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saltwatersolar avatar image
saltwatersolar asked

4G VRM via IoT data card

Hi Guy and Team,

I have built a solar cinema trailer that travels to remote areas of the NT and I want to get this on VRM via 4G router and CCGX.

I have set it up with a normal SIM card, but these cost a minimum of $15/month (it needs to be Telstra) for 15 G.

I now have these Telstra IoT data cards (5MB/month for $5), but they apparently dont work the same way. I cant just put them in the router and get a signal. Telstra business centre tells me I need to program my device to access the web via the IoT cards, as it wont just connect a LAN to the web in the normal way.

I have no idea how to do this.

Any help appreciated.

Oliver


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Lasse avatar image
Lasse answered ·

Hi Oliver,


The Telstra IoT data cards use the LTE-M / NB-IoT network which I don't think works with the CCGX GSM. Also, they seem to use some kind of IoT platform at Telstra to manage the data from the SIMs so you probably need to create some endpoint integration to be able to make it work. That combined with the very limited amount of data would make me believe that this might not be a solution for your installation.


BR, Lasse

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saltwatersolar avatar image saltwatersolar commented ·

Thanks Lasse, Do you know how much data is required per month for a VRM account?

Would 5 MB not be enough?

Can we not limit the logging intervals to cap the data?

Oliver

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dunnp avatar image dunnp saltwatersolar commented ·

This may or may not help but I run a Telstra 5Gb/$15 mth plan on a wifi dongle and once the 5GB is consumed it downspeeds to 1.5Mbps - and has zero impact on VRM reporting from my observations so far.

My setup consumes about 10MB per day at 5min reporting intervals. (Other devices gobble my data, that’s why I run over the 5GB each month).

Phil

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JohnC avatar image JohnC ♦ saltwatersolar commented ·

https://community.victronenergy.com/questions/794/venus-and-vrm-portal-communication.html


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saltwatersolar avatar image saltwatersolar saltwatersolar commented ·

Thanks Phil and John.

It seems data use even at hourly logging intervals would be more like 100 MB/month, so IoT plans would save very little, even if I did manage to sort it out.

Telstra $15/ month looks like the best option. Just expensive for a dedicated connection for a single system.

Cheers

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dunnp avatar image dunnp saltwatersolar commented ·

Agreed. But I’ve yet to find a cheaper way.

One saving I managed was to use the VRM geofence (just plugged in a USB GPS) as a security device in the caravan and ditched a 3G tracker. Only saved $30 per 6mths for the sim though.

Phil

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