LoRa plugin. Is it worth pursuing in 2026

[csmith]

Stumbled onto the "LoRa MultiSync Plugin for FPP" 

Official Description: "This plugin extends the Master/Remote protocol of FPP to use LoRa serial/uart devices. This can provide Master/Remote setups that span miles, far outside the range of Wifi."

Is anyone using this in 2025?  Does it work in real life?  Is it worth pursuing in 2026?

[k6ccc]

Miles?  Only if you're in the absolute middle of nowhere, maybe.  In a metro area the 902-928 band is so choked full of both licensed and unlicensed RF devices that it is not overly useful.  Being Spread Spectrum helps - some.

I've never played with LoRa, so I have no personal experience, but I have had some involvement with devices in the 902-928 band.  The RF noise floor is insanely high in almost any metro area.  If what you are trying to do is get just a little farther than WiFi can do, you will likely be OK, but don't count on miles.  Using LoRa for sync packets only is an interesting use for the LoRa technology as the available bandwidth is pretty low and of course Master / Slave sync is not much of a data rate.  Could be a good fit to get a little farther than WiFi will get.

[csmith]

Not interested in miles... more like 1000-1500 feet.  Wi-Fi becomes iffy, and setting up a mesh network becomes complicated. 

Using a master FPP with multiple remote FPPs synced via LoRa seems like a logical solution, but I'm trying to determine if anyone else has attempted it and had success.

[darylc]

I've not heard of anyone actually using Lorawan with FPP beyond testing.

I'd do a simple point to point wifi link eg Ubiquiti Loco (or Nanostation) 5ghz, basically guaranteed to work.

[dkulp]

There were 18 reported installs of the LoRa plugin in the last 60 days so likely used by some people.   Many of the LoRa devices likely don't have internet access and thus wouldn't have reported.   

The main issue is with LoRa is that it works fine for MultiSync, but you cannot upload new sequences or do any configuration or anything via it.  Thus, you can only use it in situations where you can fully setup the remotes and deploy the sequences and everything well ahead of time.   

[csmith]

I did a bit of digging and found companies that use LoRa to track inventory on vending machines in large buildings or campuses.  That explains the little antennas I see on top of the giant metal boxes.

I invested $31 with AliExpress to get a couple of these little wonders.  Stay tuned.  I'll let you know if they work.

[katekate]

where I live they use it for rubbish bins that report when they are full, so they don't have to go out to low traffic areas every week to empty an empty bin.

[csmith]

This LoRa plugin actually works and has a great range!!!

I used 4 different EBYTE E22-900T22U LoRa modules.  All plug into the USB 2.0 port.  Each module includes a stubby 3" antenna.

I'm running FPP 9.5 on Raspberry Pi 4B's each with 4GB RAM 

but...

After the FPP remotes are up and running, then you must start (or reboot) the FPP player before it establishes a reliable wireless data link.  Start/restart a remote after the player is running and the remote never plays a sequence... even when the player starts another sequence.  Odd.

What's the range?  I went >1000 feet from my house... where no WiFi signal had ever penetrated and the remotes stayed in sync using LoRa.  

At the beginning of a sequence, the remotes would be about 100msec behind the player but would catch up in a few seconds.

Bottom line: the LoRa technology works but the plugin needs some tweaking to be as bulletproof as the rest of FPP.