Summary of A026 WiFi reliable troubleshooting and check points

[Quark Elec]

I have a QK-A26 AIS and I have a problem with the wifi, connecting with the tablet or with the phone or with the pc the wifi continues to connect and disconnect. I tried different configurations of the connected devices but without a result.

I did several tests, being very close (<1m) and even farther (4-5m).I tried in different places (at home, in the car, on the boat)

and with different devices (phone, pc, tablet) and always the same result, the wifi is unstable.

There are no engines or big obstacles. I don’t know what else to try.

For the short time that it is connected it works well, then it disconnects itself and tries again to connect and so on.

---

above from a customer

---

The above is an issue reported by a customer. The issue was solved by replacing the QK-A013 as the power supply. Some USB ports on old computer/laptop could only provide 100mA current however the peak current on A024/026 could go 300mA. So if you have the same problem please consider using a higher current power supply. The power bank is another option but please keep checking the voltage level since lower voltage could be another reason leads to an unreliable WiFi connection.

[Anonymous]

I had the same problem a couple of years before. The problem was solved after talking with staff from Quark elec. The IP address needs to be static in some cases. Now, i always using a static ip address to ensure a reliable connection.

[Quark Elec]

Hi oaSTAR, Thank you for the post. We have heard a few other customers solved this issue by config A026 with a static ip address.

[Anonymous]

Well, i should check this post before jumping on my boat last week.

[Quark Elec]

We recently have another customer from USA reported this issue. A026 works well with Ad-hoc mode, but when it was connected with the wireless router, the connection kept dropping. The issue was solved by changing the default channel to be 6 in his wireless router. America have a slightly difference with the WiFi channel settings.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_WLAN_channels

We also noticed under station mode, the connection dropping issue could happened if the wireless router works under two frequencies(all our WiFi products only works at 2.4Ghz, not 5.8Ghz). Hope these information helps.

[Quark Elec]

One more point to draw your attention too. Under Ad-hoc mode, please make sure: if changing the IP address or Gateway address in the Quark-elec Configuration tool, remember that the ip address and the gateway address should be the same. Otherwise you will see an issue. More details can be found from:https://www.quark-elec.com/archived_forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=14025
So generally, when you have WiFi issue please consider the following points:
1, Does the device have reliable power supply?
2, Setup with static ip address if DHCP doesn’t work reliable under station mode.
3, Make sure the gateway ip address(setting with the configuration tool) is the same as your wireless router’s. If it works under ad-hoc mode, it must be the same as the ip address(server).
4, Change the port number from the default one(2000) to be a random one(e.g. 1437, or 2804…) on AIS receiver and the APPs.
5, Check if there is a strong WiFi signal nearby(this normally could happened in the marina, and there is ‘long range WiFi’ or ‘hot spot WiFi’).
6, If you have a VHF radio, please keep it at least 50cm away from the WiFi AIS receiver.
7, If your wireless router is a old type of two channels router(2.4G,and 5.8G), you maybe need disable 5.8G frequency(our WiFi module only supports 2.4G).

One more point is, if you only see the disconnection issue on Navionics. Actually, this is not real status of the WiFi, Navionics will show ”disconnected” if no AIS messages been received within 10 seconds, actually it still keeps connected.

[Anonymous]

I noticed if my iPad is locked, and is not connected to power, then wi-fi will temporarily disconnect from the wi-fi after about 20-30 seconds as a battery saving feature and this will affect my iphone connection with A027, this is very strange. Disable the battery saving mode on my iPad fixed this issue. Hope this is helpful to other Apple fans.

[Anonymous]

Noticed the following articles after having the similar issue on my ipad.
https://smallbusiness.chron.com/keep-ipad-dropping-wifi-signals-49630.html
You need erase the network and re-input the IP address manually to get wifi connection stable.

[Anonymous]

After every one minute, my ipad kept drop off and then connected again. But I only see this issue when my boat stay in marina. Therefore I guess the issue is generated by a kind of interference related to one (or more) of the the many wifi sources detected in the marina. As I need to the device to work when I’m in the open sea, so this isn’t a big problem on my end.

This is really strange as my wife’s Samsung mobile has never have this issue.

[Quark Elec]

Yes, it is strange that we have not seen this with Android tablets and only very rarely in iPads.

Interestingly, we one had this from 2 users in the same Marina, but no-one else in that whole country within over 6 months.

It begs the question whether there is very strong interference from other signals in the area (possibly above normal CE /FCC standards)

I have also spoken with Apple tech support about the disconnection issue and they said they may be able to help you to change some setting to ensure it stays connected to the chosen network.

Unfortunately, they could not support me further with this, as our test iPads here are not showing the issue, but they suggested you contact them directly.

If you do contact Apple directly for support,

please let us know the outcome and any findings.

[Quark Elec]

This blog should be a help to these who have WiFi connection issue.

https://www.quark-elec.com/qa-wifi-connection-troubleshooting/

[Anonymous]

Hi, Thank you for the post. it’s great helpful for me.

[Author]

Posts