Winter Maintenance 2019/20 and Integration with the River System

[TerryJC]

On 2019-10-22 the River System and Webserver networks were integrated see viewtopic.php?f=15&t=196. This means that the WiFi Antenna may now be used by WMT Staff to access the River System Pis, as well as by Visitors to access the Audio Guide and Quiz.

This worked well, but it was noticed that the signal strength at different points around the site had deteriorated since the site Antenna was originally installed due to the growth of the height and thickness of the various shrubs around the site. This problem was noted at the time of installation but was deemed to be acceptable at the time. This is no longer the case and there are numerous locations where the signal is weak or virtually non-existent. The situation was assessed and it was decided that the signal could be vastly improved by adding a Repeater Antenna located at the rear of the shelter on the South-East Boundary. The main problem was cost, but we were lucky enough to obtain a second-hand Antenna, identical to the existing one, through Clive Wills. We have now taken delivery of 100 m of outdoor Cat 5e cable and a suitable mounting bracket. (only around 18 m of cable is required for the new Antenna, but the residue will be used to improve connectivity elsewhere on the site and the price was very competitive.)

This Antenna will be installed at the earliest opportunity (the weather being the main criteria) and the cable routed to the main River System IP65 Box behind Wendy Street.

Other tasks related to the Webserver will be to check out the UPS battery which may now be EOL and to investigate getting the time signal from the Internet (via the Office Router) so that the River System Pis and NAS Box can obtain their time from an NTP server.

Progress will be posted under this Topic and on the associated River System Topic when appropriate.

[Penri]

Checked on amount of armoured Cat5e left in stock at WMT this morning, we have around 8m

[TerryJC]

I now have the new reel of outdoor Cat 5e cable and a bracket for the new Antenna.

In view of the promising forecast for this morning, I'm going to go down to WMT this morning to drop off these items and make a start on running the cable along the fence. Depending on progress, I will then connect up the new Antenna and set it up. To do the latter task, I'll need access to the IP65 box and the Cat 5 crimping tools, so I may have to leave that until later.

If I can't set the Antenna up on site, I'll bring it home and set it up here. I can then return on the next decent day (currently looks like Tuesday) to finish the job.

Penri, if you can pop in this morning with the tools, it would be useful, but there's no rush. The job can be finished any time.

[TerryJC]

In view of the promising forecast for this morning, I'm going to go down to WMT this morning to drop off these items and make a start on running the cable along the fence. Depending on progress, I will then connect up the new Antenna and set it up. To do the latter task, I'll need access to the IP65 box and the Cat 5 crimping tools, so I may have to leave that until later.

If I can't set the Antenna up on site, I'll bring it home and set it up here. I can then return on the next decent day (currently looks like Tuesday) to finish the job.

The cable was run along the fence with no problems, but we found that we needed a different mounting pole for the Antenna, so the completion of the installation was deferred until today.

This morning we completed the electrical wiring, but not the final mounting of the Antenna on it's pole because we found that although there was a strong signal, there was no IP Address being provided by the DHCP Server in the Webserver. We were running out of time, so I brought the Antenna back home to investigate. (However, I forgot the PoE Injector and PSU brick, so have been unable to test it here.)

I've looked at the configuration of the Webserver and cannot see any reason why the DHCP Server is not providing an IP Address for iOS and Android hosts. Tomorrow morning I intend to return to WMT and remove both the Webserver and the existing Antenna from the site. I will then attempt to do a full system test here to identify the problem. While I have the Webserver here I will check out the UPS battery which seems to have failed.

In order that we can continue to access the River System, I will install one of my old Wireless Routers in the IP65 cabinet.

[Penri]

Can you power down the web server in a controlled manner when you are in next in. The train room will be loosing its mains next week to allow the new shed to be connected up.

[TerryJC]

I'll be doing that anyway when I take it out this morning.

[TerryJC]

This morning we completed the electrical wiring, but not the final mounting of the Antenna on it's pole because we found that although there was a strong signal, there was no IP Address being provided by the DHCP Server in the Webserver. We were running out of time, so I brought the Antenna back home to investigate. (However, I forgot the PoE Injector and PSU brick, so have been unable to test it here.)

I've looked at the configuration of the Webserver and cannot see any reason why the DHCP Server is not providing an IP Address for iOS and Android hosts. Tomorrow morning I intend to return to WMT and remove both the Webserver and the existing Antenna from the site. I will then attempt to do a full system test here to identify the problem. While I have the Webserver here I will check out the UPS battery which seems to have failed.

