The easiest method is when the module automatically logs into your Wifi network. To do this you change the two defines WIFI_SID and WIFI_PW in Config.h before compiling. If you supply then the system with power, it starts the integrated web server and logs into your WiFi network. You can use your router software to search for the new SnorkTracker IP. You can then open a web browser and enter this new ip as http://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx Attention: The system does not support https yet so it only works if the URL starts with http:
If you have problems finding out the new IP, you can also simply search for the new access point
called SnorkTracker in your WiFi settings and then connect to it.
If you have connected to this access point you can now connect with a browser.
Since the system works with a captive portal and redirects all unknown urls to its own,
it is sufficient if you enter a random http: - url.
e.g. http://Dummy.html
Make sure you use http and not https.
If you now have access to the web server interface you can configure all the details via the Settings page.
All other settings are now described in detail below.
Hint: All Interval settings can be entered as '[days] hours:minutes:seconds' or just 'seconds'.
If not configured via the Config.h file you can change here the access point name and
password to your WiFi.
Be sure that you have inserted a valid SIM card with a valid contract into the SIM card slot of the SIM808. Note that the system connects without a password. So the easiest way to check if the system works without a password and to check if it can connect to a GPRS network is to put it into a mobile phone and check on start for password query and browsing functionality.
To connect to the Internet different gprs provider use different gprs access point names. For example, sunrise uses the access point name 'INTERNET' and swisscom the name 'gprs.swisscom.ch'. Search the Internet for the access point name of your provider.
The system has possibility to put more detailed information to the console window. If you want to know i.e. the detailed communication between the esp8266 and the sim808 module you can switch on here the display of this information. For performance reason it is better to switch off this if it is not needed.
The system is connected to a BME280 sensor. This sensor can scan the temperature, humidity and the pressure of its environment. With this settings you can control the interval of the scan. These environment values doe not change so often so it is enough if this interval is set to a bigger value like 1 minute or bigger.
If the system is switched on and it has a valid gprs connection details of it can be controlled via incoming sms. Here you can set the interval of this sms check.
If the system is switched on you can also switch on the gps check functionality and the gps check interval here. Remember that it can take up to a minute for the sim808 module to receive a valid gps signal. If you configure a gps check interval below this the system waits until it has a valid gps value.
With this settings part you can configure the mqtt connection to your mqtt server. If the system has a valid mqtt server connection it sends only the information that are valid at this moment. So, for example if you switched off the gps then this information could not be send to your server. If you have switched on the gps sending than you can additionally configure here how often the gps values should be send while your system is moving and how often if the system stands fix on one place.
Here is a screen shot of a mqtt server result in
ioBroker software. See http://iobroker.net
Remember the system works with HTTP and not with HTTPS. So be sure you can connect with this protocol to your MQTT server.
If you connect the system to a battery it is important that you don't use to much power consumption. Here you can configure that the system can detect if your battery is powered via a generator or not. Make some tests how much voltage the battery has when charging and when not charging. Then set a value between the two values here so the system can sleep if not charging. It is better to set the active time to low value because the system waits with the sleep mode if all the needed operations (gps, mqtt, sms) are done.