I bought the Sprit Pro, and the Geolink. I'm hoping it'll help me to learn to fly once and for all (I've had a few helis over the years... lol)

but I forgot to pick up either the bluetooth or wifi units.

are there any downsides to having a 2.4GHz wireless access point sat next to my 2.4GHz control radio/receiver (frSky x4rsb?) v.s. lower power bluetooth?

any other reasons to pick one over the other?

The manual just says bluetooth can only be used with the android app, but I guess the Bluetooth module just presents a COM port, so it should work exactly the same on the Windows app too ?

I see the WiFi is an ESP32. What a perfect application!

Anyway the only other thought I have, is that it might be easier/nicer to connect to/from a bluetooth device vs having to switch WiFi networks.. maybe?

Any other thoughts? Also, could I not just use one of the bluetooth to serial modules I have lying around (HC-05 Bluetooth To Serial I think it's called.)

Hi,

a good question...

Before WiFi was available, I bought the BT-Modules, then I replaced them with WiFi-Modules.

Now, with the GeoLink, I ask myself how to connect the internet using the WiFi-Module for the Spirit at the same time.
The Spirit-SW wants to download map-data for the GeoLink but cannot, because it is connected to the the Spirit via Wifi, which of course does not provide internet. With a Notebook I could use a second WiFi interface to connect the internet via my smartphone. But what about other mobile-devices such as Android? I am not sure if it can be managed that when connected to the Spirit-WiFi, it still uses LTE to access the internet for geo-maps? There should be some routing for the WiFi (192.168.4.1), while default traffic is routed via the LTE interface.

Best regards,
Alexander

An option would be to configure the Mobile Hotspot on your Android device, and make the WiFi module connect to that as an AP Client. But then when you are at home / workshop, you would have to connect your laptop to the same Android mobile hotspot if you want to do laptop <-> spirit wifi.

Lots of options here.. I'm sort of thinking Bluetooth might be simplest though.

Hi,

I have the same question as Mr.Alexander. How to use the Geolink map feature while connecting via WiFi module. Wifi module seems extremely reliable but with Geolink, this is a drawback. Hope Mr.Thomas has an answer to this.

Mr.Alexander, please advice me more details about this: With a Notebook I could use a second WiFi interface to connect the internet via my smartphone.

Is that mean you can connect to the Spirit FBL + GeoLink and internet via WiFi at the same time and use the map feature?

Regards,

Amal

Hi,

well, I experienced the following with Win7. When two WiFi interfaces are connected to different networks (SSIDs), both interfaces get the same metric (25) for the gateways of each network. So I opened a DOS-box as administrator to configure the routing.
Entering the command
route print
shows default-routes for each network. Just remind the gateway for 0.0.0.0 that is not 192.168.4.1 (for example 192.168.178.1)
Because you can not just delete one of the default routes, delete both of them by the command
route delete 0.0.0.0
and enter a new default-gateway by
route add 0.0.0.0 mask 0.0.0.0 192.168.178.1 (Gateway for above example).
route print now only shows one default-route, which is for internet. The 192.168.4.0 network for the Spirit is directly connected to the other interface. This network does not need any gateway.

Of course this is just until you reboot your PC...

Maybe in future the AP-Mode of the WiFi-module just offers an IP-Address without any Default-Gateway. This could be the solution for mobile devices as Android?!?

Best regards,
Alexander

I was just coming back to say.. if an extra wifi interface (cheap USB adapter) is used, and the Spirit WiFi AP doesn't offer a gateway IP address, then that would work just fine. From what you say though, it does offer the gateway so you have to either remove the route or not use DHCP.

Hello,

instead of connecting at the Wifi-Link you can set it to connect to your home network instead. Then you will have everything available including internet access.

We recommend to not run BT module or Wifi-Link while flying.
But for Wifi-Link you can enable Auto-Turn Off feature which allows to fly safely, since the module can be turned off (even that it is under power).

_________________
Spirit System developer

Hi. How about Windows PC? Will the desktop Spirit Settings app work if Bluetooth is connected ?

I can't wait to try this thing out! I have the heli 1/3rd built

No, the Bluetooth is not designed to work with the Spirit Settings.
But Wifi-Link is fully designed for this and other applications as well.

_________________
Spirit System developer

Mr.Thomas,

When connect the FBL to home WiFi system we can access Spirit Setting via web based application with internet connection. Then the Geolink setting looks like below:


There is no setup other than enable/disable the Geolink. Is there any other way to have Native PC app and Internet at the same time? Please enlighten me.

Mr. Alexander,

Thanks for the detail explanation. Regret to say that I am too low-tech to understand it all. However, when you mention " connecting to a second interface" , something came into my mind. The NB can connect iPhone via USB and use Personal hotspot for Internet. The Spirit can connect to NB via WiFi and use the native PC app and use Geolink map feature. It works. I am sure most of you must have already known this. This will solve my biggest problem when working in the field away from home wifi range.

Regards,

Amal