Your last generator Maintenance Run

[Popgadget]

I just added a Genmon to my standby after seeing GRS’s posts, it’s amazingly capable for donorware software running on a Raspberry PI. The downside is that it isn’t plug and play, but it’s not rocket science either.

I would recommend it to anyone that isn’t intimidated by a bit of technology and has some basic computer skills.

 

[3930dave]

I'm often impressed, by how low/no-cost software, coupled with almost no-cost hardware (and, someone willing to spend a bit of time tuning the tech) can outperform many commercial offerings.

Having that telemetry, accurately sitting on your cell-ph, Doesn't Get Much Better, than that.....

Rgds, D.

 

[grsthegreat]

I just added a Genmon to my standby after seeing GRS’s posts, it’s amazingly capable for donorware software running on a Raspberry PI. The downside is that it isn’t plug and play, but it’s not rocket science either.

View attachment 3221552

I would recommend it to anyone that isn’t intimidated by a bit of technology and has some basic computer skills.

I had the guy that builds these things preload mine….so it was plug and play. But i do love it. I ended up changing mine to an ethernet cable due to poor wifi reception out by generator, but that was also plug and play.

 

[grsthegreat]

I'm often impressed, by how low/no-cost software, coupled with almost no-cost hardware (and, someone willing to spend a bit of time tuning the tech) can outperform many commercial offerings.

Having that telemetry, accurately sitting on your cell-ph, Doesn't Get Much Better, than that.....

Rgds, D.

I also had the guy at pintsize.me add me to his cloud, so now i can monitor mine from anywheres theres cell reception. Its like $10/year. I figured ill try it out for a year, see if i use it much.

 

[Popgadget]

I had the guy that builds these things preload mine….so it was plug and play. But i do love it. I ended up changing mine to an ethernet cable due to poor wifi reception out by generator, but that was also plug and play.

I put up an outdoor access point years ago to provide service for my propane tank monitor and the mobile link connection for the Generac standby. Interestingly the Genmon installation coexists with the Mobile Link connection. I did use a usb external WiFi module and antenna rather than the one on the Raspberry PI board. It connects with plenty of bandwidth.

 

[3930dave]

I also had the guy at pintsize.me add me to his cloud, so now i can monitor mine from anywheres theres cell reception. Its like $10/year. I figured ill try it out for a year, see if i use it much.

Less than a $1/mo.... sounds good !

Even if you are home much of the time, that is useful. Just went through a family-event, that had me away more than normal, so would be even more appreciated When Things Happen.....

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

I put up an outdoor access point years ago to provide service for my propane tank monitor and the mobile link connection for the Generac standby. Interestingly the Genmon installation coexists with the Mobile Link connection. I did use a usb external WiFi module and antenna rather than the one on the Raspberry PI board. It connects with plenty of bandwidth.

Lately, I'm feeling under-resourced here.....

JK... , one of the reasons I hang-out here is to catch up with the success people are having with Products That Work Well..... keeping electrons flowing......

Rgds, D.

 

[grsthegreat]

I put up an outdoor access point years ago to provide service for my propane tank monitor and the mobile link connection for the Generac standby. Interestingly the Genmon installation coexists with the Mobile Link connection. I did use a usb external WiFi module and antenna rather than the one on the Raspberry PI board. It connects with plenty of bandwidth.

I tried and didnt like the outdoor access points due to dropped calls when they switched to different accounts. I just recently swapped everything to mesh network. Added a mesh in back half of house, plus one in shop 300’ from house and barn about 200 feet from house. A MAJOR upgrade. Now i no longer get dropped calls, and can get internet inside shop and barn. And even out to arena which is 400’ from house. If i had swapped to mesh before running ethernet cable out to generator, i would not have needed the cable. But ill just let it be.

The mesh is amazing. I get 2.4 and 5.0 signals with 4 bars out in barn. The speed drops quite a bit from house speeds, but still impressive. Say if i have 250Mbps in the house, ill have about 30- 60Mbps in the shop and barn. No complaints from me.

 

[Popgadget]

Agreed about the mesh. I put a mesh system that covers the buildings a couple of years ago, and it works great. I used ASUS Zen hardware, three nodes with wired backhaul.

The outdoor access points don’t broadcast an SSID and my phone is set to ignore them, but before doing all that, it was the cause for a lot of dropped calls.

 

[grsthegreat]

Agreed about the mesh. I put a mesh system that covers the buildings a couple of years ago, and it works great. I used ASUS Zen hardware, three nodes with wired backhaul.

The outdoor access points don’t broadcast an SSID and my phone is set to ignore them, but before doing all that, it was the cause for a lot of dropped calls.

Ha, did the same thing with my access points. There still there, and still work, i let guest access them when we have gathering outdoors. I set them to have limited guest access. What surprises me is, im 67 yo and can figure this crap out.