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Troubleshooting

Almost every problem is one of these. Start with the one that matches what you see. The Readers screen shows each reader's status, when it was last seen, and a sentence explaining what's wrong.

Reader never came online​

You see: the reader is on the Readers screen with status unknown or offline, and the reason says it has never reached Titan. Or, if it came with a claim code, it isn't on the list at all.

Work through these in order:

  1. Was it claimed? If the box came with a TTN-XXXX-XXXX code, the reader only appears after you enter it under Readers → Add a reader. Until then, its reads go nowhere.
  2. Does it have power? The PoE switch port should show link and power. If the reader's lights don't come on, try another port, or check the switch has PoE+ (802.3at) and enough power budget left.
  3. Can that network reach Titan? From a laptop on the same network segment, run nc -vz mqtt.titanrfid.com 8883. If it doesn't connect, the firewall is blocking outbound TCP 8883. Ask your network team to allow it. See Network requirements.
  4. Is something inspecting TLS? Firewalls that decrypt traffic break the reader's connection. Exempt mqtt.titanrfid.com.
  5. Is it on a VLAN with internet access, and does it get an address from DHCP?

If all of that checks out and it still hasn't appeared after ten minutes, email support with the reader's serial number (on the label on the reader).

Reader came online, then went offline​

You see: status offline, and the reason says it dropped its connection.

  • It's almost always power or network at the reader. Check the PoE port, then the switch, then whether the site's internet connection is up.
  • If several readers dropped at the same moment, look at what they have in common: one switch, one uplink, the site's internet connection.
  • A reader that drops and comes back repeatedly is often on a port without enough PoE power.

Titan raises a Reader offline alert and resolves it by itself when the reader reconnects.

Reader is online but no tags appear​

You see: the reader is connected, but Live Reads is empty or shows nothing from that reader.

  1. Is it stopped? A stopped reader stays connected but doesn't read. Press start.
  2. Are the antennas connected, and is the port turned on in the reader's antenna settings?
  3. Are there tags in range? Hold a tag right in front of an antenna.
  4. Is transmit power very low? At 10 dBm, the read range is short. See Getting the read range right.
  5. If the reason says radio stopped, press start. If it stops again by itself, check the antenna cables, which are the usual cause.

Tags appear but have no location​

You see: tags on Live Reads or Tag Data with no zone.

The antenna that saw them isn't mapped to a zone. Open the reader's antennas and choose a zone for each port. See Zones and antennas.

Tags jump between zones​

Two antennas in different zones can both see the same tags. Turn down transmit power on one or both until each sees only its own area, or move or angle the antennas. See Zones and antennas.

"That claim code is not valid"​

  • Check for mistyped characters. Claim codes never contain the letters I, L, O or U, or the digits 0 or 1. If you think you see an O, it's not one.
  • Each code works once. If someone at your company has already claimed the reader, it's already on the Readers screen.
  • If neither explains it, email support with the code and the reader's serial number.

I can't change anything (402) or can't sign in​

See Subscription. A lapsed subscription makes the account read-only, and a suspended one blocks sign-in. In both cases readers keep recording and nothing is deleted.

API returns an error​

See Errors and limits. For 5xx errors, the message includes a reference. Send it to us.

Contacting support​

Email [email protected] with:

  • Your organisation's name.
  • The reader's name and serial number, if it's about a reader.
  • What you see, including any reference from an error message.
  • When it started.

We can see your readers' connection history from our side, so you don't need to send logs or screenshots of the reader's own web page.