The charging pile in the underground garage is offline. Don’t report it for repair yet. I have tried three ways to connect to the Internet.

My cousin switched to a tram this year, and the community applied for his own parking space to install private parking lots. After the master installed it and powered it on, the gun was plugged in and charging normally. He happily downloaded the pile's App to see the charging data, but the pile in the App was always gray and showed "offline". His first reaction was that the pile was broken, so he sent me a screenshot and asked if I should contact the master to report it for repair.

I ran to his parking space over the weekend and took a look and I understood.: The parking space is in the innermost corner of the first floor. I carried my mobile phone in my pocket and walked down the ramp and there were still two bars of signal. When I walked to the parking space, the mobile card directly showed "no service", and the telecom card had one bar left. The measured signal strength was -113dBm. What is the concept of this number? It is worse than the corner of the bathroom where the WiFi is most remote in my house. It is not a matter of fact at all, but there is no network at all in this place.

Tell him the conclusion first to give him reassurance.: Charging itself doesn’t need to be done online. . Plug in the gun, identify the vehicle by the pile, and start transmitting power. This whole process is negotiated between the pile and the car in the gun line. It can be completed locally, and charging will continue when the network is disconnected. The Internet is the icing on the cake for things like remotely viewing data, scheduling charging, and firmware upgrades. Therefore, charging will not be delayed when the pile is offline, but if you want to use it comfortably, you still have to find a network for it. I tried the three paths with him one by one and recorded them here.

First, clarify what kind of network your home's piles rely on. Three kinds of piles are different things.

Before you start, please read the manual or product parameter page to see clearly what kind of networking method the pile uses, otherwise the direction will be reversed. There are three types of household piles on the market::

WiFi version: There is a WiFi module installed in the pile, which connects to your home router and uses your home broadband. Most of them only recognize the 2.4G frequency band and cannot find the 5G frequency band. This is the same as sweeping robots and cameras. Eight out of ten network overturns occur here. I wrote an article about the details. Sweeping robot network configuration failed , the principle that smart homes only recognize 2.4G is universal.

4G version: There is an IoT card inserted into the pile, which is the same thing as the WiFi card on your body. It connects to the Internet when it is plugged in, and does not rely on your home network. The shortcomings will be discussed in detail later. Cards have stories.

Bluetooth version (or basic version): There is no Internet connection at all. The mobile app turns on Bluetooth and gets close to the pile to directly control the start and stop. Many cheap piles and some brands of "simple models" are this way.

Many of the current mainstream third-party stubs are a mixture of two or three types, such as WiFi plus Bluetooth, 4G plus Bluetooth. My cousin's phone is a WiFi plus Bluetooth version, which is about a hundred yuan cheaper than the pure 4G version. It was originally intended to be cheap, but it ended up being that there was no WiFi in the basement. Tesla's original manufacturer's charging station also uses WiFi plus Bluetooth, and also only recognizes 2.4G.

By the way, let’s talk about why the basement is in such a miserable state. The reason is not complicated.: The roof of the first and second floors below is a whole reinforced concrete floor, surrounded by shear walls. When electromagnetic waves come in, the floor will be peeled off. When operators build networks, indoor coverage generally only covers the main driveway and entrances and exits - property management coordinates the entry of operators, and operators are only willing to cover public areas required by fire protection. Parking spaces, especially corners against walls, are basically blind spots by default.

So there is something you must do before installing piles.: The person stood in the parking space and took out his mobile phone to test . Don't measure at the entrance of the ramp, just stand where the stakes are to be installed. See both: One is the cell phone signal pattern, and the other is the inability to find WiFi at home. Look at the signal strength in the settings of an Android phone. The number changes with the environment. It is considered usable within -90dBm, and it is basically just a display beyond -110dBm. If the name of the 2.4G WiFi at home can still be found in the parking space, it means that there is a chance to use this road at home. You can click Signal blind zone self-examination The method in that article measures two more points for confirmation.

The actual measured data of my cousin’s parking space is here: China Mobile -113dBm has no service, China Telecom -107dBm per bar, and the 2.4G WiFi at home can be found in the parking space, with a strength of about -87dBm. This foundation determines how the road ahead will be taken.

