ComFi I2100 4G Industrial Router

In recent years, with the support of national policies and the enhancement of environmental awareness, the new energy vehicle industry has flourished. As an important infrastructure for it, charging piles have also witnessed a peak in construction. However, how to effectively connect these widely distributed charging piles to achieve remote monitoring, data collection, intelligent operation and maintenance, and safety management has become an urgent problem to be solved in the industry. Today, let’s explore the networking solutions for new energy vehicle charging piles and focus on introducing the application of the ComIn I2100 4G industrial router in this field.

The five core pillars of 4G The key to the networking of charging pilesCPE

The physical deployment of charging piles is just the first step. Its true value lies in achieving intelligent management through networking. An unconnected charging pile is merely a single-function power output device. A networked charging pile is an intelligent terminal that integrates data collection, remote control, status monitoring and user interaction. The essence of the networking of charging piles is to utilize advanced communication technologies to endow each charging pile with the capabilities of “perception” and “expression”, enabling it to conduct real-time and two-way data interaction with the cloud brain. Its core values are mainly reflected in the following aspects:

1. Remote monitoring and management: Build a panoramic operational view
The traditional operation and maintenance mode of charging piles is highly dependent on manual inspection, which is inefficient, slow to respond and has a high labor cost. For an operator with hundreds or even thousands of charging piles, it is almost an impossible task to keep track of the operating status of each terminal in real time. Through the wireless network constructed by 4G industrial router, operation personnel can clearly see the real-time status of each charging pile on the large screen in the central control room: whether it is idle, charging or faulty. Whether the output voltage, current and power are within the normal range; Detailed information such as the duration, battery level and cost of this charging. This remote monitoring capability of “making strategic plans within the tent and winning battles thousands of miles away” has greatly enhanced operational efficiency and made centralized and large-scale management possible.
2. Data collection and Analysis: Driving refined operational decision-making
Each charging pile generates a vast amount of data during operation, including but not limited to the distribution of charging time, users’ charging habits, the change curve of battery SOC (State of Charge), power load at different times, and the health data of the equipment itself. These data are unmined “digital gold mines”. The 4G industrial router serves as the “highway” for data transmission, responsible for stably and efficiently transmitting these raw data back to the cloud big data platform. By conducting in-depth analysis and mining of these data, operators can gain highly valuable insights: for instance, they can identify which areas have the most vigorous charging demands, thereby guiding the site selection for new charging stations. Identify peak and off-peak periods, implement time-of-use electricity pricing strategies, guide users to charge during off-peak hours, and optimize the load on the power grid. By analyzing user profiles, provide personalized value-added services. Data-driven refined operation is the key to enhancing the core competitiveness of operators.
3. Intelligent Operation and Maintenance: From “Passive Response” to “Active Early Warning”
Charging piles are exposed to the outdoors for a long time and are subject to harsh environmental tests such as wind, sun, rain, high and low temperatures, and electromagnetic interference. Equipment failure is inevitable. The traditional “repair when broken” model not only affects user experience but may also lead to major safety accidents. An advanced 4G industrial router, such as the Starlight I2100 4G industrial router, can not only transmit business data but also monitor the health status of the charging pile itself in real time. For instance, it can detect potential precursors of faults such as abnormal internal module temperatures, power fluctuations, and communication interruptions. Once an anomaly is detected, the system will immediately send a warning message to the operation and maintenance platform, along with preliminary diagnostic data. This enables the operation and maintenance team to intervene and handle faults before they occur, or to quickly arrive at the scene with accurate spare parts, reducing the average repair time from several hours to tens of minutes. It has achieved a revolution in the operation and maintenance mode from passive response to active prevention, significantly reducing operation and maintenance costs, and greatly improving the online rate and reliability of equipment.
4. Safety Management and Control: Strengthening the safety lifeline of charging
Charging safety is the lifeline of the development of the new energy vehicle industry and cannot afford the slightest mistake. The charging process involves high voltage and large current. Any oversight in any link may lead to serious consequences. The 4G industrial router plays the role of a “safety sentinel” in it. It can encrypt and transmit in real time the key safety parameters during the charging process (such as insulation resistance value, leakage current, temperature, etc.) to the monitoring platform. Once the platform detects that any parameter exceeds the safety threshold, it can immediately issue instructions to the charging pile through the 4G industrial router to forcibly cut off the power supply and terminate the charging process, thereby avoiding accidents in the first place. In addition, through VPN (Virtual Private Network) technology, 4G industrial router can establish an encrypted and private data channel between the charging piles and the background, effectively preventing hacker attacks, data tampering and information leakage, and ensuring the control and data security of the entire charging network.
5. User Service and Experience: Build a seamless and convenient charging ecosystem
For end users, the convenience and experience of charging are of vital importance. An excellent charging network must be capable of providing seamless services throughout the entire process, from search, navigation, reservation, charging to payment. All of this is inseparable from the stable network connection provided by the 4G industrial router. Users can view the real-time status (idle/occupied) of all nearby charging piles managed by the operator in real time through the mobile APP and navigate to the designated parking space. Upon arrival, by scanning the QR code or operating through the APP, instructions will be sent to the charging pile via the cloud and 4G industrial router to start charging. During the charging process, users can view the charging progress, estimated cost and full charging time in real time on their mobile phones. After charging is completed, online payment is automatically made and an electronic invoice is generated. The entire process is smooth, transparent and efficient, greatly enhancing user satisfaction and brand loyalty.

