FlashAir extend WiFi range

[dwd1249]

After giving up on the FlashCard and my WiFi network, I may have found a fix.
I gave this a try to see if I could get a reliable connection . So far so good.
25inch SD to Micro SD Card Adapter Extension Cable Extender SDHC For Car GPS TV off ebay

[Crimson Nape]

Good idea! How far away are you from your WiFi access point?

[pholynyk]

That SD extender cable is also a new product at AdaFruit...

[dwd1249]

Good idea!  How far away are you from your WiFi access point?

My router Netgear D6200 is about 10m away and 2 walls. There is also a router cheap TP-link  closer + wall but it gets picked up by the Netgear.
With the wonderful world of WiFi I'm ready for it to stop working at some stage "just cause".  

[Crimson Nape]

Depending on what you are using the TP-Link for, you might be able to turn it into a repeater for the Netgear.

[dwd1249]

Well after the good results early on, I am back to unreliable connection. Some days it works, some days FlashPap finds the card and times out . Other days nothing. Just not enough grunt from the little antenna.

[Crimson Nape]

Well after the good results early on, I am back to unreliable connection. Some days it works, some days FlashPap finds the card and times out . Other days nothing. Just not enough grunt from the little antenna.

I have noticed that if I change any CPAP parameters (pressure, VAuto to CPAP, etc) that I will lose communication with the FlashAir. Removing and replacing the card will reestablish communication again and all is "good-to-go".

[Crimson Nape]

I came across this tidbit of knowledge while playing with my FlashAir. The Toshiba FlashAir is limited to a 20Mhz maximum bandwidth.  Some WiFi access points have the ability to adjust this size. The newer WiFi access points have a default of 40Mhz, with an option to enable 20/40 MHz Coexistence. This option is located somewhere in the 2.4Ghz parameter section.  Netgear has this parameter located in the Advanced->Advanced Setup->Wireless Settings.  The FlashAir will either not connect or have connection problems if the bandwidth is set above 20Mhz.  

What the bandwidth setting does:
The greater the bandwidth, sometimes listed as: "Channel Spectrum Width, can be used to control the channel width consumed by your link/device. Using a higher channel width will increase throughput. Using a lower channel width will allow an increased number of channels to be used (including more non-overlapping channels). Lowering channel width may also provide more robust links over long distances.

I hope this may help someone.

Edit:  In case you think you're experiencing Déjà vu, I'm putting this post in a separate thread so it won't get lost.

[dwd1249]

For what ever reason my FlashAir has downloaded with no problems for the last 6 days. No doubt I just cursed myself.

[Sheepish]

For a couple of days, my FlashAir downloads via FlashPAP were wonky, either not finding the card on the network (admittedly, it has to go through an Amped range extender first to get to my Netgear wireless router and then my computer) or timing out on the download and crapping out. However, this was while my wireless network was doing some heavy lifting, so to speak, because I was doing huge data backups across the network, in addition to the usual household perpetual streaming of home surveillance cams and family members consisting of the generation that doesn't believe in owning any media files anymore, let alone hard copies on physical media, but rather stream everything under the sun. Anyhow, when the backups had completed and there was a relative lull in the streaming, FlashPAP was able to download my CPAP data from the FlashAir over to the SleepyHead on my computer lickety split. Point is, even though the actual CPAP data is minuscule, it might still be hard to access it on an overtaxed wireless network.

Hey, beats sneakernetting it across the house day after day.