Trouble with Wireless USB Modem on Ubuntu in Node-Red

Node-Red
1

I am unsuccessfully try to connect to a PR55-17A Wireless USB modem in Node-Red running on an Ubuntu OS. The modem works fine on my Windows laptop in Node-Red.

I am using the Wireless Gateway component. In Windows I configure the connection using COM5 and after Deploying the Gateway connects to the modem almost instantly. Using the same flow on the Ubuntu box, I configure the connection to the modem as dev/ttyUSB0 and after deploying it, times out with a “Request timed out without response”.

I have confirmed that the Wireless modem is dev/ttyUSB0 by listing the com ports available while the modem is plugged into the USB port then unplugging the modem and relisting the com ports. dev/ttyUSB0 shows on the list when the modem is plugged in and disappears when I unplug it.

Has anyone had any experience with this? Not sure how to troubleshoot it further.

Thank you!

2

Hi,

I have never had issues with Node-Red on Linux OS. We utilize Linux OS on our IoT Edge Computer which accesses the serial port in a similar way. I wonder if this is a permissions error(Node-Red does not have permission to access /dev/ttyUSB0).

Thank you,
Travis Elliott

3

I spend quite some time debugging this same issue and I could only make it work using NCD’s Wireless Device node (not the Wireless Gateway node). To configure the node, click Edit on Serial Port field and Select (USB serial) for Modem Type. Also, type in the Linux Serial port name in the next form field (serial Port). Keep other setting at default values. Furthermore, you cannot have more than one of this nodes on you flow (or mix Wireless Gateway nodes). Let me know if this works for you.