Mobile broadband connection to nanode

Submitted by johncantor on Thu, 13/06/2013 - 16:14

Has anyone used an OEM nanode with a mobile broadband connection?

We have one set up here http://emoncms.org/lazonbypool (there is a blog
to be written - Its a community swimming pool near Penrith, and is
monitoring the river source heat pump)

Because its only open in summer, a mobile internet system seemed most cost
effective solution.

The system is based on a little Huawei mobile broadband Wi-fi unit. This talks to a
TP-Link TL-MR3020 Portable 3G/4G Wireless N Cable Router which has an emon
base plugged into it.

It works well generally, but on occasions it drops off and no matter what
you do it won't respond. (red light on nanode stays on). Then (maybe the next day) it works faultlessly again. At times when it wont listen to the nanode base, it will work for
other devices. EmonTx is giving signals OK, as seen by GLCD.

I guess that these devices are not expecting to have a device continually
sending tiny bits of data, and wonder if it drops it off at certain times
(maybe when the network is busy?)

Anyone got experience with this? Any suggestions.

Re: Mobile broadband connection to nanode

Submitted by PeterN (not verified) on Thu, 13/06/2013 - 19:01.

Hi Guys,

Well done. I used TPLink wr703 (chinese version of same device) and flashed with openwrt. It was fairly reliable up to a month at a time but would then stop and needed to be power cycled. I found out that it was handing down from 3G to 2G which didn't quite work and as there is no 2G to 3G handover in Ireland it camped there until power cycled. I'm sure some code on openwrt could have automated this process. However it was around time Raspberry PI was released so I moved on.

I am now working with Raspberry Pi and Vodafone 3G dongle and the ready to go emoncmspi.

Some work has been done on mobile see post http://openenergymonitor.org/emon/node/1432

Cheers

Peter

Re: Mobile broadband connection to nanode

Submitted by ngbod on Thu, 13/06/2013 - 19:09.

I think I had a similar problem using a T-Mobile sim with my MF10 3G wiFi router with a Raspberry base. When I switched to a 3UK sim the problems went and so far have not reappeared.

I posted a thread about it here http://openenergymonitor.org/emon/node/2424

Re: Mobile broadband connection to nanode

Submitted by johncantor on Thu, 13/06/2013 - 22:10.

Many thanks PeterN and ngbod,
It's all a little above me, but I followed some of your links.
I need to consult with those with more understanding than I. I'm hopeful that we can get a solution with the 'kit' that we already have.

Re: Mobile broadband connection to nanode

Submitted by EnergyRnR on Fri, 14/06/2013 - 08:06.

folks,

I need to get back to this also. I was able to get the SIM900 working with the OKG, though it shouldn't matter what base unit you have. I also saw it dropping the connection. So, I'll update the write-up soon and try to get it resolved.

This is something we would all love to get sorted.

I'll get my code up on github and post some updates over the next few days - lets see if I can nail this down over the next few weeks.....

Eamonn

Re: Mobile broadband connection to nanode

Submitted by EnergyRnR on Mon, 24/06/2013 - 11:34.

while we wait.... has anyone seen this lib for the Pi? I'm not using the PI but it looks like a good idea......

http://blog.iteadstudio.com/raspberry-pi-sim900-gsmgprs-module-adapter-kit/

Re: Mobile broadband connection to nanode

Submitted by johncantor on Tue, 13/08/2013 - 16:16.

Eamonn, have you managed to get anywhere with this? The community pool continues to have regular gaps in the data. It would be great to get a solution.

many thanks

John

Re: Mobile broadband connection to nanode

Submitted by johncantor on Sat, 12/04/2014 - 18:41.

Lazonby Community open-air swimming pool (Penrith) will be opening in a few weeks and we would really like to get the monitoring working reliably

The system is based on a little Huawei mobile broadband Wi-fi unit. This talks to a
TP-Link TL-MR3020 Portable 3G/4G Wireless N Cable Router which has a normal emon
base plugged into it.

The system would work for days, but then it would fail to work -no matter what we tried it would not work.

Anyone got any advice for us?

Many thanks

Re: Mobile broadband connection to nanode

Submitted by ngbod on Sun, 13/04/2014 - 06:30.

I was using the TL-MR3420 router (same firmware as yours) with 3uk dongle and it used to lock up regularly too. I reflashed the modem firmware with openWRT firmware and the lockups stopped happening. I used the firmware from this site...http://www.ofmodemsandmen.com/index.html

Re: Mobile broadband connection to nanode

Submitted by johncantor on Tue, 06/05/2014 - 14:36.

We have just had Lazonby swimming pool monitoring over the pool warm-up period, and its been faultless using an Orange sim card. Now we are back to the Vodafone one and now back to dropping out again over long-ish periods. The vodafone signal seems OK. I dont know why Orange should be more reliable than Vodafone. Any ideas?

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