ComFi I2100 - a paragon of 4G Industrial router designed for harsh scenarios

Among the numerous networking solutions for charging piles, 4G industrial router have become a consensus in the industry due to their advantages such as no need for wiring, flexible deployment, and wide coverage. However, the 4G industrial router available on the market vary in quality, and not all of them can meet the strict requirements of the special scenario of charging piles. The ComFi I2100 4G industrial router is precisely a flagship product meticulously crafted to address this pain point. It not only possesses all the common advantages of 4G industrial router, but also has been deeply optimized in terms of industrial-grade design, network flexibility, data processing capabilities, interface richness and security, making it an ideal choice for the networking of charging piles.

Core Advantage one: Invincible industrial-grade design ensures stable operation around the clock
The deployment environment of charging piles is extremely complex, ranging from the icy and snowy north to the scorching and humid south, from dusty construction sites to substations with complex electromagnetic environments. All these pose extreme challenges to the stability of communication equipment. The ComFi I2100 4G industrial router has adhered to the concept of “military-grade quality” since its design.
Wide operating temperature range: It has an astonishing wide operating temperature range from -35℃ to 75℃. This means that whether in the cold winter of Mohe or the scorching summer of Turpan, the I2100 4G industrial router can maintain normal operation and will not crash due to extreme environmental temperatures, ensuring that the network connection of the charging pile is not interrupted throughout the year.
Sturdy metal casing and high protection level: With a high-strength metal casing design, it not only offers excellent heat dissipation performance but also effectively resists external physical impacts. Its IP30 protection rating, although it does not mean it can be immersed in water, is sufficient to prevent solid foreign objects larger than 2.5 millimeters in diameter from entering. It performs well in dust prevention and can adapt to most outdoor and semi-outdoor environments.
Strong industrial-grade EMC protection: In charging stations, especially in areas close to power transformers, electromagnetic interference is extremely severe. The I2100 4G industrial router has passed the rigorous industrial-grade electromagnetic compatibility test and possesses a strong anti-electromagnetic interference capability, ensuring stable and reliable data transmission in complex electromagnetic environments without packet loss or disconnection.
Core Advantage Two: Flexible and diverse network connection methods, adapting to complex networking requirements
The deployment scenarios of charging piles in reality vary greatly, and a single networking method cannot meet all the demands. The ComFi I2100 4G industrial router offers a flexible networking strategy of “4G as the main, wired as the auxiliary, and dual-link backup”.
High-performance 4G cellular network: As its core capability, the I2100 4G industrial router supports full-band 4G LTE networks, providing high-speed and low-latency wireless data transmission. This enables the rapid network deployment of charging piles in scenarios where optical fibers or network cables cannot be laid, such as open-air parking lots, highway service areas, and temporary charging points, significantly shortening the construction period.
Wired Ethernet backup: For some newly-built commercial buildings or underground garages, network cables may have already been pre-buried. The I2100 4G industrial router is equipped with a standard 10/100Mbps Ethernet WAN/LAN interface and can serve as an access point for wired networks. More importantly, it can form a “WAN port backup” function with 4G networks. When the wired network fails, the device will automatically and seamlessly switch to the 4G network to ensure business continuity and provide extremely high network reliability for critical applications.
Wi-Fi client /AP mode: The I2100 4G industrial router is also equipped with a built-in Wi-Fi module, which can be used as a client to connect to the existing Wi-Fi network or as an AP hotspot to provide temporary network access for on-site maintenance personnel, facilitating device debugging and configuration and increasing deployment flexibility.
