Reply To: Trouble locating information on new LTEBee

I added a sketch called “DRWI_sim7080LTE.ino” to our Github repository.  You can find it here https://github.com/EnviroDIY/ModularSensors/tree/master/examples/DRWI_sim7080LTE along with a brief summary.

We’re still working out the bugs in the libraries that were cause by an update to an external library that is included in our bundled files (the AOsong DHT library).  So anyone downloading the libraries right now might get some errors, especially if you’re using PlatformIO, but hopefully that will be resolved soon.

The only main difference between the sketch for the sim7080 and the sketch for the Digi LTE boards is that there are 2 sections in the code that configure the logger for using the cell module (lines 85-117 and 349-364 in the sim7080 sketch).  I also cleaned up the section with the UUIDs to make it match the MMW website.  This example sketch is also written for the new Mayfly v1.0, so there’s code on line 101 and line 325 for proper operation with the Mayfly v1.0 board.  The sim7080 LTE module has been successfully tested on the Mayfly v0.5b board, so putting “-1” in line 101 instead of “18” will let you use it on the older Mayfly board.  There are commented notes in the sketch on those lines.  More descriptive tutorials and manuals are currently being made and will be published as soon as we can finish them.

And as mentioned in the Github readme, here’s some info about antennas for the sim7080module:

The EnviroDIY LTE sim7080 module includes 2 antennas in the package. The small thin one is the cellular antenna, and should be connected to the socket labeled “CELL”. The thicker block is the GPS antenna, and should be connected to the “GPS” socket, but only if you intend to use the GPS functionality of the module. ModularSensors does not currently suport GPS functionality, but other libraries such as TinyGPS can work with the sim7080 module.

The included cell antenna works best in high-signal-strength areas. For most remote areas and logger deployments, we suggest a larger LTE antenna, like the W3907B0100 from PulseLarsen (Digikey 1837-1003-ND or Mouser 673-W3907B0100)