Keeps disconnecting

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svanlare
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Keeps disconnecting

Post by svanlare »

I'm running a raceCapture/Track (v2.13.5) and Raspberry Pi dash (v1.13.1). I have a phone in the car providing wifi, and the raceCapture is connected via USB to the dash. When it stop working, the dash says it is looking for the device. I have twice pulled out the USB connecter and re-plugged it in, and that fixes the problem, then a few minutes later it is disconnected again.

The whole time, the system shows connected on Podium, but no data is streaming (I assume since the racecapture/track is disconnected).

We are running all day today here at laguna seca, so I won't be able to debug, but I would love to know what options I have for sorting this out tonight.

Thanks
-Steve

svanlare
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Joined: Mon Dec 24, 2018 1:26 am
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Post by svanlare »

I've not been able to reproduce in the pits, it is merrily staying connected and showing the gauges on Podium.

Lots of garbage data collected today, so I would REALLY like to get this sorted, because as it is, this isn't working. I assume it is part of my set up, but i could use some help figuring out how to debug.
https://podium.live/events/2019-laguna- ... seize-z-um

As for the setup, the only changes I have made is to turn off all of the wireless options (Bluetooth, wifi) and hoping that makes it better tomorrow.

-Steve

svanlare
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Post by svanlare »

It never worked well all weekend :(

I have re-built the pi a couple times and tried a different pi as well. So far no luck getting to consistent connections. Things work well for a while, then the gauges freeze and the display changes from
RaceCapture/Track MK2 2.13.5
to
Searching /dev/ttyACM0

The only way I can get things working again is to unplug the USB and plug it back into the Pi. Definitely not something I should be doing while racing around the track. Need help figuring out how to fix this and what I'm doing wrong.

brentp
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Post by brentp »

Hi,

Thanks for posting. This seems like an unusual problem.

It sounds like perhaps there might be a power or loose connection issue that might be caused by vibration. Does this happen when the car is stationary with key on and powered up? Proper power connection to the system is critical, as any interruptions would cause the problems you are seeing.

As a comparison, can you try it with a bluetooth connection to an android tablet, driving around the block with a simulated track?
Brent Picasso
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svanlare
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Joined: Mon Dec 24, 2018 1:26 am
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Post by svanlare »

Just running at the kitchen table for now.

The Pi is still having problems. I switched to a "Y" USB cable so I could provide more power to the RaceCapture but no change.

I've configured it's WiFi (I couldn't get the Bluetooth working for some reason), and set up my iPhone to connect as the RaceCapture App. It disconnected once while I watched, but reconnected by itself (much better than the pi). Going to let is stream for a bit and see if it happens again, but the fact it reconnected is already orders of magnitude better than before.

Tried the USB connection to my Mac, and it seemed completely solid.

Now trying the beta version 1.14.4 of RaceCapture and seeing how it goes

svanlare
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Post by svanlare »

Been driving back and forth to work using my iPhone connected over wifi. Never got the bluetooth to work, but wifi connects fine.

Only twice in the week has it disconnected and required me to reboot everything to get it rolling again.

On my kitchen table and during race weekend I never got it to stay connected for more than about 20 min with the pi. Upgrading to 1.14.4 didn't make a difference.

So I have an Android tablet on order and a freedom pop card to provide a network connection. I'll update when it arrives and I can test.

brentp
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Post by brentp »

Hi, worth noting - Due to a limitation with iOS, iOS is not compatible with RaceCapture's bluetooth - only Android.

When you have it running with Raspberry Pi via USB connection, how does it stop working? What do you observe on the screen?
Brent Picasso
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svanlare
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Post by svanlare »

Thanks Brent.

I was planning to upgrade all the software and try this weekend anyways as my phone just asked to upgrade to 1.14.6 so I was assuming all the other platforms were too. I'll put it back together tomorrow before I upgrade and get the actual messages.

When it stops working, the race capture gauges freeze, and the the status starts toggling between Searching for... to Connecting...

When I look at the logs, it seems like the message buffers get messed up somewhere as the logs show error messages and what looks like partial JSON and starts over. Happy to send the log tomorrow when I set it up again. I haven't gone so far as setting up the source code on my mac to debug, seemed like getting Kivy set up as a developer was going to be a bit of work.

