There are a number of things that can be checked when troubleshooting a wireless connection to a ShapeArray (SAA) with SAARecorder:
- Are the antennas at the base station and the ShapeArray location able to "see" one another? A large truck or trees for example could be blocking the line-of-sight path between the antennas, resulting in a loss of wireless signal.
- Are the indicator LEDs on the radios being used active and flashing with the appropriate colors? When SAARecorder starts up and tries to find or connect to ShapeArrays through a wireless serial connection, there should be wireless data being transmitted both to and from the SAA.
- The red LED on the SAA232 or SAA232-5 channel that is connected to the ShapeArray should flash red and stay on for at least a few seconds whenever the PC attempts to communicate with the SAA. If it does not turn on at all, then that would likely indicate that the wireless transmission from the PC to the SAA location is not working for some reason.
- Ensure that the radios are both set for 38400 bps, no parity, and 1 stop bit.
- If possible, test the wireless link without any ShapeArray-related equipment, using for example a PC with a serial port link to a radio, and running terminal software for sending or receiving ASCII text data.
- If possible, test the ShapeArray-related equipment using a direct cable connection (ex: SAA232-USB connected to SAA232(-5)) to the PC, to make sure that nothing is wrong with the ShapeArray hardware or software configuration.
- After starting SAARecorder, and pressing the 'Connect SAA' button, make sure that the 'Wireless' checkbox is checked. The default 'Delay' time is 500 ms and should work well for most wireless links. If there are problems with reliability at 500 ms, a longer time such as 1000 ms could be used.
- If batteries are being used for the radios and / or ShapeArray, ensure that they are fully charged.