Wifi Switches in Remote Locations

[Astrofox]

Maybe a dumb question but would the wifi switches work in the middle of a desert, say like FAR or Spaceport? A rocketry team I work with has considered using them for activating flight computers in order to decrease the chances of a mechanical failure, namely concerns about screw switches (yes, I know they should be fairly reliable, but we are exploring more vibration-resistant options). We know magnetic switches also exist, and we have considered them, but we want to look at all our options before committing to a solution.
Anyway, I just wanted to know if anyone has had issues trying to arm flight computers with wifi switches in locations where cell service is limited, as I'm not sure if the switch itself directly connects to your phone (or whatever), or if it requires a cell tower nearby to work.

Thanks for the help!

 

[Jmhepworth]

The WiFi switch connects to your phone via WiFi. It does not need any internet connectivity. In fact, when your phone says it’s not connected to the internet and do you want to connect through cellular, the answer is no. So having cell coverage is not necessary for a WiFi switch to work, and it works great in the middle of a desert. Actually, it works a bit better because there is no cell network to mistakenly connect to.

 

[thzero]

You are mixing up cellular service network and standard wireless networks. Different things.

If you are referencing the Eggtimer wifi, then no it has its own wifi network that you have to connect to with your device/computer.
It doesn't require a cellular network.

 

[Astrofox]

Cool, figured I'd confirm that.

Thanks again!

 

[cerving]

To answer another commonly asked question, you can have as many of the WiFi devices as you want in one rocket, but you can only connect to one at a time. It's a WiFi limitation, not the devices'. That's why the altimeters have configurable SSID's... so you can easily tell which one is which.

 

[thzero]

To answer another commonly asked question, you can have as many of the WiFi devices as you want in one rocket, but you can only connect to one at a time. It's a WiFi limitation, not the devices'. That's why the altimeters have configurable SSID's... so you can easily tell which one is which.

Yeah, been trying to figure out with Linux a way around that. Got distracted. There was somewhere I saw someone connecting a homebrew device to a set of wifi Eggtimers but I can't recall where

 

[shockie]

Put your phone into hotspot mode, which creates your own wifi network with soft AP.

Your wifi switches would connect to your phone hotspot SSID wifi network.

 

[thzero]

Put your phone into hotspot mode, which creates your own wifi network with soft AP.

Your wifi switches would connect to your phone hotspot SSID wifi network.

Er, no, it's the other way around

 

[Voyager1]

Put your phone into hotspot mode, which creates your own wifi network with soft AP.

Your wifi switches would connect to your phone hotspot SSID wifi network.

The wifi switch is its own wifi network. You just connect the phone to it. No need for hotspoting.