The configuration I tried to run in the last race was RaceCapture/Track -> USB -> Pi -> Wifi -> iPhone -> Cellular -> Podium

I now have a 7" LG tablet that I've been playing with and that works better.

Configuration is RaceCapture/Track -> Bluetooth -> Tablet -> Cellular -> Podium. I've driven that back and forth to work a bit to test and it can fail the same way, but much less often. When it fails, I shutdown the Racecapture/Track and kill Racecapture on the tablet. Then restart the app on the tablet then turn on the racecapture. If I just toggle the power on the racecapture it seems to do the same thing of toggling the connect message.

Next race is at Sonoma in March so currently planning to set it all up with the tablet and give it a go and see if we get better results than we had at Laguna.

brentp
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Post by brentp »

Thanks for the update.

Bluetooth stability is highly dependent on the tablet's Bluetooth implementation - they are not all created equally, as we found out with our initial testing. We even found unstable BT on Samsung products, so it's not limited to generic / off-brand systems.

Have you tried other tablets with the bluetooth link? We've had some really good feedback with the Fire8 HD tablet - it seems to have a very reliable bluetooth stack.
Brent Picasso
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svanlare
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Post by svanlare »

Here is the tail end of the log after it stops:

Going to try and upgrade everything the latest and greatest now and then see if the pi works any better, before I take it out of the dash and put the tablet in place for the next race.

[INFO ] [TelemetryManager] starting connection
[INFO ] [TelemetryConnection] connecting to: telemetry.podium.live:8080
[INFO ] [TelemetryConnection] got connect
[INFO ] [TelemetryConnection] authorized to Podium
[INFO ] [TelemetryConnection] sending meta
[INFO ] [TelemetryConnection] sample worker starting
[INFO ] [TelemetryConnection] sending meta
[WARNING] [RCPAPI ] Message rx worker exception: u'r":2,"ver_minor":13,"ver_bugfix":5,"serial":"1E003D00135
0485852383120","git_info":"2.13.5","release_type":"official","uptime":23709},"GPS":{"init":1,"qual":2,"lat":37.23217,"lon
":-121.892738,"sats":8,"DOP":1},"bt":{"init":1},"track":{"status":2,"valid":true,"trackId":1427687998,"inLap":0,"armed":0
},"imu":{"init":true},"wifi":{"active":true,"initialized":true,"ap":{"active":true},"client":{"active":true,"connected":f
alse}}}}' | No JSON object could be decoded
[INFO ] [SessionRecorder] starting new session
[INFO ] [DataStore ] Created session with ID: 7
[INFO ] [SessionRecorder] session recorder worker starting
[INFO ] [DashboardView] Still near the same location where the user last cancelled track configuration. Not pe
stering again
[WARNING] [RCPAPI ] Message rx worker exception: u',37.23217,-121.892738,0.0,282.3,8,2,1.8,0.0,0,0.0,-1,0.0
,0.0,0.0,0,16777211]}}' | No JSON object could be decoded
[INFO ] [SessionRecorder] queue backlog: 4, commit backlog: 2, sample send delay: 4ms
[WARNING] [RCPAPI ] Message rx worker exception: u'{"status":{"system":{"model":"RaceCapture/Track MK2","ve
r_major":2,"ver_minor":13,"ver_bugfix":5,"serial":"1E003D001350485852383120","git_info":"2.13.5","release_type":"official
","uptime":32793},"GPS":{"init":1,"qual":2,"lat":37.23217,"lon":-121.892738,"sats":8,"DOP":1},"bt":{"init":1},"track":{"s
tatus":2,"valid":true,"trackId":1427687998,"inLap":0,"armed":0},"imu":{"init":true},"wifi":{"active":true,0.05,-0.03,0.98
,-0,-1,1,507]}}' | Expecting property name enclosed in double quotes: line 1 column 405 (char 404)
[WARNING] [RCPAPI ] Message rx worker exception: u',507]}}' | No JSON object could be decoded
[WARNING] [RCPAPI ] Message rx worker exception: u',507]}}' | No JSON object could be decoded
[WARNING] [RCPAPI ] Message rx worker exception: u',0,16777211]}}' | No JSON object could be decoded
pi@raspberrypi:~ $

brentp
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Post by brentp »

Thanks for the update. For reference, what Pi Hardware version and what OS version are you running, for reference?
Brent Picasso
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