CC3000 AP/SSID Scan

[igorvon]

Hello

I have Adafruit CC3000 WiFi Breakout with uFL Connector for Ext Antenna, connected to Arduino Uno and cannot get it to work. The board itself is communicating to Arduino, but it doesn't connect or find networks. I have tried it with buildtest sketch, here is serial monitor data:

Hello, CC3000!

RX Buffer : 131 bytes
TX Buffer : 131 bytes
Free RAM: 1283

Initialising the CC3000 ...
Firmware V. : 1.19
MAC Address : 0x08 0x00 0x28 0x57 0x55 0xEA

Deleting old connection profiles

Attempting to connect to Innbox-ledinica23
Started AP/SSID scan

In all other examples it does the same, first Initialising and then AP/SSID scan, then nothing...

Can you advise something else to test or is something wrong with the CC3000?

[adafruit_support_rick]

That doesn't look like the actual output from buildtest. Can you please cut and paste the exact output from buildtest? It should look like this:

Code: Select all

Hello, CC3000!

RX Buffer : 131 bytes
TX Buffer : 131 bytes
Free RAM: 1227

Initialising the CC3000 ...
Firmware V. : 1.19
MAC Address : 0x08 0x00 0x28 0x57 0x36 0x77
Started AP/SSID scan


Networks found: 4
================================================
SSID Name    : BANNED
RSSI         : 41
Security Mode: 3

SSID Name    : BANNED
RSSI         : 83
Security Mode: 3

SSID Name    : BANNED
RSSI         : 45
Security Mode: 3

SSID Name    : BANNED
RSSI         : 33
Security Mode: 2

================================================

Deleting old connection profiles

Attempting to connect to Innbox-ledinica23
Started AP/SSID scan




Connecting to Innbox-ledinica23...Waiting to connect...Timed out!
Started AP/SSID scan

[igorvon]

Hello

This is the actual serial monitor message:

Hello, CC3000!

RX Buffer : 131 bytes
TX Buffer : 131 bytes
Free RAM: 1233

Initialising the CC3000 ...
Firmware V. : 1.19
MAC Address : 0x08 0x00 0x28 0x57 0x55 0xEA
Started AP/SSID scan


It always stops at "Started AP/SSID scan", it never finds networks, even if i'm very close to the router.

[adafruit_support_rick]

That is very odd. Looking at the code, I don't see any way for it to just stop there without printing anything else.

What kind of antenna are you using?

[igorvon]

I'm using 2.4GHz Dipole Swivel Antenna with RP-SMA - 5dBi

I tried changing the line:

cc3000.connectToAP(WLAN_SSID, WLAN_PASS, WLAN_SECURITY); to cc3000.connectSecure(WLAN_SSID, WLAN_PASS, WLAN_SECURITY);

with this change it then prints:

Connected!
Requestt DHCP

and then it stops again.

[adafruit_support_rick]

I think we need to replace your CC3000. Please email [email protected] with a link to this thread.

[jcallender]

Has this issue been resolved or was the wifi shield bad? I ordered two CC3000 Wifi shields about a week ago and I am experiencing the exact same symptoms as described above with both shields.

[adafruit_support_rick]

Can you please post the exact trace output from Serial Monitor?

[igorvon]

Hello

I finally found the problem. It seems that the module draws too much current on attempting to connect for Arduino Uno.
But, as far as i know it should work on Arduino Uno too. Maybe there is something wrong with my Uno.
I have tested it on Arduino Mega and it worked ok. So try it with another arduino board if you have one.

[pdh]

Regarding the current draw: how are you powering your Uno? I ask because I've seen very similar hangs using my CC3000 on an Uno if I power them just via the USB connection. But if I use an additional power supply (a 9V battery, or a bench power supply that provides 8V or more, attached to the barrel jack), then the CC3000 works well.

I measure over 100 mA drawn from the external supply when using the CC3000. I've concluded that my laptop's USB port is unwilling or unable to provide more than 100 mA, as I've also seen odd behavior with a few other ciruits that draw 100 mA or more, when I use only the USB.

[jcallender]

Thanks for the replies guys. The current draw issue makes sense. I will not be near my equipment until tomorrow afternoon (around 3:00pm) to test this out. I will let you guys know if using a different board or adding another power source solves my problem.

[jcallender]

Using an external power source allowed the Arduino to connect to the network! To avoid having both an external power source and the USB connected at the same time, I wired the TX and RX pins to another Arduino's TX and RX pins and programmed the second Arduino with a blank program. This allows me to view the serial monitor for debugging purposes. Thanks for the help guys. The issue has been resolved.

[jcallender]

Also, we tested it using a different computer and the USB port was able to supply the board with enough power to connect to the network. That confirms that the problem is with the computer and not the wifi shield.

[adafruit_support_rick]

Thanks for the report