I'm beautiful and tough like a diamond...or beef jerky in a ball gown.
If you're provisioning several or just like to have a good baseline for setting up future nodes, I like to use the Python client and make a provisioning script. I feel like it's way uglier than it should be, but I've found that even though the docs say you can specify multiple config options in one call, they don't all apply. So I have to do them in stages and wait for it to reboot between executing each config.
This is my baseline provisioning script for reference. I like to have a private default channel but then also set the radio frequency manually to the "default" LongFast of 906.875 MHz and create the LongFast channel as a secondary so I can communicate with people using the default config (which is very common). This also lets me relay for them (and vice versa) while not sharing my location and such with the public mesh.
bash
#!/bin/bash # Optionally set the device name and short name. If not provided, the user info step is skipped DEVICE_NAME=$1 DEVICE_SHORT_NAME=$2 # Admin key is optional but I set it on all of my managed nodes. If not using that, comment out the line further down where this is referenced ADMIN_KEY="{PUBLIC_KEY_OF_ADMIN_NODE}" # Use a private default channel. PRIMARY_CHANNEL_KEY="{BASE64_PRIVATE_KEY_FOR_PRIMARY_CHANNEL}" PRIMARY_CHANNEL_NAME="{PRIMARY_CHANNEL_NAME}" function wait_for_reboot { echo "Press <ENTER> once device has rebooted" read a } echo "Setting LoRa Region..." meshtastic --set lora.region US wait_for_reboot # If device name and short name are supplied, set those if [ -n "$DEVICE_NAME" ] && [ -n $DEVICE_SHORT_NAME ] then echo "Setting Device Name..." meshtastic \ --set-owner "$DEVICE_NAME" \ --set-owner-short "$DEVICE_SHORT_NAME" wait_for_reboot fi # Set most options meshtastic --set display.screen_on_secs 120 \ --set display.units IMPERIAL \ --set device.led_heartbeat_disabled false \ --set telemetry.device_telemetry_enabled true \ --set lora.use_preset true \ --set lora.modem_preset LONG_FAST \ --set security.admin_key base64:$ADMIN_KEY \ --set lora.override_frequency 906.875 wait_for_reboot meshtastic --set-canned-message "Affirmative|Negative|Unknown|Acknowledged|Require Assistance|Check-In Good|Check-In Bad|Status?" wait_for_reboot meshtastic \ --ch-index 0 --ch-set psk base64:$PRIMARY_CHANNEL_KEY --ch-set name "$PRIMARY_CHANNEL_NAME" \ --ch-index 1 --ch-set psk base64:AQ== --ch-set name "LongFast" wait_for_reboot meshtastic --set-timeOut of curiosity, what case are you using?
Most of my nodes are using the HT Pocket case. My EDC one was the one without the external antenna, but the bulk of my other nodes use the same case with the external antenna cutout.
The fit is pretty tight in that model, but I love how compact it is. It also has a belt clip model I printed which is nice for strapping some of the antenna-clad units to trees when we go camping.
Kindof a modern take on a CB radio from ye olden days. Mostly just keep a node with me when I'm out and about just to see who I can pick up and from what distances.
Edit: I was tired and on mobile when I replied that, but here's a mostly comprehensive list of what I use mine for:
- I just think they're neat!
- I'll pass a node out to everyone in the group when we go camping, hiking, etc. They're all populated with a generic set of canned messages you can send from the device itself (so no phone is required). Messages are like "You good?", "Ack", "Need help", "Checking in", etc.
- The campsite we use most is about 2 miles from civilization, into the forest, down and around a mountain, and by the river. We have a friend who lives at the mouth of the road / edge of civilization. On my way down to the campsite, I stop every so often to "drop a buoy" by which I mean I strap a node to a tree to act as a relay. There's no cell reception at all there, so this lets us relay up to the friend's house if we need anything or have an emergency. LOL, one time we asked her to go get us more ice and beer and she delivered!
- Better to have it and not need it in case of disaster. I keep my primary channel private but set the radio parameters for the "default" channel so I can relay for users using the default config and vice-versa. The "default" Meshtastic channel is a secondary in my config, so I can talk with people using the default config.
