How to upgrade a Dragino LoRaWAN Gateway (LPS8) to a Helium Data-Only Hotspot
- Internet connectivity for Dragino LPS8 is the first step to upgrade Dragino LoRaWAN gateway. There are 2 options:
a. Use a network cable and connect the gateway to your Internet Modem/Router. LPS8 has DHCP function enabled by default. It will obtain an IP address from your router and will get connected to the internet. You may check your modem GUI to see what’s the assigned IP to Dragino LSP8.
b. Dragino is also a WiFi Access Point. Use your mobile or laptop for a WiFi connection.
- Search for available networks, and you will see an SSID starting with “dragino-xxxxxx” Choose it to get connected.
- Enter the password, which is “dragino+dragino”
- Open a browser and enter 10.130.1.1 to go to the login page.
- Enter “root” and “dragino” as the password to log in.
- Go to Network –> WiFi –> enable WiFi WAN Client
- Enter your own network SSID and Password
- Check your router panel to find the IP address of your LPS8 gateway. It’s going to take a few minutes for the gateway to connect to your router.
- Enter the Gateways admin panel address in the following format:
http://Gateway-IP-Address:8000 in our example, it’s going to be:
http://192.168.0.230:8000
Enter “root” are the user and “dragino” as the password. You may want to change this password to a more secure one. (Go to System –> General –> System Password)
- Download the latest firmware of LPS8 Dragino LoraWAN Gateway from this address:
- https://www.dragino.com/downloads/index.php?dir=LoRa_Gateway/LPS8/Firmware/Release/
- Go to System –> Firmware Update –> Choose the firmware you just downloaded and click upload
- Click on Proceed and wait for 5-7 minutes
- Reaccess the admin panel and navigate to Lora > Lora from the Menu and Under Radio Settings, select your region in the Frequency Plan drop-down and, if applicable, the Frequency Sub Band. For example, in the US, select US915 for the frequency plan and 2 for the sub-band.
- To Configure LoRaWAN Settings:
- Navigate to LoRaWAN > LoRaWAN from the menu.
- Select Custom / Private LoRaWAN from the Service Provider.
- Set the Server Address to 127.0.0.1 and both Uplink and Downlink ports to 1680
- In order to install Helium Gateway (gateway-rs) on the LPS8 Dragino LoRaWAN Gateway, we need to Connect to the Dragino over SSH.
- Choose the SSH client of your choice. In this example, we will use Putty.
- Enter LPS8 IP address and change the port from 22 to 2222 and then click open.
- There will be a security pop-up alert; click yes.
- Login as root with password “dragino” (or your password in case you have changed it before)
- Run cd/tmp
- Copy the command below:
wget -O helium-gateway-v1.0.0-alpha.31-dragino.ipk https://github.com/helium/gateway-rs/releases/download/v1.0.0-alpha.31/helium-gateway-v1.0.0-alpha.31-dragino.ipk
Then right-click on the green cursor in Putty
- Hit enter
- Once the download is over, copy the following command:
opkg install /tmp/helium-gateway-v1.0.0-alpha.31-dragino.ipk
Right-click on the green cursor in Putty - Use the command “helium_gateway key info” to view the public key address and animal name of your gateway
We update this post whenever there are official changes from Helium or Dragino. or a new firmware is released.
