u/Time-Guidance-5150

Code and files:

- v1.16 firmware: https://github.com/MuninnMesh/MuninnMeshCore/releases/tag/0.16v-rc1
- source code: https://github.com/MuninnMesh/MuninnMeshCore/tree/muninn-mesh/1.16.0-muninn-muziduo-custom

Video:
- Compass: https://drive.proton.me/urls/K8GB5KC4SC#YzM1G2YuqJEg
- Keyboard: https://drive.proton.me/urls/339GMVH9J8#t24oTg9lX1Mc

Readme with all changes: https://github.com/MuninnMesh/MuninnMeshCore/blob/muninn-mesh/1.16.0-muninn-muziduo-custom/README.md

What compass calibration code is based on:
- https://www.mikrocontroller.net/attachment/292888/AN4248.pdf
- https://www.nxp.com/docs/en/application-note/AN4246.pdf

I thought it might be useful to share some data from running 1W node in Texas with some sensors. The raw data is at 1 min granularity with couple of gaps when I was upgrading to 0.16. If you are building an outdoor node in a similar climate conditions, I hope this can help to make some decisions.

Raw data: https://drive.proton.me/urls/45HSB9K8T4#22AcdTtKmf2l

Over the week the enclosure behaved better than I expected for an outdoor solar node. The external SHT45 saw up to 38.6 C, while the internal BME688 stayed below 44.4 C and the thermistor/load area peaked at 45.2 C. Most of the time the internal sensor was only a couple degrees warmer than ambient, so the enclosure does not appear to be turning into a serious greenhouse during the short morning sun exposure.

The 10W / 6V panel is a bit overkills for our geo: the solar rail peaked around 295 mA and about 1.7 W derived input, while the strongest charging window was only about 2-3 hours per day. Even with that limited sun, the battery voltage stayed between 3.29 V and 3.65 V, and the voltage-derived SoC estimate had a median of 95% and P10 of 85%.

The design was explained in these two posts:

- https://www.reddit.com/r/meshcore/comments/1tdx1at/new_1w_outdoor_solar_repeater/
- https://www.reddit.com/r/meshcore/comments/1tp70t4/v2_of_1w_outdoor_solar_repeater/
- https://www.austinmesh.org/projects/lifepo4-solar-1w-repeater-texas-heat-edition/

Aggregated stats

Group	Sensor / rail	Unit	Min	P10	P50	Avg	P90	Max
Temp	PSU/load-area thermistor	C	20.7	23.7	29.0	30.4	39.0	45.2
Temp	External SHT45	C	20.2	22.7	27.0	27.5	33.0	38.6
Temp	Internal BME688	C	21.2	23.6	28.5	30.0	38.0	44.4
Humidity	External SHT45	%	44.5	57.5	80.5	77.5	93.5	96.5
Humidity	Internal BME688	%	20.0	24.5	27.0	27.5	32.0	35.5
Voltage	Solar panel	V	0.00	0.00	4.35	3.35	6.59	7.04
Voltage	Battery	V	3.29	3.32	3.35	3.43	3.64	3.65
Voltage	PSU load	V	3.24	3.30	4.01	3.91	4.55	4.60
Current	Solar panel	mA	0.0	0.0	1.0	16.3	52.0	295.0
Current	Battery	mA	-291.0	-34.0	0.0	-4.6	30.0	114.0
Current	PSU load	mA	-3.0	0.0	6.0	11.9	34.0	128.0
Power	Solar panel, derived	W	0.000	0.000	0.006	0.091	0.269	1.687
Power	Battery, derived	W	-1.001	-0.120	0.000	-0.016	0.099	0.376
Power	PSU load, derived	W	-0.012	0.000	0.025	0.046	0.121	0.588
Battery	SoC estimate	%	62.5	85.0	95.0	92.4	100.0	100.0

I got this module a few weeks ago and finally found some time to build a MeshCore node for bench testing: LoRa module + ESP32-S3 MCU + 5V rail filters + 5V/3A PSU.

It looks very promising so far! I wonder if anyone else has experience with the LR2021? RadioLib already supports it: https://github.com/jgromes/RadioLib/tree/master/src/modules/LR2021

Most LoRa boards still use the 8-year-old SX1262. The LR2021 is two generations ahead and was released in 2025. From what I understand, for sub-GHz bands the main advantage comes down to better sensitivity. The one I got has ~1W on 915Mhz.

As someone who tried Flux.ai – I would not be surprised if they also found it to be a total garbage. From their blog:

Adafruit received at 10:38 p.m. ET on May 22, 2026 a letter from former FBI chief of staff, Jonathan F. Lenzner, and partner at Fenwick & West LLP, counsel for Flux, demanding, among other things, that Adafruit refrain from publishing an article addressing what the letter characterizes as false and potentially defamatory claims about Flux, including statements about Flux’s intellectual property, commercial traction and user base.

The letter further asserts claims under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Adafruit accessed only information that Flux’s own systems made publicly available through a server misconfiguration. Adafruit’s reporting concerns a matter of public security interest and was conducted in the ordinary course of responsible disclosure.

Although Adafruit vigorously rejects the assertions made in Flux’s May 22, 2026 demand letter, we have temporarily stopped publishing on the Adafruit blog while we consider our response and next steps.

We will update the community as appropriate.

