenna booster and the red button.

Gene

[Gene]

Thanks guys. I'll try that once we get settled in a CG tomorrow. I'll have the laptop too, so I can try them both. I'm in a better mood after a nap.

No drilling rigs for me in Texas or anywhere, Rednax.

Gene

[Skater]

Mine has been a little flaky for me starting up - it worked at the campground after I installed the booster thingie, but then it wouldn't start up when I was at home last weekend (I intended to do some speed and signal strength tests and post the results here). I want to take another look at the wiring - I had some issues when I was doing the install and need to get back in there to clean things up anyway.

I agree on the push-button switch business - I don't know what they were thinking with that, especially for something that takes a minute or two to start up. I commented on this earlier, too.

[WiFiRanger]

Hello all,

If you haven't had a look yet, you can see our new Retrofit2 here. If you're interested in getting one, just follow the instructions to contact Evan Sorenson for receiving one free of charge. We apologize for the inconveniences of the original Retrofit, but believe that the Retrofit2 addresses them.

[Gene]

I looked at the 2nd kit. Does the red button indicate whether it is on or off? The slide switch on the metal part seems to provide power to the Sky unit while not interfering with cable if I understand this. Where would it be mounted? I already installed the 1st kit and drilled a hole in the plate to install the red button. The 2nd kit is too big to be installed behind the wall plate and since there are 2 switches on it, it would have to be installed on the outside of the wall as I see it.

I did get it working last night, but for a while I kept getting the control panel on Safari whenever I tried to search for something else. Then it started working better and I could use Safari again.

I haven't figured out out to shut down the public broadcast, though it seems to have done so automatically. I don't know how to change the password either. Once I could determine the Sky was actually working, it did seem to increase the range, but the wifi where we are is so strong it is hard to tell.

I don't know why it didn't work at first. I did the same things the first time and nothing happened on either my laptop or iPad, and then later I got the control panel on the laptop. The iPad is easier to connect by going to Settings, then wifi, as Relentless said. The iPad takes a while to recognize wifi anyway and then waiting for the Sky to respond means a long time before you can tell whether it is working.

If the new version of the kit would work for us, I might use it. Does this mean the 1st kit doesn't eliminate the problem of the antenna booster interfering with cable TV? I have the antenna booster off and the red button on and the Sky seems be working so I don't understand how the 2nd kit solves anything except the wiring is simpler? I didn't find wiring the 1st kit to be hard except I had to drill the wall hole larger to get the back of red button to fit. Pulling the plate out far enough to get to all the wires took some effort, but once I got it far enough out of the wall, I could get to the wires. The antenna coax was marked as such and with a multitester I could check which of the connections was 12 v. It was the one on the top between 2 coaxial cables.

I have thought of getting a switch which shows whether it is on or off and replacing the red button switch with it.

Gene

[WiFiRanger]

The Retrofit2 has the small blue LED that is next to the red button. That is the power indicator. When that is lit, the WiFiRanger Sky is powered. The slider button doesn't determine whether the WiFiRanger Sky is powered, but whether the Batwing's RF signal is allowed to pass thru. If you have that slider in Cable Mode, then the RF signal will not make it past the Retrofit2 and to the Wall Plate. The Retrofit2 would need to be installed on the outside of the wall for access to both switches.

Glad to hear that you got it working last night! When offline, the WiFiRanger Sky will automatically redirect you to the Control Panel. The idea behind that is that, if you're offline, you should be redirected to the Control Panel so that you can quickly make a WiFi selection to join to get you back online. You can disable this feature on the Preferences tab if desired.

You can enable/disable both the Private and Public WiFi broadcasts on the Wireless tab, which is also where you can change the default WPA key to the password you desire.

The first Retrofit doesn't address the possible interference when using Cable TV and powering the WiFiRanger Sky / Batwing simultaneously. The Retrofit2 is the solution for those who watch Cable TV. If you were to have the Wall Plate on and in Cable Mode, while also having the Sky powered up, your Batwing will be sending RF down to your Wall Plate. On some models of Wall Plates this can cause interference with the Cable signal. The Retrofit2 allows you to cutoff the Batwing's RF with the slider switch so that it never makes it to the Wall Plate.

