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**Pellet cookers** - YS480, YS640
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**Pellet Cooker Warranty**
October 16th, 2019, 9:46 am
#1
* Abilene ** Abilene *
  • Joined: October 14th, 2019, 9:48 pm
  • Posts: 3

Hi all,

I've recently purchased a new YS640s on the silver comp cart and I love it btw, but I've have had some issues with WiFi range. I was wondering about other's experiences with the same setup? Do you find the WiFi range sufficient? My concern is that the WiFi antenna is shielded by the comp cart and that it may be attenuating the signal too much. Or perhaps I just a have an issue with my unit, I am not sure at this point. I've sent an email to customer service for their input, but I haven't received a response yet.

For reference, with a 20ft clear line of sight distance to an access point I was only receiving my WiFi signal at -73dBm according to the debug window in the FireBoard app.

Thanks in advance for anyone's input on this subject.

-Jeff

October 16th, 2019, 7:00 pm
#2
* Cheyenne ** Cheyenne *
  • Joined: May 18th, 2015, 9:25 pm
  • Posts: 62

I just installed my upgrade last weekend. I'm having issues getting it connected to the Fireboard app, but Yoder has been responding daily collecting information. So, I'm good with that.

Anyway, back to your issue... I know Yoder has the antenna in the horizontal position in the instructions. What if you turn the antenna straight down? I was wondering about positioning of the antenna during the install.

Line of sight comment... Are there any structures in between the two radios; even if it's just a window? I'm just curious. Anyway, my thought is to turn the antenna straight up/down.

Finally, what vendor/model of AP are you using?

October 16th, 2019, 8:52 pm
#3
* Abilene ** Abilene *
  • Joined: October 14th, 2019, 9:48 pm
  • Posts: 3

I have not tried to rotate the antenna yet. I can do some testing with the antenna at different rotations tomorrow evening.

For the 20ft line of sight, there are no obstructions. I have a Netgear EX7700 Range Extender sitting on a wooden workbench in my garage. Also, using a WiFi Analyzer app on my phone I can see the signal at between-30 and -40dBm while within 1ft of the YS640s.

October 18th, 2019, 1:16 pm
#4
* Abilene ** Abilene *
  • Joined: October 14th, 2019, 9:48 pm
  • Posts: 3

Well just to follow up. After working with Joey in customer service and taking some signal level readings at various distances. He had me open up the hopper side panel to inspect the WiFi extension cable between the controller and the antenna.

I found that the male RP-SMA connector on the extension cable was screwed on as far as it could go to the female bulkhead RP-SMA connector of the control module but the body of the male connector was loose and wasn't making good contact. So I removed the lock washer that was between the controller housing and the bulkhead connector's jamb nut to allow the male connector to thread on a little further. Once that was done the male connector body was no longer loose and was making good contact.

After powering the YS640s back up, I was seeing -47 to -50 dBm signal levels (100% connection quality) from the WiFi range extender at the 20ft line of sight distance. The YS640s even connected to my WiFi router in my house without an issue when I had the range extender off, although the connection quality was not too good (47%) due to all the obstructions so I think I'll leave the range extender in place.

This also improved the Bluetooth range significantly. I noticed that the YS640s paired with the wife's iPad that was somewhere in the house. Previously I had to have the iPad in close proximity for them to pair up.

Thought I would share the solution to my issue. Perhaps it will help someone else.

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