Heltec CubeCell - part 1

rodri16 · October 11, 2019, 1:12pm

board002

This is the main topic for the new Heltec CubeCell Series products.
The CubeCell products are based on the ASR650x series SiP (system-in-package) which combine a Cypress PSoC 4000 ARM Cortex-M0+ 32 bits 48MHz MCU (with 16kB SRAM and 128kB flash) together with a Semtech SX1262 LoRa tranceiver in a single package.

The CubeCell modules have an integrated LoRaWAN stack (based on Semtech’s LoRaMac-node). It can be programmed via API and also via serial AT commands.

The CubeCell products support development with the Arduino framework. Sketches are uploaded via the serial port. The development boards have a USB port with USB-to-serial so sketches can be easily uploaded via USB. Uploading sketches to the sensor capsules requires a special adapter from Heltec.

The CubeCell development boards and sensor capsules come in different shapes with different optional features like UFL/IPEX or SMA antenna connector, RGB LED, OLED display, battery holder, GPS and solar panel (connection).

For an actual overview of available CubeCell products, links to product documentation, GitHub repository and PlatformIO documentation see Part 2 of this topic:

For the next part of this topic see: Heltec CubeCell - part 2

Original post by @rodri16 :

Hi, there is a new board from Heltec called CubeCell, Arduino compatible.
https://heltec.org/cubecell/
What do you think?

BoRRoZ · October 11, 2019, 1:28pm

that I couldn’t find ONE example (at this moment) howto connect to TTN , how to set keys in your code

capsule%20sensor

Heltec Products Operation Documention — main latest documentation
GitHub - HelTecAutomation/CubeCell-Arduino: Heltec CubeCell Series (based on ASR6501, ASR6502 chip) Arduino support.

rodri16 · October 11, 2019, 1:38pm

No examples yet, let’s see how it progress.

I’m trying to contact Aaron Lee from Heltec.
Ordered one from Aliexpress to test

solotaker · October 12, 2019, 6:38am

HI Brothers I just saw heltec updated the instructions for connecting to TTN, it seems to support AT commands, which will make batch configuration easy.
Sleep power is lower than ESP32. This looks good.

Heltec Products Operation Documention — main latest documentation

BoRRoZ · October 12, 2019, 8:22am

tnx for the info.

I’m especially interested in the version with the attitude sensor

attitudesensor

hunter8801 · October 12, 2019, 11:04am

@rodri16
Haha, I received your email, thanks you for your hot heart to paste information here.

Here is the user manual of how to connect to TTN:
https://docs.heltec.cn/#/en/user_manual/how_to_connect_cubecell_to_ttn-the-things-network

Overall, CubeCell’s technical advantages can be summarized into 4 points:

Full Arduino-compatible, and work with Windows, Mac OS, Linux. Arduino is developed via C++, it’s very friendly for software developers to do some IoT applications, they just need call the API, don’t need mind the basic hardware;
In the past, to make a LoRa Node application, we need a MCU + LoRa chip, at least two chip. Now, CubeCell use ASR6501/6502, it’s already integrated ARM M0+ core and SX1262, within one chip. The size and cost are more advantageous.
Complete encryption system… For example, your products are developed by CubeCell series, but if your competitors copy the hardware and the firmware. And flash into the same hardware, it can’t run.
Ultra low power design and Solar panel support.

hunter8801 · October 12, 2019, 11:04am

We are gradually improving the information. If you are interested, please pay attention to the relative product page in our website: https://heltec.org/proudct_center/lora/cubecell/

Every relative resource will shown in the “Docs & Resource” table:

BoRRoZ · October 12, 2019, 11:46am

Hi Hunter8801 from Heltec , thanx for the information / clarification on your new product(s)

I was looking at some docs and especially the schematic
what’s not clear to me is this

cubecell-Q

what do you mean by ’ Battery maximum input voltage 3.7 v’ ?

is that the voltage you’re max charging the lipo battery, or the max voltage coming from that battery ?

hunter8801 · October 24, 2019, 9:08am

Uhh, I think that’s an expression error… Indeed, the battery input should be 3.3 ~ 4.2V.

But we are the easiest to find a 3.7V lithium battery. I will contact my colleague to fix this problem.

E_T · November 3, 2019, 10:00am

Hallo,

i got my CubeCell and the LORAWan-example (OTAA) worked fine.

Now i want to test the deepsleep (10 μA with LiPo)!

The goal ist to wake up the CPU with an external Signal on a GPIO and send one packet over LoRaWan (TTN) and then go into DeepSleep.

