SOLAR POWERED MESH RADIO NETWORK!!!

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ADAFRUIT SOLAR CHARGE CONTROLLER
www.adafruit.com/product/4755
(These are affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
As an eBay Partner, I may be compensated if you make a purchase)
BUY MESHTASTIC DEVICES HERE
Heltec on Amazon ---amzn.to/3HUphHd
Heltec on Amazon --- amzn.to/3UBZonk
Heltec on Amazon --- amzn.to/49bwmiI
eBay UK SELLER --- ebay.us/fCuA9H
eBay UK SELLER --- ebay.us/Dh4aFT
Heltec Cases --- amzn.to/3HCwbkt
Batteries (not plug and play)
amzn.to/3Omnv5t
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VERY NICE ENCLOSURE FOR HELTEC V3
ikb3d.co.uk/bendtastic
Lilygo T-Echo (overpriced on amazon)
amzn.to/3SdEJ5W
SMA PIGTAILS FOR CONNECTING BETTER ANTENNAS TO HELTEC NODES
amzn.to/48WlRQj
PARADAR ANTENNA
amzn.to/3w5eKGp
YAGI
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THOSE FUNKY MINI HELTEC ANTENNAS
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XRAY MARKS MCGILL MICROWAVE ANTENNA DEAL!!!
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email: contact@mcgilllmicrowave.com if you want the deal, tell them Mark sent you
PARADAR ANTENNAS 10% OFF
paradar.co.uk/
CODE: MESHTASTIC
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Опубликовано:

22 май 2024

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Комментарии : 108

@williamcavanaugh4090 7 дней назад

Wow, you really went out of your way to do this the most difficult way possible. Way to make life harder than it needs to be.

@mumbles1justin 4 месяца назад

The Heltec has a TP4054 li-on charge IC built in and connected to VDD_5v pin and GND. Its rated for up to 0.3~10v input directly. There is a 6.5v 10uf cap that may need to be swopped out for a higher voltage 10uf cap if the open voltage of solar panel is higher than 6.3v under load Theres also a usb switch circuit built into Heltec. So when usb battery bank is plugged in heltec, the heltec automatically switches to usb power to top the solar battery bank. The power is going to run through this circuit on the heltec anyway. So Im not sure all the extra components (e.g adafruit charge controller inefficiency losses, usb power bank input inefficiency losses, power bank output inefficiency losses etc.) are necessary. In theory you’ve added 50~70+% efficiency loss having all the extra equipment.

@stewartstewartstewart 4 месяца назад

This is the comment i was looking for. I thought exactly the same thing

@andykirby 4 месяца назад

The TP4054 doesn't make a great solar charger. The BQ24074 is more like an MPPT so if will be more efficient at maximising current from PV.

@mumbles1justin 4 месяца назад

But your running the BQ24074 through the TP4054. How is that efficient? The VDD_5v and battery are directly connected to TP4054. So you would have to power Heltec through VDD_3.3v to bypass the TP4054 IC.

@gomach10 4 месяца назад

Justin, question since the Heltec is what I'm working with and it seems you familiar with the tp4054 on board the unit. Can I input the 6v from my panel into the 5v input on the bottom corner of the board and input the battery voltage into the plug on the back? Was thinking of adding a schottky diode between the panels and +5 input. What have you tried?

@mumbles1justin 4 месяца назад

@@gomach10 I realize I didn’t exactly answer your question about solar panel connected to +5 input. Thats because I dont want to tell you something that may damage your board. As mentioned in my original comment the Heltec Lora32 boards apparently use capacitors that are 6.5v rated. The Heltec Wireless Tracker boards I have are 10v rated capacitors in front of the tp4054. So on my boards I have ramped voltage up to 8v on the 5v pins and have not seen or noticed any damage.

@matt-fh6hb 4 месяца назад

Interesting! I run my CCTV cameras and floodlights via solar in the UK, including record, sending alerts with 30s video clips via WiFi and I regularly access live camera via mobile when I’m away. The system never dips below 80% even in winter, and the panel is tiny.