Core Advantage Three: Powerful data processing and edge computing capabilities ensure real-time performance
Modern charging pile networking is not merely a “data mover”, but also requires a certain “thinking” ability. The ComFi I2100 4G industrial router is equipped with a high-performance industrial-grade 32-bit processor, featuring ample memory and flash memory, which endows it with powerful data processing capabilities and initial edge computing functions.
Real-time data transparent transmission: It can efficiently process a large amount of real-time data from the charging pile controller (usually connected through the RS485 interface), such as charging status, battery level, voltage, current, etc., quickly package and encrypt it, and upload it to the cloud platform via 4G network, ensuring the real-time and accuracy of the data.
Protocol Conversion and edge Processing: The I2100 4G industrial router is equipped with a rich protocol stack and supports various industrial and Internet of Things protocols such as Modbus RTU/TCP, MQTT, and HTTP. It can complete protocol conversion locally, converting the private or industrial protocols used by charging piles into standard protocols that the cloud platform can recognize (such as MQTT), greatly simplifying the development work in the cloud. Meanwhile, it can conduct preliminary cleaning, aggregation and judgment of data on the device end. For instance, it will only report when the data exceeds the threshold or its status changes, effectively saving network traffic and cloud computing resources.
Core Advantage Four: Rich and comprehensive industrial interfaces to achieve seamless integration
A charging pile is a complex system. Besides the core charging control unit, it may also involve various peripheral devices such as electricity meters, access control systems, cameras, and display screens. The ComFi I2100 4G industrial router offers a rich array of interfaces, enabling it to be easily integrated with these devices and become a multi-functional communication gateway.
Serial interface: Equipped with 1 RS232 and 1 RS485 serial port. The RS485 interface, due to its strong anti-interference ability and long transmission distance, is the standard interface for connecting the main control unit of charging piles and smart electricity meters. RS232 can be used to connect debugging devices or some specific peripherals.
Ethernet interface: In addition to the WAN port, it also provides a LAN port, which can be connected to devices that require wired networks, such as surveillance cameras or local display screens, to achieve synchronous transmission of data and video.
DI/DO (Digital Input/Output) : Some models of the I2100 4G industrial router also offer DI/DO interfaces, which makes it possible for more advanced automation control. For instance, smoke sensors or door magnetic sensors can be connected through the DI interface. When an anomaly is detected, the sound and light alarm or the main power supply can be controlled through the DO interface to achieve localized interlocking safety control.
Core Advantage Five: Unbreakable high-security design, safeguarding data and control security
In the era of the Internet of Everything, security is of Paramount importance. A compromised 4G industrial router not only means data leakage but also may lead to malicious control of the charging station, causing disastrous consequences. The ComFi I2100 4G industrial router has established a comprehensive security protection system from the physical layer to the application layer.
VPN Virtual Private Network: Supports multiple VPN protocols such as IPSec, PPTP, L2TP, and GRE, and can establish an encrypted, point-to-point secure tunnel between the charging pile and the operation center, ensuring that all data remains encrypted during public network transmission and effectively preventing data from being eavesdropped on or tampered with.
Powerful firewall functions: Built-in stateful detection firewall, supporting multiple security strategies such as SPI (State Packet Detection), DoS (Denial of Service Attack) defense, IP/MAC/URL filtering, etc., can effectively resist malicious attacks and illegal access from the Internet.
Device access control: Supports access control lists based on MAC addresses, as well as secure remote management methods such as HTTPS/SSH, ensuring that only authorized administrators can configure and operate the device, preventing unauthorized access and tampering.

