RAK833 PCIe LoRa Gateway Concentrator Module

Olunia · April 29, 2018, 10:31pm

Ryanteck · April 30, 2018, 8:24am

I’ve been seeing it advertised on their facebook page. They are doing a giveaway I think over at http://www.rakwireless.com/en/RAK833.

I have to say I think I’m a bit surprised it costs more than the 831 by about £30. Then again it seems it has the FTDI USB Converter built in.

nestorayuso · April 30, 2018, 8:49am

You can use over USB interface or over SPI interface, the selection is done with one pin.

The USB over mPCIe is standard but the use of SPI over mPCIe is not standard, so you might get problems using it in some hosts with mPCIe socket.

http://docs.rakwireless.com/en/RAK833%20LoRa%20Gateway/Hardware%20Design/RAK833 LoRa gateway DataSheet_v1.2.pdf

Why cost more? FT2232H chip, the PCB manufacture of a edge conector, the double side process (paste, pick&place, reflow oven, aoi…), the supposed CE and FCC certification

moeterbln · April 30, 2018, 9:39am

I just ordered the KIT version. For me the price is totally ok. Any comparable mPCIe card out there which is cheaper? I think in the future with higher volume production it will be chaeaper.

nestorayuso · April 30, 2018, 1:28pm

the complete list is here

cpeacock · June 21, 2018, 10:11pm

Looks like the price has dropped from $177 USD to $119:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/RAK833-Industrial-Grade-Mini-PCIe-LoRa-Gateway-Concentrator-Module-SX1301-FT2232H-Chip-433-470-868-915MHz/32867370031.html

The new datasheet (V1.3) can be found here. It mentions new part numbers, RAK833-SPI/USB-xxx and RAK833-SPI-xxx (Non USB versions).

RAK Wireless has suggested the non-USB versions are due on AliExpress anyday now. Watch the space. I wonder how much more it shaves off the price with the removable of the FTDI part?

cpeacock · June 22, 2018, 9:29am

Non-USB RAK833-SPI modules are $99 USD. They can be purchased from:
https://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/RAK833-SPI-SX1301Chip-868-915MHz-Industrial-Grade-Mini-PCIe-LoRa-Gateway-Concentrator-Module-support-SPI-Interface/2805180_32887664396.html?spm=2114.12010612.8148356.39.50e44461KNlKs8

Amedee · June 22, 2018, 9:34am

Does that mean it should work on “any” mPCIe computer slot?
(assuming you have the appropriate OS drivers)

cpeacock · June 22, 2018, 9:45am

It should work. The module’s power and USB interface is on standard mPCIe Rev2.0 pins.

The USB/SPI interface is selected via the SPDT_SEL pin (17). On mPCIe this pin should be wired to UIM_IC_DM - a pin designated for the SIM card (User Identity Module).

The SPDT_SEL pin has an internal pull-up of 10k, selecting USB. Provided this pin is not connected - highly probable, then you should be fine

Amedee · June 22, 2018, 10:00am

Interesting…

Might be able to add LoRa to my Turris router…

TonySmith · June 22, 2018, 10:26pm

@cpeacock, Craig my RAK833 SPI/USB arrives Monday. Feel free to run tests if you like

TonySmith · June 23, 2018, 4:04am

Ali-express is listing this SPI only RAK833 as “No Longer Available”

cpeacock · June 23, 2018, 4:34am

If you look at the sales on AliExpress, there was one sale (me) before it was changed to “No Longer Available”.

The information I had from RAK on Wednesday is they will be “on the shelves tomorrow”, suggesting they did have stock. I’ll have to wait and see if mine ships.

Ryanteck · June 26, 2018, 12:49pm

The SPI Only version is showing up for me at https://www.aliexpress.com/item/RAK833-SPI-SX1301Chip-868-915MHz-Industrial-Grade-Mini-PCIe-LoRa-Gateway-Concentrator-Module-support-SPI-Interface/32887664396.html?spm=2114.search0104.3.17.1ada578bzN58gS&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_3_10152_10065_10151_10344_10068_10130_5722815_10324_10342_10547_10325_10343_10340_5722915_10548_10341_5722615_10696_10192_10190_10084_10083_10618_10307_10820_10301_10821_10303_5722715_10059_306_100031_10103_10624_10623_10622_5722515_10621_10620,searchweb201603_1,ppcSwitch_5&algo_expid=976d896c-13b6-4ee5-bbb5-93138f12989a-2&algo_pvid=976d896c-13b6-4ee5-bbb5-93138f12989a&priceBeautifyAB=0

Very interesting as one of these is around £80 with a Raspberry Pi or such and correct adaptor could mean DIY Gateways for £100-125

xoseperez · July 3, 2018, 10:39am

I received my RAK833 a few days ago and I’ve been working on such an adaptor for the Raspberry PI. I’m glad to say it’s working great but I have to do some compare tests with my iC880a. For the moment it makes a really small DIY gateway!

I just published the first revison of the design and an installation script based on @gnz and @ttn-zh work here:

Ryanteck · July 3, 2018, 12:01pm

Very nice! I’ve also been designing one for a company. Pretty much the same as there’s only a few ways you can put a PCIe header on a HAT. However I’ve left off the USB so its RPi only.

Amedee · July 3, 2018, 1:08pm

That way you could also get a smaller footprint, which would be nice for a RPi Zero…

Ryanteck · July 3, 2018, 1:09pm

Bit too big still for a “PHAT” so gone for a full HAT. However as they’re a RPi authorised retailer it contains the extra circuitry for the HAT Specifications.

F_Dam · July 3, 2018, 3:22pm

This is cheaper than the RAK831 + adapter board even if we choose the USB version and the mPCIe to USB adapter board.

So what’s the catch?

I can see that by choosing the USB version either connected directly to a PI usb port or by a USB cable, is less compact, but for a indoor gateway the price difference is almost the PI price…

xoseperez · July 3, 2018, 7:12pm

@Ryanteck You are right. I’m not sure it’s worth the USB interface. The module with USB and FTDI is $30 more expensive. I guess it makes sense from the RAK point of view to have an SPI-only and a SPI&USB version, a USB-only version would be nonsense. But for a RPi hat the USB part is worthless.

Anyway, I guess removing the USB connector, the switch and the reset button and adding an EEPROM and a few more components to make it hat compliant will cost more or less the same…