Building a Mains Powered and a Solar Meshtastic Node - Lismore Australia

[@jamess1787]

Definitely recommend "linerless rubber tape" or "mastic". We use it in the cellular industry to add extra protection over the N-Type Male connector. 🤜🤛 Great video!

[@mattrixon]

Nice idea, I've got some here too - I should have put some tape over the connector before hauling myself up the hill!

[@myfaveyoutube]

Thanks I'll be keeping this in mind!

[@fumpt]

Good video. I also like how your mains powered rooftop node has a red LED acting as an aircraft warning light 🙂

[@williamh5912]

Great video, I'm going to set one up in Mullumbimby for the same reason.

[@mattdownernz]

Good stuff dude!

[@BDBee81]

Right on my brother! Starting to look into Meshtastic recently . Been wanting to setup LoRaWAN for years (Northern Rivers). Finally preparing to rig up a few... Good work mate. >8-D

[@ChrisMyers2000]

Very cool! Great job man. I plan on doing something similar next time I visit my parents in Florida. It’s not uncommon for them to lose cell service for weeks when a major hurricane comes through. My plan is to use raspberry pi zero 2W’s over POE but also with a battery and solar panel. The POE is mainly so I can keep them updated remotely but also to keep the battery topped up. Thanks for some good info and inspiration 👍

[@fraz3385]

Great to see. I'm planning something similar, but I was going to run 12-24v up to the node from a DC plug pack indoors, and use a small DC-DC step down module in the box up on the antenna mount. You can buy a potted module with a USB-C connector 😍, which is what I use for remote raspberry Pi. I once tried running 5V to a raspberry Pi 3B along about 5m of 0.75mm² copper but it wouldn't work, due to the voltage drop and power required. I guess these use 150-300mA or so, maybe that's fine. 😁 Thanks for making the video!

[@GeorgeAdams]

I used 48V POE with a splitter at the end.

[@fraz3385]

PS. My step down module died when the enclosure leaked. Turns out you can just run 5v along about 10m of 0.75mm². And the Heltec V3 runs just fine! I'll measure the voltage drop next time I go up. The heltec uses about 150mA, a lot less than a raspberry pi, so that's probably why it works.

[@captmulch1]

Are your nodes up? Can’t see them on the meshtatic map. I want to set up a South Lismore node.

[@mattrixon]

All nodes are up mate, you should have good visibility of the Caniaba node from South Lismore.

[@x_CrossHair_x]

Very nice.👍👨‍🎓.. I'm Going to use your Idea for the "Solar Charging Setup".. Not for Meshtastic.. (No one is in my area) I don't feel like being the only one.. (Will be for a TInyGS)

[@kb5zcs]

Great video could you show the settings for meshtastic app for this setup I am doing the same board ........

[@marcmillour-unraid2772]

Nice work, thxs

[@user-ue7mw7hg7n]

Was in Byron for that flood but it was the surrounding areas that got smashed

[@CaptZenPetabyte]

Im hoping meshtastic and LoRaWAN start getting a greater following over here in Australia as much as it has over in the UK. Be nice of there were more 'local' suppliers that didnt want to charge an arm and a leg for the stuff the UK and USA get dirt cheap

[@whatilearnttoday5295]

LoRa will never get a great following so long as they require you to join their association and pay the fees.

[@robertburdoff1789]

Great vid. the red areas on the map, areas with coverage?. I'm blundering around trying to figure LoRA out , is there any reason you went the raspberry pie route over heltec straight out of the box? I bought a couple of Heltecs, I think I've bricked one during the learning curve, but can still see huge potential in them.

[@marcusking2967]

Can you send a link to that solar panel and solar mount please?

[@mattrixon]

It's a generic solar panel made to power an outdoor CCTV usb camera: www.bunnings.com.au/orion-smart-5w-ip44-outdoor-solar-panel-for-security-cameras_p0261685

[@mattrixon]

The Mount is included with the panel

[@caseykc7abc]

How about a parts list of what where to buy

[@mrbc42x]

Nice work Matt, where did you buy the Waveshare Board and the Pi from? Went through Lismore a couple of years ago, the ride in from the coast down through the hills was pretty crazy. Knew a few people affected by the floods, very sad, great use of Meshtastic.

[@mattrixon]

Hey there! Thanks for your comment - I bought the Pi and Waveshare board from Core Electronics, an online electronic component shop.

[@ryanclarke2161]

Did you drill top and bottom condensation vents as it's wet as hell around here and I know from experience that moisture will build up inside that little enclosure.

[@mattrixon]

The cable gland at the bottom isn't water tight, so any condensation that settles can exit through the hole.

[@alw7315]

i have the 868mhz version of that antenna,, works well. :)

[@dempseydoodles]

Can you send me that link to your solar panel and mount you used? Also…. What website is that that shows you your coverage?

[@rakrul]

Isn't the first one going to work as a massive lightning rod?

[@fraz3385]

Is it any worse than having a TV aerial?

[@rakrul]

@@fraz3385 Well the antenna usually has a galvanic separator to prevent your TV from taking damage. Here you basically put your TV on a metal rod. :) I assume the rod itself is grounded so other than having to replace the electronics there shouldn't be any danger.

[@fraz3385]

@@rakrul I'll have to read up on how amateur radio does it.

[@mattrixon]

There's actually a quite a few trees around that are a bit higher than the node, so hopefully they attract any lightning away.

[@SpookieNZL]

Hi, where did you purchase the Wareshare Lora Board From?

[@citizensteve6713]

Only issue will be when acma get excited about the repeater nodes

[@valzzu]

I was thinking of powering my node with mains but decided to run it with 12 volts

[@ryanclarke2161]

When I saw lismore I was like WTF. Maybe this will spur me on to get a meshtastic radio

[@mattrixon]

Do it mate - if you need a hand with setting up I'll happily help you. There's a few of us in Lismore with these radios now.

[@ryanclarke2161]

@@mattrixon i think next year i will start setting one up around the bonalbo tabulam drake region. being able to be notified of trip wires and such would be wild.

[@hi-tech-guy-1823]

I would Shove a Pi5 (8GB) with LoRa LoraWAN Shield or 2 Hack RF One SDR's ( or a few for Directional sectoring 433MHz & 838Mhz 915MHz) Nice Thing With the Raspberry pi (PI3 ~ Pi5) They All Support POE 24V ~ 48V DC over Ethernet cable 30W 80W you just need 2 Path Jumpers for the POE 4 pins However I would also Use Mesh WiFi v6 for Closer Nodes even run a Mesh Telnet BBS (bulletin board system) Terminal Mesh Service on both Wifi Mesh & LoRa WAN Mesh (After all it is a PI5 With SSD M.2 nvme ) so can run a OFF Grid micro Internet (LoRa & WiFi)

[@FixitFingers]

Hope it doesn't get muggled 😂

[@whatilearnttoday5295]

But making things for LoRa requires joining their association "LoRa Alliance". If it requires such centralised authorities then it's a nonstarter as an open source network. Paying $3,000, $6,000, $20,000 or even $50,000 to develop open source products is utterly ridiculous, a barrier to entry and a crutch on innovation.

[@ragheadand420roll]

Byron bay. Good on ya mate. Say gday to tom barnett. Tell him conspiracy bear sent you. 🙏🏆🇺🇸✌️