Breeze (Breeze Cam) with Android 8.0.0 (Samsung S7)

[mprantke]

Hi there - my name is Michael and I'm new to this forum.

Me (better my son) owns a Breeze 4k since about 4 year but now we started to use it as he is 14 now! Very strange: First tries four years ago with the S7 were fine. After Breeze FW-Update the connection was quite stable. Now it's nearly just impossible to use it with the S7 (which has at least one major android version higher as it was Android 7.x (Nougat) I believe, before): It's strange because the WiFi is set up after every power cycle of the Breeze (green LED is blinking) and the S7 can connect to the WiFi. It's possible for a few seconds to access via Manage router/ 192.168.42.1 - but then it just disappears with a beep and only the IP given by DHCP is visible (in my case 192.168.42.33). The App (Blue one as well as Green Clone one) just show an active WiFi but everything else is greyed out and the little blue power symbol on the Breeze power switch is just blinking blue! I can reproduce this behavior 1:1 with the S7 of my wife (only difference is she use it in German language and me in English)

When my son does the connection with his Pixel4a (Android 12) everything is fine. After WiFi connection is established he can open the Breeze App, we hear a beep, the power button turns from blinking to constant blue light, and the App shows full connection. This is reproduceable almost 100% and he can open/close the App which is acknowledged by a beep and results in working App connection. So I assume the Breeze is fine and it's a strange behavior of the Android 8/ S7. I didn't find anything in this forum but maybe someone of the advanced user here know something and can help out.

Other strange things

• I did a (Breeze) FW-Update to latest FW via App (breeze_V0.1.47_F.bin) as well as via uncompressed FW (v0.1.47F - firmware.bin in root) with success but the App (client Version 1.4.7) still shows FCV 1.1.2 which should FCV 1.1.3, right? ESC-Version is 1.0.3 and Camera Version 2.0.15(F).
• When I try the Factory Reset which is instructed in this forum I never get a beep after releasing the reset button after about 15 sec. I've the feeling nothing happens (and yes - I pressed the button palpable mechanical with a toothpick)

Thanks a lot and best regards
Michael

 

[DoomMeister]

Welcome to YuneecPilots Micheal!

My first suggestion on the S7 would be to place it in Airplane mode then enable WiFi (and Bluetooth if using the Breeze controller). The grayed out portion suggests just a partial connection (phone and aircraft are connected, but app is not detecting it). I saw this on occasion when using a range extender with mine.

If you installed v0.1.47_F.bin firmware you should be showing FC at v1.1.3 as you stated. I maintain a repository of the Breeze firmwares on a Google Drive. I would suggest you download the breeze_v0.1.47_F.bin. The instructions for updating are on the Google Drive also. Breeze 4K Firmware - Google Drive

The reset procedure is to hold in the reset button, power on the aircraft and continue holding the button in until you hear the beep. Then release the button and power cycle the aircraft. This is really not necessary unless you are not able to get the green flashing LED in the arm which indicates the SSID of the Breeze AP is being broadcast.

 

[mprantke]

Welcome to YuneecPilots Micheal!

Thanks

My first suggestion on the S7 would be to place it in Airplane mode then enable WiFi (and Bluetooth if using the Breeze controller). The grayed out portion suggests just a partial connection (phone and aircraft are connected, but app is not detecting it). I saw this on occasion when using a range extender with mine.

Yes, that's what I did always - entering Airplane mode and enabling WiFi/ Bluetooth (Yes, I'm using a Breeze controller). But I discovered something else with both S7. After a reboot/power cycle with the S7 a connection via the App was possible adhoc. Then I did a 6 min. fly without any issues. After 6 min. I did a automated 'Home landing' via the Y-Button. Because the battery level was at 45% I wanted to re-start but just at that moment the App lost the connection again and we went into this 'partial connection'. After about 4 to 5 attempts to connect the App via (established) WiFi just a new S7 power cycle allowed a successful attempt. So I do not trust this connection via S7 because I do not know what happens with the connection during flight.

If you installed v0.1.47_F.bin firmware you should be showing FC at v1.1.3 as you stated. I maintain a repository of the Breeze firmwares on a Google Drive. I would suggest you download the breeze_v0.1.47_F.bin. The instructions for updating are on the Google Drive also. Breeze 4K Firmware - Google Drive

That's exactly what I did - by the way... thanks a lot for all the work you've done to maintain this! I Also did a 'downgrade' to the first available FW both ways. As far as I remember everything changed to be to the correct version except FCV - it always stayed at v1.1.2 (if I remember it right, but I can double check an post screenshots)

The reset procedure is to hold in the reset button, power on the aircraft and continue holding the button in until you hear the beep. Then release the button and power cycle the aircraft. This is really not necessary unless you are not able to get the green flashing LED in the arm which indicates the SSID of the Breeze AP is being broadcast.