If you find that interference is not an issue with the setup how you have it when using Cable and the Sky simultaneously, then just having a switch that indicates its on / off state would be a great solution. That way you wouldn't need to install the Retrofit2 and the wiring on the outside of the wall.

[Skater]

I definitely need to play with mine some more. I'm convinced I can get it working correctly, but I ran into some issues when I was doing it while camping, and it's not the easiest place to work in for our camper (it's mounted under the TV stand in a small cubbyhole). We did have it working perfectly during that trip, so I suspect it's a wiring issue behind the plate. In particular the crimp connector on the +12 wire came off, and I didn't have any with me (I used to keep a pack in the camper for exactly that reason), so I had to jerry-rig it to get it work for that trip. The connection probably came loose.

I am excited though - it was great. We accidentally left it on on the way home, so Erica had to turn off her phone's Wifi to be able to access the internet from the truck. And at home our phones were heading for that signal first instead of our home Wifi.

[Zigidachs]

Thanks for a marvelous and informative thread. Is there a video for the install of the Retrofit2 kit? Pix are great too!

[Gene]

After 5 nights at a CG, I have to say the Sky is a beta product. That we have to keep asking questions means the instructions are incomplete.

I don't know what it didn't work at first. Eventually I figured out kit 1 made it possible to use the Sky without the antenna booster on. It worked consistently on the laptop. The iPad worked better on the CG wifi, possibly because the iPad sometimes takes a long time to find a signal and the CG system required constantly using the browser and accepting the agreement. That test was inconclusive.

There was no cable TV so I couldn't see if the Sky interfered with cable TV.

If I get Kit 2, do I de-install kit one?

Does Kit 2 attach to the coax coming out of the front of the wall plate?

Where does that red wire go? Seems like it'll look sloppy but since the area is mostly hidden behind the TV, not the worst thing in our trailer.

Gene

[WiFiRanger]

Skater, sorry to hear that the Retrofit1 caused trouble on your trip. It is likely that the 12V connection was causing the problem since the crimp came off. Glad to hear that the Sky was doing a great job on WiFi though!

Zigidachs, glad you're finding the thread helpful. We at WiFiRanger love to hear what our customers have to say or how they choose to install things. Hats off to community support through our customers! We'll add the Retrofit2 install video to the list of videos that need to be made.

Gene, sorry to hear about your impression of the Sky. We want to improve our documentation and make it as clear and informative as possible. If you have any specific questions or topics that were not addressed, please let us know and we'll update our instructions.

Yes, if you got the Retrofit2 you would uninstall the Retrofit1, replacing it with the new version. The Coax of the Retrofit2 needs to go between the Wall Plate's antenna input and the Batwing. So the Coax will be connected in the back of the Wall Plate. You can see a basic diagram here. The red wire is for 12VDC input. The Wall Plate will already be wired up with 12VDC power, so simply secure the Retrofit2's red wire to the 12VDC prong on the back of the Wall Plate. Ground is provided by the Coax being connected to the Wall Plate.

[Gene]

Thanks for your reply. I doubt the Kit 2 will easily fit behind the wall plate with all the other wires back there. I probably should have drilled the hole through the plate lower. I had a difficult time getting the back of the red button switch in the space as it was and had to cut the wall hole larger and larger without having it show.

I went to the link and the diagram is theoretical in nature rather than practical. All the wires are not identified clearly and don't show locations of parts clearly. You need to bring someone in from the outside who doesn't understand your system, but can write and draw realistic diagrams and ask questions until that person can show us how to do it in terms most people can understand. I can usually figure out stuff, but get frustrated when I have to work so hard to do so. I'm sure fellow techies will understand this, but the rest of us may struggle.

Attaching the red wire to the 12 v. input means a splice or soldering or jamming it into the connector; such things eventually come loose from traveling. I wonder why there are no connectors supplied as with Kit 1?

And, if I understand you correctly, the "multiswitch" will be behind the plate, and therefore, useless. It is not clear just what it does anyway, but seems to need to be switched for use of cable. The LED light that indicates the red button is on will also be behind the wall plate, and also useless. I am befuddled and frustrated.

