First Project, GPS and LoRa: Shopping Cart Check?
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Aside from playing with a few M5 sticks I collected over the last couple of years, I have not done much in this ecosystem. I know, heresy!
I do have a project where the modular approach and portability would be ideal, so before I order parts I want to make sure all of these are compatible. Basically, it will be a data collection device some distance from my house, sending data back to a device (probably an RPi) using LoRa. I am looking at:
- M5Stack Core2 ESP32 IoT Development Kit
- GPS Module with Internal & External Antenna (u-blox NEO-M8N)
- Proto Module with Extension & Bus Socket
- Battery Module 13.2 (1500mAh)
- LoRa Module( 868MHz ) (is this the right one for the US? I don't see a 915 MHz variant)
I found an article where most of these are demonstrated together. Do these all seem compatible with each other?
So, gut check, is there anything else I need (aside from the sensors and RPi) if this is really my first serious foray into this ecosystem?
Final stupid question: How is the battery charged? USB or something else?
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Can anyone tell me if I am off on the wrong track or wasting money here for a remote LoRa device?
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Hello @lbussy
you probably won't get an authoritative answer here for a rather complex project like this.
But you could break it into smaller tasks and make some preliminary checks yourself.- for instance check if the modules you want to stack do not have interfering GPIOs
- and if enough GPIOs are left to connect all the sensors you want
- or with an M5Core2 alone you could get an idea if the battery life is what you expect (the M5Core2 has a built in battery.)
- if you already have some sensors, check if the work with the M5Core2
- if you add the Lora Module you could check the Lora communication between M5Core2 and RPi. (Assuming you already have the RPi and whatever Lora shield is needed on that end.)
Again, the above is just a suggestion and is about how I'd tackle a project like this.
Thanks
Felix -
@felmue I appreciate the reply. I guess I should state my question a different way:
Given that I believe the GPIO do not conflict based on the referenced article, and with the caveat that power consumption and battery life is not yet a concern, does that stack look "complete" enough to get a "hello world" LoRa communication connection going between the M5 and a LoRa gateway?
I don't have a pile of parts and pieces from this ecosystem laying about, so I primarily want to know if that seems complete enough to power itself (however briefly) and simply send LoRa messages to a gateway.
Final stupid question: How is the battery charged? USB or something else?
This remains a question. Is there a charger for the battery module or is it a USB connection? You said that the Core2 has a built-in battery so that is helpful, thank you.
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Hello @lbussy
the battery module has no USB port and no charger IC. It gets charged from the M5Core2 (using the charger IC within M5Core2) when M5Core2 is powered via USB.
I do not have that LoRa module so I am afraid I cannot help you with questions related to that. Sorry.
Thanks
Felix -
@felmue thank you again. That helps me get organized.
