r/meshtastic

Just got back from a cruise and honestly… Meshtastic worked WAY better than I expected.

I brought a few of my custom MagSafe-compatible nodes onboard with the idea of testing communication around the ship and during shore excursions. Ended up using them constantly the entire trip.

Some things that worked surprisingly well:
- Messaging family around the cruise ship without relying on WiFi packages
- Keeping track of people during shore excursions
- Communication while split up in port areas/shopping
- Great battery life throughout the day

The funniest part was watching people go from:
“Wait… what is that thing on the back of your phone?”
to
“Okay that’s actually insanely useful.”

The compact MagSafe setup made it super easy because nobody wanted to carry another device around. Just snap it onto the phone and forget about it.

I’ve been designing/building these as a side project and I’m finally planning to start selling them on Etsy starting June 1st under the TerraLink name.

Current versions:
- TerraLink Standard → internal antenna + 2000mAh
- TerraLink Pro → external antenna + 3000mAh

If anyone wants to follow along, my Instagram is:
@terra_link

Would also love to hear other real-world Meshtastic use cases people are actually using regularly besides the typical “emergency communication” answer.

I can change the long name and short name but that only seems to change it on the device but not on my app, difficult trying to connect to my different nodes, have I missed a setting somewhere?

I did rename them on my phones Bluetooth but that only shows on the phone and not in the app

Thanks!

I purchased this kit on eBay. I feel confident it is assembled correctly, but I have been unable to get the thing to connect properly to my computer therefore I have been unable to flash meshtastic onto it. I tried installing the cp210x drivers, and as far as I know, they were installed, but the device manager does not show a com 5 under ports. When I connect the type C plug to the heltek while holding the button down to load it in the bootloader mode it displays the second image. But I cannot connect to it. Under the Bluetooth connections, the only device that seems plausible is labeled NRFUN. Seems strange but nothing else that shows up could be the node. I'm certain I followed the directions the seller gave me correctly. Can anyone help me out with some advice and suggestions?

I have started to get into the meshtastic with my heltec v4 at the beginning I was at home on the countryside with no nodes near me and after I moved to the city I have had a lot more near me and I even received messages on a general public channel. But I could not send messages or nobody received my messages (“Maximum retransmission limit reached”)

So what I think the problem is that my heltec v4 is running on a older firmware(Beta/Stable 2.7.15) so I wanted to update the firmware to the newest alpha version (2.7.23.b246bcd Alpha)

But after selecting the right port/device (picture 1) and in the top right it says disconnected while connecting to device….. and after 2-4 min I only get error messages (see pictures 2 and 3)
I have tried different browsers,laptops,cables but nothing worked so far since I loaded the device with the firmware when I got it.

Maybe I don’t even have to update my firmware but only my antenna but ima only a beginner speculating.

I saw this video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/imEQYq-X4yA, and I searched for the device, which is called LoRa LR2021.
Normally, it's quite hard to show a video on a LoRa device, but the device looks like it can transmit video information between two devices.
It is hard to confirm what technology it uses, even though its name contains 'LoRa'. Maybe it's just WiFi Halo.

Saw the idea of a node hidden in an On! can on YouTube and decided I wanted to make my own.

Since the lil coil antenna has a very solid SWR and fits in the smaller section, I figured I'd go with the biggest battery I can fit in the can with a Rak4631, which turns out to be a 102540 (10mm x 25mm x 40mm). I spliced a JST PH2 onto so I can still use the balanced charger that came with the battery since that uses a JST PH1.25.

Hi everyone.

I’d like to show my small autonomous Meshtastic node that I built using the RAK4630.

My goal was pretty simple - to build a stationary outdoor node with low power consumption, a decent antenna, and the ability to run autonomously for long periods of time.

I’m using the node in CLIENT_BASE mode, and MQTT is also enabled.

The node operates on EU_868.

Current configuration:

• RAK4630
• 5.5 dB fiberglass antenna, 40 cm long
• external Li-Ion battery pack
• weather-protected enclosure
• protected USB Type-C connector for charging and external power

The battery was advertised as 13000 mAh, but the real usable capacity turned out to be closer to 7000 mAh. For this kind of setup, that is still more than enough.

Honestly, I was very impressed by the power consumption of the RAK4630.
After using ESP32-based boards, it almost feels like this board consumes “nothing”. For autonomous outdoor nodes, that is a huge advantage.

After 4 days of continuous operation, the battery voltage dropped only from 4.12 V to 4.05 V.

I added a protected Type-C connector to the enclosure. Through it, I can connect a regular charger without opening the case. I also plan to periodically connect a solar panel during sunny days.

My solar panel can produce almost 10 W in good sunlight, while the node itself consumes only about 1 W during charging, so there is a fairly large power reserve.

I installed the node on the balcony of a five-story apartment building.
It has a relatively open view in two directions, while another direction is partially blocked by a nearby building. I was curious to see how much this would affect real-world communication in an urban environment.

As it turned out, even in the direction partially blocked by the building, the communication range was still quite good.

The node is permanently connected via Bluetooth to my desktop PC. Using the Meshtastic Web UI, I can configure the device, monitor node status, and read/send messages directly from the computer.

For range testing, I used a separate mobile node based on the T-Beam v1.2 with a 15 cm whip antenna.

In a lightly built urban area, I managed to achieve communication distances of up to about 4 km. From my observations, the terrain and device position make a huge difference:

• on elevated ground, the connection is fairly stable and reliable
• in lower areas, the signal becomes noticeably weaker or may disappear completely

At the moment this is still a test setup, but I already like the first results. Next, I want to continue testing long-term автономous operation, charging stability, outdoor durability, and real-world range under different conditions.

Dear community,
I got an heltec v3 with a better antenna as my first starting point into the meshtastic / LoRa world and I'm loving the concept. Since I don't want to miss a message / be connected & visible all the time, I guess I should put a solar node on my roof and have the heltec v3 activated all the time - that way, if a message gets picked up (e.g. at night), the solar node forwards to the heltec and this one stores it until I check it via the meshtastic app on my phone - is that correct? 🙏🏻

If you can recommend any solar node setup for noobs like me, that would be amazing - thanks guys 🤝🏻

This is my first attempt at meshtastic, I tried flashing yesterday but it kept giving this error. I tried on edge and chrome

I’ve just got my hands on a tdeck (first time using meshtastic) and I’ve noticed the msh eu 868 button.
Does anyone have any clue about what it does?
Do I need to have it enabled or should it be disabled.
When I got the device it was off by default, long pressing on it seems to enable it and reboots the device.

Thanks guys 💪

Bonjour, déjà merci à qui voudra bien me répondre. J’aimerais augmenter mon niveau de compétences dans le domaine de l’électronique. Avez vous des livres à conseiller ?

Deuxième question : sur le montage de la photo on branche la carte Lora dans le connecteur libre de la carte de régulation ?

Finally finished putting together my custom orange L1 Pro setup and honestly… I kinda love how it turned out 😂

What do you guys think about this color?
If we ever released the full L1 Pro in more color options(not a separate case), what color would you want the most?