Tutorials

Today in this video we're going to talk about the five LEDs of the C1 Controller located under the battery symbol.
Unlike the MECHA C2 Controller, which has an OLED display, the single axis C1 Controller has LED indicators only.
A common feature of the two controllers is the Wi-Fi remote control from devices such as smartphones, tablets, and PCs by using the MECHA's web interface.
However, MECHA can be also used without accessing the User Interface.
In the case of MECHA C1, an important step in this process is understanding the messages displayed by means of these five LEDs.

Let's first look at the table of equivalences.
These are the characters that MECHA C1 can display: !, dot or minus sign, :, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, A, B, C, D, E, and F.
And let's see now some examples.

Example 1.
When pressing the power button, the LEDs show the battery level. If all the five LEDs light up, it means that the battery is fully charged.
Immediately after that, the LEDs display the digit zero three times then turn off.
What is that supposed to mean?
There are some codes that start with zero and are called power codes.
A preset name can be preceded by a power code, and this feature allows us to launch the preset by using that power code.
For example, if the preset name is "C1 6 shots", we can add the power code "01" to the beginning of the preset name: "01 C1 6 shots".
To launch such a preset, press power and wait until the LEDs display the digit zero, then press 1, then conclude by specifying the direction of rotation by pressing either the right or the left button.
Here's how to create a power code.
The first digit must be zero.
The next sequence of maximum six digits must be a combination of the digits 1, 2, or 3, so that two identical digits are not in consecutive positions.

Example 2.
To find out the last part of the IP address, enter the code 321< by pressing the 3, 2 and 1 buttons of the controller, one by one. Normally, you can now press the left arrow button, which tells MECHA to continue, that is, to display the last part of the IP address.
But if you are not sure that you have entered the correct code, do not press the left arrow button yet, but check the entered sequence first.
MECHA continues to display the code until you press the left arrow button.
If the code is wrong, press the power button to cancel, and then enter the code again. If the code is correct, press the left arrow button.
The last part of the IP address is a dot followed by three digits. For example: ".100".

Example 3.
To get the full IP address, enter the code 323, then press the left arrow button.
An example of a full IP address: "192.168.1.100".

Example 4.
The code 3212< allows you to find out the firmware version installed on your MECHA. In our case, this is 02424.

Example 5.
The firmware can be updated with the code 312123< (you need to create a hot-spot beforehand). If, for some reason, the update cannot be done, then the LEDs will display the exclamation mark three times: !!! .

Example 6.
MECHA is able to compute a shooting pattern based on only few presses of a button, without using the User Interface.
At some point in this process, the LEDs display "1, 2, 3", repeatedly, for 15 seconds, suggesting that you need to press one of the corresponding buttons on the controller to assign the computed preset to that particular button.
Instead, if MECHA is unable to compute the pattern, the LEDs will display the exclamation mark three times this time as well.

Example 7.
When MECHA is in pause mode, the LEDs 1 and 3 are on and then off simultaneously.

Example 8.
MECHA Dual Axis Combo consists of 2 MECHA Rotators and 2 C1 Controllers, which are wirelessly linked together. To check if the two units are paired, press the power button of the lower MECHA, then wait for a few moments. On the lower MECHA, the middle LED should be green, and on the upper MECHA, the LEDs 2 and 4 should be green. If the fifth led is red on the upper MECHA, this indicates that the firmware version installed on the two MECHAs is not the same.

Example 9.
If a Single Axis MECHA is running a Dual Axis preset, when rotation is needed along the second axis, MECHA will pause and the LEDs show the angle of rotation along the second axis.
The value is rounded to the nearest integer and is displayed as follows. For example, for a tilt of 45° - ":45", or ":-45" if the value is negative.

Example 10.
There is a code to deactivate the five LEDs under the battery symbol so that they do not light up or blink.
The code is 232<. The LED of the power button will also be deactivated.
Deactivating the LEDs can be useful in night photography.
Note that the LEDs light up anyway if the buttons are pressed to enter codes, for example.

Example 11.
The IR Remote can be tested using the code 3231<.
After the code is entered, MECHA will not execute the commands received from the IR Commander’s buttons. Instead, it will only beep and the LEDs show the code of the button pressed.
For example, when pressing the center button of the remote control, MECHA should display the code A25. To end the test, press the power button, which flashes during the test.

Example 12.
Let's see one more example.
The LEDs can display a text using a command specific to the Raw Interface.
With the following command, the LEDs display the text "ACE" followed by the exclamation mark. Lowercase letters are also accepted.
http://192.168.2.1/i?text=ace!