NEBRA NBR-0063 RockPi Indoor Helium Hotspot Instruction Manual

: June 5, 2024
: NEBRA

Table of Contents

NEBRA NBR-0063 RockPi Indoor Helium Hotspot
Quick Specifications
Antenna Specifications
Dimensions
Interfaces
Firmware
Unit Information
Indoor Hotspot Quick Start Guide
Configuring Nebra ROCK Pi Indoor Hotspot
Indoor ROCK Pi Hotspot Troubleshooting
Indoor ROCK Pi Hotspot FAQs
References
Read User Manual Online (PDF format)
Download This Manual (PDF format)

NEBRA NBR-0063 RockPi Indoor Helium Hotspot

NEBRA NBR-0063- RockPi
-Indoor -Helium -Hotspot -PRODUCT

Quick Specifications

Dimensions 94x70x53 mm (Excluding Antenna)
Weight 353g
Power Requirement 12V 2.5A USB-C
Network Connectivity 24-27dBm**
Antenna Connection 1GBit Ethernet, 2.4/5GHz 802.ac WiFii
Rated Ambient Temperature RP-SMA Female
Base SOM 20-30°C
CPU Specification ROCK Pi RK3399 Processor
High Endurance Storage RAM 32GB
RAM 2GB Package Contents

NEBRA NBR-0063- RockPi -Indoor -Helium -Hotspot -FIG
1

1 x Nebra ROCK Pi Miner
1 x 3db LoRa Antenna
1 x WiFi Antenna
1 x Universal Power Supply
1 x Ethernet Cable
1 x Hotspot $40 On Boarding Fee
1 x First $10 Location Assert Fee Please note the above image is for illustrative purposes only, colours of some parts may change.

Block Diagram

Antenna Specifications

Specification 470Mhz Model 868 & 915Mhz Models
Frequency Range 420-480 860-930 Mhz
Peak Gain 3 dBi 3 dBi
VSWR < 2.3 < 1.8
Input Impedance 50 Ohms 50 Ohms
Length 17.2CM 20.7CM

Dimensions

The Nebra Indoor Hotspot is 94x70x53MM In size when nothing is connected. NEBRA NBR-0063- RockPi -Indoor -Helium -Hotspot -FIG
3

Interfaces

Connectors

Type C Connector For Power
Power and Activity LED Indicators.
Interface Button
RP-SMA Female Connector for the WiFi 3dbi antenna
P-SMA Female Connector for the LoRaWAN 3dbi antenna
10/100/1000 Ethernet

Firmware

The RockPi Indoor Helium Hotspot runs a customized software to provide high reliability and ensure your units are as up to date as they can be. Your hotspot will update approximately once a week in an automatic process, we will announce updates via various social media platforms when they happen. The software is open-source and available on our Helium Miner Software repo on GitHub: https://github.com/nebraltd/helium-miner-software

Unit Information

Each unit has a sticker located on the base of the unit. This includes the following important information:

FREQ: Frequency of the Unit
ETH: Ethernet MAC address
NSER: Nebra Serial Number
RPi: Raspberry Pi Serial Number

You will require some of this information when linking your unit to our remote management dashboard : https://dashboard.nebra.com/

Indoor Hotspot Quick Start Guide

Warnings
Preparing Nebra ROCK Pi Indoor Hotspot
Configuring Nebra ROCK Pi Indoor Hotspot
Onboarding Video

Warnings
Please remember to follow these important warnings when using your Nebra ROCK Pi Indoor Hotspot:

Never power on the ROCK Pi Indoor hotspot without it’s antenna connected as this may damage the unit.
Do not place in direct sunlight or on hot surfaces (e.g a heater).
The Indoor unit’s case is designed to be used indoors, and is not suitable for use outdoor usage.
The ROCK Pi Indoor hotspot comes with a 12v power adapter, so don’t use that adapter to power any generic Type-C devices like a mobile phone or anything and vice versa, it will damage the device.

Preparing Nebra ROCK Pi Indoor Hotspot
Step 1: First screw in the included antenna into the connector on the back of the hotspot. NEBRA NBR-0063- RockPi -Indoor -Helium -Hotspot -FIG
5

If you are using wired connection, plug an ethernet cable in between a router and the ethernet port on the hotspot.

Step 2: Next find a suitable location for your Hotspot to be positioned, to provide the best coverage we recommend placing it near a window just out of direct sunlight. You’ll need to be near a mains power source too. NEBRA
NBR-0063- RockPi -Indoor -Helium -Hotspot -FIG 6

Please check “Ideal Hotspot Placement” Guide : https://github.com/NebraLtd /Helium-Guides/blob/main/docs/handy-guides/hotspot-ideal-location.md
Step 3: Assemble the appropriate adapter for country onto the universal power supply, plug into mains power and insert power cable into the hotspot.