@goodgugamuga Месяц назад

The Wisblock has both solar and battery connections.

@paulizz 4 месяца назад

Congrats on 100k well deserved

@Peter-dd3br 4 месяца назад

This is a good example of why it's worth paying a little extra to get the more efficient radio. If you only ever run it on mains power it doesn't matter, but if you ever decide to power it some other way, using less power makes everything easier, cheaper, more effective, better.

@mimetype 4 месяца назад

It's kinda a moot point since there's only about 7 meshtastic nodes in the UK.

@Peter-dd3br 4 месяца назад

@@mimetype Knowing the British appetite for gadgets there are probably individuals with more than 7 nodes.

@dr3wster 4 месяца назад

@@mimetype I guess that's a mapping/awareness issue (huge issue with meshtastic at the moment imo). I have 4 nodes myself and from driving around my local area, I've picked up tons more also. The lack of visibility is really hampering the project growth in my opinion (only in regards to the public/default mesh).

@mimetype 4 месяца назад

@@dr3wster If uptake were 0.01% of the tech literate population I'd be shocked. It's mainly people giving devices to their relatives, (which accounts for the clusters) or Armageddon usurpers thinking if they can send a txt to their buddy up the street then the Mach 7 10,000 degree plasma won't get em. And God forbid the mesh were to experience loads of more that 10 users simultaneously :)

@innercityprepper 4 месяца назад

Love it! I'm just a week or so away from testing out my drone-deployable (and drone-recoverable) magnetic node that can be put on stadium lights, billboard framework, etc. Can't wait to see how it works!

@AerialAutist44 4 месяца назад

-Gonna need a video of that

@stevenm45 4 месяца назад

Cool idea!

@innercityprepper 4 месяца назад

@@AerialAutist44I was thinking that too. I am not really a content creator but I'll see what I can do if/when I actually get it to work. At the very least I'll put a resource up online that explains the parts list and the theory of operation.

@johncostello 4 месяца назад

Fantastic stuff Andy, Really enjoying what you're doing and the straight forward down to earth way you're explaining it all.

@HenryFromWob 4 месяца назад

Great video Andy! Seeing someone so passionate about his hobby is really inspiring. Hoping to get my own setup soon, until then I will find joy in watching your cool content. 😊

@247SH 4 месяца назад

Looking good.

@JasonRomolo 4 месяца назад

Great info! Thanks!

@stephendonkin5497 4 месяца назад

Well done 100k

@thebuckeyedan 4 месяца назад

Andy building a secret underground off grid communications network one node at a time.

@spokehedz 4 месяца назад

I wish there was more in the USA.

@Anthony-mz8ci 4 месяца назад

Thanks Andy, I will have a look on my computer.

@robertmeyer4744 4 месяца назад

That was great Andy. I am in NY solar about the same hear. only works good part of the year. with the RFI noise you can get some ferrite cores and place them on wire next to charge controller and with power banks I place in a faraday bag and put a ferrite on USB cable takes the RFI out. I have same power bank in video. they have different colors . not to bad RFI on that one. 73's

@alw7315 3 месяца назад

Such a cool idea,, I came across your channel by pure accident (or maybe looking at CB Radios, Yes i saw your other video saying CB radios 2.0 its true!). I'm soon to be converted to Mesh!.. I think this is a project should be updated again in the summer, perhaps a with a mobile road trip or something.. keep up the good work!.

@DKSorg 4 месяца назад

From Canada, Totally Enjoying the Vids. #NOOB just starting the Journey. Some research and a payday away from getting started.

@davetreadwell 2 месяца назад

Running mains to the shed isn't as trivial as you make it sound though! Need armoured cable ideally in conduit, requires electrician, and is notifiable work

@Bustmychoad 3 месяца назад

that charge controller had "lipo" written all over it

@LondonCityEvents 4 месяца назад

So so glad you’re using a 21700 and not a 18650 lol in the summer that will charge that no problem 👍🏻 #100k 🎉

@paulmark63 4 месяца назад

Well done any 100k did you get your -plaque keep great work Paul in Kent

@PortugalCarp 4 месяца назад

Nice one Andy. Have you dabbled with the Wisblock systems yet? I have read that they come with an inbuilt solar controller.