Lu Yi: Use WiFi at home, only if the parking space is close to indoors

The WiFi at home can reach the parking space. This is the most economical way, and it doesn’t cost a penny. But there are two hurdles.

The first hurdle is signal margin. When 2.4G passes through a floor, it drops about 15 to 25dB. My cousin's router is in the living room. When it reaches the balcony, it drops -48dBm, and when it reaches the basement parking space, it only drops -87dBm. It is better than nothing at this level to connect the phone to the Internet, but it can be used once every three times when connected to the network. It is not disconnected at all when connected, and the online status of the Internet in the App flashes on and off. If you want to be stable, you have to move the signal source towards the parking space. The balcony of his house is just above the basement side. I changed his old router into wireless relay mode and hung it on the balcony socket. The signal in the parking space was pulled to -72dBm. The pile distribution network was passed through once and it has been stable online ever since. I have written the complete operation of changing the old route to the relay Wireless repeater mode settings , each brand has similar routines ； The Mercury machine followed a different set of guides, following Wireless bridging Just do that one. If your home already has a Mesh network, move the sub-router to the room on the basement side. The effect will be the same. The placement principle is the same as Mesh sub-routing address selection That article is in the same vein.

The second hurdle is the frequency band. The pile only recognizes 2.4G. If the router is dual-band-in-one (one name and two frequency bands), the pile may grab the wrong frequency band or not be able to find it directly when configuring the network. First, disassemble the dual-band. 2.4G has a separate name for the pile. The disassembly methods vary from brand to brand. Xiaomi’s view Xiaomi removes dual band , the look of Mercury Mercury combines multiple frequencies into one . It is recommended that the name be short and pure, and the password should not contain special symbols. The input boxes of embedded devices such as this are very delicate.

By the way, a reminder: The WiFi version of the pile uses your home broadband. If you change the password of the router, change the router, or reset the optical modem, the pile will lose connection. After the change, remember to go to the parking space to configure the network again. This is similar to the disconnection of home cameras.

Lu Er: The 4G version of the pile comes with an IoT card, so you don’t have to worry about it, but you have to pay attention to the card.

If the parking space is far from your home, or if the parking space is not a floor but an entire community garden, don’t force yourself to use WiFi. At this time, the 4G version is really worry-free: The IoT card is inserted into the pile, and it automatically registers when it is powered on. Just like your mobile phone, it checks in at the base station and leaves. Once the app is installed and opened, the pile is always online.

But there are four things you should ask the seller clearly before buying. They are all pitfalls of real money.:

Whose card is it and who pays the traffic fee? Some manufacturers offer lifetime package traffic, and the cost is included in the stake price. ； Some are free for the first year and thirty or forty for the following year. ； Others recharge bare cards themselves. The price difference can be more than 100 yuan, so don't just look at the price of the pile.

Will the card stop? IoT cards have gone missing, merchants have suspended cards, and operators have cleaned up second-hand card pools. I have seen these things happen once in a while in the portable WiFi industry. I have written down the method for judging whether a card is reliable. Portable WiFi as broadband In that article, the cards in the pile are the same. If the manufacturer goes out of business, the card will become a brick, so when buying a pile, try to choose a big name with a long history, and don't be greedy for a hundred yuan cheaper than other brands.

Is there any 4G signal in the basement? This is the most easily overlooked point - 4G comes with the pile, which does not mean that there is 4G in the basement. Before buying a parking space and installing piles, test the mobile phone cards of three operators on the parking space to see which one is qualified and which standard card should be selected. Some piles allow you to change the cards yourself, while others are welded inside and cannot be replaced, so ask before buying. The 4G version of the stake in the parking space next to my cousin's was offline all year round because there was no mobile coverage in the basement. Later, after receiving feedback from the operator's customer service and catching up with the renovation of the residential area, it was restored. I waited for less than half a year.

Is the flow enough? The remote data of the pile is actually very economical. The heartbeat plus statistics can reach dozens of MB per month. Normally, there is no need to worry. But if the pile also has a screen to push advertisements, or the manufacturer's background is crazy about pulling logs, there are also piles with black holes in traffic. You can save worry by choosing one with a good reputation.

