Remote location mifi

[SepticTracker]

We have a campground with no internet service except for limited cellular

Any recommendations for a MIFI device with a low cost data plan, should be Verizon network compatible, which we can keep running with just a solar panel and backup battery for power?  We currently have a VZ device in a plastic box with a 20 watt-hour battery that seems able to keep the MIDI device powered for about a week in warm weather; doubt this goes much longer than a day or two in New England winters so even with an appropriate panel it won’t work through the winter, but any ideas welcome.  I see RedPocket mobile does a 1GB data plan for $10/month, more than enough for the VUE; any experience by anyone with that?

Also, I thought the VUE device if it goes offline would continue to maintain total power consumed, but it does not seem to do so.  Should the VUE be able to maintain KW consumed when the internet connection is intermittent?

Thanks

Charlie

 

 

 

[djwakelee]

Can’t help on the WiFi / cellular gateway front, but regarding the consumption data during loss of internet, the Vue 2 is designed to have a constant internet connection to the Emporia cloud.  From what Emporia states, there is limited internal buffer size in the Vue 2 unit itself.  So after a point of no internet, data will be lost for consumption during the lack of internet.  It tries to compensate for this to a degree when it goes back online, but in practice this does not seem to be very accurate like you mention.  Emporia support may be able to chime in on the strategy employed by the device, but you definitely need a stable internet connection if you want good data with the cloud dependent setup that they have.

[SepticTracker]

THanks for the reply.

I’m looking at IOT cellular data plans.

I’ve got 3 phase power, duplex so six sensors, and I think that will wind up with about 50 MB/monthly, probably about 10mb  more, based on roughly 1mb/day with three sensors installed.

Digi-Circle has plans that on CAT-M service run $6/month for 50mb, or $9 for 100mb.  https://www.digikey.com/en/resources/iot-resource-center/iot-cellular-data-plans.  This on Verizon network, required as the only provider that reaches our septic tank without a tower antenna.

There are also 1GB plans from MVNOS that seem to start around $12/month.

Anyone have any experience with IOT cellular and what vendors to consider?  I’m favorable to the idea of digi-key as a tinkerer …

Thanks.

Charlie

 

 

 

 

 

 

[djwakelee]

For data usage, you might check a related post (below) which has the data rates detailed based on some use cases.  Believe your numbers are a tad bit low…

Monthly Data Usage

 

[SepticTracker]

Thanks for the reply.  I was quoting figures reported on my VZ wireless mifi device account for three sensors, which seems a fair amount lower than what was reported there.

Another point of difference – the response said cumulative results should be maintained even if the internet connection goes down, while what I saw on my initial reading after the system was set up was that the cumulative data did not seem to be reported.   I’ll have another opportunity to check that shortly, with the batteries on the MIFI device and backup battery now dead after 5 days running, next time I can get in to power that back up.

[7_2kW_in_Mesa_AZ]

Check out visable (it is based on the VZW network) and pretty cheap.

They don’t officially support mifi hotspots, but I was able to take an old Galaxy S9 (some people have reported success with even older devices), and turn it into a hotspot.

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