@Billywhizz-bl7yj 4 месяца назад

Hi Andy, will there be some bike stuff coming any time soon?

@NEOGEOJunkie 4 месяца назад

@andy kirby Hi Andy, thanks for your videos, they are very helpful. I've been toying with solar but will hang fire until I get my RAK now. Is there any chance you could do a guide/howto on how to setup you own private channel but still have the default long/fast public channel as well? Ideally I want to eventually setup a repeater node that everyone can use, but also want my own private comms as well as there's not too much coverage here yet on the east Midlands, so I want to improve that a bit for everyone if I can. (still relatively new to all this, but have a couple of heltec and t-beams with the paradar antennas) and I've just ordered a 6.5db pole I'm going to put up when the RAK arrives.

@kyleisom 4 месяца назад

Haha I just got my t-beam finally, about to build my own homebrew meshtastic node. I won't have mains to it, so hopefully it stays up. Trying to bridge two adjacent cities. Have you seen the nomadnet stuff?

@dangruner5926 4 месяца назад

Both my mesh modules have arrived, so as soon as I get some time (difficult at the moment lol), I will get them installed and operational! :)

@dr3wster 4 месяца назад

Andy - I'm in the Glossop area and trying to form a link to Manchester but we're in a huge valley so signal is non existant atm. I have 2x heltec v3 nodes and 2x RAK nodes. Really interested in putting a repeater up on a nearly peak but that obviously comes with challenges not limited to just solar charging. Which part of the UK are you based? I drove around the other day on the M60 and picked up a number of nodes, but obviously couldn't locate or speak with them. Note I'm kicking out an advert every 1 minute on the public channel from where I'm based (will tune this frequency down once I get some success).

@direhavok8732 3 месяца назад

Hows the return loss with the antenna coax?

@monkeysausageclub 3 месяца назад

I have wondered about mini wind turbine, if there is such a thing.

@britishtechguru 4 месяца назад

A 10W panel and a bigger battery would probably cover for days when there's very poor sun. Redundancy in the mesh network would also mean that when one node goes down due to power issues, there's still a pathway.

@mumbles1justin 3 месяца назад

I agree. When calculated for a 3 day reserve in my area I came up with needing a minimum of 15w panel. 1.5w * 24hrs = 36watt hours/day 20°F(-7°C ) derate (actual area can get down to -10°F(-23°C) 226 watt hour battery bank 3.77 sun hours ( central US) 15watt solar panel

@hansmaier3689 4 месяца назад

I do not like Pb Batts. but with minus Temperatures it is more safe than LiIon.

@zerofox3d 4 месяца назад

Andy let me send you one of my Heltec cases, I’ve spent blooming ages designing it after being inspired by your vids (keep telling my wife it’s your fault my office is full of crap 😆)

@andykirby 4 месяца назад

Go for it 😁 thanks! send me an email andy@cloudsto.com and I'll you address, shipping cost etc.

@zerofox3d 3 месяца назад

@@andykirby typically, I didn’t see the notification about your reply 😆 Emailing when the kids are in bed!

@stewartstewartstewart 4 месяца назад

You can run the RAK on a tiny panel like the one you used.

@andykirby 4 месяца назад

It's stilll only 1/3 of the power consumption of the ESP32, not enough sunlight in the UK.

@ChrisCornell79 4 месяца назад

Could you use one of those solar powered security lights? Some of them have 2 to 4, 18650's. It already has the solar panel and a mounting bracket. Take off the motion sensor and light . Then you wouldn't have to buy all the parts separately . But I don't know how you would connect to the power. Just a thought.

