Hi everyone,
I wanted to share a project I’ve been working on that might be useful for others.
Many Helium hotspots are now available on the second-hand market for very little money. I bought my Bobcat 300 G285 for only €30 (at marktplaats), and instead of letting it collect dust, I converted it into a fully functional TTN UDP Gateway.
To make the process easy, I created an installation script that performs the complete installation and configuration automatically.
Features
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Fully automatic installation
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Automatic Gateway EUI generation
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Automatic TTN server configuration
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Supports multiple TTN regions
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Clean reinstall support
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Runs from a microSD card using Armbian
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Original Helium firmware remains untouched (simply remove the SD card to restore it)
For the Bobcat G285, you first install the excellent Armbian port created by sicXnull:
https://github.com/sicXnull/Bobcat-Armbian
After that, simply run the installer from my repository:
https://github.com/AdvdLaar/Bobcat300-TTN
The installer has been tested on my own Bobcat 300 G285 and works reliably.
I hope this helps give these inexpensive Helium gateways a second life instead of becoming e-waste. If you have a Bobcat sitting unused, it can become a very capable TTN gateway for a fraction of the cost of buying new hardware.
Many thanks to sicXnull for making the Armbian port possible. My project builds on that work by providing an easy installer focused on TTN UDP Gateway deployment.
Feedback, improvements and testing on other Bobcat models are always welcome.
Best regards,
Ad