Electron - what do I do if no coverage?

Getting Started
1

I’ve been a Kickstarter backer of all devices (Core/Photon and now Electron)

I’ve received my 2G device only to find that it won’t connect, and the coverage web site maps doesn’t list show much coverage for me in St. Albans U.K.

So, now I am stuck with a device and my free 3 months have started ticking down.

I backed this project the minute it was announced, and there was no advice on what device to get back then.

So now what should I do? I’m $100+ down and have a device that just cycles through green flashing and cyan flashing endlessly.

I hope someone has some advice. Thanks.

2

You still might be in luck. Others have had the same issue and fixed it.

Check out this thread: Electron G350 connectivity (flash sequence)

3

Thanks RBW.

I eventually got working, but only if I hold the antenna.

So I don’t know if the connection is loose and it presses because the wire is more ‘vertical’ when I hold it. Or if my body is boosting the signal.

I’m not sure that the device is reliable enough for my needs, yet…

4

The antenna connector is fragile and is only built to last a few connection cycles so if you mess with it too much you will need a new one.

If it’s seated properly into the mating connector then you may just be in a weak coverage area.

You can hit the MODE button real quick and the LED will dim and then you will see quick flashes which indicate signal strength by 0-5 flashes. I think 5 is the max amount of flashes indicating max signal strength.

I get 2 flashes in my garage and 3 flashes outside.

1 Like
5

I’ve had my Electron frustrations. I broke my 1st one (bent the antenna socket–fixed it, then broke USB socket off–couldn’t fix). Bought another one. I normally have 2 bars of AT&T. Expected the Electron to be fairly reliable. At first, it wasn’t too bad. Instead of a Photon finding wifi in a couple of seconds the Electron could take minutes (or never). But I managed to write a sample program (Particle Dev – not very Electron adept, yet). I got info from support about how to translate signal DB into bars – here’s PHP version:
$bars = $rs >= -57 ? 5 : $rs > -68 ? 4 : $rs > -80 ? 3 : $rs > -92 ? 2 : $rs > -104 ? 1 : 0;

–where “rs” is the DB return value from Particle’s “Cellular.RSSI()”. If I press the mode button I get the 1-bar blink but my DB returns are generally 0 per above (less than -104). Moving the antenna around helps some. Any suggestions?