Tutorials

In this video we are going to talk about the MECHA's splitting lights.
Let's power on our MECHA Dual Axis Combo first.
It consists of 2 MECHA E1 Rotators and 2 C1 Controllers which are wirelessly linked together.

It is recommended that you power on the lower unit first.
Press and hold the power button for about 3 seconds, or until its LED turns green.
Then notice the blinking pattern of the LEDs that normally indicate the battery level.
It looks like a light that splits and suggests that you can do certain things while the light blinks.

If you need to pair two MECHAs, long press 1 (until multiple beeps are heard) to start the pairing process.

This is a simple method of pairing two MECHAs.
If you only need to set MECHA in AP mode (or Access Point), press 1.
When we say "press a button", we mean a normal, short press.
By long pressing the same button, the result can be totally different.
So please pay attention to the way you press the buttons.

Power on the upper MECHA in exactly the same way, by pressing and holding the power button for about 3 seconds.
To complete the pairing process, long press 2 at splitting lights (until multiple beeps are heard).
By pressing 2 in a normal way, the upper unit will only be set in STA (or Station) mode.

The power/status LED indicator tells us if the pairing has been completed successfully.
On the lower MECHA, the middle LED should be green, and on the upper MECHA, the LEDs 2 and 4 should be green.
Otherwise, press the power button to check.
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.
Pairing information is stored on both MECHAs and remembered after powering them off and on again.
In the pairing process, the SSIDs MECHA-H-DAC and MECHA-V-DAC are created automatically, and also the password 12345678 for both.
MECHA-H stands for horizontal MECHA, and MECHA-V, vertical MECHA.

The SSID name and password can be changed on the /config page.

In the case of lower MECHA, if the SSID name starts with MECHA-H,
when its name and password are changed,
the SSID name of the upper MECHA and its password are changed as well if both MECHAs are ON and paired.
For example, if you change MECHA-H-DAC to MECHA-H-ABC, and 12345678 to 12341234, the MECHA-V-DAC will be automatically changed to MECHA-V-ABC, and the password, to 12341234.
As a result, without using any method of pairing, a MECHA-V-ABC in STA mode will always try to pair with a MECHA-H-ABC in AP or AP+STA mode if its SSID is ON and both have the same password and only the H/V difference in the SSID name.

Paired units work together as a team and can be used in dual axis applications.
If necessary, use the arrow buttons of MECHA-V to position the upper rail in the parked position, then enter the code 1312 to check how the combo works.
After entering the code, specify the direction of rotation by pressing one of the arrow buttons.
Starting from the parked position, it should execute a 3-row panorama, 12 shots per row, plus zenith and nadir shots.

Here is how the stitched panorama should look like in the panorama editor.

Since the units are paired, when updating the firmware of the lower unit, the firmware of the upper unit will be updated as well.
For example, to update the firmware of your MECHA DAC using a hot-spot, set up a hot-spot with the name MECHA-UPDATE and password 87654321, in 2.4 GHz band, on your 3G, 4G, or 5G smartphone. It should be a smartphone with mobile data enabled and Internet available to it.
A router can also be used for this purpose.
Then enter the code 312123 on the lower unit, and press the left arrow button, which is similar to the Enter key.
The update can take up to 5 minutes. Then deactivate the hot-spot

In summary, at splitting lights:
By pressing 1, MECHA will be set in AP mode.
By pressing 2, MECHA will be set in STA mode.
By pressing 3, MECHA will be set in AP+STA mode.
By long pressing 1 on lower MECHA, a pairing process is started.
By long pressing 2 on upper MECHA, the pairing process is continued and completed.
By long pressing 3, some settings are reset to their default values.
This is what we call a Wi-Fi Reset.
AP Mode SSID will default to MECHA-ID,
SSID password: 12345678,
Password for the Configuration page: Mecha,
Hot-Spot password for firmware update: 87654321,
UI Password: none,
Trusted IP: none,
Wi-Fi Power: 100,
Default Mode: AP,
STA Mode: no settings (auto).

The Wi-FI Reset is useful if you have forgotten the set passwords and cannot access, for example, the /config page or the User Interface.
During the reset process, if a hot-spot with the name M-XXXXXX and password 12345678 is found, the firmware will be updated using that hot-spot. Here, the XXXXXX is the MECHA ID.
If MECHA fails to boot, please activate the hot-spot.
MECHA Dual Axis Combo users need to pair the two MECHAs again, as pairing is lost after Wi-Fi Reset.

Here is an example of creating a hot-spot for updating the MECHA's firmware using a router.
Create a guest network with the name MECHA-UPDATE and password 87654321, then click the Save button.