I mentioned it to you in another post, but I just bought the Seeed T1000e today. I've had my eye on it for a while now and have heard lots of good things about it. Will be excited when it arrives Sunday. It'll be replacing my Heltec V3 (RIP) everyday carry that decided to self destruct last night.
Probably, yeah. I haven't had hands on with the V4 yet and forgot it was out. I'll update the title. Thanks.
Nice. Some reviews complain about the range/sensitivity, but it's hard to gauge what their expectations / comparisons may be.
My (now former) EDC is a basic Heltec V3 with its little "default" antenna in the HT Pocket case. I added a keychain lanyard and it lives with the key fob for my car. The range on it isn't the best because of how the antenna is inside the case and up against the board (which makes it semi-directional) but it was good enough. As long as it's as good as that, I'm content.
Starter kit: https://store.rakwireless.com/products/wisblock-meshtastic-starter-kit
They also have a new 1W LoRa kit I'm wanting to get to replace my client_base node. It uses the same carrier board.
The LilyGo T-Deck is what I've been looking at for a dedicated node, but I can't justify the expense right now. Plus it'd be large for an EDC.
There's a i2c keyboard (CardKB i think) that Meshtastic firmware supports, but I can never find them in stock. You'd just need to connect it to the i2c pins on your node.
I'm also genuinely looking at the SenseCAP Card Tracker T1000-E prebuilt unit for my new everyday carry node. It's super thin, waterproof, nRF-based for good battery life, and already has a GPS receiver installed. Only downside is you need to use a special cable to charge/flash it.
Edit: I just bought the T1000-E. I had one day left on my Prime trial and decided I'd pined over it long enough. Normally I'd avoid an impulse buy like that but given what this post is about, I'm in need of a new everyday carry.
I'm planning to switch to the Wisblocks. The only thing I'll lose is wifi, but I'm not using that now except on my client base node since it's one of the ones with a failed UART chip.
The nRF-based ones also seem to have much better battery life, and the Wisblocks can be a lot more compact if you want to add sensors or GPS, etc.
Can confirm the similar battery life. Just the Heltec V3, connected over BT, with a 2000 mAh battery lasts about 14 hours. If it's not connected to my phone and the BT shuts off, it'll last well over a day (maybe more). I was going to add a GPS module to it but didn't want to make the case any larger to accommodate a 3000 mAh battery.
The ESP32's radio is just power hungry it seems. I've noticed there's nothing "low energy" about it's BLE and it seems to use the same amount of power as an active wifi connection.
And any time the power goes out for more than 5 mins the device resets its name
I've only had that happen once, but I don't recall the circumstances. My everyday carry node is always powered, but I have some nodes that just sit on a shelf. What I have noticed is that the soft shutdown is only temporary and after 3-5 days they'll turn back on until they drain the battery. I think only one of them has had issues keeping its device name.
I just updated all of them to the latest 2.7 firmware and am hoping that addressed the soft shutdown timeout. Which reminds me, I need to check in on them since that was about a week ago when I updated them.
Right, I'm mostly knee-jerking from what happened with the PicoKey project. Had been active with it and the dev pulls a 180 and rips out every way to configure it except the paid tool.
The configuration tool (pico-commissioner) was also open source but the dev nuked the repo for it. A search for forks has turned up zilch.
Refs:
I would love to get my hands on some HaLow gear but it's either unobtanium or crazy expensive compared to LoRa.
There's some Heltec (I think?) chips I saw recently but I haven't dug too far into libraries or driver support.
Yeah, I haven't messed with Meshcore yet but I have been playing with Reticulum and the RNodes. I think it's the same guy behind both, if I'm not mistaken (Edit: I am mistaken, though the dev seems to work on both).
I guess I'm just coming at it from the "firmware is free, app is paid/subscription" angle. Like, I could see the basic Meshtastic firmware remaining free but the one with the fancy UI (for things like the T-Deck) being paid and the app going paid/subscription.
I would hope the target audience for the project would discourage that kind of thing, but like you said, "these days" are what they are.
