I have a vibration sensor and a MQTT micro gateway running
I want to put potentially hundreds of sensors out in the plant
Can i rename each sensor so it has something more “real world”
I see the node # in the device config, but i’m hoping each sensor can be “named” so i dont have to keep a database for node # to real world,… this could be a show stopper at a large facility like ours
mel
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Hi Scott,
This is something needs to be done on the data receiver side For example if you are using ubidots cloud platform to view the data over there you can set the device name.
@TravisE_NCD_Technica do you have any thoughts on this
We are pulling the broker data into ignition,… are you saying we have to name the device there?
Is there any type of sparkplug wrapper?
Hi Scott,
The sensors are small simple devices. They do not have a user definable name. They do have unique IDs which can be inserted into MQTT Message or can be used in the MQTT Topic. More information on that can be found in the MQTT Gateway user guide here under Message Settings:
The Sensor ID can be pulled into the message or topic using the ::Sensor_ID:: token.
Most generally human readable names are implemented on the cloud/software side rather than on the device side. However if this is something you adamantly need we can create a custom firmware for the MQTT Gateway for you that would allow to manually name the sensors on the Gateway, however it seems to still make more sense to do this on the software/cloud side. This custom development would entail a development fee.
Thanks for the reply,…
Do you know how your customers with large numbers of nodes manage to track the sensors?
We have a PdM department and a large plant, my plan was to install these sensors on hard to reach or special cause equipment. Potentially there could be 100s of these sensors out in the plant at anytime. This will require the PdM tech to track the location and sensor used, its a “system” that seems rife for confusion!
Hi Scott,
here are couple of ways users handle similar situations
option 1-- as Travis mentioned name the device on the cloud side and print a sticker with same name and put on the sensor. for example there are two sensor on Lathe 19. then on cloud it can be named as lathe 19_left, lathe 19_right and same name sticker will go on the sensor box.
option 2 – if cloud doesn’t allow naming then you can maintain a XL sheet with same approach. during the initial setup use the sensor mac address and machine location to build the database.
Sensors sends MAC address which is kind of its most unique name. I do understand it doesn’t make much sense in real world and difficult to remember/identify.
if you think adding the device name option in the MQTT is the best option then we can certainly look into that for you.
Thanks
We are going to move forward with our trial using ID# and parsing the Json string with python. It would be good to understand our options, is it possible to give me an idea of the cost for modifying the firmware?
Why doesn’t the sticker on the outside of the sensor/gateway match the MAC address?
What is the significance of the hex code on the sticker on the side of the sensor/gateway?
/cc @Bhaskar
The sticker should match the mac address of the radio. if not someone defiantly mixed up the stickers during assembly.
can you share an example ?
Thanks @Bhaskar , I will audit the stickers and mac addresses of the ten gateways received. To clarify, I should state that what I am seeing is a difference between the sticker on the gateway and its ::Gateway_ID::.
The sticker on the Gateway is the Gateway’s 900 mhz wireless module ID. We do not have a process in our production department currently that reads the MAC address out of the processor module and prints it to a sticker. It’s possible we could add another token such as ::Gateway_Wireless_ID:: so you could use that token field instead, however this wouldn’t be much different than just typing the wireless serial number printed on the side of the box into the Topic/Message format fields 
I’m open to the idea however.
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Right, thanks @TravisE_NCD_Technica . After getting organized I see that:
Sensors
Sticker on the box == ::Sensor_ID:: == “xbee_address”
Gateway
Sticker on the box != ::Gateway_ID::
Sticker on the box == “xbee_address”
::Gateway_ID:: == wifi mac address (not xbee address)
I can indeed work around my issue by not using the ::Gateway_ID:: in the topic URL (for Ubidots), and your suggestion of using the xbee_address / sticker explicitly makes sense.
The inconsistency surprised me, because as I connect new devices to Ubidots, if it is a sensor, the default name of the device matches the sticker on the outside and I can see it immediately. Not so true for the gateway.
I wouldn’t change anything at this point. 
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