Is there any lowpower-library available like Arduino-lowpower:

https://www.arduino.cc/en/Reference/LowPowerDeepSleep

Vaelid · November 3, 2019, 10:48pm

Heltec Cube Cell Product is a great product using ASR65001/2 with SX1262.
I have now been using the product for a few weeks. I have found a number of issues and produced a guide for the community on how to use it and some of the pitfalls to ensure you can get an operational LoRaWAN node.
This is not a Vendor guide and I recommend that you use that as well.

This document is located in my GitHub https://github.com/Securethingsuk/Heltec_CubeCell and I have added some “Working” sketches for BME280.

I would also like to comment regarding sleep current. The best I have obtained is around 20 μA not the initial 3.5 μA which as Heltec have stated only occurs in some special conditions on battery in deep sleep mode.

The Board manager need to have a file updated, if you want to use the BMP/BME range of sensors and there are other issues such as: -Vext power line settle time, -TX output power, -Antennas, -AT Commands, -Key programming.

I will update as needed as time goes on and I am happy to receive other views and comments and if anyone gets LoRaWAN Solution with other sensors working that are not In Heltec GitHub, then happy to have them uploaded.

I hope this helps those that have CubeCell Products or considering buying one.

Simon Collins

hunter8801 · November 6, 2019, 3:25am

Arduino-lowpower library will not work with CubeCell series, because different MCU core has a different low power mechanism.

You can try our example:

Sleep 5000ms, wake up via GPIO:

github.com

HelTecAutomation/ASR650x-Arduino/blob/master/libraries/Basics/examples/LowPower_WakeUpByGPIO/LowPower_WakeUpByGPIO.ino

#include "Arduino.h"


#define timetosleep 5000
static TimerEvent_t sleep;
uint8_t lowpower=1;

void OnSleep()
{
  Serial.println("into lowpower mode. press user key to wake up");
  lowpower=1;
}
void wakeup()
{
  delay(10);
  if(digitalRead(GPIO7)==0)
  {
    Serial.printf("wake up, %d ms later into lowpower mode.\r\n",timetosleep);
    lowpower=0;
    //timetosleep ms later into lowpower mode;

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Sleep 5000ms, wake up via RTC timer:

github.com

HelTecAutomation/ASR650x-Arduino/blob/master/libraries/Basics/examples/LowPower_WakeUpByTimer/LowPower_WakeUpByTimer.ino

#include "Arduino.h"


#define timetosleep 5000
#define timetowake 5000
static TimerEvent_t sleep;
static TimerEvent_t wakeup;
uint8_t lowpower=1;

void OnSleep()
{
  Serial.printf("into lowpower mode, %d ms later wake up.\r\n",timetowake);
  lowpower=1;
  //timetosleep ms later wake up;
  TimerSetValue( &wakeup, timetowake );
  TimerStart( &wakeup );
}
void OnWakeup()
{
  Serial.printf("wake up, %d ms later into lowpower mode.\r\n",timetosleep);

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E_T · November 6, 2019, 9:28am

Thank you!

Paul_Stewart · November 10, 2019, 1:29am

Hi All,

just got my hands on one of these.

I use AU915 and in libraries like LMIC I have always been able to set the sub band (i.e. channels 8-15) that TTN uses.

Anybody know how to do this on the Cube Cell

cheers
Paul

hunter8801 · November 14, 2019, 3:32am

Look into the code,and set the channel mask. In LoRaWan_APP.cpp file:

Paul_Stewart · November 14, 2019, 4:05am

thanks @hunter8801 for the response, trouble is I am not at all a programmer or even half decent at coding.

What would I need to change here to achieve this frequency plan?

hunter8801 · November 14, 2019, 4:13am

I am often asked questions about the Capsule sensor’s screw nut… Hope this picture can make a direct sense to you.

When we design the capsule sensor, we hope users can do some basic test immediately, users can insert various sensors with a basic shell.

So, we don’t think there is anything easier than finding a cola bottle all over the world.

.stl file for 3D print (Thanks to Raystream for sharing): https://github.com/HelTecAutomation/ASR650x-Arduino/tree/master/3D_Print/HTCC-AC01

hunter8801 · November 14, 2019, 4:23am

Choose AU_915 in Arduino menu firstly, and then change the channelsMaskTemp[0] like this:
channelsMaskTemp[0] = 0xFF00

jody-crow · November 22, 2019, 7:41am

@hunter8801 How does one program the “CubeCell – Module” without the board? Is it just a case of connecting a USB to serial to the TX and RX pins? Does it need to be in a special bootloader mode?

Thank you, great product.

Paul_Stewart · November 22, 2019, 8:12am

Hi @hunter8801,

That doesn’t seem to change the behaviour at all

Cheers
Paul .