CubeCell Capsule form Aliexpress

#1

Hi Arron , Hunter Wasn Gispyblue etc. I though I would let people know and also, I hope Heltec make sure their distributors know that they have supplied Capsules without programming board so product useless. Heltec can you supply the missing board ?

I often order via Aliexpress as I get a donation to a local charity via the site .

I ordered the CubeCell Capsule which arived today and was supplied in an unexpected way:

  • First it came with no programming board so product useless, I can not use Help needed here !

  • Second It came with 80 ma Battery prefitted, I had got batteries separatly as expected it to come without!

I have used the boards and they are great. an will be ordering many more as I can place in Custmom boxes with solar panels on the box ace.

While the capsule is very novel I see it only used in special cases such as the purpose I had for it of Monitoring transit of packages with the MPU9250. The unit can be placed lose in a box and sent though transport system and monitored at different points. General use is limited as they are not easy to mount.

I enclose pictures of the capsue received and of one of my CubeCell sensors that has environmental monitoring ( T,H,P,AQ,) and soil moisture probe capability. This has been trialled and even in the poor winter sun in the UK has kept the batteries fully changed with reporting every 5 minutes .

Heltec can you ensure that your distributors make sure they supply at lease one programming Boards with each order and can some one please get me a programmng Board Thanks.

SImon

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#2

Have now tested voltage on battery and totally flat -not good for lipo. Also think sensor is placed incorrectly.Is the white spot by the USER or RST button ? As diagram does not show? Any one please advise? Thanks Simon

#3

@Sivaelid, Simon, thanks for repeating the same conversation I had with Aaron re especially the capsule.
As you have also discovered the capsule is useless without what Heltec is calling the USB board.
Hence it does make sense that this fact be displayed boldly on the Heltec website

After our conversation Aaron promised me that they were going to list the USB board on their site.

Also it is very critical for Heltec to display very clearly display the content of each product

In my shipment of the the board version, each package included
the dev board
2 strips of male headers
1 antenna
1 JST GH power cable Heltec needs to clarify that the JST cable is type GH, 1.25mm spacing
1 package container

When I asked both Aaron and the sales/marketing manager,. I was told the antenna, JST cable were gifts for their early intro programme . If that’s the case - fine - but let people know that in advance and also clarify that the JST connector is type GH

Capsule version
I received the capsule with the sensors already installed. I picked up samples of all the 5 sensors available currently. Despite the fact that I purchased 5 capsules, luckily for me they included one USB board.
Actually I had no clue as to what that board was until I had to ask Aaron but @rsmedia raystream, is the one who really explained what that board was for and how to correctly plug into the capsule.

So re the capsule and the USB board here goes
if you remove the transparent cover and look down into the capsule, look for the switch with a silver/white dot to its right side. in this orientation dot to the right of the dot is the GPIO8 and SDA

PLEASE SEE THIS ROUGH GUIDE
GPIO2 GPIO3 | | TX RX
GPIO4 GPIO1 | | Vd Ve
GND MISO | | MOSI GND
Vs GPIO5 | | SCK SCL
Vin RST | | GPIO8 SDA
SWITCH DOT

This layout assumes you are looking down into the 2 sets of dual 5 position female headers

The next step is you plug the male headers on the USB board into female headers on the capsule, making sure the white/silver dots are both (USB board and capsule connectors) aligned in the same orientation

I hope this helps . If it doesn’t, will dismantle a capsule and take a pic for you

Got a few questions for you re your trials: the box with solar panel looks good - is this package the dev board or capsule version??

  1. Did you say your capsules came with a battery already installed in the capsule unit?
  2. If I might ask, could you confirm your supplier?
  3. Could you confirm the specs of the solar panel used and also the housing for that node?
  4. Is there an ALiexpress supplier for the solar panel and or housing?

BTW, Simon, could you confirm your coordinates outside the forum? I don’t know whether you are aware that the forum page went down for a while - until I drew Aaron’s attention to that

My coordinates: Skype and WhatsApp +1 778 710 0674 Kofi Obiri-Yeboah Kofi first name

TIA

GB

#4

Hi GB. Thanks for your very helpful response on pin out and board for capsule. Yes this is a big issue for Heltec and let down what is a good product offering. So to update you and I will post a warning for others My Delivery was from AliExpress moonmall. It came with an 80mha battery pre-installed.I have tested this and was completely flat not good for any battery. The mpu9520 sensor board was installed the wrong way around so not sure what damage it has done to sensor or board. I looked at the published diagram of capsule board and I see it shows no white dot so you would not know which way around. Si berry in happy. On my node yes it’s the black box ( a local supplier) with solar cells in side is Cube Cell board connectors for external connections such as capacitative soil probe of my design THP AQ and adding light sensor. I will use waterproof sma and external antenna or now more likely a PCB sleeve dipole in sealed plastic tube an looking at slightly larger and more robust box. Simon

#5

Simon,
It’s about 2:17 a.m. in Vancouver now and being the old man that I am need to to retire to bed now.

Don’t bother trying to locate the dot on the diagram provided by heltec, of course there is no dot there in their document!

Re my diagram, it was done holding the capsule in my hand. Yes, there is a dot near the switch. I checked all the 5 capsules I have, they all do. Will get a pic for you tomorrow.

#6

Hope my documentation make it a little Bit clearer

#7

Hi this is now excellent document and I note the sensor shown has a white dot mine does not on the MCU9250
Simon

#8

Thank you.

The mcu is the Only sensor i dont have here

#9

Fantastic!

Excellent new pin out diagram @rsmedia. This forum owes a lot to you for your contributions

Just a clarification: I have all the 5 current sensors for the CubeCell capsule: Please note there is no white dot on any of the sensors themselves

The while dot is rather on the PCB on which the REST switch is - to the right of the RESET switch. That has been clearly indicated on @rsmedia’s update to the pin out diagram.

There is still a need to identify the orientation of any sensor for installation

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