Troubleshooting Guide

How you troubleshoot the ORB will depend on whether you have local access to the device or are remote. This troubleshooting guide assumes that you have access to the ORB.

Symptom: The ORB was reporting to the Senquip Portal but has stopped

Login to the Senquip Portal and check the last events that were sent by the ORB.

Low voltage warning — Status showing supply voltage low

If, as in the example above, the last status sent is showing a low voltage, then it is likely that the supply voltage to the ORB failed at some point. Further information can be obtained by looking at the Supply voltage and Lipo battery voltage charts.

Low supply voltage — Supply voltage is low

In the example, the ORB is powered with a solar panel that is poorly placed in a position such that it only receives sunlight from 13h00 to 16h00. It can be seen from the data provided in the portal, that on December the 30th, the solar supply voltage never reached a point where it was able to power the ORB or charge its internal Lipo battery.

If you have no access to the Portal, then the ORB will need to be opened to check the status lights. Once opened, the status and network lights will illuminate when the ORB wakes up. If both lights remain off, then the ORB has likely lost power and the internal Lipo is flat. If the wake time is long, press the setup button to force the ORB into setup mode. The green light should now be flashing.

Note

The lights will remain off if the ORB is sleeping.

If, once the setup button is pressed, the green light flashes a few times and then goes off, it is likely that the power is lost and that there is just enough energy in the internal LiPo battery to start the ORB but that it shuts down when it tries to connect to a network.

In the example above, a few actions should be taken:

The solar panel should be placed in a location where it is will receive sunlight for a larger portion of the day
The solar panel may need cleaning
The ORB update rate should be checked to see if it can be reduced as the current setting are almost draining the Lipo battery every day
A warning should be enabled to indicate when the Lipo battery is low

If power is ok and yet the ORB is non-responsive, perform a reset by pressing down the reset button for at least 2 seconds. The ORB will perform a re-boot and will re-load all stored settings and re-connect to the network. Check your setting to ensure they are correct; make sure, for instance that contact with the Portal is allowed and that the remote setting has not been ticked, which will disable contact with the Senquip Portal.

In the very unlikely event that the ORB remains non-responsive or tries to boot but keeps failing, as a last resort, perform a factory reset. To perform a factory reset, press and hold the Setup button down. While holding the Setup button down, press and release the Reset button. The green and orange LEDs will begin to flash fast. Continue to hold the Setup button down for 10 seconds. After 10 seconds, the LEDs will stop flashing at which point the Setup button can be released. All settings will be changed back to the factory state and the ORB will restart. Any firmware updates made to the ORB will be preserved.

Note

If you have had to perform a factory reset, please contact Senquip for further support.

Symptom: Reporting is erratic or has stopped and the ORB has power

The most likely cause of erratic communication is that the ORB’s connection to either the Wi-Fi or 4G LTE network is unreliable.

Login to the Senquip Portal and check the last events that were sent by the ORB. Check for a No Recent Contact event.

Loss of connection event — ORB Events Tile on the Senquip Portal

In the case shown in the image above, the ORB has not communicated recently with the Senquip Portal and so a warning has been generated. The additional alerts show that the supply voltage was low and that the ORB entered hibernate mode. The reason for no contact in this case is that the power supply was lost and the ORB entered hibernate mode. Of more concern is the tamper alert; it indicates that the ORB lid is open and should be investigated immediately.

Check the signal strength on the Portal. Use the back and forward buttons on the portal to view previous data received and look for low signal strength. Alternatively, download raw data and look for low signal strength in the logged data. WiFi signal strength less than -80dBm and 4G LTE signal strength less than -70dBm is considered poor.

If connection is via 4G LTE, check the following:

That the SIM is valid, has not expired and has data available
That the SIM is firmly in position and that the SIM lock is securing the SIM
If the signal strength is less than 16, then the 4G LTE reception is poor and the ORB may need to be re-positioned to achieve a better signal strength

If connection is via Wi-Fi, check the following:

That the Wi-Fi network to which the ORB is connected is available; this can be checked using a mobile phone
That the Wi-Fi password has not changed
The ORB may need to be re-positioned to achieve a better signal strength

If you have no access to the Senquip Portal, then the ORB will need to be opened to check the status lights. Once opened, the status and network lights will illuminate when the ORB wakes up. If both lights remain off, then the ORB has likely lost power and the internal Lipo is flat. If the wake time is long, press the setup button to force the ORB into setup mode. The green light should now be flashing and if the network connection is ok, the orange light should be solid.

Using your phone or a laptop, connect to the ORB’s webserver; go to the Network page. If using 4G LTE, check that the ORB is connected to your preferred service provider. If using Wi-Fi, check that the ORB is connected to your specified Wi-Fi network and that ORB has an IP address on your network. Note the IP address. Check the signal strength of the 4G LTE or Wi-Fi signal.

Wi-Fi connected — Check that the ORB is connected to your Wi-Fi network

If using Wi-Fi, with a phone or other device that is connected to the same network as the ORB, type the ORB’s IP address into the address bar of your favourite web browser. You should be able to browse the ORB’s webserver. If you can, then the ORB is connected to your Wi-Fi network.

Further Wi-Fi checks if you can browse your ORB’s webserver on your Wi-Fi network:

Check that the required ports are open: Connecting to a Wi-Fi Network.

Symptom: GPS position is erratic or I can’t get a GPS fix

The Senquip ORB-X1-G has a built in GPS with an internal antenna. The position of this antenna is shown in the image below.

For the best GPS reception, the antenna needs a clear view of the sky that should not be obscured by metal objects. Fibreglass and plastic roof sheeting are ok. Reinforced concrete and metal roofs are bad. In reality there will be compromises; small amounts of metal such as a mounting pole or solar panel frame will be ok. The better the ORBs view of the sky, the better the GPS fix will be.

To check the quality of the GPS fix, visit the Senquip Portal or activate the in-built webserver. The Number of satellites field will tell you about the quality of the GPS fix. Ten or more satellites is a good fix; 6 or fewer satellites is a bad fix. If you are seeing fewer than 6 satellites, please re-position your ORB.

Other

Please also check our frequently asked questions at: www.senquip.com/faq/faq_1-0.pdf.