@bigmouthstrikesagain4056 3 месяца назад

Has anyone heard of the gateway toe antenna that another tputibe channel had been building? I wonder if it could be built to make a lora mesh antenna or any other for thy matter

@sion-music 4 месяца назад

After watching your vids I went out and bought 3 of the Heltec boards just before xmas. Though I am curious - does anybody know what the LEDs mean on the Heltecs? I have a constant red/orange LED and a flashing white LED that occasionally flashes extra bright. I'd love to know what it all means..

@DKSorg 4 месяца назад

Would a Solar Charging Battery pack be a Better start...? Or could you run it in Series/Parallel with another solar panel? What about (PoE) via RJ45..?

@EdwardVanNatta 3 месяца назад

I am looking for more information on how to build one of these and how do it with work on a solar panel if you're in the state of Kentucky and a lot of sun in their daytime wonder if it will charge the battery all day long and charge it for their work at night and get back to me and let me know I'm thinking about using this for a emergency blink hook up in case I'm on the lake or somewhere where I cannot use a hand Ham, radio or CB or ICD

@Anthony-mz8ci 4 месяца назад

Hi Andy - really enjoying your videos. Until you explained about Meshtastic, I had never heard about it. I have an apple iPhone 6s and went to download the app but it requires an ISO operating system a bit higher than is currently available to me. Is there any other way around this? Keep up the great work.

@andykirby 4 месяца назад

Thanks very much 👍🏼 Yeah that's a bit annoying... Have you got any android phone? You can also use the Web interface on any computer.

@Robert-cd5zr 3 месяца назад

Can you leave this charge controller plugged into the wall all the time, and use the onboard battery and solar as an uninterruptable power supply in case house power goes out, with the solar prolonging the life of the battery?

@Robotron-zg6mf 4 месяца назад

Can i put one hidden high in a tree on a hill top? yes i think i can, thanks Andy

@mr_spoons 4 месяца назад

An ESP32 based board with solar isn't the best idea, unless you're using a large panel. They are so inefficient that they are always warm. Use an nRF52 based system instead. They are cold even when USB powered. When battery powered they last for ages, unlike the day or two of an ESP.

@KasparsDambis 4 месяца назад

I’ve been running a Heltec Lora 32 v3 at 0.1W as solar powered Meshtastic router for a while now without any issues. It is in light sleep most of the time and wakes on any Lora traffic.

@mr_spoons 4 месяца назад

@@KasparsDambis It will depend greatly on your latitude and season. The UK isn't a great place for small panels, especially in the winter. The nRF52 is a considerably better option.

@tsikada 4 месяца назад

He mentioned that in the video…

@TheVeganarchism 4 месяца назад

Now if only NRF52 systems were stock…

@KasparsDambis 4 месяца назад

I agree that nRF52 uses less power but we need to look at the actual data before saying that ESP32 boards are not a good option for solar. My experience shows that Heltec esp32 boards sleep at 0.1W which gives them 100h or 4 days (2.4Wh/day) of battery life with a 10Wh cell without any additional charging. So the question becomes -- what size of solar panel can do 2.4Wh per day on average in the specific climate? In the UK there are ~45h of sunshine in December so to generate 74Wh you would need a 2W panel times 3 due to positioning times 2-3 due to sporadic sunshine and you arrive at a 12-20W panel which is still pretty small.

@SulphuricAcidForTheSouL 4 месяца назад

I live in Florida. are you familiar with BDA antenna systems. they are required in all commercial and 3 story residential buildings if emergency signal fails to meet the required strength. I believe its the same in England. are you involved in this field? or familiar with p25

@tobyhogan6207 4 месяца назад

You could disconnect the screen to reduce some power draw.

@andykirby 4 месяца назад

Small amount yeah.

@everwake242 3 месяца назад

been enjoying your videos on these cool gadgets, but was frankly chocked when I saw a lily go T-echo is 100euro, as someone who tinkered with ESP8266 and zigbee devices a lot I do wonder why this hardware is so expensive

@natebaird 4 месяца назад

Curious if the LilyGo T-Echos would be okay to run off solar. I'm in Southern California and it'd be realistic to assume full solar production most days.

