Can a stand alone node record (and sore) GPS location to be retrieved at later date?
I was thinking about building one for hiking
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You can put it into a mode where it just constantly broadcasts gps data. Look up Meshtastic range test
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@Hamspiced Do you happen to know much about the SenseCAP Card Tracker @ Seeed Studio?
I donāt really have a need for Meshtastic other than a possible drone tracker. I build and fly a lot of FPV drones and the SenseCap looked like a compact solution. I really would like something tiny with GPS.
I did get into Lorawan during Covid and mounted a Mikrotik gateway and antenna on my house. Iāve since moved and all my Lora stuff is sitting in a drawer. I guess I do have a few devices I could convert from Lorawan to Meshtastic.
I havenāt messed with anything from seed. I actually didnāt even know they came out with anything.
Iāve switched to only using rak nodes because they are so damn power efficient and have great range as well as an array of modules. Thatās likely what I would recommend.
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Now that I have home assistant setup I figured why not get my node info piped into it.
Really simple.
I use an NRF52 based node so I canāt use the HA tutorial on Meshtastics site as these devices have a bug outputting JSON payloads.
However Iām home assistant if you install HACS, three a Meshtastic MQTT bridge that can decide the raw protobufs data.
All you need is your local topic and your device id. Throw that info the config and enable the metrics you want.
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Made a crazy low cost easy to put together board for Meshtastic. Uses a Pro Micro and a E22 Lora Module.
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ok now letās implant itā¦
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External use only sir
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Why though? Iām sure a 10,000mAh flat pack LiPo under the skin of my thigh would be a great idea.
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Its pretty crazy how low powered the RAK devices are. My esp32 devices last a day. My RAK ran for a week before I plugged it back in.
I put an antenna on my chimney but I have a 15 foot coax ran to it. It needs a box and POE module, that project got sidetracked though.
Oh definitely. 2 18650 will power a heltec for 14 hours. A wisblock 4630 for 16 days
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Iāve noticed the same. My all my esp based devices last max 1 day and NRF52840 based devices last 2-6days depending on the battery size that is still smaller. T-echo lasts somewhere between 4 and 6 days and T1000-E for 2 days. In the future Iāll be getting only non-esp based devices for the battery powered versions until they improve on it.
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The temptation to make a solar node and hang it in a tall tree 1/4 mile from my apartment is so highā¦
But leaving a $200 box unattended in a tiny patch of woods feels like a terrible idea, especially when I donāt own said woods.
I know it would quadruple (or better) my range, even with surrounding foliage. I know it would let me reach out to some nodes south of me and east of me. But I feel like even if I put aside the risk of theft, it would be a sealed box in the sun with a pretty big lithium battery inside of it, which sounds like a terrible idea.
I have the same feeling. I likely need only one more node to jump around whole city.
Meshtastic Solar Powered Node / Repeater with built-in GPS and Battery Been thinking something like this.
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I started with a pair of Heltec V3s and recently acquired a wisblock. Absolutely recommend the wisblock, incredibly efficient and performs excellently.
Mine is coupled with an old random 3000mah battery I had lying around and a 5.5V solar panel ripped from a garden light I got at harbor freight for $9. Even with partial shade it sustains and gains 0.5%-1% each day.
I wasnāt all that interested in the mesh network until I saw what a proper setup could do, now I find myself wanting to install stealth setups in dead zones to bridge the gaps between cities 
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what can it do? i have seen things where you broadcast short messages to nodes but basically its all cleartext and not really suitable for anything but CQ and fucking around, or maybe emergenciesā¦ but p2p messaging it ainātā¦ unless iām missing something?
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You can pipe HA through it. The wisblock has a ton of different modules. Environmental, water detection, presence sensing.
You can set the node up to broadcast the data at intervals. HA can monitor and you can create routines based on the values.
Iāve saturated my city with nodes all over with just a small solar panel and dual 18650ās and rak wisblocks. If the cell networks do go down I can at least text my wife within the city limits.
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ok iām researching lora encryption because without that then iād really not want to trust anything coming from a lora networkā¦ especially anything connected to automationā¦ but it looks like it is possible to use both symmetric and asymmetric cryptoā¦ though not sure how the nodes pass along public keys for each otherā¦ more to learn i guess.
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