Remote Monitoring - Again.........

[Hurricane]

Hi A, this looks like a simple solution for those of us with Wi-Fi at the marina. Do you know how often the camera will need a recharge? Ta John

My experience is that the marina WiFi isn't good enough for cameras - not consistent or reliable enough.
On the power/recharge question, the ReoLink camera that I have is powered by a small solar panel which keeps it charged 24/7 so I would think something similar could be done with that Spy Camera.

 

[Richard.C]

Update

My Dlink DWR-921 router is just about still working.
It seems that the change that I made was to get it to restart its 3G/4G connection daily has partially worked.
That seems to resolved the internet connection.
But now, it regularly looses the WiFi connections to the ReoLink cameras.
So, I manually connect to the router and force a full reboot and it then works for another couple of days.
These routers contain NVRAM which I suspect can fail after a few years use.
I think that is the reason my Dlink DWR-921 has become unreliable after about 4 years continuous use.

So, I am now the proud owner of a new Teltonica RUT950 that I will fit the next time I am out in Spain.
I am still looking for a good method of buying a local Spanish 3G/4G contract.
Local because I think that UK roaming contracts will become too expensive.
The dual SIM facility of the RUT950 was one of the reasons that I chose it.
Anyone have any ideas for a good Spanish or EU contract?

Mike, have you played with the RUT950 yet?

I'm pleased to report that fail over to 4G went without a hitch when the marina changed the password this week.

I am a complete novice with computer networking but I'm trying to learn, I am remotely able to send sms messages to the router and get status reports back. I wanted to access the router set up remotely but I seem to have a private IP assigned and can't get in direct so I registered for the Teltonika Remote Monitoring Service today. It's free for a 30 day trial and allows me to connect to the router, so I have now updated the marina wifi password and the router is back on wifi and off 4G.

I'm sure this is all just a walk in the park for some of you on here but it's working, that's the main thing.

 

[Hurricane]

Mike, have you played with the RUT950 yet?

I'm pleased to report that fail over to 4G went without a hitch when the marina changed the password this week.

I am a complete novice with computer networking but I'm trying to learn, I am remotely able to send sms messages to the router and get status reports back. I wanted to access the router set up remotely but I seem to have a private IP assigned and can't get in direct so I registered for the Teltonika Remote Monitoring Service today. It's free for a 30 day trial and allows me to connect to the router, so I have now updated the marina wifi password and the router is back on wifi and off 4G.

I'm sure this is all just a walk in the park for some of you on here but it's working, that's the main thing.

Actually, your post is very timely.
I've just set my RUT950 up.
Can't say I'm that impressed.
I looked at some of the comments on the OpenWRT website and they don't have many good words to say about the RUT950's hardware - specifically the NVRAM.
I have got mine working but it was a bit of a faff.
I want to be able to switch SIM cards remotely and Teltonica had previously posted ways to do this.
It was only when I realised that the firmware needed upgrading that it all became clear.
The RUT9_R_00.07.01.2 firmware is totally different to the firmware that is supplied from the factory.
Even then, switching SIMs manually isn't very clever.
It seems that when using the WebUI, you have to make the SIM you want to use as the Default SIM
So switching backwards and forwards isn't very intuitive.

Switching the SIM from an SMS message does work quite well though.
A single SMS message sent to it's working SIM will switch it to the other SIM.
The big issue is that if you switch SIMs remotely and the new SIM isn't working, the whole router becomes inaccessible.
Maybe it is mainly designed for failover.
My solution is to use auto reboot because switching a SIM via SMS doesn't change the default SIM so after a reboot, it will return to the initial SIM again.
In fact, there is also a "reboot if PING/WGET can't reach an internet site" which might be a better option that waiting until the next auto reboot.

I just had it all going and I was testing the "auto reboot" and the whole thing suddenly stopped working.
Turned out that the power supply has completely failed - that doesn't bode well!!
I prefer running electronics from an inverter - less chance of getting power spikes etc.
So, I tend to use the various manufactures power supplies plugged into an inverter on the boat.
After digging out a more robust power supply from my spares, I got it all working again.
I just hope the actual RUT950 is going to be more reliable than its power supply was.
It is now going on "soak test" for a few days.

