Unable to bind Printer Consistently

[Mike_Bronner]

Since getting the P1S last week I have been unable to reliably bind the P1S to my account. Here are the steps I follow:

1. Reset wifi settings on printer.
2. Delete the device from the mobile app.
3. Use the QR code with the mobile app to start the bind process.
4. The bluetooth configuration already exists from previous attempts, and moves to step 2.
5. I select the wifi network and enter the password.
6. The printer gets an IP address assigned.
7. At this point the app is stuck with a “Connecting” spinner and eventually times out after 5 minutes or so.

• I have also tried binding using BambuStudio on the Mac, binding via access code and IP address, but that never works either.
• I have set up a dedicated WiFi network for the printer that uses the same VLan as my main wifi. Here are those settings:

• I’m using a dedicated WiFi network because all my other ones have special characters/spaces in the name and passwords. Other posts indicated that those could pose potential issues with the Bambu printers.
• I am sometimes able to get a brief connection if I completely factory reset the P1S, but it doesn’t maintain, and after a few attempts at printing (which often fail due to unstable wifi connection) eventually BambuStudio is unable to connect to the P1S anymore.
• This is my only printer.
• The AP is in the same room, with clear line of sight.
• I am using all Unifi hardware for network. I have heard that there seem to be compatibility issues between Bambu printers and Unifi networks, but nowhere specifically has been able to identify what is wrong.
• I have tried shifting the WiFi to channel 6 with 40MHz channel width, which doesn’t seem to help.

I have not yet contacted Bambu support, figuring the community will be much more supportive and effective at providing a troubleshooting direction, if not a solution. But I’m open to creating a support ticket, if that is recommended.

Thanks for any suggestions as to what I might try to further troubleshoot the issue.

Update 1
I decided to remove the bluetooth connection from my phone, completely quite the Bambu mobile app, erase the network settings on the P1S and power-cycle it, then start the process over anew. Now I get this warning when trying to bind the printer after entering the wifi name and password:

Update 2
Since I am always able to get an IP address, I decided to ping it and see what happens. Turns out the P1S has huge packet loss!

42 packets transmitted, 39 packets received, 7.1% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 18.559/2773.039/13467.131/4044.947 ms

Any recommendations on where to go from here?

Update 3
I tried connecting the printer to my normal IoT WiFi network that has all the other IoT stuff on it, and would you know it, the printer connected, despite the password having a special character in it.

That tells me that something with the other dedicated WiFi network I had set up was not working right, so I deleted it and will use the IoT network and see how that goes.

How frustrating.

[Wsquared58]

If by special characters you are using some sort of password protection application, sometimes referred to as a Wallet, that is not a problem.
My P1S password is some long string of letters, numbers, special characters and it works fine.

[Mike_Bronner]

@Wsquared58

If by special characters you are using some sort of password protection application, sometimes referred to as a Wallet, that is not a problem.

I was meaning things like $#@, etc. in the password. Good to hear that it’s not an issue. I’ve been eyeing the wifi antenna mods thinking that possibly the signal was poor, I was getting so desperate. I’m printing again today, so I’ll keep an eye on it over the next few days.

Thanks for your feedback!

[user_3026326371]

Since I got my P1S I have issues with the access code.
Meaning every time it changes Studio keeps loosing the code for up to 2 weeks at random, even with the app is running and playing the video from the print.

Couldn’t fix that problem but might have some answers for your connection issues:

1. What Bambu uses for the WiFi related hardware isn’t even worth 5 bucks.
   Low cost, low quality WiFi module paired with an even cheaper antenna sitting inside a housing where the other boards produce a ton of interference.

2. Bambu totally went overboard with what they call security.
   The access code problem is one issue here, how picky the hardware and firmware is with WiFi connections another.
   Three overlaying security protocol to make the secure connection happen - what a nightmare…

3. For me the worst bit…
   Severe struggles with sub-, guest- and standalone networks.
   For example setting up a LAN only WiFI net with just the printer, computer used and the mobile phone is almost certain to give you one headache after the other - without a working internet Studio and the printer are pain to use.
   You can have a perfectly working guest network setup to keep family and hobby WiFi separated but that won’t mean the Studio and printer will communicate on that network - not without both also being able to use all required ports to directly reach the WWW and Bambu.
   A speed limited guest network can be as bad as one secured by an additional firewall.

Don’t get me wrong here - I am all for security.
But if all aspects of said security stay in the hands of a company I can barely reach …
And that without being able to prevent it from calling home, sending god knows what of my data and then keeps failing to connect to the printer sitting just 3m from the modem in the same room ROFL
My old printer, my laser cutter and my engraver still work fine and without any connection or transfer issues - sitting in the garage.
The average transfer speed to a Bambu printer is about on par with a floppy disk…