The product in my opinion has a clever idea but has not been executed well. I don't want to write your instructions for you and don't want to keep looking at videos and links to figure this out. I don't want to be your beta tester even if I were paid for it. I think this has potential, but was brought out before all the bugs were worked out. I'm glad some people are pleased because that gives me hope, but I have other things to do rather than struggling with this item. I appreciate this is a small company and start up, and it is hard and expensive to get it right quickly. The control panels are attractive, though not all that well explained. I guess they only work when the Sky is turned off—that's weird. I really want to see you succeed, but by now either I am too dumb for this product or I just don't want to continue to figure it out.

And, since RV owners tend to be older, how many really get this? I built kits years ago, can actually hook up an HDTV and components and they work, rewire houses and can use a computer—a lot of people can't do that and I wonder how they will decipher all this? You will never have them as customers.

Look to Apple for your inspiration—elegance and simplicity for the consumer. There's a lot to not like about Apple, but their products are easy to use and do not require being either a teenager or having an EE degree.

I am unsure whether to order the Kit 2 or return the whole thing.

Gene

[masseyfarm]

Its tough when technology passes us by Gene!

If you figured out how to use the Iphone you should be able to master this SKY. Like most things in life, its just a matter of spending enough time to understand how it works. (how long did it take you to understand your wife?)

Keep in mind, you can make up a short cable so you can locate the switch anywhere you want.

I know what you refer to when you say they should hire a guy off the street to write the instructions. (explain every little detail so that those not in the industry can understand, and include examples.) The same requirement should be required of the guy that puts up the sani dump signs!

You can email them direct for a specific question on your installation Gene.

Only problem I have had so far is, I was leaving the SKY on all the time, but I find, after a day or so of no use, I have to reset it to activate the control panel. No big deal.

Dave

Originally Posted by CrawfordGene

Thanks for your reply. I doubt the Kit 2 will easily fit behind the wall plate with all the other wires back there. I probably should have drilled the hole through the plate lower. I had a difficult time getting the back of the red button switch in the space as it was and had to cut the wall hole larger and larger without having it show.

I went to the link and the diagram is theoretical in nature rather than practical. All the wires are not identified clearly and don't show locations of parts clearly. You need to bring someone in from the outside who doesn't understand your system, but can write and draw realistic diagrams and ask questions until that person can show us how to do it in terms most people can understand. I can usually figure out stuff, but get frustrated when I have to work so hard to do so. I'm sure fellow techies will understand this, but the rest of us may struggle.

Attaching the red wire to the 12 v. input means a splice or soldering or jamming it into the connector; such things eventually come loose from traveling. I wonder why there are no connectors supplied as with Kit 1?

And, if I understand you correctly, the "multiswitch" will be behind the plate, and therefore, useless. It is not clear just what it does anyway, but seems to need to be switched for use of cable. The LED light that indicates the red button is on will also be behind the wall plate, and also useless. I am befuddled and frustrated.

The product in my opinion has a clever idea but has not been executed well. I don't want to write your instructions for you and don't want to keep looking at videos and links to figure this out. I don't want to be your beta tester even if I were paid for it. I think this has potential, but was brought out before all the bugs were worked out. I'm glad some people are pleased because that gives me hope, but I have other things to do rather than struggling with this item. I appreciate this is a small company and start up, and it is hard and expensive to get it right quickly. The control panels are attractive, though not all that well explained. I guess they only work when the Sky is turned off—that's weird. I really want to see you succeed, but by now either I am too dumb for this product or I just don't want to continue to figure it out.

And, since RV owners tend to be older, how many really get this? I built kits years ago, can actually hook up an HDTV and components and they work, rewire houses and can use a computer—a lot of people can't do that and I wonder how they will decipher all this? You will never have them as customers.

Look to Apple for your inspiration—elegance and simplicity for the consumer. There's a lot to not like about Apple, but their products are easy to use and do not require being either a teenager or having an EE degree.

I am unsure whether to order the Kit 2 or return the whole thing.

Gene