Issue with onboarding and RS485 polling with RAK2461 & RAK2470

LPWAN Nodes
1

Hello! I recently bought some RAK2461 & RAK2470 bridges and I´ve been experiencing 2 problems.
First I had problems using the new onboarding method in the io.Box app because it doesn’t find any tenants when I put my ChirpStack.v4 credentials or API Key. I followed the instructions in the Quick Start Guide of both of the devices but it never worked. I thought that maybe this could be a problem of configuration of ChirpStack from my part, so to solve this problem I added the devices manually and confirmed that the join request appears in ChirpStack.

The second problem is that when the devices join the LoRaWAN network they don’t send any data even if they have the correct Modbus polling instructions. I tested that both of the devices could successfully communicate with the correct RS485 Interface Configurations. At first I thought it could be a problem of channel configuration or region difference between the gateway and the bridges because the devices joined the network but never sent a message, but then I used the RAK Serial Port Tool to force de devices to send a message with the command “AT+SEND” or “AT+SEND=2:1234567” and this messages where successful and appear in ChirpStack.

After successfully receiving this forced messages I noticed that:

  • After the first forced message, the devices would start sending the data from the polling instructions on their own and with the correct data collection period.
  • If the devices are sending data, most of the time they don’t go through all the polling instructions and don’t put the correct channel ID in the response so it doesn’t have the correct “fPort” in ChirpStack.
  • If I unplugged the devices and then plug them again, they wont send data until I force them again.
  • In the io.Box app I can’t change some important Modbus variables like I could with the RAK7431 with the RAK Serial Port Tool. I tried using the same AT commands (like AT+MODBUSRETRY or AT+MODBUSTIMEOUT) with this new devices but they don’t work.

So my questions are:

  • Could this problem of not sending data until I force them, be caused because I didn’t onboard the devices like in the instructions and added them manually in ChirpStack?

  • Is there a configuration that I have to change in the devices so the work when I add them manually instead of onboarding them? Maybe they stay in a IDLE state and I can change something so they work normally even if they turn off or reboot?

  • Is there a way to get more configuration options for the Modbus communication? Is there a manual of new AT commands that I could use in the RAK Serial Port Tool with this devices?

I could really use some help!
Thanks a lot!!

2

Hi @svoticky ,

Let me provide some answers.

  1. There is no difference on manual adding or automatic onboarding to Chirpstack. The Bridge IO should poll the RS485 device then uplink based on the interval you set.
  2. There is nothing like IDLE state where it will stop polling until forced. Once the polling tasks is configured, it should automatically do it and send the RS485 payload via uplinks.
  3. What specific configuration you need for the use case? What restrictions the IO box cannot provide? This could be an improvement that we can implement.

Btw, can you please share the FW version of Bridge IO as well as the IO box version? If you can share IO box configuration as well it will be helpful for us (polling task and lorawan config). You prefer to keep it private, can send to it via DM or to [email protected].

3

Thank you for your response!

The specifications of the RAK2461 are the following:

Datos_dispositivo_bridge
Datos_dispositivo_bridge1176×829 36.5 KB

And the IO box version is the V2.1.3-f7556ec.

The LoRaWAN configuration is the following:

Config_lorawan
Config_lorawan1012×922 35.4 KB

And the Gateway and ChirpStack v4 are configured also to the region AU915 and use the 0 - 7 sub-band.
The RS485 configuration is:
Config_RS485
Config_RS4851417×643 25.3 KB

And the polling tasks are the same but just changing the address:
Ejemplo_polling_Task
Ejemplo_polling_Task1258×628 32.4 KB

Polling_task_todas
Polling_task_todas1465×817 52.8 KB

(In the picture the instructions don’t show values because I have the sensor disconnected, but they normally show data when it is connected)
I tried using just 1 or 2 or 3 polling tasks instead of the 6 to see if that would change something but even with just one instruction it doesn’t work automatically and I have to force the message to start the polling period.
For the specific configuration I need for the polling tasks, I need to be able to change the Modbus retry and the Modbus timeout parameter. Previously I used the RAK7431 with the same sensor that I’m testing this new devices on, with the same polling period and with the same polling instructions, but for it to work well I needed to use the AT commands " AT+MODBUSTIMEOUT=2000" and " AT+MODBUSRETRY=1", so it would be good if I could do the same with this new devices.

Thanks for your help!