Lu San: Bluetooth is a secret, it can be charged even if there is no network, this is confidence

Strictly speaking, this is not "networking", but I list it separately because it is the most practical part of the whole thing.: When you turn on Bluetooth on your mobile phone and approach the pile, the App directly establishes a connection with the pile. You can start and stop charging and view real-time current. No WiFi or 4G is required for the entire process. There is no delay in basements, remote mountainous areas, jams, or router crashes.

The effective distance of Bluetooth is generally only a few meters, and people have to stand in front of the pile. Therefore, its positioning is to protect the bottom rather than the main force.: It cannot provide remote charging appointments, check charging progress when out and about, and power statistics reports. It cannot provide these cloud functions, but it can solve the problem of "must charge tonight". My cousin’s current usage is to rely on the WiFi relay on the balcony to read data every day. When the WiFi is congested, I go downstairs to start and stop Bluetooth directly. It has been two months and I haven’t panicked again.

I only have one piece of advice when buying piles.: It would be better to spend dozens of dollars more and choose a multi-mode model with 4G plus Bluetooth or WiFi plus Bluetooth. One more networking method and one more layer of fault tolerance. Pure single-mode piles are equivalent to putting eggs in one basket in an environment like a basement.

I want to install a surveillance camera in the parking space to prevent scratches, but the problem is also stuck with no internet connection.

After the pile of things was settled, my cousin came up with a new idea.: Install a camera in the parking space to prevent scratches and to prevent people from pulling out guns. It was a good idea, but as soon as it hit the ground, it hit the same wall again - there is no Internet in the parking space, why is the camera connected?

Monitoring installed in the basement walks on three legs. The first one, 4G camera plus traffic card, has the same principle as 4G piles. There must be a signal in the parking space, and the monitoring traffic is much higher than the pile fee. Continuous recording can consume half a gigabyte to 1 gigabyte a day. A month's traffic card money is enough to buy a hard drive, so it is only suitable for key parking spaces. The second one is local storage and regular card removal. The camera inserts the SD card and records by itself without being connected to the Internet. The disadvantage is that you have to remember to take the card and review it. If something goes wrong, you have to collect evidence afterwards. The third item is the plan I gave him: Utilize the WiFi relay to pull over, hang an old mobile phone above the parking space as a camera, and automatically upload it to the NAS at home. No one passing by will ever think that the "broken mobile phone" is a camera, and the cost is zero. I have written about the complete pitfalls of renovating old mobile phones. Old mobile phone for monitoring , the battery and heat treatment are discussed in detail there. If you plan to do serious recording on the storage side, you can see how to configure the hard drive. How many days are surveillance videos stored? Another advantage of the algorithm in that article and the basement scene is that no one messes with the equipment. Before installing the surveillance system, where should it be installed and how to prevent being watched? It is recommended that Home monitoring network planning Read it first and transfer your ideas directly.

By the way, the basement camera is also a matter of privacy and security.: After the camera itself is connected to the Internet, it has an extra hole for outsiders to see. Don't be lazy about passwords and firmware. I'm here Camera security self-inspection The pits that have been stepped on can be used after being moved over.

Take your seat according to the number, add the hands-on sequence, and finish the homework by copying it

Collate the above roads into a table and check the numbers according to the parking spaces.:

Follow this order, don’t skip a step:

The first step is to stand in the parking space, test the signals of the three operators and the WiFi at home, and write down the numbers in your mobile phone. The second step is to turn to the parameter page of the pile to find out whether it is a WiFi version, a 4G version or a Bluetooth version. In the third step, if you haven’t bought a pile yet, use the actual measurement results in the first step to figure out which one you should buy, with multi-mode models given priority. The fourth step is to verify the charging body after the pile is installed. If the gun can be inserted and charged, it means that there is no problem with the hardware, and then connect to the network. Step 5: If the network distribution fails, first disassemble the dual-band into one, take out the 2.4G separately and try again. If it still doesn't work, change the relay to pull the signal. The sixth step is to deliberately disconnect the network after the connection is established, and use Bluetooth to start charging - walk through this road yourself, and you will be able to sleep no matter what happens in the basement in the future.