Integration with 'The Things Network' LoRaWAN?

Questions & Help
1

Hello all,

I’m wondering if anyone has managed to integrate Homey with the TTN ? I’m not thinking in the RF sense but rather via their messaging integration. It looks fairly possible. If it hasn’t been done before I might give it a go & write a tutorial.

Regards,

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2

Nice idea, don’t hesitate to ask, I’m working with TTN for years now :slight_smile:

3

A starting point here.

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4

What would be examples of use cases?

5

Start of an app here:

Hope to publish in a week or two.

6

LoRaWAN? A bit like WiFi but much longer range, much lower power & much lower data rates. Useful for remote sensors & actuators.

7

Yes I know the technology. But I was wondering about use cases in combination with Homey.

8

Well I intend to use it to control/ retrieve data from devices that are outside my home Wifi range, e.g. shed, gates etc…

9

Do you have your own gateway?
And when comparing to other solutions (narrow band iot, long range wifi, regular 3g/4g, ???) what made you choose lora?

10

I am starting to play with LoRaWAN and TheThingsNetwork. My use is to report from sensors that are a long way away outside my home range. Inparticular a couple at my mum’s home.

I had hoped I could do this using an adjacent University gateway (2km) but it seems not so my personal indoor gateway arrives on Sunday. Once I know the basics better and am sure my setup is valid I’ll revisit using other gateways.

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11

App released for testing.

Quality feedback welcome here

12

Yes I do, mounted on my roof.

For me it came down to battery life & cost, powerful single chip solutions are now coming to the market.

13

I just bought my first lora tracker device to play with TTN. Also want to get a gateway but I dont want to get on the roof and drill a hole in the house. So was thinking to install it indoors in the attic. Any suggestions what router to buy and what the max range would be? I was hoping to get 2km outdoors, but don’t know if that is realistic.

I was looking at Dragino.

Are those any good? And which indoor one would be best when looking at

  • price
  • compatibility with TTN
  • flexibility for own network (so not in TTN)
  • vendor/community support
  • firmware updates
  • range outside my house?
14

I am just using TTN indoor gateway - seems fine and low cost. You might not need a gateway if another is in range.

I bought mine from Amazon DE which is a bad decision as they are supplied by IOT shop DE preconfigured for their network. Awaiting what to do as they won’t connect to Things network v3, but will connect to v2.

15

I have a RAK7243 gateway connected to TTN v3 stack with the following antenna:

https://store.rakwireless.com/products/fiber-glass-antenna?variant=39705894813894

Working ok for the last year or two & getting at least 3km range.

On end devices I’ve only tried RFM95W & Heltec ESP32 Lora units, cant advise on Dragino units. The TTN forum is fairly active, plenty of advice/ reviews there.

Regards,

Owen

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