As I say, it isn't that clever.
I will probably use it but I haven't got much confidence in it being very reliable.
Time will tell.

 

[Richard.C]

Actually, your post is very timely.
I've just set my RUT950 up.
Can't say I'm that impressed.
I looked at some of the comments on the OpenWRT website and they don't have many good words to say about the RUT950's hardware - specifically the NVRAM.
I have got mine working but it was a bit of a faff.
I want to be able to switch SIM cards remotely and Teltonica had previously posted ways to do this.
It was only when I realised that the firmware needed upgrading that it all became clear.
The RUT9_R_00.07.01.2 firmware is totally different to the firmware that is supplied from the factory.
Even then, switching SIMs manually isn't very clever.
It seems that when using the WebUI, you have to make the SIM you want to use as the Default SIM
So switching backwards and forwards isn't very intuitive.

Switching the SIM from an SMS message does work quite well though.
A single SMS message sent to it's working SIM will switch it to the other SIM.
The big issue is that if you switch SIMs remotely and the new SIM isn't working, the whole router becomes inaccessible.
Maybe it is mainly designed for failover.
My solution is to use auto reboot because switching a SIM via SMS doesn't change the default SIM so after a reboot, it will return to the initial SIM again.
In fact, there is also a "reboot if PING/WGET can't reach an internet site" which might be a better option that waiting until the next auto reboot.

I just had it all going and I was testing the "auto reboot" and the whole thing suddenly stopped working.
Turned out that the power supply has completely failed - that doesn't bode well!!
I prefer running electronics from an inverter - less chance of getting power spikes etc.
So, I tend to use the various manufactures power supplies plugged into an inverter on the boat.
After digging out a more robust power supply from my spares, I got it all working again.
I just hope the actual RUT950 is going to be more reliable than its power supply was.
It is now going on "soak test" for a few days.

As I say, it isn't that clever.
I will probably use it but I haven't got much confidence in it being very reliable.
Time will tell.

You have the knowledge to challenge the technology far more than I, it will probably (hopefully) exceed my needs and so far so good. I would be interested to hear how you get on with it though as I'm interested to learn more.

 

[Richard.C]

Mike,

I see there is an auto switching control for the sim cards and also a "switch back to primary card after timeout" function. Would either of these work in the scenario you explained in sim 2 failed?

 

[jakew009]

Actually, your post is very timely.
I've just set my RUT950 up.
Can't say I'm that impressed.
I looked at some of the comments on the OpenWRT website and they don't have many good words to say about the RUT950's hardware - specifically the NVRAM.
I have got mine working but it was a bit of a faff.
I want to be able to switch SIM cards remotely and Teltonica had previously posted ways to do this.
It was only when I realised that the firmware needed upgrading that it all became clear.
The RUT9_R_00.07.01.2 firmware is totally different to the firmware that is supplied from the factory.
Even then, switching SIMs manually isn't very clever.
It seems that when using the WebUI, you have to make the SIM you want to use as the Default SIM
So switching backwards and forwards isn't very intuitive.

Switching the SIM from an SMS message does work quite well though.
A single SMS message sent to it's working SIM will switch it to the other SIM.
The big issue is that if you switch SIMs remotely and the new SIM isn't working, the whole router becomes inaccessible.
Maybe it is mainly designed for failover.
My solution is to use auto reboot because switching a SIM via SMS doesn't change the default SIM so after a reboot, it will return to the initial SIM again.
In fact, there is also a "reboot if PING/WGET can't reach an internet site" which might be a better option that waiting until the next auto reboot.

I just had it all going and I was testing the "auto reboot" and the whole thing suddenly stopped working.
Turned out that the power supply has completely failed - that doesn't bode well!!
I prefer running electronics from an inverter - less chance of getting power spikes etc.
So, I tend to use the various manufactures power supplies plugged into an inverter on the boat.
After digging out a more robust power supply from my spares, I got it all working again.
I just hope the actual RUT950 is going to be more reliable than its power supply was.
It is now going on "soak test" for a few days.

