[SOLVED] Question on accessing HM webinterface without WiFi


 
C

Curtis_Aotea

TVWBB Member
Took the Kamado on the road this Xmas, to a place with no internet or wifi for Xmas celebrations.

As a result - had a great brisket and glazed ham (sorry, forgot the pics!), but had to manually check the probe temps, since I couldn't work out how to access the webinterface without WiFi.

I tried hooking a patch cable between a laptop set to IP 192.168.200.2/24 and the ethernet jack on the Pi (not the HM RJ45), but got no lights on the Pi jack. Network info showed the Pi/HM was at 192.168.200.1, but due to the lack of ethernet lights, I couldn't access the HM interface over wired from the laptop.

1) Could this be a hardware fault with the Pi? I do have another Pi 3B+ I can sub in to check.
2) Have I missed some other step in the non-wifi-LAN-cable method?
3) Once in to the web interface via wired, can I connect the HM to my smartphone's hotspot the same as for any other wifi network?

Thanks again :)
 
Well, wait a sec. IIRC, unless you've manually changed the configuration earlier, the Pi should be sending out a DHCP request. So, you probably needed a DHCP service running somewhere on the other end of the cable. If that fails, I'd expect a 169.y.z.t address (forget the RFC designation.) Obviously, if you've statically coded an address on the wired interface, this doesn't apply. I don't recall if a Pi shows any status indicators, unconfigured or configured.

I can plug my HM directly into my house network and access it directly once I find the IP address (LCD display, DHCP leases, switch administration, etc.)

As far as #3, you'll have to get a full network round trip path built. That will probably require something like switch functionality, or a sharing facility (assuming Windows, I think this can be done.)

I've had to do something like this once, I travelled with a small switch, and my laptop running Linux. Plugged my laptop & HM into the switch, coded a static IP on the laptop and started a DHCP service for that network. Worked like a charm.
 
JKalchik said:
So, you probably needed a DHCP service running somewhere on the other end of the cable
Click to expand...
Yeah - I think that's the issue. I'd hoped it would be as simple as setting a static IP on the laptop and connecting a cable to the Pi. Will do some fiddling and report back.

Is the workaround to set the HeaterMeter up in AP mode before leaving for a location without a wired or wireless network? Then I presume I could access HM from a laptop by connecting to the HeaterMeter's own wifi network. Sure it's not WAN enabled, but plenty good enough for a local-only cook.

Then, reverse the process when coming back home.
 
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Love this device (hardware & software).

Both the DHCP server in AP mode and Client mode attached to my phone's mobile hotspot are working as advertised & will be viable alternatives when on the road. I only need remember to set using my home network before I walk out the door - or dig out that Edimax USB wifi adapter I have lying around somewhere....
 
You can also use any USB Mass Storage device (usb stick / flash drive) and put the wifi configuration on that. When HeaterMeter boots, it checks for a wifi config on the USB device and uses that to reconfigure the wifi. You'd need one to switch it back once you got home as well though (or use the AP it created to change back to your home network via the webui).

Directly connecting an ethernet cable from your laptop to the Pi I don't think works because it wants an ethernet hub in the middle? I'm not sure, I've never tried that, but the idea is that the ethernet can just plug directly into your network and will get a DHCP address or you can use the 192.168.200.1 address as well (if you set the other device's IP to be on that network too). The ethernet port has two active configurations at the same time, DHCP and static 192.168.200.1.
 
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