Thanks! Now, I can open Tinker.
But tinker doesn’t do anything. If I ask tinker to read a pin, it takes a long time, then the phone app reports “none”. If I use tinker to attempt to reflash tinker, it says “permission denied”.
…and now, my device has vanished from my list of devices in the Particle app but it is still sitting here on the desk breathing cyan.
Sucessfully got it working in another city, however I can’t use it at home with the o2 sim card - how can I get to the step creating my own firmware with custom APN? Why is it so hard to get there? Isn’t there a direct link somewhere? if I enter setup.particle.io I just can start all over again which I really don’t want to …
Good to hear that it works!
Unfortunately there is no shortcut currently, but it’s designed that way so that you know what’s required before you try to Claim your electron, which will happen after that 3rd Party APN screen. If you go to https://setup.particle.io/ it’s not too bad though, just click NEXT and enter your ICCID (or type 12341234123412341234) and click NEXT.
You can also create this app yourself, see here for an example:
https://docs.particle.io/reference/firmware/electron/#setcredentials-
12341234123412341234 did the trick - yeah! When I enter the correct number I never get the chance to change the APN. Of course I could do it by compiling my own firmware. Thanx a lot!
Interesting, so when you entered your 3rd Party SIM number you did not get the 3rd Party screen but got the Particle activating screen instead? Would you please share your ICCID with me via PM so I can check it? It should not be in our database as a Particle SIM, and if that’s true it would be good to figure out why it doesn’t present you with the APN screen. One requirement is to enter at least 19 digits to get the NEXT button to light up. If that was the case, no need to send me your number (perhaps you didn’t get all of the digits off of the card?). Thanks!
Exactly - but when I entered 1234[…] I was led to the above mentioned website where I could enter my custom APN and download the firmware.
I have, however another problem - the Electron seems to need a GSM connection - I have only a 3G connection available - no 2G network. I’m using a ublox SARA-U270 - can I somehow switch to 3G permanentely?
I’m using a Femtocell which is only capable of 3G (UMTS/HSDPA) connection …
The U270 is 3G.
The G350 would be 2G.
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No it’s not - it supports 2G and 3G and it seems to connect only to the cloud using 2G - whenever I’m home (only 3G available) it blinks green, when I’m at work (2G and 3G available) it will connect at once. I have 5 bars reception with virtually every other 3G device so the reception isn’t the issue here.
Reference: https://www.u-blox.com/de/product/sara-u2-series
The 270 series supports GPRS/Edge (2G or 2.5G) and UMTS/HSDPA (3G or 3.5G)
There are u-blox AT Commands to set a fixed mode (page 82ff in the u-blox AT command manual) but maybe anyone from the particle team can enlighten me?
Just in case anybody has the same problem - flashing a custom firmware with specific AT commands helps getting it working in a 3G scenario.
// SYNTAX
// Connects to a cellular network by APN only
#include "cellular_hal.h"
STARTUP(cellular_credentials_set("yourapnnamegoeshere", "", "", NULL));
void setup() {
// your setup code
Serial.begin(9600);
// set to 3G mode
if (RESP_OK == Cellular.command("AT+URAT=2,0\r\n"))
{
Serial.printlnf("URAT Set to UMTS");
}
else
{
Serial.println("Error setting URAT.");
}
}
void loop() {
// your loop code
}
you might also use the uart command from your program code I just ran into a weird problem that the command always failed but maybe I had something else wrong.
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well in fact you should put the code in the setup in your regular program code or it will be overwritten … 
Very interesting results @McTristan! I’ll be looking into this right now. It appears that the default mode should be
1: (factory-programmed value): GSM / UMTS (dual mode)
However U270 has a caveat that this mode is not supported:
<SelectedAcT>=0, 1 are not supported
So my first question will be what does AT+URAT? return…
Forget what I wrote, it seems I have a faulty unit - this is what happens:
Whenever I’m flashing a new firmware onto my electron it seems to work for quite a while until my femtocell resets itself (about 2am in the morning) - although the process takes only seconds, the Electron will start flashing green constantly - it will not start working when I’m resetting it, nor when I’m disconnecting it from power. It will only start to work if I flash another firmware onto it.
