With the Android Meshtastic app, after a few minutes connected to a heltec-v3, it reports the device is connected but ‘sleeping’. In reality, it’s totally disconnected, and the only way to reconnect is to go to Settings and select None (disabled) before clicking on the device again.
As soon as one does this, all the messages on the device get downloaded and service resumes for a few minutes, before it goes into this ‘sleep’ mode from where nothing but the settings hack described here would make it wake up.
Is this a known issue? Am I doing something wrong? Because as it stands, the Android app is pretty useless, as the heltec is getting messages that are not being passed on to the mobile.
The radio isn’t off, the heltec is on and receiving, but the app disconnected it from Bluetooth.
It’s the Android app misbehaving, because as I described, if I set the app settings to none then click on the heltec device listed back again in the app, it reconnects.
The switching back on via ‘none’ and selecting the node again is what I always do when bluetooth connection is lost. I would try to see what happens when the two devices (bluetooth device e.g. smartphone, and node, are extremely close together. And also check the Bluetooth th antenna of the node is free of and obstruction. If then the bluetooth keeps failing then I personally would re-flash and if that does not help, try another node board…
I suspect the issue lies with the Android app as I can restore the connection via the app without touching the heltec.
If the app, for instance, retried the connection automatically (by doing whatever it does when we select none and then the heltec again) it would keep the connection alive.
The app has control of the Bluetooth stack in the phone, it should handle the problem automatically, I reckon.
Well there are some very odd cases of gremlins with bluetooth (Reddit - Dive into anything) so swap smartphone perhaps? Clearing cache of Meshtastic app might help. Hope it resolves.
I have 2 Heltec V3’s and the same issue with both on the iOS app. If I walk far enough away from the node then Bluetooth disconnects, but it will not reconnect automatically once I am back in range. Have to manually reconnect every single time. Also tried on two different Apple devices. I’m new to the community, so wasn’t sure if this was an issue with the Heltec’s, iOS, or the Meshtastic software.
Bluetooth eventually drops on all devices, for different reason at different times, so I would expect an auto-reconnect like all other Bluetooth devices I use.
I have a WisBlock still in the package. Interested to see if it works differently.
I understand that. When the app is saying ‘connected to radio, but it’s sleeping’ (see screenshot) it’s actually disconnected entirely from Bluetooth.
Bluetooth is on on both the mobile and device, though, and the app does not reconnect on its own, ever, unless one disables and re-enables in the app’s settings page.
This to me seems to be a bug in the app. What surprises me is that it’s such a fundamental bug, experienced by others (if one goes by the reports in this thread) that entirely defeats the purpose of the app: what good is a messaging app that only works when one is actively managing it?
I can’t rely on the Android app at all as it stands. I thought I was doing something wrong, but seems that’s not the case.
If your device is showing BLE to be sleeping you turned on the deep sleep settings for ESP32 (or are using a tdeck) you have to hit the user button to turn the device back on.
@garth I am tracking what you are saying about BLE sleep mode and the need to reawaken in that situation. I believe my issue might be slightly different. If I stay next to the node, then the app stays connected b/c I am within range of the device. If I walk out of range of the device and then come back, I have to go into the app and select the node to force the reconnect of the device. If I were to do the same with a Bluetooth speaker or other device, then it would automatically reconnect once I returned within range.
Side note: I noticed the Heltec V3’s coiled bt antenna was horrible. Soldered an appropriate length (2.9cm) straight wire and 10x’d my range.
Nothing pretty, but does the job. I did the same on my other Heltec but bent the wire in two location to follow the outline of the board and it fits well into the Heltec case.
I have two android devices, a phone and a tablet. The tablet automatically reconnects BLE when back in range, the phone does not. So, problem may not be the app, but rather the BT app on the Android device.