As I say, it isn't that clever.
I will probably use it but I haven't got much confidence in it being very reliable.
Time will tell.

As I mentioned to you before, they are pretty underwhelming at first, but I promise that they are actually pretty reliable once you get them going.

Bin the AC power supply and just feed it directly from your leisure battery bank. That will be a far cleaner supply. It's a Molex Microfit 4 pin connector.

Re sim switching, the way Teltonika envisage it is that you designate one SIM as the primary. If it fails to connect on that SIM, it will switch to the secondary. As the previous poster said there is a parameter to get it to switch back after a while.

In our use case (remote CCTV systems) we have written a couple of scripts that handle our SIM swap failover, but that's mainly because we want to block most traffic when we fall over to the backup SIM. You can script it to do pretty much anything using UCI commands or the awful JSON-RPC API (which is truly an absolute abomination, and I don't think it even works in the latest firmware versions).

The Teltonika RMS system is quite a useful backdoor if you screw your VPN up and not very expensive.

 

[Hurricane]

Mike,

"switch back to primary card after timeout" function.

That sounds useful I hadn't see it.
I will have a look but I won't be able to get to it for a couple of days though.
We have got to visit my Mum in Berkshire.

What version are you using (did you upgrade the firmware?)

 

[Hurricane]

As I mentioned to you before, they are pretty underwhelming at first, but I promise that they are actually pretty reliable once you get them going.

Bin the AC power supply and just feed it directly from your leisure battery bank. That will be a far cleaner supply. It's a Molex Microfit 4 pin connector.

Re sim switching, the way Teltonika envisage it is that you designate one SIM as the primary. If it fails to connect on that SIM, it will switch to the secondary. As the previous poster said there is a parameter to get it to switch back after a while.

In our use case (remote CCTV systems) we have written a couple of scripts that handle our SIM swap failover, but that's mainly because we want to block most traffic when we fall over to the backup SIM. You can script it to do pretty much anything using UCI commands or the awful JSON-RPC API (which is truly an absolute abomination, and I don't think it even works in the latest firmware versions).

The Teltonika RMS system is quite a useful backdoor if you screw your VPN up and not very expensive.

Thanks for your support.
Maybe I will get to love it - you never know!!

As I said above, I need an AC power source.
Two reasons
The one stated above - reduce the chance of voltage spikes.
And I never leave DC supplies on whilst I'm away from the boat so it will have to be powered from the shore supply.

Actually, my problem is that it will be providing my only remote connection so if I loose it whilst switching - thats it.
The "default SIM" concept will recover after a failure to a manual SIM switch.
(and maybe that feature that I missed - the switch back to primary card after timeout)
My concern was the reason I would be switching is because the Default SIM was failing but I suppose that I'm looking at it all wrong.
If the Default (primary) SIM has failed, I wouldn't want it to try and use it anyway.
Maybe I should be looking at failover more seriously anyway.

I'm really only using the RUT950 as a simple GSM WAN router - using NAT thus creating its own upstream (non VPN) LAN.
I have the same concept at home.
The downstream LANs are connected virtually so that they "see each other" as the same LAN
It is the upstream LAN in both cases that I connect the cheap cameras and IoT devices.
I consider the upstream LANs to be insecure and only connect my secure devices to the downstream/virtual LAN
If you know what I mean.

I also have external solution to rebooting.
I have Energenie SMS switches that power everything.
I send an SMS to the master Energenie to recycle the power which powers off and reboots the system.
This process also forms another method of re-starting my downstream DDWRT router/tunnel and the PC that is also connected in that downstream LAN
The PC allows me to check on the batteries and other stuff.
Another reason for AC power.

It all sounds a bit complicated but it works for me when I'm on the boat and as long as the 3G/4G connection is working, I can run everything that I want when I'm not on the boat.
Anyway, thanks to everyone for their very helpful posts.

