Cerbo GX with WPA2 or USB tethering

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isp asked Sep 18, '23

Cerbo GX with WPA2 or USB tethering

I have been successfully connecting my Cerbo GX to a mobile Wi-Fi hotspot using an iPhone 14 with WPA/WPA2 security and a password. When I attempt to connect it to an old Google Nexus 4 Android phone, the connection only works with an unsecured network. With the WPA2 and password Cerbo GX refuses to connect.

I only come here once a year and I don't want to leave the system disconnected and unattended for a year. I am also uncomfortable leaving an open Wi-Fi hotspot for anyone to join. I can't leave the new phone here instead of the old one as it's my work phone, not a personal device. If you had a similar experience and know what could be the cause, please let me know what to try.

I also tried to set up USB tethering instead of the Wi-Fi hotspot. It works fine on the PC, but I don't have any clue how to set it up on Cerbo GX. The documentation simply says that it's great when it works, but one shouldn't count on it and sends to search the internet for my device configuration. My phone is configured, but how do I make Cerbo GX use it's USB tethering? There is no option in the remote control, except for the GSM modem, but that is not detected.

Any help is much appreciated.

cerbo gx wifi

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Answer 1 · 2023-09-18T22:26:37Z

matt1309 answered · Sep 18, 2023 at 10:26 PM

Hi @ISP

I've not got a full answer for you but this might help steer you in right direction.

I believe Cerbo GX uses Connman package to manage network connections, to setup USB tethering you may want to look into setting up usb tethering on connman, might narrow your search a little.

I've not got equipment to test but a quick search sounds like it's doable via command line using:

connmanctl services

this will hopefully list your phone as a service when plugged in and at least then you'll know it's being detected. And just need to run the commands to connect to the network

I'm not sure regarding the wifi hotspot on nexus 4. My only guess was double check that you've selected WPA2 and not any other method when setting up hotspot.

1

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isp1 commented · Sep 21, 2023 at 07:46 AM

For some reason I could not recover my account, so I had to register a new one.

I have most certainly verified the WPA settings several times.

Thank you for the suggestion about connman,
@matt1309 but no dice:

root@einstein:~# connmanctl services
*AO nex                  wifi_e8fb1ca7dd23_6e6578_managed_none
*AR Wired                ethernet_c0619ab34bad_cable
    Gold Guinness        wifi_e8fb1ca7dd23_476f6c64204775696e6e657373_managed_psk
    venus-HQ2245J3VFU-bad wifi_e8fb1ca7dd23_76656e75732d4851323234354a335646552d626164_managed_psk

where nex is my unsecured WiFi hotspot and AR Wired is Ethernet cable I used to SSH.

The phone is visible in the OS:

root@einstein:~# lsusb
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 18d1:4ee4 Google Inc. Nexus 4/5/7/10 (debug + tether)
...

and if I disable tethering it becomes:

root@einstein:~# lsusb
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 18d1:4ee6 Google Inc. Nexus 4/5 (PTP + debug)
...

0 ·

Answer 2 · 2023-09-30T23:07:20Z

isp answered · Sep 30, 2023 at 11:07 PM

It turned out that this is the issue described here, even though I had the latest firmware version where the issue was supposedly already fixed. It might, of course, be a similar and unrelated issue, but the symptoms are identical: once a connection to a network is an unsuccessful Cerbo GX won't connect to it, including the case when the hotspot was moved out of the range of connection or when the hotspot was disabled. I reset the network settings as described in the GitHub issue (hold the reset button for a few seconds) and it all worked as a charm.

https://github.com/victronenergy/venus/issues/764

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