Support for V3 Heltec LoRa OLED

[smbunn]

I am really stuck getting my V3 Lora OLED device working. There seems to be little if any support for it. All of the libraries I want to use (LMIC, TTN_ESP32…) are all specifically stated for the V2 boards.

TTN Support This for example is the best current resource on TTN and Heltec boards

I cannot see any way to get my board to talk to TTN or use LMIC.

This has been the case ever since these boards came out. When do you think Heltec will start supporting the V3 board as it has been months now?

I have tried modifying the example LoRaWAN code for the v3:

#include "LoRaWan_APP.h"

/* OTAA para*/
uint8_t devEui[] = { 0x70, 0xB3, 0xD5, 0x7E, 0xD0, 0x05, 0xEE, 0x78 };
uint8_t appEui[] = { 0x22, 0x64, 0x1a, 0x8f, 0x67, 0xa7, 0x66, 0x35 };
uint8_t appKey[] = { 0xB8, 0xE9, 0x7B, 0xB7, 0x30, 0x2F, 0x08, 0x77, 0xDB, 0x34, 0x20, 0x84, 0x76, 0x71, 0x3C, 0xF9 };


/* ABP para*/
uint8_t nwkSKey[] = { 0x15, 0xb1, 0xd0, 0xef, 0xa4, 0x63, 0xdf, 0xbe, 0x3d, 0x11, 0x18, 0x1e, 0x1e, 0xc7, 0xda,0x85 };
uint8_t appSKey[] = { 0xd7, 0x2c, 0x78, 0x75, 0x8c, 0xdc, 0xca, 0xbf, 0x55, 0xee, 0x4a, 0x77, 0x8d, 0x16, 0xef,0x67 };
uint32_t devAddr =  ( uint32_t )0x007e6ae1;

/*LoraWan channelsmask, default channels 0-7*/ 
uint16_t userChannelsMask[6]={ 0x00FF,0x0000,0x0000,0x0000,0x0000,0x0000 };

/*LoraWan region, select in arduino IDE tools*/
LoRaMacRegion_t loraWanRegion = ACTIVE_REGION;

/*LoraWan Class, Class A and Class C are supported*/
DeviceClass_t  loraWanClass = CLASS_A;

I set up the OTAA parameters in my TTN gateway and use AU915. I set the region in Arduino as AU915
The code compiles and downloads. My serial monitor says:

LoRaWAN AU915 Class A start!
+OTAA=1
+Class=A
+ADR=1
+IsTxConfirmed=1
+AppPort=2
+DutyCycle=15000
+ConfirmedNbTrials=4
+ChMask=0000000000000000000000FF
+DevEui=70B3D57ED005EE78(For OTAA Mode)
+AppEui=22641A8F67A76635(For OTAA Mode)
+AppKey=B8E97BB7302F0877DB34208476713CF9(For OTAA Mode)
TX on freq 916400000 Hz at DR 2
RX on freq 926900000 Hz at DR 10
RX on freq 923300000 Hz at DR 8
TX on freq 915400000 Hz at DR 5
RX on freq 923900000 Hz at DR 13
TX on freq 916000000 Hz at DR 2
RX on freq 925700000 Hz at DR 10
RX on freq 923300000 Hz at DR 8
TX on freq 915800000 Hz at DR 5
RX on freq 925100000 Hz at DR 13
RX on freq 923300000 Hz at DR 8
TX on freq 915600000 Hz at DR 2
RX on freq 924500000 Hz at DR 10
RX on freq 923300000 Hz at DR 8
join failed, join again at 30s later

I see nothing on my gateway.

[smbunn]

I found out that in a much earlier 2021 post there was reference to the fact that the AU915 frequency requires:

/*LoraWan channelsmask, default channels 0-7*/ 
uint16_t userChannelsMask[6]={ 0xFF00,0x0000,0x0000,0x0000,0x0000,0x0000 };

rather than the default mask of 0x00FF. After I changed the mask I started getting messages!

[smbunn]

I noted when watching the serial monitor and my TTN gateway that there are MANY join and accept messages. They all seem to be recieved by the HelTec Lora OLED V3 device but not actually acted upon, i.e. it doesn’t actually join.

This is my serial monitor showing TX and RX messages

And here is TTN gateway showing the same messages

Is it normal to have this many join requests and accept messages all ignored by the HelTec? I am using the bog standard LoRa_OLED example from the V3 examples library. I also note it keeps changing the Device ID, is this normal?

[sysfu]

I might be having a similar issue with a CubeCell Plus dev board and the Helium network. Not so much back and forth, but I get a few join accept / join request messages but no further traffic either way. Furthermore it won’t work from home, I have to take the Plus dev board out for a drive, whereas my CubeCell GPS board will join the network and send uplink packets from home all day long.