New sensors arrived a few days ago, but I had to wait till today with testing. Bad news – something is wrong with one of the gateways. Good news – the sensors work. Fortunately there was a short shower so I could see the sensor on the barrel at work.

The barrel was easy – just a few metres away from both the sensors. The question was how would the sensors transmit through thick, wet vegetation. I'm not measuring anything but radio parameters from this spot on the edge of a meadow in .

Follow

Even further away from the gateways, RSSI -73, SNR 14. There will be no problem with measuring the level of water in a ditch nearby. Those sensors work pretty well at first glance, but they were not made for wild areas – still haven't found a way to switch off the very bright LEDs that light up during transmission. We want to kep this place dark at night. And the LEDs use up the battery.

@szescstopni do you have anyone around who is brave enough to try and desolder the leds from the boards? No guarantee that is a solution as it may be part of another circuit but I have had success doing such things on various boards for power conservation reasons in the past. Sometimes all you need to do is cut a trace, no soldering iron involved.

@PlumpCat Apparently the producer knows about the issue and there's a command on their website that should switch the LEDs off, but it didn't work. I was thinking of cutting the wires too :)

Sign in to participate in the conversation
Qoto Mastodon

QOTO: Question Others to Teach Ourselves
An inclusive, Academic Freedom, instance
All cultures welcome.
Hate speech and harassment strictly forbidden.