Connecting to INCH and INCH Duo directly with PC
- Landis+Gyr – EV Editor 4
- Denis Leskovar
Our INCH familly use https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Link-local_address, which is more future-proof, in long term easier to manage. There are some questions and need for assistance on our Jira from customers and installers that are not using DHCP enabled routers and wants to connect with our chargers directly with ethernet cable and PC. All the devices connected to the internet have their own IP address, and since IPv4 only has “room” for around 4 billion of them, IPv6 came to the rescue, where this number is basically infinite. In the growing world of IoT, and other networked devices, we stepped up our networking game and started using IPv6.
More or less all the people wanting to connect to our chargers are using Windows operating system, which normally doesn’t have IPv6 enabled by default, thus having problems connecting to our devices. We are still using fallback option with IPv4 which is described in second part of this article. Linux being running internet and vast majority of IoT and other smart devices e.g. smart phones, basically everything running Android IPv6 is implemented for a long time. Also MacOS has been formed on Unix and is still using same basic principles for it’s kernel, have support for IPv6 from the box.
If you are using DHCP enabled router then following procedure isn’t neccesary.
Prerequisites:
PC with ethernet port and IPv6 connectivity - Windows 7 or above, where the latest updates are needed. Linux and MacOS
Ethernet cable
ADMIN rights in operating system
Connecting via IPv6 using link-local:
For users using IPv6 you have two options, to use same static IP address logic used for IPv4, but instead of changing IPv4 you need to select Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPv6).
Using link local, first you need to fully update your Windows machine, on Linux and MacOS (being of Unix derivate) IPv6 is fully implemented and supported for a long time thus no needs for upgrading or updating your distribution.
On windows machine first you need to enable IPv6 in your ethernet adapter options. Go to Control Panel → Network and Internet → Network and Sharing Center. Once you are here click on your adapter (in my case ethernet adapter is called Ethernet 3).
Once you click on adapter new window should open. In this new window click on Properties. You will need admin rights on your computer
This will open adapter settings window. The next step is just enabling IPv6 connectivity.
Then you can just enter http://<charger serial>.local/. Serial number can be found inside of Inch Duo on right panel. For our example you can open http://20230040.local/ and login screen should open
IMPORTANT!:
Sometimes your browser of choice wants to open https:// or wants to make Google search (Google Chrome), browser briefly asks if instead you want to open http://<serial number>.local/ instead. Click yes. We can’t influence this, because this is browser specific, and there is no workaround that (basically browsers are too user friendly). Just enter http://<charger serial>.local/ and charger home page should open.
Connecting via IPv4:
Steps to do on charger:
For first instalation and commisioning of Inch duo, you can get currently assigned static Ip of charger, and set computer IP address accordingly. On Inch Duo press and hold reset button (See picture below) on motherboard for 10 seconds, or until long beep , after that you go to Communication and you can see chargers IPv4 and IPv6 addresses.
Steps to do on PC (Windows only):
Open control panel and go to Network and Internet → Network and Sharing center. Click on your ethernet adapter (yours will probably named something else) and go to Properties (you need admin rights here).
This will open new window with adapter settings. Click on Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) and then click Properties
This will open window with IP settings. Set IP address that is in same subnet but it is still different than charger’s IP address. For instance our charger in example has IP 172.25.2.195, but we will set IP on our computer 172.25.2.196
Then if we go to e.g. http://172.25.2.195/#!/login we should see login screen.
For Linux computers, principle remains same.
Warning! Before installing, wiring, handling or accessing the charging station in any way, make sure to read, understand and follow the Safety Guidelines.
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