Connecting Bridge

Macintosh, Ventura 13.2
OmTech MF2028-60 laser

I just got my Lightburn Bridge. I can’t get it to connect to my Ruida controller.

I have removed the USB connection from the laser to my computer

With Ruida controller I have set laser to

IP Address:
10.0.3.3

Gateway:
242.57.0.0. (that was already there, I just left it)

On Raspberry Pi, the right light is solid red, the left light is off

In Lightburn 1.3.01, Bridge Discovery Wizard, I get error message:
“No LightBurn Bridge devices”

micro SD card has wifi.txt.loaded

Swapped the network cable (just in case)

Now left light is mostly off, sometimes blinks (maybe it did before and I didn’t see it when it blinked).

Still get:
“No Light Burn Bridge devices”

When I check my Netgear Gateway I see lightburnbridge connected with an IP address of 192.168.0.17

My computer IP is 192.168.0.18

Ruida Controller says “Lan OFF” in bottom right of display
I can’t find how to get the LAN on.

Thanks for any help.

–Whit

Hi Whit,

If you have a laptop with an ethernet port turn the laptop on and connect directly to the Omtech with that to see if the Ruida panel changes to Lan ON, it doesn’t matter about IP address or subnet for this test because the Lan ON simply detects a physical connection.

There might be a problem with the short network extension cable that runs between the internal Ruida controller and the external port on the Omtech chassis. Try this - turn the machine off, open the side panel where the Ruida controller is, and connect the LB bridge directly to the ethernet port at the ruida controller. Turn on the machine and recheck the connection.

By the desccription, I’d think it wasn’t seeing the bridge. Add to that the Ruida isn’t showing a hardware connection (Lan: OFF)…

I’d think there was a problem with the bridge not booting properly…

There is also an issue with the gateway… It needs to be in the same domain… Here’s mine and I’m using the Lightburn bridge on a PI 4…


I can boot the PI and I will see a connection indicated on the Ruida that the lan is on (hardware wise)… Without a local network.

This all seems to indicate the PI isn’t booting properly… Although it does show up in the network view… doesn’t mean the wifi → Ethernet is actually working.


I’d at least set the gateway properly… There seems a proven record of the Ruida not being too smart when it comes to Ethernet. The Ruida should acknowledge the Bridge is connected via hardware.

Good luck

:smile_cat:

Thank you for your suggestion.

I tried connecting a computer directly to the laser (the OmTech external port). As soon as I did that the Ruida controller said, “Lan ON.”

I then tried connecting the Bridge to the OmTech external port, it said “Lan ON.” Previously at this point the Ruida panel said “Lan OFF.”

It didn’t, however, make the Bridge work.

My gateway says lightburnbridge is using 192.168.0.17

Bridge says to configure bridge, browse to http://192.168.42.1

Neither one does anything in a web browser.

I tried manually creating a new device, Ruida, LightBurn Bridge. I tried using, one at a time, both the 192.168.0.17 and 192.168.42.1 addresses. Setting up Ruida/LightBurn Bridge in LightBurn was successful, but neither address could send a file to the Ruida.

Thank you for your for that suggestion.

On the Ruida Controller I changed the gateway to 10.0.3.1

I’m not sure why I’m using 10.0.3.1, I don’t think there is any gateway there. But it works for you so I’m giving it a try.

I then restarted the controller. I restarted the LightBurn software. Alternately using the two possible addresses (192.168.42.1 and 192.168.0.17) and using the new Bridge device created manually, I was unable to move the laser head nor to send a file.

I tried to use the LightBurn Bridge Discovery Wizard, but it was unable to find my Bridge.

–Whit

Where are you seeing that message? Based on your earlier message you indicated that you created a wifi.txt file. After successful connection Bridge will rename the file to wifi.txt.loaded.

That indicates that the Bridge is connecting to the wifi network specified.

In that case, you will not need to configure through the browser at 192.168.42.1.

If you’re now getting a light from the controller when connected to the Bridge then that’s likely the biggest hurdle.

Can you open 192.168.0.17 in a browser? That should show you a dashboard. What does it indicate? Can you take a screenshot?

I see that message when I try to use the Bridge Wizard to create a new Bridge/Device. That doesn’t work anyway.

[quote]Can you open 192.168.0.17 in a browser? That should show you a dashboard. What does it indicate? Can you take a screenshot?
[/quote]
No. When I try to open 192.168.0.17 in a browser it times out.

So, now where am I?

Mac, Ventura 13.2
LightBurn 1.3.01

I’ve had some good suggestions of things to try.

My Ruida controller now says, “Lan ON.”

I cannot connect to the Bridge using a browser, either at 192.168.42.1 where Bridge wants me to configure Bridge, nor at 192.168.0.17 where my gateway says lightburnbridge is on the local network. I’ve since changed the gateway on the Ruida Controller to 198.168.0.1 (the gateway on my network).

I was unable to configure the Bridge using the Wizard. I was able to manually create a Bridge device.

The network cable leaving the Bridge has a green light on the left and an amber light on the right.

Using my computer, I am unable to find the Bridge listed as a Wifi network. I’m not sure I should be able to find it there.

The boot volume micro SD card has a wifi.txt.loaded file.

I’m at a loss for what to poke next.

Are you connecting to the Bridge Wi-Fi before attempting to go to 192.168.42.1? If not, you will need to do so.

The bridge uses the values for the Ruida IP that I showed… machines gateway is on the 10.0.3.1 and the machine itself is on 10.0.3.3

Set both of these on the machine and then leave them alone. The PI will find this separate local network … The 10.0.3.x is a subnet for the Ruida…

The PI translates from your local network to the Ruida, so you can’t see the Ruida directly.


Boot the PI, it should get an ip address from your router, you won’t have to change this, but it’s smart to bind the PI’s IP with it’s Mac address so it will not change in the future.

You should be able to see the PI on your network, however you look…

These are pretty much plug and play, you shouldn’t have to modify anything…

Don’t over complicate this… :crazy_face:

:smile_cat:

I’m not sure what you mean, “Are you connecting to the Bridge Wi-Fi before attempting to go to 192.168.42.1?”

Connecting in what way? I have the Bridge on. Could you tell me more.

Thanks.

–Whit

If there’s any hope of connecting to the 192.168.42.1 you will need to change the wifi network to which you’re connected. So go to your wifi network settings and connect to the wifi network that the Bridge is broadcasting. It should be named something like “LightBurn Bridge” with possibly some letters/numbers appended to the end.

This assumes that the Bridge is in the network setup mode, however. But based on other things you’ve said it should already be configured to the network. So something is off.

If that doesn’t work you may want to reflash the SD card and start from the beginning.

Thank you to those who offered suggestions and got me poking in the right place. I’ve gotten it to work.

The last thing I did before it started working was to remove the hyphen in the name of my local wifi network.

Thanks again. It’s very heartening when you’re stuck to feel there are people helping.

–Whit

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