Connect a device through the 4G/LTE router
Bring a device online without touching the facility network.
The IoTFlows 4G/LTE router is an IFCR-150 that creates its own 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi network for your sensors and reaches the cloud over cellular. Devices are set to join it before they ship, so there is nothing to type at the machine. For facility Wi-Fi instead, see Connect a device to Wi-Fi.
You need an IFCR-150 from IoTFlows. Nothing else: no app, no credentials, and no change request to plant IT.
Devices to router to carrier to cloud. If the dashboard says offline, check the router's uplink before the sensor.A chain of four stages joined left to right by arrows: the devices, being SenseAi, SenseAi Embedded and BeamTracker; the IFCR-150 router they join over 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi; the 4G/LTE carrier the router reaches over its SIM; and the IoTFlows cloud, where the device reads online. A marker under each stage names what it needs: the devices within 100 ft (30 m) of the router; the router sited where a phone gets signal; the SIM fitted before shipping, nothing to do; and the device online in the dashboard. A note under the router reads: if the dashboard says offline, check here before the sensor.Power and place the router
- Choose a spot where a phone gets a usable cellular signal: near a window or an exterior wall, high rather than low, outside any metal cabinet.
- Keep every device that will use the router within about 100 ft (30 m) of it, measured to the device as mounted, not to where you stand.
- Stand the four antennas vertical and clear of metal. Placement is most of the signal quality you will get.
- Connect the power adapter.
Where the cellular signal and the device range pull apart, favour the cellular signal. A router with no uplink takes every device with it.
Where the router goes: high beside a window or exterior wall, antennas vertical, out of any metal cabinet, and within about 100 ft (30 m) of each device as mounted.A side view of a production cell. On the left is the exterior wall with a window in it. The IFCR-150 router is mounted high on that wall beside the window, its four antennas standing vertical, labeled: high, beside a window or exterior wall, where a phone gets signal, antennas vertical and clear of metal. Below the router, against the same wall, stands a metal cabinet with a crossed-out router inside it, labeled: not in here, and not low. On the right is a machine with a sensor on it. A dimension line runs from the router to the sensor as mounted, labeled: within about 100 ft (30 m), router to device as mounted.Confirm the cellular link
The router ships configured, with its SIM fitted. Give it a few minutes after power-up to reach the carrier.
The front panel carries seven indicators, 4G, LAN1 to LAN3, Wi-Fi, WAN and power, but their colors and patterns are not published. Read the link off the devices instead: a SenseAi on steady cyan or orange has a path to the cloud through the router, and one still flashing red does not. The patterns are in LED and screen status codes.
If no device behind the router comes online after ten minutes, the router has no cellular link. Move it toward a window or exterior wall and check the antennas. Do not open the SIM slot: it is seated before shipping, and reseating it is not a support step. If a better position does not fix it, contact support.
Provision the device
A SSID is the name a Wi-Fi network broadcasts. The router's SSID is another 2.4 GHz network as far as your devices are concerned, so everything on Connect a device to Wi-Fi about range and signal applies to it. The difference is that nobody types the credentials.
A device straight from the box needs nothing. Mount and power it within range of the router, following Install and power up SenseAi or its Embedded and BeamTracker counterparts, and it joins on its own.
A SenseAi or SenseAi Embedded that was on facility Wi-Fi has to be sent back to its defaults:
- Hold the Wi-Fi button. The LED blinks purple while you hold it.
- Release when the LED turns red, at ten seconds.
- The device reboots, clears the stored network, and goes looking for the router.
The same hold on a device already on a router puts it into setup mode instead, blinking blue. So blinking blue after the reboot means there was no facility network to clear.
A BeamTracker that was on facility Wi-Fi has no button to reset. Provision it onto the router's network from its touchscreen and the mobile app, using Connect a device to Wi-Fi, and ask support for the router's network name and password.
Confirm in the dashboard
Open Devices in the dashboard. A device reads online within a minute or two of joining the router, and its Networks tab shows the router's SSID as its current network. That is the check that matters: View and manage your devices.
The LED is steady but the dashboard says offline. The device is on the router and the router has no uplink. Check the router first, not the sensor: work Confirm the cellular link. Every device behind one router going offline at once points the same way.
Add more devices
You do not need one router per machine. Put one router at the cell and provision every device in range onto it. Split routers when the count or the distance degrades the signal, not by default.
The signs are the same as on any Wi-Fi network: one arc on the signal icon at Devices, or devices that drop and rejoin through the shift. Read the signal in Weak signal before you buy a second router. A device out of range is fixed by moving the router or adding one nearer the machine, not by replacing the device.
A new device for a cell that already has a router needs only the range check in Power and place the router.
See also
Put any IoTFlows sensor onto a 2.4 GHz network using Bluetooth from the mobile app: hold the Wi-Fi button until the LED blinks blue, or open WiFi Configuration on the BeamTracker touchscreen, then hand the device its credentials from the phone and save the network to your organization so the next device provisions without retyping it.
Move a deployed SenseAi, SenseAi Embedded or BeamTracker onto a different network from the dashboard's Networks tab, without a phone or a trip to the machine: push a new SSID and password over the device's existing connection, reuse a network your organization has already saved, or delete saved credentials that have gone stale. The device must be online; an offline device still needs Bluetooth provisioning from the mobile app.