Wifi problems with Ropieee + Pi 3 B

Audio Gear Talk RoPieee
1

My kitchen setup:
iMac/Roon -> ethernet to Linksys router -> Wifi connection to Pi3 B / Hifiberry DAC light / Ropieee -> active speaker in the kitchen.

This worked perfectly until a few weeks ago. During playback in Roon I have now frequently drop outs / playback stops and Roon is jumping to the next track.

  • My other (wired) setup in the living room with USBridge causes no problems so that proofs that this is not an Roon issues (?)

The Wifi signal in kitchen is strong enough so that may not be the problem.

Any ideas how to solve this problem?

I changed the router = no positive result
I changed the Pi3 B = no positive result

2

Does your router allow you to change wireless channel? Usually theyā€™re set to ā€œautomaticā€, but forcing the channel to a vacant spot often helps with interference and/or avoiding neighboring networks.

3

Thanks! I forced 2,4 GHz to channel 1 now. Wait and see what happensā€¦

4

I think you made us happy! :+1: Until now it works perfectly on channel 1

6

Beware the microwave, same frequency , also cordless phones , baby alarms

I use WiFi when I cook the microwave causes havoc , skipping tracks etc

7

Yeah, itā€™s very crowded there :frowning:

8

Is your router dual band changing to 5 gb gets out of the interference thing

9

My wifi problem is related to the Rasperry 3 / Ropiee endpoint in the kitchen. An ethernet cable would be the best but is not possible. Raspberry 3 has no 5 GHz however. Maybe have a try with a 5 Ghz dongle there in the near future.

10

I have never run my pi3 on WiFi , I didnā€™t realize it was single band

I use a Bluetooth speaker via my iPad in the kitchen usually on 5 gb

11

There is no need for 5G. So it ā€˜shouldā€™ work with 2.4G.

Remains the fact that wifi on the Pi 3 is rather poor in general, so an external dongle could solve that. Or switch to a Pi 4.

12

Iā€™m having similar problems and want to investigate the dongle idea. @spockfish, is there a list of supported units somewhere? And are they plug and play or is there a setup protocol?

I really appreciate your activity on this forum, sir, and very much appreciate your software.

13

Thereā€™s no list of units, as most units are based on a small set of chipsets. The chipsets supported are mostly those of RealTek, as these are the most common in USB WiFi dongles.

In essence itā€™s plug and play: if you configure wifi in RoPieee with a dongle inserted which is supported, RoPieee will use that for wifi and not the internal one.

Regards,

14

Thanks for the very fast feedback! Iā€™ll give it a try to see if I can improve my situation.

15

Does that work with 5 GHz too? Thereā€™s too much 2,4 GHz traffic in and around my houseā€¦

16

That depends on the dongle you use, there are enough out there that support 5G.

17

If the dongle supports 5Ghz, and Ropieee supports the dongle, then yes.

18

Thanks for all the help so far. Can anyone tell me if there is there a way to verify that a given Raspberry Pi is compatible with and using an installed dongle? Iā€™ve got my unit working but I donā€™t know if itā€™s actually using the dongle or internal WiFi. Experience tells me that it might work OK for hours, days, or even a week but that the internal WiFi will eventually crap out.

This particular dongle unit does not have a status light like some, which literally leaves me in the dark.

19

Send me feedback and Iā€™ll have a look.

20

Done. 1ae49d93e3f8e0fa

And for reference the chipset is apparently RealTek RTL8811AU

21

Hi,

Unfortunately youā€™re using the onboard wifiā€¦

A few remarks from my side:

  • in the next release (soonish) you can see if youā€™re using the internal or external interface
  • in that same release a new Realtek driver is present (youā€™re dongle uses a Realtek chipset)

My suggestion would be: leave it in, wait for the update and then try again. At that time I can assist you and we can figure out if we can get this dongle working.

Thanks