LoRa Droplets: Overview
Overview
This article details the installation and configuration of the Nube-iO Droplet LoRa Wireless Asset Sensor.
Mounting
Droplets are 86mm x 86mm. They are designed to be mounted on flat surfaces using screws or double sided tape. They can be mounted vertically or horizontally. The sensor should always be mounted in a location such that it will not experience very high or low temperatures, liquids or high humidity. Mounting locations should be selected such that the sensor will experience conditions representative of the entire sensing space.
Power and Push Rate Settings
Droplet sensors are powered by 3 x AA Batteries. The battery runtime should be between 3-5 years depending on the configured push rate (more data pushes means lower battery runtime).
The Droplet sensor has an small reset button on the PCB (image below). Pushing this button will trigger a data push, which can be discovered on the Rubix Platform. This data is useful for deploying and testing the droplet sensors, for example, getting room temperature and RSSI (Received signal strength) values.
Droplet also sensors have a bank of 8 small DIP switches within the sensor. These DIP switches are used to configure the functionality of the sensor. These DIP switches are located near the batteries on the sensor PCB. Remove the sensor from the back plate to find the DIP switches within. DIP switches are ON/1 when pushed UP, and they are OFF/0 when they are pushed down. Use the following guide below to set the push rate of the droplet.
PIR Setting (THLM)
DIP switch 4 configures the Motion/PIR interrupt. When DIP switch 4 is set ON/1 the Droplet sensor will send a data push immediately when motion is detected for the first time in each configured Push Rate Period. This is intended to give an instant indication of motion in space. When DIP 4 is OFF/0 the Droplet sensor will only send data pushes at the configured Push rate Period.
Testing Mode
DIP switches 7 & 8 are used for Droplets in Testing Mode. In this mode, the sensor will temporarily assign a known sensor ID and will push data every 6 seconds. Testing Mode is is enabled when either DIP switch 7 or 8 are set to the UP position.
This mode is useful for testing the data and operation of each sensor.
Sensor ID Reset
DIP switch 6 will cause the Droplet sensor to self-assign a new Sensor ID. This is seldom used as using this Sensor ID Reset will cause the Droplet sensor to no longer use the previous Sensor ID.
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