In-depth Application Analysis of ComFi I2100 4G Industrial Router in Charging Pile Scenarios

The theoretical advantages ultimately need to be demonstrated through practical applications. The ComFi I2100 4G industrial router, with its powerful comprehensive capabilities, performs with ease in various application scenarios of charging piles, creating tangible value for operators.

Application Scenario One: Remote centralized monitoring of large public charging stations
Scene description: In a city’s transportation hub or large commercial center, the operator has built a large charging station with over a hundred fast and slow charging piles. How to efficiently manage these scattered charging piles and ensure their high availability is the core challenge of operation.
I2100 4G industrial router solution: Install a ComFi I2100 4G industrial router inside or beside each charging station. It is connected to the main controller of the charging pile through its RS485 interface and to the operator’s cloud management platform via 4G network.
Application effect
Visualized operation and maintenance: In the central control room, operation and maintenance personnel can view in real time the operation status, charging power, utilization rate and other key indicators of each charging pile through the electronic map. When any device malfunctions (such as communication interruption or abnormal charging), the system will immediately mark it with a red alert on the map and push an alert message to the mobile phones of the relevant personnel.
Remote control: Maintenance personnel can remotely restart the charging piles, set parameters, upgrade firmware, etc. through the platform without having to be present at the site, which greatly shortens the response and handling time for faults.
Efficiency improvement: Compared with the traditional manual inspection mode, the management efficiency has increased several times, the labor cost has been reduced by more than 70%, and the online rate (SLA) of the charging piles is guaranteed to be above 99.9%.
Application Scenario Two: Charging data collection and energy efficiency optimization in smart parks
In a large enterprise park or science and technology park, dozens of charging piles are deployed internally for the use of employees and visitors. The park managers hope to understand the charging behavior patterns in order to optimize the allocation of power resources and may connect the charging services with the employee welfare system.
I2100 4G industrial router solution By leveraging the powerful data collection capabilities of the I2100 4G industrial router, detailed data of each charge is collected in real time, including user ID (identified by card swiping or APP), charging duration, charging power, charging time period, cost, etc., and securely uploaded to the private cloud platform of the park via the MQTT protocol.
Application effect
User behavior analysis: By analyzing the data, the platform can clearly understand the peak charging periods of employees, the average charging duration, and the preferred locations of charging piles, providing a scientific basis for the subsequent layout of new charging piles.
Intelligent power dispatching: In combination with the overall power load of the park, the system can implement intelligent dispatching strategies. For instance, during the peak electricity consumption period in the park, the total power of the charging piles can be appropriately reduced to guide some users to charge during off-peak hours, prevent grid overload, achieve peak shaving and valley filling, and save electricity expenses.
System integration: The charging data can be linked with the HR system or access control system of the park to achieve automatic settlement of charging fees or as part of employee benefits, enhancing the intelligent level of management.
Application Scenario Three: Intelligent proactive operation and maintenance of distributed charging Piles
The operator has deployed a large number of scattered charging piles in multiple old residential areas, roadside parking Spaces and other locations. These locations have complex environments, difficult inspection, high equipment failure rates, and persistently high maintenance costs.
I2100 Solution: The ComFi I2100 4G industrial router not only transmits business data but also plays the role of a “health monitor”. It continuously monitors the internal temperature, power supply voltage, communication signal quality and other self-health indicators of the charging pile, and regularly executes self-check scripts.
Application effect
Fault Warning: When the I2100 4G industrial router detects that the internal temperature of a certain charging pile remains persistently high and there may be a potential fault with the cooling fan, it will immediately send a “high-temperature warning” message to the operation and maintenance platform, along with the device number and location. The operation and maintenance team can arrange personnel in advance to carry spare parts for handling, thus avoiding equipment burnout caused by overheating.
Remote diagnosis: When the charging pile reports an error, the operation and maintenance personnel can safely log in to the I2100 4G industrial router remotely via VPN, and then directly connect to the internal controller of the charging pile through its serial port transparent transmission function to read the detailed fault log and conduct remote diagnosis. This greatly improves the accuracy of problem location and reduces unnecessary on-site travel.
Cost optimization: Through this proactive and predictive maintenance, the average time between failures of the equipment has been significantly extended, the attendance of operation and maintenance vehicles and personnel has been greatly reduced, and the overall maintenance cost has been lowered by nearly 50%.
Application Scenario Four: Centralized group control and dispatching of charging pile clusters
Scene description: In a large public parking lot or logistics park, it is necessary to uniformly manage and control dozens of charging piles in a certain area. For instance, when the grid load is too high, the power of all charging piles should be uniformly reduced. Or during the low electricity price period, charging can be uniformly turned on for the vehicles that have been reserved.
I2100 4G industrial router solution: Connect all the charging piles in this area to the same cloud platform through their respective I2100 4G industrial router. The platform issues group control instructions (such as “Set the power of all charging piles to 50%”), which are broadcast to each I2100 via 4G network and then forwarded by the I2100 4G industrial router to the corresponding charging piles for execution.
Application effect
High-efficiency collaboration: It has achieved “one-to-many” rapid control of the charging pile cluster, with a fast response speed and high execution synchronization, far exceeding the efficiency of individual control.
Smart grid interaction: The group of charging piles can serve as adjustable load units and participate in the demand-side response of the power grid. When the power grid needs it, uniformly reduce power or suspend charging to help maintain the stability of the power grid, and operators can also receive corresponding subsidies as a result.
Enhance user experience: Based on the reservation situation, the charging pile can be preheated in advance before the user arrives (in cold regions), or automatically start charging during the most favorable electricity price period, providing users with more economical and convenient charging services.