Further more: If I take the Electron to my work place (having good 2G & 3G reception over there) it will magically start working again (this is without flashing another firmware onto it) - if I return home it will start flash green until I put another firmware on it - then it will work until 2am in the morning and bang - its gone.
I have multiple photons, cores and bluz dks - but I’m kind of stuck here , it seems like when flashing a firmware I’m setting it to 3G and it works until it looses the connection - why it doesn’t recover is beyond my understanding
When I’m flashing the original firmware (i.e. created with the above mentioned link) it will flash green from the beginning so the command seems to make a (temporary) difference.
Weird piece of hardware 
On the U260 and U270 I've tested, the defaults are true:
AT+URAT=?
+URAT: (0-2),(0,2)
OK
AT+URAT?
+URAT: 1,2
OK
So this should mean (GSM / UMTS (dual mode) by default, however the note in the AT command manual about <SelectedAcT>=0,1 are not supported was still concerning... until I see that it is specifically calling out a unique version of the U270 for Korean markets that we do not sell:
SARA-U270-53S module product version is approved by KT Korean network operator and it does not support 2G radio access technology.
Looking at what you've said about:
it will not start working when I'm resetting it, nor when I'm disconnecting it from power. It will only start to work if I flash another firmware onto it.
This seems very odd and I don't have an immediate thought for why this would be the case. If you have gone through the steps for putting Tinker with USB debugging on your electron before, it would be good to see what the Modem-Register section of the logs is doing before (when your femtocell reboots and electron flashing green) and after you flash new firmware (and electron reconnects). If this can be repeated by just flashing the Tinker with debugging... all the better as you'll be ready to see output logs. You can PM me the logs if you don't want to have to sanitize them.
Do you use this femtocell because you don't have any other cellular access in your area or just to boost the signal in your home? I also use one at home, but just to boost the signal for my phones. I'm sure there's a way I could force my electron to connect to my microcell only... but I'd like to do so without changing the system firmware commands to make it an apples to apples test.
Will do the debugging - it's connected to my computer anyway.
I use the femtocell to get coverage in my house - I have virtually no reception at all using any network from any operator so the femtocell is my only cell. It's a Huawei model which support UMTS and HSDPA only - no 2G network.
Additionally I'm also suffering the same issues mentioned here:
When I do publish events in a regular interval it works (beside my unit failing when my femtocell reconnects) - the cloud connection stops working after a while when I'm not doing anything regularly but this belongs to the other thread.
I am seeing the same issue. When I enter the APN and click on the button, the download does not start. I am using Google Chrome and the console gives me this error:
ElectronActions.js:243 OPTIONS https://api.particle.i/v1/binaries net::ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED
It looks like baseApiUrl has the incorrect value.
@Finder I'm not sure what would cause that error but have asked the guys to look into it. In the meantime, you can create and flash an app locally:
setcreds.ino
#include "cellular_hal.h"
STARTUP(cellular_credentials_set("broadband", "", "", NULL));
void setup() {
// your setup code
}
void loop() {
// your loop code
}
You can then flash this to your Electron over USB via the Particle CLI. With your Electron in DFU mode, the command for this is:
particle compile electron setcreds.ino --saveTo firmware.bin && particle flash --usb firmware.bin
Docs reference:
https://docs.particle.io/reference/firmware/electron/#setcredentials-
Once you get your electron connected, you can use the Build IDE, but make sure to keep your credentials code in various apps you create. In the future it will be saved to non-volatile memory so this will not be necessary.
1 Like
Hey everyone,
I am able to get my Electron blinking cyan but I can not claim it. I am usinga 3rd party sim. Any advice?
It said it cant detect the electron on the cloud but it is blinking as it has connection.
Thanks to all.
Does it ever breathe cyan for a bit?
A lot of 3rd party SIMs need Particle.keepAlive(30); added in setup(). Specifically 30 seconds.
https://docs.particle.io/reference/firmware/electron/#particle-keepalive-
If this doesn’t fix it… I’d suggest checking writing into support.
https://docs.particle.io/support/support-and-fulfillment/menu-base/