MirC Lost Connection - Well Pump

Products
1

Hello,

I’m currently using a 2 channel mirC to operate a well pump remotely for my home. In order to achieve connection I had to use a 20ft low loss extension cable at both ends to get the included antennae outside.

I’ve been in operation for about a week with no issues. This morning I woke up to no water. Both units remained powered, but for some reason lost connection. Several attempts to troubleshoot antennae connections, and multiple power resets have regained normal operation. However I don’t know what exactly created the problem.

My first inclination leads me to believe the standard antenna aren’t cutting it with the added cable length. I’m running about 1,500+ ft between the units with near line of sight. So maybe I need new antennas to achieve better connection? If so what is recommended? This doesn’t make sense though seeing as it’s worked for a week normally. But it has gotten colder in the last few days so maybe humidity is the culprit?

The second possible culprit would be the inductive interference I’ve read about. However it wouldn’t make sense to me that I’d have flawless operation for a week before having interference. I also figured I wouldn’t need the capacitor seeing as the well pump itself has a starter capacitor on it. But maybe I’m wrong here?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you,
Rob

2

Hi Rob,

Honestly no one here is a wireless engineer. That’s why we use Digi International wireless modules in our products because they are very reliable and reputable.

That said my guess is that these devices were just right on the bubble as far as a solid reliable wireless connection and environmental changes played a part in severing that connection. These devices do have a break in period during which their range can slightly reduce but it will level out which could also play a part in this.

I would highly recommend obtaining some higher gain wireless antennas from a 3rd party supplier such as www.l-comm.com. If you purchased these MirC boards within the last 2 years then they will be 900 MHz so you’ll need 900 MHz antennas and the connection to the board is RP-SMA. These antennas are fairly common and easy to find.

Thank you Rob,
Travis Elliott