MECHA - Bug Report

[DorinDXN]

These are some users of MECHA
which helped to have better MECHA for everyone,
by reporting the bugs that get confirmed and later got fixed
I'm very grateful for the help given, feel free to remind other users if I forgot to add them here.

Hall of Fame - Bug Hunters

nick fan
msimons
Venti

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For published version and changes please refer here
https://www.nodalninja.com/forum/for...on-and-changes

Next FW version will be C1E_02124,
none

Currently I'm fixing these so far.. (will be fixed in next FW)

[msimons]

B_E_01330: Selecting "MF" instead of any other AF-setting doesn't fire the shutter.

[DorinDXN]

Must be that particular situation, I was informed of but I don't have such camera.
Some cameras requires both AF and shutter pins to be triggered in order for shutter to be activated.
I had no choice but to let user to set AF on a particular value even custom one to achieve that.

My Canon cameras triggers the shutter with camera in Manual mode with MF.

Please provide the model of camera, to investigate more about.

thanks for report,
Dorin

[msimons]

It's Sony Alpha 6000 with manual lens Samyang 7,5 (on your conversion kit). I also have Canon 5DMk3 which works both in AF and MF. Interesting that both cameras can be operated with the same cables you privided when using external wireless transmitter.

Next bug or maybe 'suggestion': When Mecha is turned off and i plug in USB cable for charging Mecha battery indicator stays on after unplugging charging cable. Also Mecha stays on (Until battery is empty?). Would like that it turns off when was off at begin of charging.

[DorinDXN]

Thank you for info.

About power, there is an option in Ring/ Row page under Reboot, if that is "Always ON " Mecha can stay ON until battery level drops under safety level.
But if setting is "OFF after 1 min." or so, the time how long it stays ON after charging is finished could depend on the charging device.
If charger stops providing current, Mecha should go OFF after 1 minute.
As long as Mecha receive power it will be ON. Some"smart" chargers stops providing power if charging is complete, in that case Mecha will turn OFF according with the power setting.

Of course, if you unplug the charging cable, the time for Mecha to go OFF depends solely by that power saving setting at bottom of the Ring / Row pages

If you change that option and what to be so as default you need to click on [Save] in Ring / Row pages.

Further more, the power saving setting can be specific for each preset, so you can have different power setting for preset [1] from preset [2].
When saving a preset with [Save 1] .. [Save 3] the power saving setting will be saved as well.

cheers,
Dorin

[nick fan]

Selecting "MF" instead of any other AF-setting doesn't fire the shutter.

I don't think this is a bug. Only Minolta and Sony require focus button and shutter button to be pressed at the same time to trigger a release. This can be regarded as a bug for Sony/ Minolta.
It may be fine to turn on the trigger for Focus and Shutter at the same time for MF setting. But this may need some millisecond delay to make sure both are triggered.
Using MF as is allows instant shutter release for other cameras. NOT sure which is best way to go. Probably a short note in guide will solve the issue for Sony users.

Next bug or maybe 'suggestion': When Mecha is turned off and i plug in USB cable for charging Mecha battery indicator stays on after unplugging charging cable. Also Mecha stays on (Until battery is empty?). Would like that it turns off when was off at begin of charging.

The controller is always on when power is supplied. This allows the Battery indicator to work. There is a light for the power button. This indicate the status of the internal power switch from battery. Press the button 3s to turn the light off. This cut the power drain from battery and the supply to motor. It will allow full speed charging. When power is unplugged, MECHA is off automatically.

[DorinDXN]

Will be a shutter test button in future firmware with confirmation from user, and so Mecha will learn if needs to trigger focus as well, this will be dealt automatically if shutter confirmation cable will be attached.

cheers,
Dorin

[msimons]

Edit: After upgrading to 01334 i couldn't start the page ip/ring or ip/row anymore because all links lead to the ip/_new.htm. But after closing the browser and deleting all caches everything went fine. False alarm :-)

[DorinDXN]

An old Ring or Row will re-direct to _/new, then from /_new clicking on [Row] or [Ring] should settle it.
I'll look into to see if some "cycling" situation could appear.

cheers,
Dorin

[msimons]

Not a bug. Feature request: I'd like to have a button / link in the main screen for the _new.htm and an additional help-page with some helpful tips like you wrote at 1336-firmware summary. I made a sticker for the mecha but am not sure what one really needs in the field if something is going wrong ...

[DorinDXN]

It will be a way to reach the "Help" page along with some "Cheat sheet" (not made yet) and user's notes, of course many controlling devices / phones have some storage available and there are possibilities to have some documentation easily accessible, at a browser tab away. On my phone I used to have on one tab the control of live transmissions of panos, on other tab the actual last pano transmitted, looked nice on phone holder on pole, and on other tab some desktop remote of the laptop in my backpack, just in case, but not needed, as my software was talking in my earpiece and I knew if there was any problem without looking, mostly related with 3G in crowded place due to cell network overload.
So comparing with those having a tab with a some quick notes is easily achievable. but again, will be some buttons for this purpose.

cheers,
Dorin

[Techieval]

Will be a shutter test button in future firmware with confirmation from user, and so Mecha will learn if needs to trigger focus as well, this will be dealt automatically if shutter confirmation cable will be attached.

cheers,
Dorin

Is there a way to nuke the settings and return to factory? We have had multiple users on the interface and may have caused some unwanted changes but I am not sure what the default settings should be? My coworker took it out of the box and it worked fine. Then after accessing interface the camera stopped taking pictures. Sometimes I hear the camera make noise as if it wants to take a picture and randomly it took a picture twice after several minutes of pushing the "shoot" button" or "Right" button. Big delay. I have a a Nikon D5300 and I am able to take a picture in manual mode manually with no issue.

I have attached two pictures of the current settings it has. The last box is "Medium Load" I have also attempted control by use of the ring. Camera still does not shoot.

[DorinDXN]

Please try to connect Mecha to a Wi-Fi with internet access, using [Connect to Wi-Fi] button from either pages. For any units you have, then click on [Reboot] and wait, and don't press any buttons.

A firmware update will be done, after that, things will be better, and if is not fixed, we will try the next steps, hope isn't a faulty unit..

cheers,
Dorin

[Techieval]

I actually did try several times to connect to our network the seconds just kept rolling on the top right ... 280s waiting ... I dont think it actually ever connected so I couldn't try reboot button. What should the battery life look like on this? It just died on me

[nick fan]

Please charge the battery using the Micro USB cable supplied or use any one supporting large current flow.
Operation with load should last 4.5 hours continuously make a 6 shots around pano.

The time next to MF is the shutter trigger time, it should NOT be 0. Use 0.5s or above. It depends on your exposure.