I give up! I've watched the video above multiple times as well as numerous other videos on YouTube to try to get my
tello and wifi extender setup. All the instructional videos stop just short of all details needed. Perhaps someone can answer a few questions here:
1. The light on the extender is solid blue. However, it still appears to be trying to add a device and keeps saying "bring the phone closer to device and retry". Which device is it referring to? The extender or the
Tello? I've moved all 3 devices to right next to each other. They are literally on top of each other and I still get the same message with a solid blue light? Doesn't the solid blue light indicate that it is connected?
2. When I look for WiFi connections on the phone I now see my TelloDrone (the wife of the drone itself) and now also another wifi connection called TelloDron-plus. What is that? Is that the extender wifi?
3. As all of this is pretty much as clear as mud, how do I know that the extender,
Tello and phone are all connected and in sync?
4. Is the phone supposed to connect to the extender wifi?
Where are step by step instructions on who to accomplish available?? This is maddening!
It is maddening. I FEEL YOUR PAIN. Been there, done that. It was one of the most frustrating things I've ever gone thru when I did mine. I will attach my notes, which got me thru it. It includes notes from me and from others I copied who had tips that were useful.
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Was not able to attach document, so here is the content?
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1.) Use a Ryze
Tello that you've got working in the official
Tello app without the Repeater to ensure standard functionality. Make note of your max height and distance.
2.) Connect a controller if you have one which I highly recommend.
3.) Rename your
Tello WiFi network to something without a dash or any special characters in the Official
Tello App. I simply used "
Tello" to make life easy. To change WiFi name and set password go to the
Tello App/Settings(Gear Icon in App)/WiFi. Press enter on keyboard after each entry to confirm entry. After second "enter" command you should get prompted with a popup.
4.) Set a password for your renamed
Tello WiFi network for best compatibility with Mi Home App, it doesn’t love unsecure networks. I used eight zero's to ensure I hit the character limit. "00000000"
5.) Use a
Xiaomi WIFI Repeater 2 Amplifier. I purchased this "version" although most are the same from what I can tell.
6.) Install the "
Mi Home" app from your App Store, I'm on Android. Not sure about iOS.
7.) Sign up for Mi Home account in app and login. Unfortunately it’s required to use the App. I use a throwaway/spam email account for any questionable apps like this one. The less you put your real phone number and/or real email out there the less spam email/calls you have to deal with!
8.) Change Region to Mainland China or Other in Profile/Settings/Region in the MiHome app.
9.) Plug Repeater into USB power source. I use a battery pack that sticks out of my pocket with the Repeater facing up. This way if wind takes the drone I can follow it around any obstructions to keep control with the Repeater on me. You can also use a USB OTG to your phone to power the repeater if you don’t like the idea of a battery pack, but that’s also bulky.
10.) Get your Repeater connected to your phone once in the MiHome app. Found it easiest to connect to the Repeaters default WiFi network then use device discovery in the MiHome app.
a) Alternatively you can select the Xiaomi WIFI Repeater 2 Amplifier from the device list in the App add device section.(this is why you change the Region)
11.) During setup process for Repeater you will turn your
Tello drone on then connect Repeater to your
Tello WiFI network. Once it is connected the
Tello LED will start to blink more rapidly and the Repeater LED goes solid Blue from Yellow.
12.) Connect your phone/tablet to the WiFIName_Plus WiFi network. In my case it is “Tello_plus”.
13.) Open the
Tello app. If your drone FPV is showing on your screen you have successfully setup your Repeater!
13.) Enjoy vastly improved range and practically perfect FPV camera feed!
From other posts:
Measured 550+ feet range today flying away from myself and 100ft directly above myself. The antennas seem to work best when the camera/front is pointed directly at you. I got about 250ft range with the drone camera oriented “normally”. I use
this version of the
GameSir which works perfectly. I do have to go into the
Tello app/Settings/Bluetooth Controller Settings and add an additional available controller each time which is
GameSir-T1GCM. Experience may vary with different variations of the
GameSir T1.
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I have just connected mine and I also got the 'Put the phone closer' and then it timed out. I followed the prompt to retry but it failed again twice. So I went back out of that section to the 'Add Device' then 'Connect to another router' and this time it just worked and I got the blue light and then I logged onto to the
Tello wifi - mine also showed up as Tello_plus as in Anarche's instructions. Then l launched the app and got the video feed.
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Hello,
When we are on the screen of the xioami app with the circle to fill from 0 to 100%, it always gives an error in the end because it can not connect to the Internet (which is normal because the repeater will never be able to connect to the Internet through connection to
Tello). We just have to exit the app when the repeater LED turns blue. The repeater will be memorized to
Tello regardless of the web connection error.
It has always been that way with me. The important thing is the Led go blue and ignore the error of Internet access, leaving the App!
Then just try the
Tello using the repeater.
I hope this helps someone, with me it works like this.
Note: Mainland China
Note2:before try this, reset the repeater with a clip.
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Hi there Her Lag. Well, after the stress, numerous fits, rage, anger, and total frustrated feeling I decided to give it another go. So charged everything up and watched the videos on u tube. Went through each step as before, changed my
Tello name and WiFi password, then followed the instructions. The first attempt the light turned blue, which I couldn't understand because it was saying that the third connection had failed. I turned everything off and then reconnected however this time it had my drone name with plus next to it. I connected to this, launched the
Tello app and within afew seconds the adaptor light turned blue again and I had connection on screen. So finally I'm up and running. Thanks for you tips. Hopefully now the weather will improve and will be able to utilize the range extender. Cheers.
Welsh
Tello.
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I have not watched the Youtube version but I think the instructions in this thread are all you need. Thanks to him for taking the time to share.
What I do not know is what I have to do each time I want to use the repeater. Do I have to go through the whole thing every time ?
Edit: To answer my own question once you have set it up, using it really is a piece of cake. Power on the extender (orange light), turn on
Tello, on phone connect wifi to the extender. The original
Tello wifi signal was there on mine but my phone automatically connected to Tello_plus without needing the password. In actual fact it tried once and failed and reacquired my home router so I just clicked Tello_plus again and it worked (blue light).
If Anarche is still reading this thread my I suggest you edit your post to add the bit about how you use the extender once you have set it up .....
To those guys who cannot get the extender to play ball have you tried changing region away from China and then back again ? I did that more by accident but ral67 said he had to do it in his post above. The other thing I always do when having problems with Android apps is to press the right hand soft button (the square one) at the bottom, the one that brings up all the open Android apps and then drag the Mi home app off the screen and probably best to drag everything off especially the
Tello app if it is there.