 

[vas]

cannot say I love mine, but it's there working silently and reliably for over a year now. Thing is I forgot what pswds I set that thing up with, was thinking of tinkering a bit with it and couldn't even get in

PS. I know it hasn't missed a beat as there are no gaps in the influxDB on my work server which keeps track of all things happening on board, so it must be doing it's thing alright ?

 

[Richard.C]

That sounds useful I hadn't see it.
I will have a look but I won't be able to get to it for a couple of days though.
We have got to visit my Mum in Berkshire.

What version are you using (did you upgrade the firmware?)

No I haven't touched the firmware yet, thought I'd make sure it worked as shipped, I'm hesitant to do an upgrade remotely so will probably wait until I'm next onboard. Currently running ver. 00.06.08.3 so quite old.

 

[jakew009]

No I haven't touched the firmware yet, thought I'd make sure it worked as shipped, I'm hesitant to do an upgrade remotely so will probably wait until I'm next onboard. Currently running ver. 00.06.08.3 so quite old.

I wouldn’t bother to upgrade to the latest version (7.x) with the new UI, they have broken more stuff than they have fixed.

Stick with 6.8.5 or your current version unless something is specifically broken

 

[Hurricane]

I wouldn’t bother to upgrade to the latest version (7.x) with the new UI, they have broken more stuff than they have fixed.

Stick with 6.8.5 or your current version unless something is specifically broken

Thanks for your input - it is greatly appreciated.

I couldn't find the "switch SIM" from SMS on the default firmware but that feature might have been buried deep in the system.
But, I do think the new firmware is a bit more intuitive.
Can you remember the bugs?
The firmware I am using has a date of 4/1/2022 so maybe the issues you are referring to are fixed.

It is still running after leaving it on over the last couple of days so maybe it will be ok.
I will have another session with it over the weekend.
As I say, maybe it will "grow on me".

 

[Hurricane]

I'm on the boat right now and the RUT950 is about to go in the bin.
Yes - it works but it is slow and takes an age to connect to the 3G/4G.
And it seems to disconnect more frequently than myold D-Link Router which is getting to the end of it life.
As a result, I have decided to continue to use the D-Link over the Teltonica.
As I said above, It would be good to have a dual SIM device but the RUT590 is so unreliable that I don't want to use it.
I am going to take it home but if anyone wants a cheap router, send me a PM.
It is rubbish - slow - the hardware is well past its "sell by" date.
So, until a cheap 5G alternative comes out, I am going to stick with the old router that needs to be rebooted about once a week.
Now I'm out here, I can set it all up to remotely reboot it using an Energie remote GSM power switch.
Sorry if this is contradicts what you guys are experiencing but, for me, it is less hassle if I just put the RUT950 in the bin.

BTW
My next project is to replace my downstream DDWRT router with a Raspberry Pi running OpenWRT/OpenVPN - probably on the boat and at home.

 

[vas]

odd, we're doing concurrent zoom video meetings with the wife throughout the summer with no issues (single SIM RUT240)

 

[jakew009]

I'm on the boat right now and the RUT950 is about to go in the bin.
Yes - it works but it is slow and takes an age to connect to the 3G/4G.
And it seems to disconnect more frequently than myold D-Link Router which is getting to the end of it life.
As a result, I have decided to continue to use the D-Link over the Teltonica.
As I said above, It would be good to have a dual SIM device but the RUT590 is so unreliable that I don't want to use it.
I am going to take it home but if anyone wants a cheap router, send me a PM.
It is rubbish - slow - the hardware is well past its "sell by" date.
So, until a cheap 5G alternative comes out, I am going to stick with the old router that needs to be rebooted about once a week.
Now I'm out here, I can set it all up to remotely reboot it using an Energie remote GSM power switch.
Sorry if this is contradicts what you guys are experiencing but, for me, it is less hassle if I just put the RUT950 in the bin.

BTW
My next project is to replace my downstream DDWRT router with a Raspberry Pi running OpenWRT/OpenVPN - probably on the boat and at home.

Thought you might hate it ?

But, it shouldn’t be this bad.