Step 5 : When the hotspot is powered up, the lower orange LED will be on. It will take up to 5 minutes to configure after the first boot. NEBRA
NBR-0063- RockPi -Indoor -Helium -Hotspot -FIG 9

This process may take slightly longer as it’ll also perform firmware updates as soon as it gets a connection to the internet. Once it’s done you can see the Green light led is turned on. NEBRA NBR-0063- RockPi -Indoor -Helium
-Hotspot -FIG 10

Configuring Nebra ROCK Pi Indoor Hotspot

To configure your Hotspot, you will require the Helium Network application installed on a Mobile Phone, and for you to have gone through the account setup process to continue.
For the best results, Nebra Hotspots require some ports to be port forwarded on your network. Please check our security and port forwarding pages for more details.
Prerequisites.

Ready to connect nebra hotspot
Helium application with the account.
Step 1: Open the Helium application and login, then press + Add a Hotspot.
Step 2: Next click Set up Hotspot, from here you will want to select Nebra Indoor Hotspot.
Step 3: Place your hotspot inappropriate location, please refer Ideal Hotspot Placement
Step 4: Accept diagnostics permission, This will allow Nebra Ltd to identify issues with your Hotspot in a secure way
Step 5: Power Up the Nebra hotspot, and please note that never power on the Indoor/Outdoor hotspot without it’s antenna connected as this may damage the unit.
Step 6 : Turn on mobile phone Bluetooth and Push the button on the back of the unit once to enable pairing
Step 7: Select your hotspot in the app, you can check it is the correct one by matching the last 6 characters shown in the application with the last 6 characters of the mac address printed on the sticker on the bottom of the hotspot.
Step 8: The app will show the available Wi-Fi networks within range of your Hotspot.
Step 9: Once you provide the WiFi details, it will take a few minutes to complete the connection If you are using Ethernet, tap Use Ethernet Instead and skip to Step 10. If using Wi-Fi, tap on the name of your Wi-Fi network on the app which will bring you to the following screen.
Step 10 : Next you need to submit antenna height and power details.
Step 11: Provide location permission: The helium application use phone location to assert the location to the device.
Step 12: Finally, you can confirm the location of your hotspot. Click continue and you should be presented with a map to then place where your hotspot is on the app. This requires $10 and it’s alredy paid by Nebra LTD.

Onboarding Video
You can also watch this video to learn how to onboard the hotspot. This is using the Nebra Indoor Hotspot on Android, but the process is very similar for the Outdoor Hotspot and using iOS devices:
https://[www.youtube.com](https://www.youtube.com)/embed/6pSKwtGAwDg

Indoor ROCK Pi Hotspot Troubleshooting

If you are having trouble with setting up your hotspot or you have got a query, the following tips may help.

How to access the diagnostics
No lights are turning on
The device is not booting/Green activity light is off
The Green LED is blinking rapidly within a few seconds interval
A hotspot is not showing in the Helium App
A hotspot is not detecting Wi-Fi networks
Updating Nebra Hotspot Firmware
Syncing Issues
The onboarding key is missing an error
Hotspot not witnessing
Still having trouble

On the Nebra Helium Hotspots, we have two local diagnostics tools that can help you to find any issues with your miners. Please take a look at the dedicated local diagnostics page for more information: https://github.com/NebraLtd/Helium-Guides/blob/main/docs/handy-guides/local- diagnostics.md No lights are turning on You should see the lower light (Amber light) on the side of the unit turn on as soon as power is applied. If this is the case, ensure the power supply is firmly plugged into the wall outlet, the power jack is plugged into the unit and the wall outlet is switched on. To Do

The power adapter is connected correctly
Try a different power adaptor if available (12V 2.5A USB-C Power Adapter)

Upon power-up the lower LED (yellow) should light up instantly. Approximately after a minute, the top LED (green) should then start blinking. Green activity light is off The Green light is the acivity light and it should turn on solid in normal operation. Approximately after a minute, the top LED (green) should then start blinking. If not, contact customer support with hotspot details. © 2022 Passion Radio / NEBRA – www.passion-radio.com

The Green LED is blinking rapidly with few seconds interval The upper light on the back of the unit blinks rapidly with a few seconds interval. This is expected behaviour. If this is the case, use your web browser to access the diagnostic page of the hotspot. If the diagnostic page does not show any error, everything is fine. Hotspot is not showing in the Helium App It can sometimes take 1-3 minute from turning the power on for the Hotspot to show in the App. To Do

Wait for the hotspot to boot up before pairing (Wait 5 minutes)
Re-scanning a few times can then find the hotspot.
Ensure Bluetooth is turned on as this is how the application communicates with your Hotspot.

