The maintenance-free and lightweight Lobaro Solar Wireless M-Bus Gateway for indoor or outdoor environments collects consumption data from up to 500 commercially available water meters, heat meters, heat cost allocators, etc. with 868 MHz wireless M-Bus radio interface or Sensus RF Bubble Up and forwards them regularly encrypted via NB-IoT, LTE-M1 mobile radio or LoRaWAN (configurable) to the Internet for evaluation and further processing.
Thanks to the 100% battery and maintenance free design using the integrated high-performance solar cell in conjunction with an ultra long life super-capacitor, meter data can be transmitted several times a day in many applications when mounted with daylight incidence, even indoors. The achievable readout intervals can, with a suitable installation location, be many times higher than with our battery-powered variant without the risk of drained batteries and costly maintenance. In addition to the typical smart metering application for billing, this innovative design also enables novel areas of application in the field of predictive maintenance.
The sealed gateway housing is designed to be used indoors and outdoors (IP66).
The gateway does not contain toxic heavy metals and is not considered a hazardous good, it is environmentally friendly as an electronic device can be.
This device differs from the battery powered variant in the following ways:
Beside this differences the solar powered variant runs the same firmware and has the same functionalities.
Type | LOB-GW-SUN-WMBUS |
Name | Solar Wireless M-Bus Gateway |
Order number | #8000179 |
The Solar Wireless M-Bus Gateway has an internal magnetic switch that can be activated by holding a neodym magnet at the side of the housing marked with a dot. This can be used to query the current energy level of the internal capacitor and to initiate a reset with subsequent wireless-MBus readout and data upload phase.
Device Energy Level Indication
The Solar Gateway has an internal supercapacitor for energy storage. This capacitor can be charged by the PV panel up to 3.8V.
The current filling level of the energy storage can be queried by briefly actuating the magnetic switch:
Stored Energy | Internal Voltage Level (max. 3.8V) | Audio Indication | Charge + System Mode |
---|---|---|---|
Fully Charged | Level > 3.65 V | 3x Beep | Trickle-Charge & Normal |
Good | 3.5V > Level < 3.65 V | 2x Beep | Charge & Normal |
Useable | Level > RequiredVoltage (Parameter) | 1x Beep | Charge & Normal |
Level not sufficient* | Level < RequiredVoltage (Parameter) | Descending tone | Charge & Sleep |
Absence of Energy | Level < aprox. 3.0 V | None / Silence | Charge & Off |
If the RequiredVoltage parameter is set to a higher voltage than "Good" or "Fully Charged" the Descending tone will be played nevertheless.
The device will remain in sleep mode until the configured voltage has been reached.
To (re)start the gateway, the magnet must be held against the gateway at the above position for at least 5 seconds:
If the magnet is removed before at least 5 seconds have elapsed (b), there will be no reset! Then only the current energy level is signaled.
The default configuration can be reset using the external applied magnet between 12 seconds and 15 seconds. There is a single "Beep" indication after 12 seconds. Default parameters are using the Lobaro Platform (https://platform.lobaro.com) and NB-IoT/LTE-M as upload target. This might be useful if the device needs to be switched back from LoRaWAN to NB-IoT.
In case the device is in the "Standby" mode, after the signalization of the energy level, the device emits an additional fast decaying tone. In case the internal voltage level is below the RequiredVoltage parameter this leads to a slow and fast descending tone right after each other.
Normally, the default values of the following solar variant specific parameters should only require an adjustment for special applications with particularly low light incidence or very many consumption meters to be read out.
Name | Description | Default | Value Description & Examples |
---|---|---|---|
Standby | In standby mode the gateway remains in a low-power mode until the user performs an "Device Reset" via the magnetic contact. The parameter changes to false after this reset. It can be reactivated via a remote configuration downlink. This mode can be determined via the "Standby Mode Indication" when active. The device can conserve in this mode its energy for some months. If the device has not been exposed to daylight for a very long time, a charging process may be necessary before initial installation. | true |
The device is normally delivered with activated standby mode to ensure that sufficient energy is available during initial use / installation. Contact Lobaro for a custom configuration if your particular installation process requires a disabled standby mode upon delivery. |
RequiredVoltage | Required voltage level for normal operating mode. If the voltage in the device is lower, CRON based readouts are skipped until enough energy can be stored from the solar cell. | 3500 | Voltage level in mV. Range: 3100mV to 3700mV. |
RestVoltage | Voltage level under which an active wireless MBUS readout and LTE/LoRaWAN upload cycle is aborted to prevent a power failure reset. | 3100 | Voltage level in mV. Range: 3000mV to 3699mV. Must be less than RestVoltage parameter. |
The device is delivered as standard with a permanently installed internal SIM card allowing an initial data volume usage of 3 MB per month over a 10 years period. The utilized cellular networks can be either NB-IoT or LTE-M with coverage in many different countries. Additional data volume may be obtained from Lobaro if required, or the SIM card can be transferred to your organization allowing data volume purchases independent from Lobaro.
For larger orders with dedicated production runs other (E)SIM cards can be used customer specific. Please contact Lobaro if your own sim cards should be inserted during production before sealing.
From field tests we have the following estimates for data usage. This can vary based on the actual configuration an uploaded telegrams.
3 MB for 8.600 Uplink → avg. 365 Byte per Uplink
This was measured after ~15 Days with over 500 telegram Uploads per day.
Width | 133.5mm |
Length | 133.5mm |
Height | 25.1mm |
Mounting | 4x M4 Threads with 100mm x 100m spacing |
Material | ABS+PC (Fireproof) |
Rating | IP66 (Suitable for outdoor use) |
Weight | 185g |
Drawing |
The responsibility for selecting a durable and stable mounting method lies with the customer. |
Datasheet: Wall_Solar_GW_Webside.pdf
Pole Mounting Kit
Housing attached using double sided tape. Location good enough for multiple readings during daytime.
Housing attached using GSM-2C clips (4 pcs.) and cable ties. Covered outdoor location good enough for hourly readings.
The gateway was bolted to a wooden board, which was then attached to the pole. Outdoor location good enough for hourly readings 24h / day.
In this test, the internal antenna was compared with an external one, as well as a larger internal supercapacitor with the standard size.
Therefore, four gateways were mounted on one pole at the same time.