Cerbo constantly dropping mobile hotspot

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chad-poindexter asked Nov 24, '20

Cerbo constantly dropping mobile hotspot

So my Cerbo has been running off of a spare phones mobile hotspot since I installed it about a month and a half ago. When I first set it up, the connection dropped a few times, but then for whatever reason it stayed connected for a solid month with no interruptions. Even while driving down the road, through areas with no reception, it still stayed connected once I was somewhere with reception again with no extra work on my end. Then I updated the phone (iPhone 11 on an AT&T network) and since then it will not stay connected. The phone has nearly full bars so spotty reception is not the issue, nor is data caps. I have reset the network settings on the phone several times, as well as rebooted the Cerbo several times. There was one point that it stayed connected for 2.5 days, but then suddenly quit again. When trying to reconnect it, it isn’t simple either. Usually in the WiFi settings on the Cerbo it seems to get stuck in a “connecting” phase. Even then, by “forgetting the network” and cycling the phones hotspot on/off it doesn’t just connect right back up...

So, I’m not sure what’s going on. I would say it just doesn’t play well with a mobile hotspot, but that wasn’t the case for a full month. I would also say it was the update, but since then it even had a connection for 2.5 days. But mostly it stays connected for a couple of hours and then drops back out again.

Also, I am about to change out all of the WiFi equipment in my home and will make sure to include a connection point that reaches the Cerbo so I won’t have to fool with the mobile hotspot at home, but when on the road I will still need to rely on the mobile hotspot so I would like to figure it out. So any help would be much appreciated.

cerbo gx

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Justin Cook answered · Nov 25, 2020 at 12:37 AM

Hi @Chad Poindexter, welcome to the Community!

I'll note that this isn't actually supported; as noted here in the manual, USB tethering sometimes works, and is nice when it does, but should never be counted on; I'd tend to class spare-phone-hotspot connectivity as at least 1 step below USB tethering in terms of reliability.

There's an old but good blog post here about alternative off-grid connectivity options for the CCGX which could be useful in terms of the Cerbo as well; long story short, though: it's excellent that your current method sometimes works, but you definitely shouldn't count on it.

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chad-poindexter commented · Nov 25, 2020 at 01:35 AM

Justin,

Thanks for your response. And I did see that reference in the manual about tethering... to be quite honest though, I just assumed that was with a literal cord, tethered to the phone via a 3rd party app... lol. It's been a number of years, but back in the day I actually did tether a HTC Hero "smartphone" to a laptop, via a 3rd party app and had internet... lol. Anyway, I did not realize that a mobile hotspot would be the same, or obviously less of a choice. Good to know.

I will add that I am about to change over my internet service, and when I do I will have new hardware added in that will reach out to my camper when at home, however I was still hoping to be able to use the mobile hotspot for when we are away from home... sounds like I just got lucky though and this isn;'t a good option. Guess I will have to look into the GX LTE... was hoping not to have another bill though. On another note, would the Nighthawk Mobile LTE hotspots present the same results as using a phones hotspot? I kind of figured all of these things were the same thing since they all used a LTE network.

Thanks for any further info.

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Modifications Space

Node Red Space

Answer 1 · 2020-11-26T22:35:05Z

philippe answered · Nov 26, 2020 at 10:35 PM

@chad-poindexter I use the Nigthawk M1 LTE/4G router and it works very well. I had just one hick-up with my provider that changes the IP every +/- 24 hours and it does not always reconnect. A small python script running on the Venus OS solves my problem (check if connected, if not reconnect. Check if it can access Google, if not reconnect). I came up with this solution as GX LTE (4g) was not yet available and also the is the restriction that the GX LTE can not be used as a wifi router.

1.4 When to use a mobile router instead

The GX LTE provides an internet connection for the GX-device only. There is no option to share the internet to laptops, phones, or other devices.

For installations where more devices need internet, such as a yacht or RV, consider installing a mobile router instead. More informatio

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chad-poindexter commented · Nov 27, 2020 at 04:46 AM

Thanks Philippe. That’s good to hear about the Nighthawk. As far as the script, I know nothing about that, or how to implement it... I’ll try searching google, but any advice is welcome. I also wonder if that would be a work around for keeping the Cerbo connected to my mobile hotspot... I have had the smart tv in my camper connected to the same hotspot all day with no issues, whereas the Cerbo has dropped the connection twice and not picked it back up... so I feel like the shortcomings are with the Cerbo.

I also looked at the GX LTE but also realized it wasn’t a shared WiFi so that is a bummer. I figure for the same price I could go with a Nighthawk and have more options for the same price.

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philippe chad-poindexter commented · Dec 04, 2020 at 09:45 AM

@chad-poindexter I did not notice your reply. I will take some time this weekend to document my work around and how to implement.

This was my initial Q: https://community.victronenergy.com/questions/64911/issue-with-4glte-provider-assigned-non-public-ip-a.html

And this was to know how to implement: https://community.victronenergy.com/questions/65262/how-to-implement-a-script-on-venus-os.html (Thanks to @Kevin Windrem who helped a lot with his answer)

I have picked up a couple of different scripts and mixed together and added some more stuff, to work correctly and to write the logging into a file. I worked locally with SSH in terminal mode on my Mac and with an FTP solution (Filezilla).

This is how I implemented.

Obtain root access on your Venus GX device

Set access level to Superuser
Create root password
Enable SSHD and log in

Details can be found at https://www.victronenergy.com/live/ccgx:root_access

Install the script netgear_status.py

Adapt the script with the address and password of the router (line 24 & 25) of the script netgear_status.py and upload the script into /data (this directory will not be erased with a new update)

Hook to run own code at boot

If the file /data/rc.local exists, it will be called at startup.

When it does not exists, create the file rc.local with the following line

nohup python -u  /data/netgear_status.py >> /data/netgear.log 2>&1&

and upload to /data.

Otherwise add the line in the existing file.

Reboot (to check if correctly installed)

The script netgear_status.py: (rename netgear_status.py.txt into netgear_status.py)

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netgear-statuspy.txt (4.6 KiB)

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