Thanks - I never waited until the beep before releasing the button. Absolutely, I guess you are right and it's not really necessary but at that time I just tried one S7/Android 8 and not the Pixel4a/Android 12, so I assumed the Wifi broadcast/ Breeze AP was incorrect - which seems not to be the case

 

[DoomMeister]

Yes, that's what I did always - entering Airplane mode and enabling WiFi/ Bluetooth (Yes, I'm using a Breeze controller). But I discovered something else with both S7. After a reboot/power cycle with the S7 a connection via the App was possible adhoc. Then I did a 6 min. fly without any issues. After 6 min. I did a automated 'Home landing' via the Y-Button. Because the battery level was at 45% I wanted to re-start but just at that moment the App lost the connection again and we went into this 'partial connection'. After about 4 to 5 attempts to connect the App via (established) WiFi just a new S7 power cycle allowed a successful attempt. So I do not trust this connection via S7 because I do not know what happens with the connection during flight.

If you do get in this situation you can always break the connection in the phone’s WiFi settings and the Breeze will do an auto RTH. Not the best solution, but it works.

That's exactly what I did - by the way... thanks a lot for all the work you've done to maintain this! I Also did a 'downgrade' to the first available FW both ways. As far as I remember everything changed to be to the correct version except FCV - it always stayed at v1.1.2 (if I remember it right, but I can double check an post screenshots)

You can also try loading the US version of the firmware to see if you experience any difference. While not legal to do so in Europe you will find the WiFi connection to be more robust and it will connect faster because DFS is not employed (channel hopping to avoid interference with weather radar).

Another member recently started using vmospro to run a virtual machine on his Android phone. It would allow you to roll back the Android OS to 7 like your S7 had when it worked properly (according to their claims). I only have 1 Android device and it barely works with Breeze Cam as the video lags terribly.

 

[mprantke]

Thanks for the reply! Yesterday, I had a nice 10 min. flight with the S7. I just used 'trick' to reboot the phone and it connected to the Breeze fine. After 10 min. I just tried to disconnect WiFi manually and you are right - after 10 sec. the drone initiated a save landing!

vmospro - that's a thing I could/should try! As well as the US FW... of course only for test purposes and not for flying... ;-) DFS - annoying thing! As far as I know not only prevent electromagnetic interference with other usages like weather radar but also such things as police speed radar in 5 GHz band

 

[DoomMeister]

but also such things as police speed radar in 5 GHz band

Now we know the real reason! Ifind it hard to believe there are enough drones flying to truly mess with weather radar.

 

[mprantke]

Yes, for sure - the police knows how to be always the first one in the row ;-)

By the way... I tried the US-FW and another annoying S7 issue. It can connect only on lower 5GHz channels! But an interesting side effect - after I've switched to the US-FW, FCV was 1.1.3 and flashing back to the EU-FW it stayed on 1.1.3

 

[DoomMeister]

Yes, for sure - the police knows how to be always the first one in the row ;-)

By the way... I tried the US-FW and another annoying S7 issue. It can connect only on lower 5GHz channels! But an interesting side effect - after I've switched to the US-FW, FCV was 1.1.3 and flashing back to the EU-FW it stayed on 1.1.3

Odd that the EU firmware was not updating the FC prior to installing the US firmware. The screenshots of the versions with different EU FW was done by @airborne and I had the same results when I flashed mine with EU FW. No biggy.

So when you flashed with US FW it only connected on the lower 5GHz channels? That is odd as it usually prefers the higher 5.8GHz channels.

 

[mprantke]

So when you flashed with US FW it only connected on the lower 5GHz channels? That is odd as it usually prefers the higher 5.8GHz channels.

Yes, that's the issue. The breeze prefers the higher 5.8 GHz channels and the S7 can't handle this channels. Effect: The Breeze WiFi even dosn't show up it the S7 (which seems to be a known S7 issue) whereas the Pixel4a has no problem.

 

[DoomMeister]

Yes, that's the issue. The breeze prefers the higher 5.8 GHz channels and the S7 can't handle this channels. Effect: The Breeze WiFi even dosn't show up it the S7 (which seems to be a known S7 issue) whereas the Pixel4a has no problem.

Which S7 do you have? When I looked it up on GSMArena I thought it said the Galaxy S7 supported 802.11a/b/g/ac and the ac should include the upper 5.8GHz channels.

 

[mprantke]

It's a Samsung Galaxy S7. Yes, that's what I can see from the spec too... The S7 has WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, or to put it another way 802.11ac utilizes dual band wireless technology support.

So, I tried toasked the Samsung support and the answer was more or less worthless:

In the range between channel 36 and channel 128, you need to contact the hotspot manufacturer to set the channel manually to 36. Make sure that your router is set to country location EU.

Maybe, it's an restriction of Samsung EU parts or just a incompatibility with the Breeze US-WiFi... I don't know but because both S7 in our household show the same behavior, I guess it's not worth to investigate too much. By the way - it's the first time that I discover WiFi issues with the S7 and that since 2016 in many different countries ;-)

 

[DoomMeister]

The thing with cell phones are that updates are done to them through the cellular network that are based on the area you are located so that they conform to local standards. This could be an issue with that for the S7.