The Adafruit press contact is: press@adafruit.com

https://blog.adafruit.com/

After some good feedback on the previous post, I made a few changes:

1. Battery chemistry was swapped from a 10k LiPo to a 5k LFP, with operating temperature up to +55°C and better cycle life.
2. In addition to Velcro, the battery is now separated from the enclosure by an extra foam layer.
3. Correspondingly, the charger IC is now bq28185, which supports both LiPo and LFP batteries.
4. The Adafruit board can do up to 1A max, so I added a 15F supercap to help with power-consumption spikes during TX bursts.
5. Side breather valve, which was added before the drain hole and is probably redundant now.
6. Bottom 1mm drain hole with a rubber guard and nylon filter to keep dust and critters away.
7. INA219 was upgraded to INA3221 to monitor all three legs: battery, solar, and MCU rails. Keep in mind – Adafruit variant has incompatible I2C code, you need to compile firmware with 0x40/0x41 for INA3221.
8. Added a side switch button between the charger and MCU, not visible in the photo.
9. Swapped to a better USB bulkhead; the one from the previous post had some compatibility issues.
10. BME688 was downgraded to BME680 for monitoring enclosure temperature and humidity.
11. Added a second external SHT45 sensor in a sintered enclosure.
12. Still waiting for the solar cable to arrive, but it worked fine on battery over the last couple of days.
13. Total pain in the ass to assemble.

After some good feedback on the previous post, I made a few changes:

1. Battery chemistry was swapped from a 10k LiPo to a 5k LFP, with operating temperature up to +55°C and better cycle life.
2. In addition to Velcro, the battery is now separated from the enclosure by an extra foam layer.
3. Correspondingly, the charger IC is now bq28185, which supports both LiPo and LFP batteries.
4. The Adafruit board can do up to 1A max, so I added a 15F supercap to help with power-consumption spikes during TX bursts.
5. Side breather valve, which was added before the drain hole and is probably redundant now.
6. Bottom 1mm drain hole with a rubber guard and nylon filter to keep dust and critters away.
7. INA219 was upgraded to INA3221 to monitor all three legs: battery, solar, and MCU rails.
8. Added a side switch button between the charger and MCU, not visible in the photo.
9. Swapped to a better USB bulkhead; the one from the previous post had some compatibility issues.
10. BME688 was downgraded to BME680 for monitoring enclosure temperature and humidity.
11. Added a second external SHT45 sensor in a sintered enclosure.
12. Still waiting for the solar cable to arrive, but it worked fine on battery over the last couple of days.
13. Total pain in the ass to assemble.

I decided to use Adafruit’s solar charger + 5V regulator from Pololu it gets really hot here in Texas and the board it has a battery thermistor. There other two options were Waveshare or DFrobot boards which a lot of people use. I also installed BME688 and INA219 for monitoring, so we will see how it goes during hot months.

I still need to add glands and pressure equalizer.

Parts used:

- Lora board: Rak 1W, jumper set to ext 5V
- Battery charger: Adafruit bq 24074, soldered 1.5A pads
- 5V regulator: Pololu S9V11F5
- Current: INA219 (since battery no longer directly plugged into Rak's ADC).
- Env sensor: BME688 (you can use any other, I just had spare unused BME688, but it's overkill)
- Battery: 10000 mAh LiPo (make sure to check polarity!)
- RTC timer
- Battery thermistor
- BLE antenna (haven't tested yet)
- USB-C Bulkhead
- Heatsink

5V filter (I'm not an expert, just saw this LC is good for filtering noise on 5V rail and dealing with voltage spikes):

- 2x 1000 uf organic cap 16SVPF1000M
- 1x 100 uf tant 199D107X9010E6V1
- 1x 10uf cer FG20X7R1H106KRT00
- 1x 0.1uf cer K104K15X7RF53L2
- 1x ferrite bead 28L0138-70R-10

- Enclosure
- Velcro tape for mounting battery
- Pressure valve

- 6V/10W Solar panel

I decided to use Adafruit’s solar charger + 5V regulator from Pololu since it has battery thermistor and it gets really hot here in Texas. There other two options were Waveshare or DFrobot boards which a lot of people use. I also installed BME688 and INA219 for monitoring, so we will see how it goes during hot months.

I still need to add glands and pressure equalizer.

Parts used:

- Lora board: Rak 1W, jumper set to ext 5V
- Battery charger: Adafruit bq 24074, soldered 1.5A pads
- 5V regulator: Pololu S9V11F5
- Current: INA219 (since battery no longer directly plugged into Rak's ADC).
- Env sensor: BME688 (you can use any other, I just had spare unused BME688, but it's overkill)
- Battery: 10000 mAh LiPo (make sure to check polarity!)
- RTC timer
- Battery thermistor
- BLE antenna (haven't tested yet)
- USB-C Bulkhead
- Heatsink

5V filter (I'm not an expert, just saw this LC is good for filtering noise on 5V rail and dealing with voltage spikes):

- 2x 1000 uf organic cap 16SVPF1000M
- 1x 100 uf tant 199D107X9010E6V1
- 1x 10uf cer FG20X7R1H106KRT00
- 1x 0.1uf cer K104K15X7RF53L2
- 1x ferrite bead 28L0138-70R-10

- Enclosure
- Velcro tape for mounting battery
- Pressure valve

- 6V/10W Solar panel

Let me know if someone is interested. I can try to upstream it next week.

Here is the firmware file if anyone with this hardware wants to try (backup your data first!):

https://drive.proton.me/urls/4KNSP5E2F0#G5N36Mxv6eKV

MuziWorks Duo.

Really like these cases. Finally feels like a well-engineered product and not an afterthought so far - lr1121, usb port on the side and power + gps switch. The missing part is proper MeshCore support in the official release (but you can build from dev branch).

The board itself is very nice – I've never seen 14db snr on any of my other companions before. GPS is very snappy too. Compared to my Heltec devices with bunch of the cases I’ve tried – this case and the board feel like they are designed jointly.