B4R Question GUUOOO Tech IOT-GA6-B - - Any info welcome (gsm/gprs module)

[rabbitBUSH]

I hope this is the correct place for this. If not apologies and redirect me.

I have a GUUOOO Tech IOT-GA6-B it looks like this :

Its A6 based ... as in the part number quoted above.

I have seached the forum and find lots about A6, SIM800 and SIM900.

But I have not found anything about this module - SPECIFICALLY the pinouts to connect to an UNO R3.

I could use another board but I am in the middle of development and reluctant to change.

I found one place that said it had a manual for this, but, couldn't work out the download ... (go figure why people make these things so obtuse).

As far as I can tell, the thing will work with anything A6 based ... that still has to be tested.

Lastly, I am not planning at this stage to make phone calls, but, just do SMS / gprs, so I think, from what I have read up to now I can use the UNO power to run it since a) the venor site claims it is low power and b) I don't expect it to have big AMP draw.

Here's the question list :

• Does any one have eprience with this module?
• If so, do you have a picture of the breadboard and clear pin connections?

 

[emexes]

I don't have that module, but I used an A6 module a couple of years ago. I remember YouTube was useful, this video rings a bell:


Also, I did a search for GA6 pinout, and these two hits appeared side-by-side, which makes it look like the A6 and GA6 modules are pin-compatible:

I'd be wary of your current-draw expectation. Better yet, measure it yourself in actual operating conditions. My recollection is that the average current draw and the instantaneous current draw were quite different.

I am hunting for an actual datasheet. Closest I've gotten so far is this page (spoiler: no datasheet, just more info than usual):

https://www.banggood.com/GA6-5V-Min...ices-Function-p-1177911.html?cur_warehouse=CN

 

[emexes]

Found at least this good news: you are not alone ;-)

 

[emexes]

You're right, that datasheet is hard to find. I ain't found it either. Best information I got was:

Goouuu Tech IOT-GA6 vs AI-Thinker A6 confusion
It turns out that Goouuu Tech IOT-GA6 is not the same as AI-Thinker A6. Unfortunately IOT-GA6 is not supported out of the box yet. There are some hints that IOT-GA6 firmware may be updated to match A6... See this topic.

at https://github.com/vshymanskyy/Tiny...goouuu-tech-iot-ga6-vs-aithinker-a6-confusion and the "this topic" link points to reflashing a GA6 to turn it (back?) into an A6.

 

[emexes]

There might be a clue in this post: https://forum.arduino.cc/index.php?topic=422375.msg4311699#msg4311699
which mentions:

Finally, what I just did was connect a HUGE 4700uF capacitor to supply rail, this solved everything

which aligns with the earlier observation about the current draw being bursty.

 

[rabbitBUSH]

Thanks @emexes I can't say for sure - but I think I might have also found at least one of those threads - after a while one tends to bounce over some while on the downhill run. I just kept getting sites that wanted to sell me another one and no information attached. The online vendor did have some cursory stuff but nothing about the pins - your image above (#2) helps there.

The most disturbing thing is that GOOUUU just doesn't seem to have web presence ( as a "corporate entity" ), how did they achieve that in this Century? unless that was in page 21 of the google listing(!)

I will reread some of all that (it was late last night / early this morning) so its not a good time to digest stuff you're trying desperately to understand and grasp.

• I confess I didn't find the images in #2 thanks for that, I may have skimmed them since they didn't look like the module image . That makes connecting it up (at least) ""simple"" looking.

NOTED :

• your comments about power draw (makes external power an issue for this project see 1 & 2 below)
  
• the post mentioned in #5 - that looks like its going to be crucial to pay attention to

I think @Cableguy said some things about this (a6) and had the same warnings about power and the learning curve here.

I have in the mean time, to get on with the project, ordered a SIM800 module, since there seems to be a lot more assist and information available.

1. I'm stuck with using GSM / GPRS since the production unit will typically (almost always) be in the bush or orchards so WIFI without some investment is not an option.
2. If anyone has a way around this suggestions let me know . . . I had some ideas but they all seemed to hit a dead-end in the end.

I thought this was going to be sticky stuff but didn't expect non-trivial......

 

[rabbitBUSH]

found this just now

​

Errrr, it looks simple!

 

[emexes]

ordered a SIM800 module

Yeah, something with better support and documentation would be good.

Only trap I can see is that... I don't know about where you are, but here 2G is completely decommissioned, now stuff has to be at least 3G.

 

[rabbitBUSH]

ZA 4g mostly the problem might be shadow areas and valleys.
if I recall you're in errr Australia if so you'll appreciate the on the ground issues?

 

[emexes]

ZA 4g mostly

I think the base SIM800 module is 2G only. Multi-band but not multi-system.

you'll appreciate the on the ground issues?

Sadly, yes ;-)

This is what 97% of population has mobile coverage looks like here:

Is all good in cities and towns and along major highways, but... you don't have to stray far for a return to the peace and quiet of pre-mobile-phone days!

And keeping with the positive attitude: we visited Ayers Rock last year, and the phone coverage there was better than I expected. Like, who'd be needing to make a phone call from the top of a rock? But it was very specifically targeted, and thus is probably just one or two purple pixels on the above map.

 

[rabbitBUSH]

You'd think if they put a pole on top of Ayres Rock or ulu-forgtten-it that would do - it's that flat there isn't it

Cheers.... For now.

 

[emexes]

Is all good in cities and towns and along major highways

Now that I think about it, even in these areas there are plenty of no signal areas, usually in the shadow areas and valleys that you mentioned. And in the house we are living in now, many moons ago when we used a mobile phone as an internet service rather than pay to install a phone line, we had to have the phone up on the upper storey, not on the ground storey. Albeit that was a performance issue rather than a service/no-service issue - it still worked on the lower storey, just not as fast.

