Newby Question Starting with Electron

Getting Started
1

Hi,

I am totally new with Particle environment and is slowly going through all the post than help me getting started. I am very exited and it seems we can use the Electron to replace more expensive PLC’s we are currently using.

It seems i do not have the correct cellular network coverage to make contact with the Electron via the Cloud or program it. Is it possible to write a program on my Pc via the Atom editor and flash it directly to the Electron ?

At the end I will use a local sim card and only send and receive text messages for my application so there will no need to use and Internet connection via the Electron.

Thanks
James

2

Not entirely sure whether I understand your needs :blush:

You are saying the network used by the Particle SIM isn’t available at your location?
What’s the number on the cellular module on your Electron (G350, U260 or U270)?

But you can also use 3rd party SIM when setting the correct APN and [Particle.keepAlive()] (https://docs.particle.io/reference/firmware/electron/#particle-keepalive-) (not needed if you don’t use any Particle cloud features, but you may miss out on some cool stuff :wink: )

These lines need to be present in all your programs using 3rd party SIM

STARTUP(cellular_credentials_set(APN, "", "", NULL));

void setup() {
  Particle.keepAlive(30);  // test how high you can go
  ...
}

You can use Desktop IDE (Atom) but Web IDE also works. You can download the binary via the cloud symbol next to the project name and flash via USB.

3

It is, but you'll need the CLI for local flashing. Is you have windows, give the CLI installer a shot.

4

More help please.

I am trying to work with the Desktop IDE, but cannot connect to the Electron to flash my program. In command prompt i can do an particle identify 100% ? It seems my drivers are OK

5

You could flash OTA (over the air) from within Dev or you need CLI to run

in Listening Mode

particle flash --serial yourFirmware.bin

Or preferably in DFU Mode (with the DFU drivers installed)

particle flash --usb yourFirmware.bin

But this would actually be covered in the docs
https://docs.particle.io/reference/cli/#particle-flash

6

Nearly there …

  1. Desktop IDE is connected to the claimed Electron
  2. My first program is (copy of Blink an LED) compiled OK
  3. No I would like to flash the Electron with the firmware.bin - but it is nowhere to be found ?
7

Success …

We need a beginner manual for this
:slight_smile:

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