What firmware are you using? Don’t use the latest 7 branch, it’s not ready. The last of the 6 branch is much more reliable.

I don’t understand why it would take an age to connect the first time? Are you getting anything in the logs? What does it say while it’s trying to connect?
You may have to ssh into it and ‘logread -f’

Again, it shouldn’t be disconnecting either. We’ve got units that have been connected for ages (see screenshot). What does it say in the logs when it disconnects?

You will want to setup the ping reboot - we generally go for a modem reset every 15 mins if it can’t ping out the modem interface, and a hard reboot every hour if it can’t ping out of any interface.

Increase the number of pings that have to fail before it tries to fail from your sim connection to the wifi connection. If you’ve connected it to wifi, it may be failing over to that.

Are you sure the APN is correct? If it’s got the wrong APN the operator might keep kicking you off.

When you say it’s slow, how slow? Have you done back to back speed tests?
The Rut955 only has a Cat4 modem in it, maybe the DLink has a Cat6 modem with carrier aggregation?
What signal levels are you getting? Are you using an external aerial?

I take your point about it being ‘old hardware’ (they just released a slightly newer version of the same thing btw), but the reason they literally sell millions of them a year (more than any other mobile router manufacturer) is that they are pretty good…
We couldn’t run our business if they were actually this bad!

p.s. you can send it to me if you don’t want it

Your next step if you want something a bit more luxury is probably Peplink. Cradle point is another option. Look on eBay but firmware updates are not always available if out of contract.

 

[vas]

mine must be up for more than that. Catch is I've forgotten the pwd and cannot get into the interface
@jakew009 is there any trick to get in locally without resetting and loosing all config (don't remember a thing of what I've done over a year ago-had them all written on a file which I've lost...)

V.

 

[jakew009]

mine must be up for more than that. Catch is I've forgotten the pwd and cannot get into the interface
@jakew009 is there any trick to get in locally without resetting and loosing all config (don't remember a thing of what I've done over a year ago-had them all written on a file which I've lost...)

V.

not really, only option is a reset which will wipe your settings

hmmm thinking about it

- setup an Teltonika RMS account (free)
- get serial number and MAC address
- add it to RMS (free for 1 month)
- hope the firmware is new enough to support RMS and was left enabled by default (it will be unless you specifically disabled it)
- change password in RMS (I don’t think it needs the old password).

I’ve never tested this method but I reckon it would work

 

[Hurricane]

Thought you might hate it ?

But, it shouldn’t be this bad.

What firmware are you using? Don’t use the latest 7 branch, it’s not ready. The last of the 6 branch is much more reliable.

I don’t understand why it would take an age to connect the first time? Are you getting anything in the logs? What does it say while it’s trying to connect?
You may have to ssh into it and ‘logread -f’

Again, it shouldn’t be disconnecting either. We’ve got units that have been connected for ages (see screenshot). What does it say in the logs when it disconnects?

You will want to setup the ping reboot - we generally go for a modem reset every 15 mins if it can’t ping out the modem interface, and a hard reboot every hour if it can’t ping out of any interface.

Increase the number of pings that have to fail before it tries to fail from your sim connection to the wifi connection. If you’ve connected it to wifi, it may be failing over to that.

Are you sure the APN is correct? If it’s got the wrong APN the operator might keep kicking you off.

When you say it’s slow, how slow? Have you done back to back speed tests?
The Rut955 only has a Cat4 modem in it, maybe the DLink has a Cat6 modem with carrier aggregation?
What signal levels are you getting? Are you using an external aerial?

I take your point about it being ‘old hardware’ (they just released a slightly newer version of the same thing btw), but the reason they literally sell millions of them a year (more than any other mobile router manufacturer) is that they are pretty good…
We couldn’t run our business if they were actually this bad!

p.s. you can send it to me if you don’t want it

Your next step if you want something a bit more luxury is probably Peplink. Cradle point is another option. Look on eBay but firmware updates are not always available if out of contract.