 

[emexes]

You'd think if they put a pole on top of Ayres Rock or ulu-forgtten-it that would do - it's that flat there isn't it .

It is indeed rather flat. Tower is not on Ayers Rock, though - something that both sides of the to-climb-or-not-to-climb debate can agree on ;-)

So you'd need at least two towers, one on each side of the rock, to provide reasonable coverage.

Plus GSM is only good for about 30 km radius, something to do with coordinating transmission timeslots so they don't bang into each other.

 

[emexes]

Hmm. I'd give up with the datasheet search, then when I was closing down all the dead-end tabs, I noticed this:

with a cryptic link to this:

https://pan.baidu.com/s/1i5CDS81

which I am trying now to get in an easier-to-read format.

 

[emexes]

Voila!

http://upfiles.heclouds.com/forum-app/2017/07/31/e645b9158b84881b702c226927108487.pdf

Happy reading!

;-)

 

[emexes]

Now I have found this too.

https://usermanual.wiki/Pdf/Sim800CHardwareDesignV102.1284175741

It is for the SIM800C rather than GA6, but:

1/ the front cover looked remarkably similar (so perhaps this provides a new company to chase down for info), and

2/ much of the document is similar, or even identical, eg:

although I've just noticed now that VBAT is 300 mV in the GA6 document and 350 mV in the SIM800C document - spewin!

The reason for using this particular example is: note the peak current draw of 2 Amps. This might upset the Arduino. Although... that is 2 Amps from the battery, which I think is 4.1 Volts, and so the equivalent current draw from 5 Volts (eg Arduino) *might* be less (but not much).

 

[emexes]

2G discussed more eloquently:

https://www.raviyp.com/embedded/208-don-t-use-sim900-sim908-sim800-sim808-modules-in-usa-2g-sunset

 

[rabbitBUSH]

Yow the horse or the kangaroo has left the paddock and galloping along.

I love the people on this forum.

That stuff in #14 is nothing short of a tenatious miracle. I never got anythng looked remotely like that.

I was just looking a the SIMCOM site earlier and all the SIMXXX quote GPRS at 85.6kbps or something (https://simcom.ee/modules/gsm-gprs/sim800c/).

I have to admit that some of the stuff you are writing makes vague sense to me. I have no electronics training/experience at all so it makes a degree of understanding because I have done weird programming projects and had to refer and work with the electronic techs. (like taking reading off a subject running on a treadmill, and catching the footfall walking patterns of subjects).

which I am trying now to get in an easier-to-read format.

GRIEF hows your chinese? What's the Kanji for translate and or english? have to get one of those Chinese that have disappeared into Aus to help. Hey, there is a Confusius Institute and chinese language course here....will maybe have to go there. But this looks like it just wants to sell me another one. That document looks promising. At least it has pictures .........

I will go to the local cell outlet I am friendly with (a bonsai treekeeper buddy) and ask about the 2G thing on these networks otherwise its a search for an alternative to the SIM800.

#13 which one is you and partner/s?


I wonder how many collective hours we've spent on this - can I bill myself or the company?

 

[rabbitBUSH]

So @emexes have look at this. I was trawling for other GSM modules on the online vendor and came across this lot. I thought what's the range of rf-433-mhz-and-nrf24l01 stuff, and I am wondering if this isn't the solution for the immediate project which would be about the limit of this range distance from the center base stations.....

Giggle gave me this :

https://n8henrie.com/2015/03/range-testing-for-wireless-arduino-projects-rf-433-mhz-and-nrf24l01/​

That NRF24 thingy looks like a good option if one use an antenna version on each end to try for better comms reliability.

VENDOR'S blurb on their top NRF24 module : cheap as well.... better speeds...NO GSM HEADACHE...I can deal with the cellphone informatiion to the user from the base station - should be much easier. [famous last words there]

I think this will let me have paired units one of which will set a beeper off when a threashold is reached and some other things....

Well provided the highlighted bit below is REAL

Description

The nRF24L01 module is the latest in RF modules. This module uses the 2.4GHz transceiver from Nordic Semiconductor, the nRF24L01+. This transceiver IC operates in the 2.4GHz band and has many new features! Take all the coolness of the nRF2401A and add some extra pipelines, buffers, and an auto-retransmit feature - very nice!


This board features a reverse polarized SMA connector for maximum RF range. And there are PA and LNA circuit on board, with the external antenna it can reach long distance than the one without these parts.


This module comes with the 2.4G antenna (2DB), with 250Kbps transmission rate on open air it can reach the 800-1K meters communication distance.


Features

• Voltage: 3-3.6V (recommended 3.3V) V
• Maximum output power: +20dBm
• Emission mode current(peak): 115mA
• Receive Mode Current(peak): 45mA
• Power-down mode current: 4.2uA
• Sensitivity 2Mbps mode in received: -92dBm
• Sensitivity 1Mbps mode in received: -95dBm
• Sensitivity 250kbps mode in received: -104dBm
• PA gain: 20DbLNA gain: 10Db
• LNA Noise figure: 2.6Db
• Antenna Gain (peak): 2Dbi
• 2MB rate (Open area): 520m
• 1MB rate (Open area): 750m
• 250Kb rate (Open area): 1100m
• Interface: SPI

Documents

• Arduino Library
• Wiki Page

 

[emexes]

I am away from computer at moment, but: do a search for long range wifi. Might have been tested by that Swiss bloke on YouTube. It was some wifi range enhancement by a chipmaker. Real-life tested 1.2 km but probably was line-of-sight.

Also about six months ago, I think someone on this forum was getting good distances with long-range Bluetooth (BLE?). New Zealand rings a bell. Also having faint flashbacks of a fish and chip shop... wtf?!?!