HC-50 Gateway

HydroConnect HC-50 Gateway (base station)

The HC-50 Gateway is the base station of your measuring system. It receives the readings of your measuring stations (nodes) via LoRa radio and transmits them via your WiFi and the internet to EcoSensors.cloud. There you see the values in your dashboard.

The gateway sits in a standard 50 mm HT pipe. It runs on a USB power supply and is intended for continuous outdoor operation.

The essentials in brief

• It needs power (USB power supply, 5 V) and WiFi with internet access.
• The nodes transmit directly to the gateway.
• Setup is done once via smartphone, without cables and without opening the housing.
• In ongoing operation the gateway is largely maintenance-free.

Choose a location

The range of LoRa is typically several kilometres. It depends strongly on the terrain and buildings. By choosing the location you determine how reliable the connection to your nodes is.

• High and open: A spot on a mast or on the roof of the house is ideal. The clearer the line of sight to the nodes, the better.
• All nodes must reach the gateway directly. Therefore plan the location starting from your most distant nodes.
• Distance from metal: Large metal surfaces and structures in the immediate vicinity weaken the radio signal.
• WiFi and power: A USB power supply and a sufficiently strong WiFi signal must be available at the location.

Mounting and commissioning

1. Mount

Fasten the gateway e.g. with standard 50 mm pipe clamps. Any other fastening is also possible as long as the housing is not damaged.

2. Connect power

Connect the supplied connection cable to the gateway and tighten the screw connection hand-tight so that no water gets in. Then plug the USB-A plug into a standard 5 V USB power supply. An old mobile phone charger is entirely sufficient, because the gateway's power requirement is very low. More on this under Power supply.

3. Set up WiFi

When first switched on, the gateway automatically starts the setup mode. You then enter the WiFi credentials with the free smartphone app ESP BLE Provisioning. The step-by-step guide can be found under Firmware features (section "Set up WiFi").

If your WiFi password changes later, the gateway detects this on its own and starts the setup mode again. You do not have to open the device for this.

4. Register in the cloud

As soon as the gateway has a connection to the internet, it reports to EcoSensors.cloud. Each gateway has its own identifier of the form hc50gw-xxxxxx. It is on the display or on the sticker on the device. With it you assign the gateway to your account. How this works is described in the documentation on registering a device.

Operation on the device

Models with a display show status and readings. The display switches off after one minute without operation.

More on this under Firmware features.

Design

Inside the housing, the main board with the processor and radio module sits one above the other, with the antenna above it. Everything is held in printed carriers and sits in a piece of HT pipe. The illustrations show the design as a CAD model (the pipe is shown transparent, the base is additionally visible at the bottom) as well as photos of a demo version in a transparent housing.

Antenna

The gateway has an internal antenna and is therefore protected all around. In difficult installation situations, e.g. with a lot of metal around, an external antenna can be used instead. In that case please contact us. More on antennas and range: LoRa radio technology.

Sensors

Gateway and node use the same modular electronics and differ essentially in their sensor equipment and their firmware configuration. A gateway can therefore deliver readings itself, e.g. as a weather station on the roof.

Always installed:

• Operating voltage
• Temperature inside the device
• Quality of the radio link and utilisation of the permitted transmission time
• Operating time (uptime)

Optionally connectable:

• BME280: temperature, humidity and air pressure
• VEML7700: brightness (lux)
• MCP9808: precise temperature measurement
• PMSA003I: fine dust (number and size of the particles)
• TX23U: wind direction and wind speed

Which sensors make sense depends on the place of use. Further sensors are in development. The firmware detects connected sensors on its own at startup, you do not have to configure anything. However, every additional sensor increases power consumption. This does not matter for the gateway, but it does for nodes.

Maintenance

In stationary operation the gateway is largely maintenance-free. Open the housing every six months, at the latest once a year, and check whether insects or moisture have settled in. A soft, dry brush is usually enough.

Gateway is "offline" in the cloud

1. Power: Is the USB power supply plugged in and the cable firmly screwed on?
2. WiFi: Is the WiFi reachable and the password still valid? If the credentials are invalid, the gateway starts the setup mode, see Firmware features (section "Set up WiFi").
3. Location: With a weak WiFi signal, a location closer to the router often helps.

Update the firmware

The gateway's firmware can conveniently be updated via WiFi: open http://<IP address of the gateway>/update in the browser, choose the firmware file (.bin) and submit it. The gateway installs it and restarts on its own. Alternatively an update via USB cable is possible.

Detailed guide: Firmware features

Technical data