Facing the Future - The Evolution of ComFi I2100 and the 5G Era

At present, we are in a transitional period when 4G networks are mature and stable and 5G networks are accelerating their popularization. The ComFi I2100 4G industrial router not only demonstrates powerful capabilities in the present, but also its platform-based design concept ppave the way for future technological evolution. Although the I2100 itself is a 4G device, the stable, reliable and secure communication architecture it builds is a solid foundation for a smooth upgrade to 5G in the future. Its rich interfaces, powerful edge computing capabilities and complete security system will still be applicable in the future. Operators can, based on the operational experience and platform architecture accumulated by I2100, easily replace it with the next-generation products that support 5G in the future, enjoying the brand-new experience of “ultra-high bandwidth, ultra-low latency, and massive connections” brought by 5G, such as achieving V2X (Vehicle-to-Everything) communication between charging piles and autonomous vehicles. Support more complex applications such as real-time video surveillance and AR remote operation and maintenance.
In conclusion, the intelligence of new energy vehicle charging piles is based on stable and reliable connections. The ComFi I2100 4G industrial router, with its rock-solid industrial-grade design, flexible networking capabilities, powerful data processing performance, rich and comprehensive interface configuration, and impeccable security guarantee, perfectly solves all kinds of networking problems of charging piles in complex environments. It is not merely a communication device, but also the “intelligent connection hub” and “safety guardian” of the charging pile. It is a key enabler for achieving remote monitoring, data-driven, intelligent operation and maintenance, and high-quality user experience.
In the grand blueprint of building smart energy networks and smart cities, every intelligent terminal cannot do without a reliable connection node. The ComFi I2100 4G industrial router is precisely such an indispensable node. With its outstanding performance and reliable performance, it has injected strong impetus into the intelligent upgrade of new energy vehicle charging infrastructure, helping operators build a more intelligent, efficient, safe and convenient charging network ecosystem, and contributing its own strength to green travel and sustainable development. Choosing ComFi I2100 4G industrial router means choosing a solid connection foundation that is oriented towards the present and looks to the future.