Pronto a esplorare #lora e #meshstatic 😅

#heltec lora stick v3 in-a-box

Note to self: When checking the polarity of the LiPo #battery it’s *not* sufficient to check if the wire colors are what I expect, I need to *look* at the polarity of of the JST connector too…

For some reason, nothing seems to be damaged, although it was connected to a #Heltec V4 the wrong way for a day, while I was looking why it’s not even recognising the battery :S

I may have found a workaround. Looks like setting the ADC multiplier to 4.6 makes 3.3V look like 0% battery (a bit above the point which causes the #heltec V4 browning out on TX), making it enter into deep sleep within 200 seconds (or 10 voltage reads). Then, I set the deep sleep duration to 3 hours, which should be enough for the batteries to recharge to safer levels.

#meshtastic #heltecv4

But not when the antenna connection on the #Meshtastic #Heltec V3 breaks so goddamn easily. More connectors on the way for more tiny #soldering projects

I just stumbled upon what lots of people have been telling, a big design flaw on the #heltec V4 (and probably all the previous versions) and the #meshtastic firmware: if you use it until the battery is drained, it will soft-brick the device and will require a reflash. On top of that, it won't power back on even after the battery has been fully charged.

I was over-engineering the solution. Differently from the #heltec V3, the V4 has dedicated battery and solar ports, so I ditched the TP4056 module altogether. The browning-out and voltage drops are gone!

Now I got another issue: when the battery reached 3% during the night, it entered a deep sleep state but didn't wake up after sunrise. I had to press a button on the device to wake it up, and found that the battery had already been charged to 25%, more than enough for it to wake up.

Pro-tip: if your #meshtastic node is browning out on battery even when almost full, check your battery holder. The excessively thin wires of some cheap holders have a resistance of 0.5Ω (my case). It was causing an extra 0.45V drop during TX for my #Heltec V4. Considering the characteristic tension drop of the V4, that was a whole 1V drop total.

I gave this #iffybooks article a try (https://github.com/iffybooks/3.3v-solar-power-station) on how to make a #Meshtastic solar node with #Heltec V3, except I tried it on a V4 instead.

To my surprise, V4's extra TX power draws up to 0.8A, which is far more than the MCP1700-3302E can withstand. So, I decided to do away with the regulator and connect the TP4056 directly to the V4's JST battery port.

Let's hope the V4 has a smarter over-discharge protection than V3 and doesn't run into a brown-out loop on low battery.

Does anybody have a recommendation for a good #lora antenna in the 868 band with the #Heltec V3?

#meshtastic #meshcore

I tried to downgrade my #Heltec v3, it went wrong, had to wipe it. I couldn’t find my backup and icba setting everything up again.

I don’t like #Meshcore because it relays on repeaters, and it seems #Meshtastic is taking the same direction, at least some of its users.

For me, what makes it interesting is being independent, self sufficient, unpredictable, fun.

If I wanted to use repeaters I would use DMR, and that’s ok sometimes, but HF is more exciting and fulfilling when the contact is successful.

So I’m losing interest rapidly in this LoRa thing.

@Mr_u

Zależy od anteny, jaką chcesz użyć. Jeśli większą, to 3m kabla nie zrobią masakry z sygnałem, możesz myśleć o wystawieniu samej anteny na zewnątrz.
Jeśli coś małego, to najlepiej by tylko pigtail łączył płytkę z anteną, by ograniczyć straty.

No panel na zachodzie bez sensu.

Na zdjęciu masz przykład prostej skrzynki bez zasilania z aku, zato na PoE. Gotowe doprowadzenie / dławik ethernetu pod PoE, splitter zakończony przetworniczką na USB (akceptuje od 6 do 32V) i płytka zasilana z tego. U mnie Heltec Wireless Stick Lite (bo ma gniazdo na antenę BT.WiFi). Ta antenka jest od BT/WiFi, antena LoRa na złaczu N z pigtailem.

Możesz też tutaj umieścić aku/powerbank by zrobić podtrzymanie zasilania gdy "padnie prąd", USB daje wiele możliwości.

Tani zestaw PoE "do kamer" mi się sprawdza. W domu masz końcówkę do której podpinasz zasilacz i ethernet, w skrzynce rozdzielasz sobie i odbierasz zasilanie. Skrętka się fajnie sprawdza.
Można też od razu zasilać z usb, są kable 10m ze "wzmacniaczem", mam przetestowane i działa. Jak nie chcesz skrętki i PoE.

Na drugim zdjęciu masz widok z dołu.

Dla mnie apka do meshcore która każe sobie płacić za używanie GPS to zapora, nie wchodzę w takie projekty, szkoda czasu. Zamknięte rozwiązania mnie nie interesują, w każdej chwili dostawca może zmienić warunki, jak już się "spopularyzuje". Enszytyfikacja takich rozwiązań jest pewna.

#Meshtastic #MeshPolesie #DIY #Heltec #WirelessStickLite

Die neuen #Meshtastic Geräte sind angekommen, time to flash! (#Heltec V4)

The snowstorm is a dread. Can't reach the mesh. The good part? All my nodes are upgraded to 2.7. Same typ of devices forgot different things? But no major hassles. #meshtastic #MeshtasticSweden #seedT1000e #Heltec

My #Heltec LoRa 32 v3 and v4 boards arrived today! Just over a week direct from Heltec to the UK.

Both are now successfully flashed with #meshcore firmware via #chromium on #LinuxMint.

Thanks to @jamesravey for the hint to add my user to the dialout group - that was the missing piece of the puzzle (source: https://brainsteam.co.uk/2024/10/19/flashing-heltec-meshtastic/)

Can someone recommend a good kit for a solar meshtastic / meshcore node. I am going to attach one of each to my ham club's repeater tower early next year. Everywhere I look, they're out of stock... odd, given the proximity of Christmas.

Bonus if it works with a Heltec v4 board as it runs at a full 1W of power.

#meshtastic #meshcore #hamradio #heltec

@josgeluk

Meshcore op Heltec E290 te flashen 2/2
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Je kunt de e290 files hier vinden (onder assets):

https://github.com/meshcore-dev/MeshCore/releases?q=e290&expanded=true

Daarna het flashen. Je kunt een esp32 flashtool installeren op je laptop of je gebruikt een (chrome)browser gebaseerde flash tool zoals https://esptool.spacehuhn.com/

Happy flashing!

@michel

#heltec #e290 #meshcore

@josgeluk

Meshcore op Heltec E290 te flashen 1/2
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Als eerste moet je de juiste .bin file downloaden:
- laatste versie zoeken
- kiezen welke versie: repeater, companion of roomserver
- kiezen welke bin: .bin voor een update, merged-bin voor erase + install

#heltec #e290 #meshcore