Presenting: The Midas Wireless 926 Gateway (Helium Hotspot)
One of helium network’s newest makers has both US915 & EU868 models available for purchase.
Current YouTube video covering the unboxing:
https://youtu.be/CcZfT0PI8Ow
Intro:
Being an avid member of the helium network community I tend to dig up some hidden gems. In this scenario I believe I have done just that, with Midas being one of the newest additions to the arsenal of makers within the helium network. Let’s take a deep dive into the world of Midas Wireless and find out what makes this hotspot so unique compared to others.
Initial Contact:
Approximately two months ago I stumbled into the Official Midas Wireless Community discord server. I had located their server invite link via their twitter page and had an initial gut instinct to dig deeper. This led me to initiating contact with the Founder of Midas Wireless, a very cheerful, bullish on crypto individual. After discussing a few different subjects such as antennas and outdoor enclosure designs, I grew an immediate liking to the energy of Midas Wireless’ Founder.
The Hardware:
After going with my gut and following through with an order of the Midas-926 Gateway, I was ready with anticipation to receive a hotspot once more as if it was early April-May 2019 all over again. Eight weeks roll by and miraculously the Midas-926 Gateway showed up! Now that is impressive, especially with the supply chain issues dragging everyone down currently.
You can order the Midas-926 Gateway directly from a U.S. distributor as well. They offer 24 hour shipping (not on weekends) with a flash sale currently running a price of only $499.00. Limited supply available at this pricing.
You can now order directly from an EU distributor as well https://hexaspot.com/.
Included in your purchase is your Helium Hotspot Miner, Antenna (3dBi with magnetic base), DC input wall adapter, 3ft ethernet cable, and an easy to understand Quick-Start Guide. As well as the standard Hotspot $40 onboarding fee and First $10 location assertion. Giving you everything you need to start mining efficiently (well indoors at least). Now let’s move on to the nitty gritty hardware specifics.
Key Differences that make the Midas-916 Gateway unique:
- Coinbase commerce payments only
- Onboarding app ready at launch of device
- Dedicated and very determined development team
- Remote fleet management coming soon
- Robust design to maximize cooling efficiency
Onboarding
Next I would like to go over the new and improved onboarding process, this will take you step by step to get your Midas-926 Gateway onto your Midas Starter app (for hotspot onboarding) and linking to your helium wallet (for holding HNT).
Preparation:
Step 1 — Download the Helium Wallet App from the App Store or Google Play. Open the Helium-Wallet App and create your wallet.
NOTE: WRITE (IN PENCIL) DOWN YOUR 12 WORD SEED PHRASE, MAKE TWO HAND WRITTEN COPIES AT LEAST. Keeping one copy of your seed phrase off site is a good measure as well.
Step 2 — Download Midas Starter App from the App Store or Google Play
Step 3 — Sign into Midas Starter by linking Helium Wallet App to Midas Starter App.
Hotspot Registration
Option 1: Bluetooth
Step 1 — Select Add Hotspot in Midas Starter App.
Step 2 — Select Midas-926 Gateway in Midas Starter App.
Step 3 — Power on Midas-926 and wait for 3 minutes until the Yellow LED(A) light is on. At this point Press the Bluetooth button once for more than 5 seconds until the Blue LED(B) light is on.
NOTE: WARNING — Midas-926 Gateway input power is DC 5V/3Amp. Overvoltage may damage the device! Use the stock power supply or a matching aftermarket connection.
Step 4 — Scan for hotspot and connect to your Midas-926 Gateway.
Step 5 — Connect your Midas-926 Gateway with a network cable to the internet.
Step 6 — Follow the instructions in the Midas Starter App and the Helium Wallet App to register your Midas-926 Gateway and assert the hotspot’s location.
Hotspot Registration
Option 2: QR Code
Step 1 — Power on Midas-926 and wait for 3 minutes until the Yellow LED(A) light is on (shown above). Then proceed to connect your computer to the Midas-926 Gateway with the included network cable. The Default Static IP of the your Midas is 192.168.254.254 and you will need to input the URL of OAM in your browser. URL is http://192.168.254.254:3852 and utilize these credential’s to log into the OAM system of your Midas-926 Gateway. USER: admin PASSWORD: adminOAM
Note: You must ensure that the static Ethernet IP of your computer is 192.168.254.10
Step 2 — Select WLAN in OAM and connect the Midas-926 Gateway to Wi-Fi.
Note: Please record the dedicated IP address of the Midas-926 Gateway. In the same LAN, you can access this address using a port of 3852 through a browser (e.g. 192.168.xx.xxx:3852) and manage your Midas-926, such as Fast Sync, Restart Miner, and other functions. This is also known as a Web Dashboard User Interface similar to what other hotspots like Bobcat and Sensecap miners have for troubleshooting tools.
Now at this point of initially connecting it to my Wi-Fi everything was working fine. The connection had shown on my network and I could see it labeled as rasberrypi, unfortunately within 5 minutes the dashboard was no longer accessible and the Wi-Fi connection was no longer visible on my network.
What did I do to fix my dashboard from not loading via my wireless connection? Well I switched the connection to ethernet, I then found the connection on my router and at least for the moment set it to a static/reserved IP (I’ll handle to port forwarding on this unit once it is deployed). Once I connected my ethernet cable directly to my router, I was able to access my dashboard from entering the new Midas-926 Gateway’s IP which was found from my router’s admin page. You will still have to use the :3852 port at the end up the IP to access the OAM dashboard. See note above for more info.
Step 3 — Select “Miner” in the sidebar, input the owner’s address (i.e. your Helium Wallet Address) in the “Add Gateway” option, the click “Add Gateway” button to generate a QR code.
Note: Please ensure your hotspot firmware is up to date, being on old firmware may cause the QR code to not generate properly. You can check this by going to the Check Updates section, currently Midas has firmware to manually upgrade you to the closest sync height possible. This give the Midas-926 Gateway a very fast initial sync time.
Step 4— Select Add Hotspot in the Midas Starter OR Helium Wallet App
Step 5 — Use “Midas Starter” OR “Helium App” to scan the QR code.
Step 6— Follow the Midas Starter and/or Helium Wallet App instructions to register your Midas-926 Gateway and assert the location.
This guide is to help you along the way and is simply a revised version of the Midas-926 Gateway Quick-Start Guide. Follow along on my YouTube channel @HNTHub for a video guide to onboarding your Midas via Option 2 — QR Code. https://www.youtube.com/c/HNTHub
Want to purchase a Midas-926 Gateway? Well do I have a surprise for your! Use discount code HNTHUB for 15% your purchase from https://midaswireless.io/Product or https://hexaspot.com/ for EU orders (EU868 Only), and
https://hometek.shop/ for US orders. (US915 Only)
Twitter: https://twitter.com/midaswireless
Discord: https://discord.gg/kE75GaffS3
Feel free to contact me in the Official Midas Wireless Community with any questions or concerns.
Username: Devo#0404 (Midas Community and helium discord moderator)
No affiliate link yet, but if you want to support my channel and appreciate the information I provide/discount code, then feel free to use any of these links for helium related equipment/gear. https://linktr.ee/HeliumAccessories