Please note: You will need to grant location permissions for the Application to access Bluetooth services correctly. Hotspot is not detecting Wi-Fi networks You may find that sometimes your Wi-Fi network will not show in the application if the signal is poor where the Hotspot is located. Please note, Nebra Indoor hotspot only support 2.4G Wifi network. To Do

Check local diagnostics page and confirm wifi MAC address is listed : https://github.com/NebraLtd/Helium-Guides/blob/main/docs/handy-guides/local-diagnostics.md
Remove special characters and emoticons from wifi name/SSID
Check WiFi have good coverage where you placed the hotspot.
Try different WiFi network.

Updating Nebra Hotspot Firmware
If after completing the initial troubleshooting steps above, you are still having issues, you may find your issues can be resolved by ensuring it is running the latest up-to-date software.
Nebra Hotspots automatically update once connected to the internet, if you are using an Ethernet connection leaving the hotspot for around half an hour should ensure all updates are downloaded.
If you are having difficulties connecting your Hotspot to Wi-Fi, then it would be recommended to move it to a location where you can plug it into an Ethernet connection for half an hour to let it perform updates. Then move it back to the normal location and re-try setup.
Syncing Issues
The Helium Syncing Process sometimes takes some time. Some customers report that the hotspot takes multiple days to sync properly. This is not so much an issue with Nebra, rather an issue with the Helium blockchain itself. Please allow the hotspot to take some time, especially during the 90% mark. If you are still having trouble, feel free to contact support below. If you are not familiar with Nebra’s diagnostics page, we highly recommend connecting to your hotspot directly using the local IP address in combination with a web browser. This will provide more insight between the device, and the Helium blockchain.

Please note, Nebra will provide an instant sync feature that download a new snapshot on startup and If you ever find your hotspot more than 300 blocks behind according to the local IP diagnostics you should reboot the hotspot. Onboarding key is missing error Please contact our tech support via sales@nebra.com and provide your MAC address. We will update the onboarding key for you. Hotspot not witnessing Hotspot will not get witness with various reasons from device loation to device relayed. To Do

check your antenna connector/ cable and make sure everything connected well.
Improve the antenna placement/ place it as high as possible – check our Ideal Hotspot Placement : https://github.com/NebraLtd/Helium-Guides/blob/main/docs/handy-guides/hotspot-ideal-location.md

Still having trouble ?
If the above tips haven’t been able to resolve your issue then get in touch at https://helium.nebra.com/#/support and include the following information. We’ll w rk on resolving your issue. But be sure to please perform the steps above to perform the update process.

Model of unit?
Mac address of the unit (Shown as ETH on sticker)?
Frequency of the unit (Shown as Freq on sticker)?
How are you connecting it to internet? (Ethernet, Wi-Fi, Cellular)?
How are you powering the unit? (included adaptor, PoE, third party adaptor)

If the issue relates to initial setup of the hotspot, please also include:

What make & model of phone are you using?
What version of the Helium App are you using?
Do you have any screenshots of any error codes?

Indoor ROCK Pi Hotspot FAQs

What is the antenna connector on the Hotspot?
Can I add 4G connectivity to my Indoor Hotspot?
How much internet data per month does the Hotspot use?
What antenna is included with the Hotspot?
How long does it take for my Hotspot to sync with the network?
I have an issue but not listed here?

What is the antenna connector on the Hotspot?
The indoor unit has a RP-SMA Female Connector on.
Can I add 4G connectivity to my Indoor Hotspot?
No, the indoor unit does not have the ability to have a 4G Modem added, you could use a solution like a MiFi or 4G to Ethernet module to achieve the same result.
How much internet data per month does the Hotspot use?
Currently we are roughly estimating 30-50GB per month.
The actual usage may be slightly less or more and will be something we up-date over time as we start measuring more units. Once all hotspots become “light hotspots” this data usage will reduce.
What antenna is included with the Hotspot?
A 3dBi Omni-directional antenna is included with the Nebra Indoor Hotspot, specifications can be found in this manual Upgraded antennas can be purchased separately from our website: https://www.passion-radio.com/hnt-antennas/196
Can I use PoE with the Indoor Hotspot?
If you wish to use PoE with the Indoor Hotspot you will require an active PoE splitter that outputs 12V to the unit. Alternatively you can use passive PoE adapters as long as the power provided to the unit is between 9 and 16 Volts and can provide 15W of power.
How long does it take for my Hotspot to sync with the network?
This can vary depending on your internet connection speed. However, in our testing it takes approximately 24-48 hours for the initial synchronization to be completed. © 2022 Passion Radio / NEBRA – www.passion- radio.com

I have an issue but not listed here?
If your issues cannot be resolved with information from this FAQs page or the troubleshooting page then please email sales@nebra.com and include the following information:
https://github.com/NebraLtd/Helium-Guides/blob/main/docs/handy- guides/troubleshooting.md