View attachment 129581

As I said above I have "kind of" given up on it.
But after you helpful post, I will take it home with me later this week and maybe have another go.
Yes, I am using the Version 7 firmware.
The APN could be incorrect - I couldn't find anywhere that it indicated it or anywhere that I could change it.
There was a "scan for operators" (Manual, Auto and Manual Auto) - the manual scan found the local operators but it only seemed to work on auto thereafter.
When I said "slow", I really meant in setup/screen and slow to connect to the 3G/4G operator - the actual data throughput was the same as the D-Link router.
I did have a problem with it set to the default of 2G/3G/4G and setting it to 3G/4G only seemed to make it connect quicker.
Once running, I ran a Broadband Speed Checker on both the RUT950 and the D-Link - both were downloading at about 10Mbps
I have them both connected to an external omni directional antenna.
IIRC, signal strengths on the RUT950 ranged from 65 to 75 dBm

My next step is to find a different provider - currently Vodafone but they are threatening very high charges if I continue to roam using a VodafoneUK contract.
What provider would you use for a UK resident wanting 24/7 service in Spain?
I have resorted to looking for local providers but they need local bank accounts etc to deal with them.

Thanks again for the time you have taken to comment on this thread.

 

[jakew009]

As I said above I have "kind of" given up on it.
But after you helpful post, I will take it home with me later this week and maybe have another go.
Yes, I am using the Version 7 firmware.
The APN could be incorrect - I couldn't find anywhere that it indicated it or anywhere that I could change it.
There was a "scan for operators" (Manual, Auto and Manual Auto) - the manual scan found the local operators but it only seemed to work on auto thereafter.
When I said "slow", I really meant in setup/screen and slow to connect to the 3G/4G operator - the actual data throughput was the same as the D-Link router.
I did have a problem with it set to the default of 2G/3G/4G and setting it to 3G/4G only seemed to make it connect quicker.
Once running, I ran a Broadband Speed Checker on both the RUT950 and the D-Link - both were downloading at about 10Mbps
I have them both connected to an external omni directional antenna.
IIRC, signal strengths on the RUT950 ranged from 65 to 75 dBm

My next step is to find a different provider - currently Vodafone but they are threatening very high charges if I continue to roam using a VodafoneUK contract.
What provider would you use for a UK resident wanting 24/7 service in Spain?
I have resorted to looking for local providers but they need local bank accounts etc to deal with them.

Thanks again for the time you have taken to comment on this thread.

Does the antenna you have have two cables? You really need both antennas connected or the performance will be abysmal.

Start by switching back to the old firmware, the newer one is truly awful and Teltonika support even recommend not using it (as of last week in a support ticket).

Yep the UI is slow, no way around that. I think the new versions are probably a bit better.

A local SIM is probably the best option, Brexit has somewhat bollocksed roaming.

Outside the UK we leave it to our distributors to sort the data. In the UK we can buy a Vodafone unlimited data sim for about £18/month wholesale. Same for the other networks.

You really need a bulk data sim from a local operator. What about trying to buy something in Gibraltar..?

 

[Hurricane]

The antenna is one of these
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41NG87lm2VL._AC_SX425_.jpg
With two cables - seems to work a little better (not much) than the short internal ones usually provided with the routers.

OK so when I get home, I will try switching back to the old firmware on the RUT950.
It will be about 8 weeks before I come out here again - so I will see if I can live with the D-Link whilst giving the Teltonica a second try at home.
Thanks for you help - I would probably have thrown it in the bin if you hadn't posted your experiences.

Local SIM seems that best way to go - I think I've found an Unlimited contract from Orange but I need to sort out my Spanish NIE number.
I had an NIE number about 12 years ago but I've lost it - I understand that the Spanish don't issue a second one if you already have one.
I believe that NIE is a little like a UK NI number - uniquely identifies you.
All the 3G/4G operators insist on me having an NIE number for a contract - with PAYGO I think you can get away without one.
But if I can get set up with a local SIM the only issue would be a Spanish IP address so no BBC iPlayer.
That said, I have my own VPA tunnel to the UK so I could use that - or I believe that a there are other commercial VPNs that BBC don't block.
Still - an unlimited local contract would be great.