@JohnBaxendale 4 месяца назад

The run off a single cell, so yes. They're lower power than the ESP32 in the Heltec's, so they'll last longer too. You could either use a solar panel with a USB-C connector, connected direct to the T-Echo, or a separate charge controller depending on the panel voltage. There's lots of 5v output solar panels though, as some CCTV cameras use them (Ring etc).

@natebaird 4 месяца назад

@@JohnBaxendale Amazing! Thanks John, scouting out some incognito locations up on hills so all the friends can have some fun. Appreciate the help!

@JohnBaxendale 4 месяца назад

@@natebairdHave been thinking much the same, would be great to get coverage for when hiking etc, wondering whether discreetly placed boxes with a small solar panel would annoy others though!

@The_Ludd1te 4 месяца назад

Will the lilygo automatically restart on receiving voltage from the 5v panel after a full discharge/power off scenario (say after multiple cloudy days)? Otherwise this would be less than ideal for a remote install.

@JohnBaxendale 4 месяца назад

@@The_Ludd1te Yes, if the power comes on then they boot up again.

@Sylvan_dB 4 месяца назад

I don't think that Adafruit board will prioritize solar. Not sure, but I'd expect it to basically ignore the solar when you have the USB source providing power. nvrmind - you covered the highest voltage issue. How big a system would you need? At 240ma when transmit, worst case (won't happen) will be transmit for 24 hours per day. That would use roughly the same power as 1a for 6 hours per day, or 6ah per day at 5v. Roughly 3ah per day at 12v. A 30ah battery lifepo4 battery should give you 10 days without solar. A 100w solar panel in 4 hours of sun would give you a full charge. Probably a 50w panel would do if you get 8 hours of sun in 10 days time.

@Island_Times 4 месяца назад

Great vid thanks . I'm just about to set up in Australia . Few and far here where i live , so i have a question . When a message is sent but cant complete , does it hang around in the ether eventually pinging the end destination or just vanish ? thanks

@andykirby 4 месяца назад

It tries to deliver 3 times then fails.

@Island_Times 4 месяца назад

@@andykirby Ok thanks mate . I live on a small 6x4km island with no bridge and have ordered a couple to test with as i want an emergency communications network as cellphone reception is shocking and mine relies on a boost from my Starlink . Sounds like i'll be buying a few more to scatter around friends houses .

@pperrinuk 4 месяца назад

No link to your discord?

@247SH 4 месяца назад

Is there more activity on 868mhz or 436mhz? I have a spare LillyGo Paxcounter on 436mhz so I’m just weighing up pros and cons. do you need an amateur radio licence for 436mhz on Meshtastic or is it exempt?

@JohnBaxendale 4 месяца назад

433mhz is ISM band, same as 868mhz, licence exempt.

@russellhltn1396 4 месяца назад

@@JohnBaxendale In Europe, yes. But not in the US.

@JohnBaxendale 4 месяца назад

@@russellhltn1396Yeah, I've no idea where the OP is based, I just assumed UK/Europe based on Andy's location and that the OP didn't mention 915mhz, which seems to be prefered amongst all the US users!

@247SH 4 месяца назад

@@JohnBaxendale I’m based in UK.

@JohnBaxendale 4 месяца назад

@@247SHYup, that's what I figured :)

@stevie3011 4 месяца назад

What is the radiation pattern of the antenna since you mounted it horizontally ? Does it mean it's directed at your other location ? I would think it should be mounted vertically.

@TheAtomicZombie10 4 месяца назад

The antenna is the external one, not the one in the Heltec

@bigmouthstrikesagain4056 3 месяца назад

People should set up small funds by all putting onto a pot just a small amount and getting others to join...like a informal volutary association yoi dont necessarily even need a boss or leader to follow. And everyone could a sort themselves out into work groups and build a community internet distributed mesh network.... open source all the hardware and the software... and try to get possibly other local groups involved to and coordinate it between yourselves. Again there's not necessarily a need for managers