[Sara Damiano]

Are you sure you’re SDI-12 address is set correctly?  You can use this program to check/change it:  https://github.com/EnviroDIY/ModularSensors/blob/master/tools/sdi12_address_change/sdi12_address_change.ino

[Sara Damiano]

The access is denied error doesn’t mean the Mayfly is off, it means something else (another program or window on your computer) is monopolizing that serial port. Usually you see it when you try to upload a program or start a serial port monitor when another serial port monitor was already running.

If you have the Mayfly plugged directly into the USB of your computer and the Mayfly is off, the error is more to the effect that the serial port doesn’t exist, not access is denied. If you’re using something like an ftdi friend between the Mayfly and your computer, you’ll see avrdude sync errors if the Mayfly is off.

[Sara Damiano]

Is your Mayfly turned on and plugged in? That error means your Mayfly isn’t being detected.

[Sara Damiano]

Follow the datasheet.  If the docs for ModularSensors disagree they’re probably outdated or just wrong.  I’m s..l..o..w..l..y.. working through the documentation and transferring to a Doxygen based documentation set here:  https://envirodiy.github.io/ModularSensors/getting_started.html.  But I’ll add this to my list of bits to fix.

[Sara Damiano]

Wahoo, that’s connected!  *Usually* after you’ve made a few connections it connects more quickly the next time, but signal quality of -81 isn’t stellar, so it might still be somewhat slow.  Are you testing at where you’re going to deploy?  If so, you might want to take some time fiddling with just the right arrangement of the antenna and other wires to maximize your signal – you don’t want other wires to cross the antenna and I think you want a slight curve in the antenna’s cable.  Small movements can make a surprising difference.  If you’re planning to deploy somewhere else, and it’s easy to do so, you might want to run that “first connection” program again at your deployment location to see how long the connection takes.  Hopefully it will be faster.  Concrete office walls do a pretty good job of blocking cellular signals.

[Sara Damiano]

You can try adding a network scan before the “waiting for network registration” section.  It won’t help you connect, but it should show what networks have signal.

C++

// Scan for networks - this is probably really slow gsmModem.sendAT(GF("AS")); gsmModem.waitResponse(180000L, GF("S"), GF("ERROR")); while (Serial1.available()) { Serial.println(Serial1.readStringUntil('\r')); }

1 2 3 4

// Scan for networks - this is probably really slow     gsmModem.sendAT(GF("AS"));     gsmModem.waitResponse(180000L, GF("S"), GF("ERROR"));     while (Serial1.available()) { Serial.println(Serial1.readStringUntil('\r')); }

 

[Sara Damiano]

But it seems like you might have kind-of low signal, if that -93 is valid.  Does anyone around have an AT&T cellphone?  Do they have ok signal?

Hologram doesn’t work on Verizon.  Sometimes they say the do, and for a while we actually got it to work, but usually it’s only AT&T.

[Sara Damiano]

Woops, sorry, the XBee uses carriage returns instead of new lines so the 22/23/25 isn’t appearing.

Add this to your platformio.ini:

INI

monitor_flags= --eol CR

1 2 3

monitor_flags=     --eol     CR

Your log will suddenly get a lot longer.

[Sara Damiano]

-45?  The nominal RSSI range for the XBee3 is -113 dBm (really bad) to -51 dBm (excellent) so -45 either means your signal is *amazing* or not valid.  I made a small change to that program to continuously print the quality so you can watch it to see if it changes while trying to register.  When running that first connection sketch, are you seeing lots of 22 or 23responses (searching for the network) or are you getting 25‘s (denied)?  Can you copy the output from running for a minute or two and post it?

Your pictures of your set-up look good.  The battery’s not dead, right?  Try (gently) wiggling the antenna to make sure its secure.

Are you sure there is AT&T signal available?

[Sara Damiano]

Did you try adding the wait to the break before the marking?  Does that work?

I modified the SDI-12 library to allow an optional extra warm-up delay, but I but the wait while the line was in break/spacing rather than in marking.  I didn’t want to add the time to the marking because while sensors must be able to respond to a command within 100ms of detecting the break, they must also go back to sleep if the line is held in marking for more than that 100ms.

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