Possible bug in Explorer

If you need to establish a wireless connection to run your EV3 Basic programs then brick mode (using Explorer) is recommended rather than PC mode (running programs directly from Small Basic. Furthermore, Bluetooth (rather than WiFi) is the recommended wireless mode unless you need the extended range that WiFi can offer. Bluetooth is:

• built in to the EV3 brick whereas WiFi requires a specific WiFi dongle to be purchased and attached to the side of the brick

• easier to set up

• much easier to use (since connection is established automatically after the first connection, whereas the WiFi connection has to lade manually after each power-up of the brick

• more reliable...

WiFi is considered less reliable than Bluetooth when using EV3 Basic with EV3 Explorer and WiFi because problems can occur if the WiFi connection between Explorer and the brick is closed or interrupted, such as when the brick powers down after 30 minutes of inactivity. If you restart the brick and attempt to use Explorer without also restarting Explorer then you may experience erratic behaviour from the brick e.g. the motors may not behave as expected. This erratic behaviour will be noticeable also when you send programs to the brick from the standard Lego EV3 software, or even when you run programs from the brick's menu system. There is a danger that the brick's operating system can be corrupted in some way when you next try to send a program to the brick from Explorer. In this case you would need to reinstall the firmware on the brick - a process that takes just a couple of minutes if you have the firmware file available on your PC - see later.

To avoid this problem you should therefore try to ensure that the brick is not switched off (by you or by itself) while connected to Explorer by WiFi. You can reduce the risk of auto-shutdown by increasing the shutdown delay from 30 minutes to 60 minutes or 'never' in the settings tab of the EV3 brick display.

If the brick DOES shut down while connected to Explorer by WiFi then I suggest that you immediately close Explorer - do not attempt to use Explorer without restarting it even if the brick and its WiFi have been restarted.

If you do experience erratic behaviour on the EV3 after using EV3 Explorer over a WiFi connection then I suggest that you first try restarting the brick and EV3 Explorer. If this does not solve the problem then you may want to try turning of the brick and waiting for a few hours before turning it back on. Very strangely, my brick often seems to fix itself if I do that! If all else fails, you may have to reinstall the firmware in the brick. I know that sounds drastic but it only takes a couple of minutes if you have the firmware file on your PC (choose Tools>Firmware Update in the standard Lego EV3 software). If you need to download the firmware for the Home version of the EV3 you can do that HERE. If you have the Education version then the latest version of the brick firmware should have been included in the latest version (1.1.1) of the PC software. If you reinstall the firmware then all your personal files on the brick will be lost, but normally the original program files should still be available on your PC.

The EV3 Basic user base is as yet limited and I have had no feedback from anyone else about this problem, if indeed the problem is genuine (it's conceivable that it is affecting only me because of some fault in my particular system). Please, if you have experienced this problem then let me know at nward2008 - at - gmail.com and I will share your experiences with the developer.