Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is the warranty on the products?
We provide standard 18-month warranty on parts and labor on the sensors and gateways. However, if it turns out that the customers damaged the product due to mishandling, then the warranty does not apply. Since user could drain sensor battery quickly with continuous DAQ, the sensor battery is not under warranty.
2. Can SVT-A wireless vibration sensor perform continuous DAQ?
Yes a SVT-A sensor can take data continuously in real-time mode, multi-DAQ mode or live FFT mode.
3. Can I obtain raw data from the sensors?
Yes there are multiple ways to obtain raw data. For example, user can export data from the edge-computing gateways with BroadVibra software, or use direct InfluxDB database data exporting operation, or use MQTT to get data in real time to another computer or servers.
4. What is the difference between SVT-A and SVT-V series wireless vibration sensors (accelerometers)?
Please refer to this article on the comparison.
5. How to estimate sensor battery life?
Please refer to this article on sensor battery life estimate.
6. How to improve sensor signal (distance to the gateway?).
Please refer to this article.
7. Can the sensors be used directly with a smart phone?
Since our sensors are mostly used in industrial environments and plants where smart phones are prohibited, Broadsens gateways are required to work with the sensors for secure operation. The gateways also have local storage and computing ability, which adds extra layer of safety and redundancy.
8. Can I access the gateway remotely?
Yes. If the gateway is inside the same network as the user, then users can access the dashboard of gateway with web browsers by entering the IP address and port number. If the user is at different network from the gateway, or there is no network access for the gateway, then user can do the following:
- Purchase a 4G LTE or 5G router, and purchase remote access plan from the provider. Typically, the providers will provide remote access support for the routers.
- Purchase 4G LTE or 5G router without remote access plan. User can add a mini PC to the router, and install remote access software such as Anydesk to the mini PC. This way, you can access the mini PC desktop remotely, and then use the mini PC’s browser to access multiple gateways onsite remotely.
- Install VPN software such as TailScale to the gateway, so that you can access the gateway securely remotely. TailScale is free for small number of gateways. Please check out their website for details: https://tailscale.com/
- Use MQTT and set up an external MQTT broker such as HiveMQ, and receive data remotely. Drawback of this approach is that there is no remote access to the gateway’s dashboard.
It is recommended to have an IT to help set up the remote connection to the gateway.
9. I changed sensor setup in the gateway, somehow the sensor does not work any more.
User must enter correct sensor ID and group number for the sensor to work. For SVT-V series sensor, once the sensor information is entered correctly, then the sensor information table is updated automatically and the sensor takes data automatically. For SVT-A series sensor, user must take data manually to have the sensor information table updated. It is recommended to use real-time mode and sample at 50Hz for testing purchase. In this mode, sensor consumes less than 200uA including data acquisition and transmission, which is the best in the industry.
10. I accidently changed SVT-A sensor’s group and can’t remember the group.
To find out a SVT-A sensor’s group or check if the SVT-A sensor works, please follow the steps below:
- Install “nRF Connect” App on your smartphone.
- Take the SVT-A sensor far away from other sensors with you. Open “nRF Connect” App to scan for Bluetooth devices
- The group number of an SVT-A sensor is “SVTA-xx”, where xx is the group number. The group number shows up as the device name at “nRF Connect” App.
For example, if the sensor belongs to group “0T”, then the device name is “SVTA-0T” on “nRF Connect” App.
If there are multiple “SVTA-xx” devices showing up, then you can check the signal level, and the device with
the strongest signal is the sensor you take.
If you can find the SVT-A sensor and its group in the APP, then the sensor is working properly.
BTW, if you have an Android phone, then you can also see the MAC address information from the “nRF Connect” App. iPhone version does not show the MAC address.
11. Can I connect your system to PLC, OPC-UA or other software platform?
Yes user can stream data to PLC or other platform. The easiest way is through Ethernet and MQTT. Alternatively, the gateway software is based on Node-RED, which is open source to Broadsens customers. User can log in to the control panel and add many different nodes. For example, user can use Siemens PLC node to interface with Siemens PLC. User can add OPC UA node to interface the system to OPC UA.
12. Do you provide installation service?
Since the system is extremely easy to use, there is no installation service required. Users can mount the system in a few minutes and they are ready to use.
13. Somehow I can show history data any more from the history data review
When this happens, the database could be corrupted, which is caused by quickly and repeatedly querying large amount of data from the database without waiting for the data to show up. When user queries the database with large amount of data points, it is important to wait for the history to finish the query and show the plots. User can recover from the database crash by resetting the database in the gateway setup page. It is recommended to reset the database 2-3 times to ensure a clean reset. Note: the history data will be lost.
14. Can I export data directly from the gateway’s database?
Yes. You can use the following command to export data from specified date and time. For example:
SVTV sensor: influx -database ‘broadgw’ -execute “SELECT * FROM gvib where time >= ‘2023-10-01 00:00:00’ and time < ‘2023-10-02 00:00:00′” -format csv > test.csv
SVTA sensor: influx -database ‘broadgw’ -execute “SELECT * FROM zone1_ace where time >= ‘2023-10-01 00:00:00’ and time < ‘2023-10-02 00:00:00′” -format csv > test.csv
change “zone1_ace” to the proper group/zone pair to export corresponding group data.
Warning: Exporting data multiple days a time could crash the database, and cause the data unusable. Therefore, we recommend that you export data no more than 1 day each time. A script can be written to export data day by day.