Getting Started with SapSpy

New SapSpy gear in hand (or on the way)? Here's the whole path from opening an account to having every sensor talking — in the order I'd do it myself, with the warm-kitchen steps done before anything goes out to the woods.

Create Your Account#

Go to sapspyapp.com and create your account — you'll get a verification email to confirm. If that email gives you trouble, tell me and I'll create the account on my side and send you your login (you can change the password anytime under the upper-right menu, Change Password).

You don't need the hardware in hand to do this. In fact, create the account first — that way we can get devices claimed and shipped, and when your equipment arrives you just claim it by scanning the QR codes. Once you're logged in, click into your site to expand the sensors, and rename your vacuum ports and mainlines so they make sense to you.

Power On and Claim Your Devices#

Good news — in most cases your hub ships already activated, so it's turn it on, let it find signal, and go. After you power it on, give it 10–20 minutes to connect (it's often faster). The first time it comes online it also pulls down our latest software update automatically — nothing for you to do there.

To see your readings, log in at sapspyapp.com and click into your site to expand the sensors.

If the hub doesn't come online, send me the serial number printed on the device and I'll double-check activation from my side — once it's activated, it connects within 10–20 minutes.

Bench-Test Before You Head to the Woods#

Do your first setup indoors somewhere warm — the house or the sugarhouse — before anything goes on a tree. Nodes and hubs arrive charged, so you can bench-test right out of the box. Here's the order:

1. Claim all the devices and get them communicating locally, right next to the hub, so you know everything talks.
2. Figure out where each node goes, one at a time: name each mainline in the app and write that same name on the device with a Sharpie.
3. Repeat for every node and sensor.

Then out in the woods it's just strap the node to the tree (south side) and connect the mainline — no claiming and naming out in the cold.

Device IDs, QR Codes, and DIP Switches#

Your device ID / serial number is printed right on the device, along with a QR code you scan in the app to claim it.

Inside each node are small DIP switches (it takes a Phillips-head screwdriver to open the case). For a node talking to a hub, all switches are off/down. Different switch settings tell the node to talk to a gateway instead — more on that below.

Setting Up a Gateway#

The gateway is powered over Ethernet, so here's the number-one check: plug the Ethernet cable into the "POE" side of the Power-over-Ethernet injector, not the LAN side — that's the most common mix-up. No lights on the bottom of the unit means it isn't getting power, so recheck the injector. Once it's powered and finds signal, it comes online ready to talk to nodes.

A gateway can uplink over cellular, Wi-Fi, or Ethernet — use Wi-Fi or wired if you have it there, otherwise it runs on cell just like the hubs.

One more step for the nodes: existing nodes need a quick software update to talk to a gateway, and you flip DIP switch 6 to on inside each node. We include a "pocket flasher" so you can do the update yourself, and there's a video walkthrough to follow along with.

FAQs