OK. Two things:

1. UPS Battery - This had definitely seen better days; it was still delivering volts when offline, but as soon as it was required to power the Pi, it died. Also the battery had 'blown up' it's plastic case. There is a spare UPS Pico in the Railway Store, but I'd rather not rob the battery from that. Instead, I'll retrieve the spare from the store and fit it. In the mean time, I've ordered a replacement battery for this unit, which will become the spare.
   
   The standard battery is a 400 mAH LiPo type (see below):

   

   LiPo_400mAH.png (27.23 KiB) Viewed 1444 times

   but these aren't generally available, so I've ordered a battery holder https://thepihut.com/products/ups-pico- ... ery-holder and a single 1500 mAH LiFePo battery https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/speciali ... /?sra=pstk from RS to replace it. I felt this was better than risking a 'Chinese Copy'. The new battery will require a configuration change in the UPS Pico via I2C. I'll add the required info to the Installation Spec.
2. Antenna Setup - I connected the new Antenna to the removed Webserver with exactly the same setup as when we tried it on Tuesday and was able to log into the webserver using my phone. The odds are, therefore, that the problem is the network routing on site rather than my configuration.
   
   I'll return with everything as soon as power is available in the railway store after Rev wires up the new building.

[TerryJC]

OK. Two things:
[UPS Battery - This had definitely seen better days; it was still delivering volts when offline, but as soon as it was required to power the Pi, it died. Also the battery had 'blown up' it's plastic case. There is a spare UPS Pico in the Railway Store, but I'd rather not rob the battery from that. Instead, I'll retrieve the spare from the store and fit it. In the mean time, I've ordered a replacement battery for this unit, which will become the spare.

I've been unable to find the spare UPS Pico, either in the Railway Store or in my Workshop. I've no doubt that it will 'turn up' one day, no doubt hidden where I left it, but in the meantime we have no UPS until the replacement arrives from RS. Unfortunately this is on back order and won't arrive until early December. This isn't the end of the world because a UPS isn't required for the Webserver to work, so I'll re-install the Webserver (sans UPS) once Rev has finished the electrical work for the new building.

Antenna Setup - I connected the new Antenna to the removed Webserver with exactly the same setup as when we tried it on Tuesday and was able to log into the webserver using my phone. The odds are, therefore, that the problem is the network routing on site rather than my configuration.

Penri and I spotted the problem this morning; the patch panel in the IP65 box had been mislabelled and so we were connecting the new Antenna to the original Antenna instead of the webserver

A temporary lable has been added and will be corrected in due course.

[TerryJC]

UPS Battery - This had definitely seen better days; it was still delivering volts when offline, but as soon as it was required to power the Pi, it died. Also the battery had 'blown up' it's plastic case. There is a spare UPS Pico in the Railway Store, but I'd rather not rob the battery from that. Instead, I'll retrieve the spare from the store and fit it. In the mean time, I've ordered a replacement battery for this unit, which will become the spare.

The standard battery is a 400 mAH LiPo type (see below):
LiPo_400mAH.png

but these aren't generally available, so I've ordered a battery holder https://thepihut.com/products/ups-pico- ... ery-holder and a single 1500 mAH LiFePo battery https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/speciali ... /?sra=pstk from RS to replace it. I felt this was better than risking a 'Chinese Copy'. The new battery will require a configuration change in the UPS Pico via I2C. I'll add the required info to the Installation Spec.

I received a replacement LiFePo battery and the battery holder, but then had mega problems re-configuring the UPS Pico to make it work. In the end I had to download a pre-configured Raspbian SD Card image which then allowed me to update the UPS Pico firmware. I was then able to set the chemistry to LiFePo. I then tested the Webserver code and it worked perfectly.

That's the good news. I then had to disassemble the UPS Pico from the Pi so that I could fit the necessary spacers to support the new battery holder. When I had finished the UPS Pico was no longer shutting down the Pi when the power was removed or when shutdown was triggered by pressing the 'File Safe Shutdown' button on the UPS Pico.

Eventually I established that the spring pogo pin that connects the UPS Pico to the Pi reset pad wasn't. While I was trying to reconnect it, the pin snapped off I have ordered a replacement from RS (plus a spare), but they are on back order until January. As stated earlier, the UPS is not needed for the Webserver functionality, but in view of the current electrical work etc, I'm thinking that maybe I'll hold off refitting it until the UPS is fully working again.

[Penri]

Sounds the logical thing to do.
The electrical supply work in the railway room and back of Hanham room is scheduled for this week.
Do you still intend going to WMT for 11:00 this morning?