I just stumbled across this. Probably available from other vendors, but for reference: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F1MWPF7G/134-3819393-6559008
Looks like it's got everything you're looking for and is pretty much a turn-key solution.
Love how tiny that is, but I'm not a fan of the pin layout on those little Xiao modules. The connection pads on the bottom, including the battery connection, are a major pain to try to solder to. If I ever get around to playing with the remaining two I have, I'm gonna try using pogo pins or something instead of trying to solder onto them
Edit: I do really like that it has external antenna connectors for both Wifi/BT and LoRa (unlike my Heltecs). Assuming I handle the battery charging and convert to 5v externally (to avoid dealing with the annoying battery pads) they'd make a great "attic node" (in my case on a mast in the back yard) that could stay connected to my wifi rather than having to remote admin it over LoRa (Slow and not all config options are available)
Yeah, it's hard to know if people use the word "repeater" colloquially or technically, so I always repeat the Meshtastic warning about that role since it has a high likelihood of being detrimental to the mesh in the area.
Hope you find something suitable because it's a fun project. I only get a few hits each month (less in the winter it seems) but it's cool when you randomly pick up someone from miles away and have a chat.
I'm not aware of any ready-to-use ones you can buy that are outdoor rated. Pretty much all of the pre-assembled ones I've seen are in a handheld or portable form factor.
For a "repeater" node (note the quotes, explained further below), I've wanted to pick up one of the new 1 W high power Rak Wireless boards (link). Those have a battery terminal as well as a solar input for charging. All you'd need to add would be a PV panel + battery and put it into some kind of housing. I'd also use a nicer antenna than the little stub one that comes with it.
You should be able to put that together without any kind of soldering, though you would need to wire the solar panel output to a battery-style connector to be able to attach it to the board. There are solder-free wire splicers you may be able to use, but it's also a good opportunity to practice soldering as there's little to mess up.
For the housing, you might look for outdoor-rated utility boxes or something like that. Would probably have to drill and seal holes for the antenna connector and solar panel wire, but shouldn't be too difficult. That, or you may be able to get a friend to help with 3D printing a solution.
Now, back to the use of "repeater" instead of repeater. Meshtastic docs are very adamant about only using the repeater role (now "router" role; repeater has been deprecated in recent versions). In all but the rarest and most optimally placed cases, you'd want to be using "client" or "client base" modes as they repeat messages but without forcing other clients to use them (and thus consuming a hop).
Genuinely curious. Why exFAT? (I didn't downvote you, BTW).
I've not had any issues using ext4 for my Pi's SD cards. Any issues due to improper shutdowns are fixed with journal recovery. I also like to set a fairly high commit time in the mount options (120 seconds usually). Worst case is I lose the last 2 minutes of data, but it seems to work well to coalesce the writes (especially for things like Jellyfin or anything that uses SQLite and does a lot of constant little writes).
That's what I was thinking but wasn't sure if 1 TB ones would even work (my phone won't read above a 256 GB one, for example).
Thanks. It's basically a travel router + portable app server + media library. I wanted to play with the much more capable Pi Zero clones and it turns out they can run quite a bit of stuff at the same time and the features snowballed as I just kept adding more stuff (I got the models with 4 GB RAM).
This would be great for parents too
Definitely, at least once I add some GPIO switches to set different modes for the networking (that's kind of a pain point now if you need to setup a different wifi client connection, switch its internet connection from wifi to USB tethering from a connect phone or switch the ethernet port from LAN to WAN, etc).
We had a power outage during a snow storm week or so ago and the prototype ran all day from a power bank and kept a limited Jellyfin library online for everyone (mostly Star Trek and Marvel movies since those are the only things everyone in the house can agree on haha).
Excellent. I'm excited. It should be delivered tomorrow.
Question: Is the case able to be opened at all? Like, if I wanted to pull out the i2c and a power + ground to a second set of pogo pins? Was just thinking that the only thing I'd miss is the ability to send canned messages from the device. The 2.7 firmware lets you do that now with the one-button navigation. Thinking something like a 3D printed sleeve that has a little i2c OLED screen and maybe an extension of the user button