[Evan]

Thanks for the response and the heads up
Good Luck!

[Evan]

Hi Neil!

Once I realized that I wanted more information than just the presence of water alone, and that reasonable measurements are possible for cheap, I placed the EC sensor on the back burner, for now. At least until my head is above water.
I do intend on coming back to this, pending demand. Right now, I am having a lot of fun with an optical IR sensor.

Though, if you did make the class, I believe I would use it. Lucky for Sara, I had waited to send that email asking about how homemade sensor data made its way to MMW.
I am still figuring what will be the best strategy, EC may be it and may come back to this sooner than I expect.

I will for sure be reaching out.

-Evan

[Evan]

Hi Matt

Any opportunity to extend the coaxial line?
I have thought about this issue, and planned to try one of these:
https://www.data-alliance.net/u-fl-extension-cable-male-to-female-1-5-inch-2-in-3-in-4-in-6-in-7-in-8-in-10-inch/?gclid=Cj0KCQiAnL7yBRD3ARIsAJp_oLZgihbPsuyjcXW51G1_1HEFxT-kxrcJSm2XSu4Eh6WNAjJhtA9x8_waAonsEALw_wcB

But, Im not sure where I would mount the antenna, I am not fond of the idea of the worlds smallest coax running in/out of my enclosure.

What about the modem? Do you have a spare xbee3 around to swap out with the suspected ‘weak’ one?

Living vicariously through you with this issue, because I anticipate crossing this bridge.

-Evan

[Evan]

I had some issues with Python when switching to PlatformIO from the Arduino IDE.

I had an older version of python installed, so I thought I would be slick and update before installing Visual Code and the PlatfromIO plugin. That is where I messed up and PlatformIO was pissed.
What alleviated my issues were completely uninstalling all python and Visual Code bits, and reinstalling them together. When you download and install the PlatformIO plugin it looks for the path to the python.exe. If it can’t find it, or you tell it incorrectly, and it is crazy picky on the verbiage, it will become upset and provide you a link to go download it. Do this, and follow the prompts. Make sure you check the box to add python to the path! this is critical.
Ensure that your path is correct within PlatformIO, but if you let PlatfromIO take the wheel it will remember where it was saved.
Having only ever played with the Arduino IDE, I too struggled to get PlatfromIO going. But it is superior and I probably won’t go back to the Arduino IDE.

Good luck!

[Evan]

Ive gotten it too…

 

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1. 

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[Evan]

I am happy to report that everything seems to be working!

Sara, the program you provided didn’t seem to do anything? It compiles fine and is accepted by the board, but there doesn’t seem to be output? But, I did do what you suggested in letting it just sit there and let it attempt to connect.
I set modem.connectInternet(960000L) (16min) and set myconst uint8_t loggingInterval = 20 (20min), and then I went to bed. It hopped onto the network only ~10min after I put it down for the night…
It was a pretty great way to start the day seeing my data online!

Thanks a lot for everyone’s help, and for the awesome documentation on Git. I would not have made it to this point without it.

Now the real fun begins.
I am going to do a quick write-up about my logger and its purpose to share here and then begin integrating more sensors and moving everything over to MMW.

The sensor I intend to use is not listed within MMW so I plan on submitting a request via help@monitormywatershed.org to have it added.
It is a simple, hi/lo +/-5V kinda sensor, a simple three-wire deal.
I’ll include the datasheet with the request, is there anything else I can/must do to have it added?

Thanks again for all your support!

-Evan

[Evan]

Hi Sara,

Thanks a lot, this seems like the right direction.

After adding those flags, I am seeing a lot of:
+CREG: 0,2
OK
Which, by your notes, means I have no connection. This is great because it is keeping with the theme, I like the consistency.

I adjusted the time the board to allow the modem to squawk before timing out up to 10 minutes, and so far to no avail.
Tonight I am going to let that basic program run and lets see how long it needs to find the network.

Thanks a lot Sara, Ill share what I find.

[Evan]

for sure!

 

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1. logging_to_MMW.ino

[Evan]

I heard back from Digi tech support and heard the same. I cant use the Mayfly as the middle man, Digi’s own dev board is another $70…is it expected that anyone who wants to use an XBee to also pick up a $70 protoboard to troubleshoot?

Hmmm, thats a good point about the modem not being totally spent, ill verify that it still spits out that info later tonight. It would be nice if it wasn’t completely gone.
Interesting about the lights, maybe thats a good thing and all is acting as it should.

But, what about the lack of internet connection? If there is the potential that the lights are acting as they should, and the modem may be just fine, what else would inhibit the internet connection? Supposedly, I am surrounded by a sea of LTE coverage, so that shouldn’t be a problem.

Short of spending another $70 for a protoboard to diagnose the modem, any other thoughts to get this modem alive? Ill go camp at my local coffee shop if you think it’d help.

Evan

[Evan]

I’ve tried to connect to my modem via XCTU, and from what it is telling me, there is not an active bootloader on the module. Great!
It states that it cannot find a radio module on the selected port, the only device plugged into my machine. After failing to locate the radio, it prompts me with the option to use a recovery tool, when it then tells me there is no boot loader…

Familiar with this hurdle? Is there anything I can do with this?
I’m reaching out to Digi Technical services to see what’s up.

[Author]

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