Gateway hubs enable the remote distribution and management of Valenco Soil Sensors. Currently this is only relevant for the Seedcare division in Spain. 

General notice

If you are running a gateway hub, there are a few things that you should take into account, in order to ensure that the process from ordering to return of the sensors after the trial goes as smooth as possible. With this guide we want to give you assistance on what you should be watching out for in the use of the gateways and the sensors. 

Upon sensor return

1. Once you receive the first sensors after a trialing season, please set up the Valenco gateway according to the gateway setup guide. Make sure that the gateway works properly, according to the indications in the setup guide. 
2. Take the sensors out of the returned parcel and enter the IDs on the sensor check-up form. This is very important, because we need to make sure that the sensors are in good health for the next season of trials. 
3. Once the form is submitted, it is good practice to place the sensor next to the gateway, so that the data from the past trial can be transmitted. We suggest a big box is set up next to the gateway, so that the sensors are kept together. The box should be made of material that does not affect the data transmission (like carton or plastic). Concrete or other strong materials might affect the data transmission and the health check, subsequently.  

Once we have conducted the health check of the sensors, we will send our report to the email address that was indicated on the check-up form (see 2.). 

You can conduct a health check to a certain degree yourself, by checking the transmitted data, once it comes in. If the data has blank spots or does not make sense (e.g. unrealistic temperature or soil moisture values), this can be an indicator for a malfunctioning sensor. In those cases you can always reach out to our support under support@valenco.ch

Handling orders for the new trialing season 

Sensors should always be reported for sensor health check at least 2 weeks prior to the next trial start. If sensors need to be returned, this gives Valenco enough time to produce and send new sensors.

Once the new trialing season starts, the scientists will receive the sensors from the gateway hubs. Within any given country, the sensor distribution is handled centrally. If there are not enough sensors available in the country, more sensors can always be ordered by reaching out to support@valenco.ch.