Celular Switch for Pre-Heater - Page 5

Electrogunner · #41 01-07-2020, 10:34 AM

I second the H2O mobile plan. It's $10 for 90 days text only. Works great with kiaotime cellular switch. If you use the app from switchbox control website, the setup is a snap.

dmattmul · #42 02-05-2020, 11:03 AM

This worked fine along with a 40 amp relay. (Overkill) In spite of a comment US Mobile was a no joy I ordered a US Mobile SIM and works well. Be sure to use 001 in front of your number to authorize the device to remember it. Normal parts off Amazon and total investment less than 100 bucks. I like being able to break up the components for repair later if needed

https://www.amazon.com/King-Pigeon-R...7466&s=hi&th=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Pilot135pd · #43 02-05-2020, 11:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rallylancer122

I bought one of the Chinese power strips that is text activated off of Ebay. It's a nice unit with good reviews, unfortunately I've been unable to find a cheap sim to work in it. The T-Mobile/ultramobile sim isn't available locally. I tried buying another prepaid GSM sim but you have to activate in a smartphone and all the phones we have use the small sim while the switch uses the full size card.

DEM

That T-Mobile Ultra Mobile $3 plan sucks because it counts every call even if the switch doesn't answer. I used it up just trying to program the switch

I've tried the texts and the iphone app to program the RTU 5024 and I can't get it to work. something so simple should be easy right? What am I doing wrong ????

Pilot135pd · #44 02-05-2020, 11:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Electrogunner

I second the H2O mobile plan. It's $10 for 90 days text only. Works great with kiaotime cellular switch. If you use the app from switchbox control website, the setup is a snap.

Do you have a link? The only plans I find there are $10 for 90 days but then you have to pay for each text an additional $0.5 per text.

pa38112 · #45 02-05-2020, 12:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pilot135pd

Do you have a link? The only plans I find there are $10 for 90 days but then you have to pay for each text an additional $0.5 per text.

That is the plan - you don't have to pay $0.05 per text. You have a $10 pre-paid card, and they deduct $0.05 per text until you have used up the $10. It is good for 3 months, so roughly $3/month.

atxpilot · #46 02-05-2020, 12:15 PM

I just ordered a wifi smart plug. Since I mainly use my iPad to fly, I plan to leave the iPad in the hangar running a hotspot to the wifi plug while the iPad stays plugged in full time. In the future, I may get additional plugs to control when the ipad charges since i have it in my head that it kills the battery over time if it's always plugged in...

Pilot135pd · #47 02-05-2020, 12:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pa38112

That is the plan - you don't have to pay $0.05 per text. You have a $10 pre-paid card, and they deduct $0.05 per text until you have used up the $10. It is good for 3 months, so roughly $3/month.

So if you call it and nobody picks up it won't charge you? The T-Mobile/UltraMobile $3 plan charges you even if the other side ( RTU 5024 ) doesn't answer the call. Are you using it with a RTU 5024?

Pilot135pd · #48 02-05-2020, 01:05 PM

Ok I ordered the H20 Sim to see if I can get the darn RTU 5024 thing to work.

dmattmul · #49 02-05-2020, 03:23 PM

I have to admit the instructions are a little "unclear" and it did take me a few attempts. The initial hurtle is to make sure the sim is "talking" to the network. This can be done by watching the flashing light. Less than one flash a second there are not communication (less than one bar issue I guess). If it's communicating it will flash one time per ~ 2 seconds. You need to tell it your phone number by entering the default password (1234) then the phone number you want it to recognize. (Using 001XXXXXXXXXX)After that pretty easy. You need to program it to stay latched when it receives the text message from your phone. I am not sure how not to use a text when you want to turn it on or off but since I get 50 messages per month for $ 1.50 I did not bother trying to figure this out. I even have the system send me a text response when it latches or unlatches. At 3 cents each it's not an issue. There is a APP (Apple) for the unit that seems to work ok.

I also have a Mini Ipad in the dash that I bring in when I'm not flying and could use this as a hot spot (Did this last year) just prefer not to leave the Ipad in my hangar. Plus I wanted to try this out. I found using the Ipad not fully six-sigma and multiple times came to the airport with the heater off. One thing I did (Mentioned in another post) I installed an old electric clock on the wall that starts when the power comes on. Lets me know exactly how long the heater has been on.

rleffler · #50 02-05-2020, 04:21 PM

I finally gave up getting support from the SwitchBox folks.

I purchased a Verizon Jetpack 8800L and an Amazon Smartplug.

Good news, it works well with the Alexa app. Since Alexa is really a cloud app, it can manage multiple locations, it has no issues with the Jetpack at the hangar and a different IP subnet. You can use multiple smart plugs to remotely control things. It will also allow for Ring cameras and motion detectors. Imagine knowing when folks are in your hangar when you aren?t there?

Bad news, for other uses, I wanted to establish a site vpn from the hangar to the house. There is apparently numerous folks having issue with the 8800L vpn configuration. It basically rejects saving the client.opvn file, so you can?t even enable the vpn.

I would be interested if anyone has successfully configured an used a vpn connection of a Verizon Jetpack.