I would like to run a run a single channel gateway on this board (preferably with multi-SF and OTAA support).
Has any single channel gateway implementation been ported to ESP32 already?
The EU868 units I got all seem to be running the File > Examples > LoRa Function Basic Test > OLED_LoRa_Sender sketch, but then using #define BAND 868E6. So, to use OLED_LoRa_Receiver, change the value for band in the example sketch.
To make the receiver examples see the TTN LoRaWAN 868.1, use #define BAND 868.1E6.
Using LoRa.onReceive(callback) does not work for me; calling LoRa.parsePacket() within loop() works fine though.
The orange battery LED is flashing like crazy; maybe attaching a battery makes it stop? @DeuxVis’ document claims: “The orange LED lights will go out when the battery is full”:
The same document also says: “To use the on-board IO port with touch function as the touch signal input (WIFI Kit32 and LoRa 32 with this function), add a 100 nF pulldown capacitor to this pin.”
DeuxVis’ document does not give much details, but:
LITHIUM BATTERY INTERFACE 2Pin-1.25mm
And:
Onboard lithium battery charge and discharge circuit, The orange LED lights will go out when the battery is full , only provide the basic lithium battery charging and discharge function, can not monitor the battery temperature and power, if your battery is not purchased in our shop, Please pay attention to the battery positive and negative, wrong operation may explode.
Looking at your picture, it looks like they use a MCP73831 (or compatible) charging IC (the 5-pin SOT23 below the helical coil). The default behaviour of the STAT pin is to blink while charging (or no battery connected) and to turn off when battery is full.
This is from one of my designs, which also uses a green led to indicate battery full.
Some more interesting ‘nuts and bolts’ hacking at the Espressif chips by Andreas Spiess, this time getting both processor cores of the ESP32 working using the Arduino IDE only. Seems like this can only help with more complex tasks?
Which exact model is ‘Micro JST’?
I am unable to locate it on the JST site: JST Product Selection Guide
None of their 1.25mm connectors looks like the one on the Heltec board.
I ordered ebay item 232485892646 - it is just described as micro JST 1.25mm. They fit fine - pic below shows one alongside my test rig that is now being powered by a LiPo.
Has anyone managed to get the power usage of these modules below 10ma? Even in deep sleep and with wifi/BT off I can’t manage it with a battery. Are they maybe using a low efficiency regulator that keeps on switching?
Received mine finally.
The antenna is quite different looking from what was in the aliexpress pictures.
They also provided a miniature heatsink - probably for the ESP32 chip ?
I was wondering about that too, until I read about “fever” in the document you provided earlier
ESP32 is a highly integrated chip QFN package, due to high frequency, small size and not easy to heat, so when used in the higher fever is normal, Our company has done a complete stability assessment of the circuit t,Pls no worry about it ,and if you very care about the head you can add heat sink by yourself.
Black PCB, blue charging LED, battery cable included, better English description and above all (if one gets delivered what is advertised):
different kind of WiFI antenna
different (positioned) battery connector
some component engraved “SL” is now underneath the battery connector, but seems to be above it (and marked S4) on my HelTec boards (moved to make room for the different antenna?)
Branded TTGO/WEMS instead of HelTec, so now wondering who really made the PCB design. Some shops even name it Wemos. But esp32.net lists “TTGO LoRa” as:
“WeMos” / Lily GO (not WEMOS.cc group)
Clone of Heltec Automation’s WIFI LoRa 32 board
The same shop is selling a case, which certainly needs a different WiFi antenna to fit the module. It’s also available in black:
The module can also be found without an OLED display, for just US$ 9.00 (but a different WiFi antenna, if one gets what’s shown):
Also, I ran into https://www.alictronix.com/archives/817 with easy instructions to get the Arduino IDE running for the (HelTec) board. (I’ve not tested that; for me the instructions on HelTec’s GitHub work fine too, but need some Git commands.)
I’ve order one, since neither I have a ESP32 yet, and the price for this around 10€ with lora is quite good. Even cheaper than the diymall atmega32u4 lora based boards. But probably only in January I’ll receive it
And in fact what also caught my attention was the antenna ( I know that those existed since I’ve receive samples of them, but never used) so let’s see how they behave, and the same shop sells the case. But the case might not be very useful since it has no space for anything else, like sensors or whatever.
Edit: The sl marked component looks like a diode? Probably to protect reverse polarity, since the battery cable is provided.
The antenna might be better but it is positioned very poorly. It is surrounded by metal pins and positioned on the module’s bottom side so the PCB will shield the RF signals on the top side and a breadboard or base PCB where the module will be mounted on will shield RF signals on the bottom side (almost like a Faraday cage).