unreliable wifi on custom hardware

[imtiaz]

Hi @ESP_Angus , @WiFive , @ESP_SPRITE,@ESP_igrr

We have a custom esp module and are finding a few issues with the wifi connection . We have been struggling with it for the past few days and thought to ask here in case you guys can give us an insight into what the root cause could be. Here are what we are seeing:

The same code works fine on the WRover kit.
1 - The wifi access point gets created but it either cannot be connected to takes several tries .
2 - As a station it seems more reliable - however sometimes it fails to connect

Here is a log output of an access point when it is failing to connect.It seems like it keeps connecting and disconnecting and finally either is succesfull or fails. When we try again it generally works .

• I (625958) wifi: n:1 0, o:1 0, ap:1 1, sta:255 255, prof:1<\r><\n>
  I (625958) wifi: station: 64:89:9a:31:38:d3 join, AID=2, g, 20<\r><\n>
  <27>[0;32mI (625960) wifi: wifi event : 15<\r><\n>
  <27>[0m<\r><\n>
  I (626278) wifi: n:1 0, o:1 0, ap:1 1, sta:255 255, prof:1<\r><\n>
  I (626278) wifi: station: 64:89:9a:31:38:d3 join, AID=2, g, 20<\r><\n>
  <27>[0;32mI (626280) wifi: wifi event : 15<\r><\n>
  <27>[0m<\r><\n>
  I (626598) wifi: n:1 0, o:1 0, ap:1 1, sta:255 255, prof:1<\r><\n>
  I (626599) wifi: station: 64:89:9a:31:38:d3 join, AID=2, g, 20<\r><\n>
  <27>[0;32mI (626600) wifi: wifi event : 15<\r><\n>
  <27>[0m<\r><\n>
  I (626917) wifi: n:1 0, o:1 0, ap:1 1, sta:255 255, prof:1<\r><\n>
  I (626917) wifi: station: 64:89:9a:31:38:d3 join, AID=2, g, 20<\r><\n>
  <27>[0;32mI (626919) wifi: wifi event : 15<\r><\n>
  <27>[0m<\r><\n>
  I (627235) wifi: n:1 0, o:1 0, ap:1 1, sta:255 255, prof:1<\r><\n>
  I (627235) wifi: station: 64:89:9a:31:38:d3 join, AID=2, g, 20<\r><\n>
  <27>[0;32mI (627236) wifi: wifi event : 15<\r><\n>
  <27>[0m<\r><\n>
  I (627552) wifi: n:1 0, o:1 0, ap:1 1, sta:255 255, prof:1<\r><\n>
  I (627552) wifi: station: 64:89:9a:31:38:d3 join, AID=2, g, 20<\r><\n>
  <27>[0;32mI (627554) wifi: wifi event : 15<\r><\n>

[/list]


Our hardware is essentially the same except for these few differences:
1 - we are using a chip antennae (attached specs)
2 - different crystal and load caps (the frequency is +0.8kHz offset from 40MHz)
3 - The PI matching network is different as the antenna we are using is different. We have matched the antenna manually resulting in the match network you see in the schematic.

By the way the RF power output from the module is comparable or better than the esp WRover kit.


Any help /ideas would be highly appreciated
Regards
Imtiaz

[Lucas.Hutchinson]

Just checking if anyone has any thoughts on this?

[ESP_igrr]

For RF matching issues, it is best to contact Espressif via sales@espressif.com. Testing and optimization of customer hardware can be arranged (you will need to send us the board). Things like this a fairly hard to troubleshoot on the forum, plus the three ESP_ engineers tagged in the first post are definitely not the ones to seek advice from on RF related issues.