u/Matlavox

Really confused me because if I centered my council patch on the shoulder loop, all the other patches underneath ended up aligning like 10 degrees off from center and looked real strange. Definitely iron your sleeves to find the top before laying out your patches so you can see center.

I feel like it’s going to look weird not being centered on the shoulder loop, but it would look even worse having the line of patches twisted and not aligning to the button on my sleeve.

I came across this app and installed it. Looks great. It’s made specifically for Scouting. Tracks everything, wondering if anyone uses it? https://apps.apple.com/us/app/troop-campfire-scout-manager/id6752724510

I searched the group and it seemed like most people use generic apps like Band or Google Docs.

Our Pack just has a giant group text for all the leaders. I’m thinking of proposing this for the pack, or at least I’ll try to use it for my Den.

I had these USB cables made that give you permanent outdoor USB power and connectivity. They have an IP67 waterproof USB-C overmolded connector on one side, and a regular USB-C connector on the other side.

USB cables are typically limited in length due to data integrity issues. USB 3.0 is capped at only 3 meters, but since Meshtastic only needs USB 2.0, the max length you can go with a passive cable is 5 meters (16 feet). Pretty decent.

This gives you full serial functionality, so you can provide power to your device and/or connect to it over USB for flashing, or creating a client connection, without having to go retrieve your node. I also have 1 meter in stock for handheld mobile serial connection.

This creates a number of opportunities:

• Install a roof node without needing batteries or solar panel. Just route the cable to the inside where you provide continuous USB power.
• Manage your rooftop node safely without needing to go up on a ladder. Just connect to the cable in your house to flash or connect as a client.
• Install a mobile node on your vehicle, without needing solar or batteries. Have it automatically turn on when the car is on, or connect it to your cell phone or other device to create a reliable serial connection instead of fighting Bluetooth through your vehicle's metal roof.
• Deploy a field node while camping or at an event with USB connection, routing the cable down to your tent.
• Excellent solution for high-powered radios such as ESP32 or 1 watt devices that are difficult to power via solar.
• Maintain backup power capability by installing a UPS battery backup inline indoors for power outages. Or keep a battery installed in your node. USB charges it.

These cables pair with our ribbon cables to make an IP67 waterproof connection, which we now offer in both 10CM and 20CM, in case you need a little extra length inside your enclosure.

Use code REDDITUSB to save 10% of either of these products until 7/6/26

Bulkhead USB Ribbon Cables

Outdoor USB Cables

Happy 4th,
-Matt Donley

One of the most common points of confusion I hear from customers when we install MeshCore firmware on devices is that they can't tell whether the device is on/off or broken because when they press the power button, none of the LEDs illuminate. And they don't know if the device is safely turned off because there's no LED indication for that either. Some devices don't even have a way to turn off because their buttons aren't mapped to anything in the firmware!

I'm working on bringing LED functionality to devices by creating a universal LED behavior that devices can opt into, paired with a momentary button functionality for powering off. This is the behavior I'm currently testing on the ThinkNode M6 and the SenseCap P1 Pro.

• POWER ON: Tap either the reset button, or the Function|User|Power button (depends on device) to power on. The only way to turn the device on is with an intentional press of a button, or if the device is attempting to restart automatically after an unintended powerdown event.
  • A special hook prevents the radio from booting if a USB cable is plugged into a powered-down device. (This enables charging without turning the radio on)
• POWER ON LED BEHAVIOR: After a brief pause after tapping the button, both the primary and TX LED illuminate for the duration of the boot cycle (~1sec). When boot completes, the LEDs both go dark, followed by a quick flash of the TX LED (usually the Blue one) to imply normal operation commencing.

Pressing the reset button while a device is on triggers the same power-on LED behavior during the reboot.

• POWER OFF: Hold the function|user button for 3 seconds. (Abortable if released before final second.)
• POWER OFF LED BEHAVIOR: The power off LED behavior tries to imply a need to hold-to-execute. Immediately upon pressing, a quick flash happens, then it blinks rapidly 4 times, and finally it's a long illumination for about a second. If you release before the long illumination, the power-down is aborted, if you release at any point from the start of the long illumination, the power-down will proceed.
• POWER CHECK: As a bonus, if someone wants to confirm if their device is on, they can simply tap the Function|User button, and it will illuminate the LED immediately if the device is on, or it will trigger a boot if it's not already on. Prevents unnecessary reboots.

These features leave opportunity for other button/LED functions such as tap to advert, triple-tap to toggle GPS, stuff like that. Currently out of scope though for what I'm trying to do. Thoughts?