also, someone managed to fit a 16340 battery in the case. has anyone else tried this and know if that would block the internal antenna?
My Heltec Capsules still have the stock firmware that came on them. I get a little over an hour of runtime on them in most configurations. I did manage to get about 1.5 hours just one time by enabling ādeep sleepā, but I almost wasnāt able to re-connect with it via bluetooth so I didnāt try that any more. What kind of runtime are you able to get out of the Heltec Capsule with firmware 2.3.16, and what general settings were you using to do it?
i also had some bluetooth issues, resolved them with a factory reset in the app (in radio config. thanks to mzac for the walktrough).
maybe this change made a small difference:
with the default settings average runtime was 1h05 with firmware 2.3.13. now average runtime is 1h25. i did not try changing powersaving mode or device roles.
the stock battery is a 14200. if i can figure out how get it out cleanly i may opt for a 14250 to get some extra runtime.
Has Anyone Yet gotten this device to save energy?
soemthing like 1 or 2 days runtime as tracker?
by Update/Settings ?
Success:
i updated the capsule to newest version 2.4.3
and on this firmware it seems to be saving energy between fixes.
tracker role power saving on.
according to position-broadcast-interval it goes to sleep (not responding) and then wakres up to get a fix and send postion.- sleep. not respondig during sleep times, LED not flashing.
BAD: battery damaged:
but until now i have not gotten more than a day battery runtime yet ! even with this super energy saving mode. but i think the internal 200mAh ICR14200 battery might be damagedā¦ when charging, it takes up to 300mA over the charging port and it is getting a bit warm (what might be alot for such a small battery !!) charging stops after a few minutes thenā¦ i have not established a way to get it to charge the battery with only 50mA insteadā¦ so i think the battery has been damaged by charging with way to high current before, so that it does not provide the full 200mAh any moreā¦
i could connect a regulated power supply , set to 5V and 50mA but at all its an USB connector, and until now, i just plugged it into some USB sourceā¦
i think about exchanging the ICR14200 batteryā¦ but that wont solve the charging problemā¦
i dont think the charging current can be set in firmware ? right? or is that possible? i remember we had that in some earlier versions of meshtatic, but maybe only for specific hardware ?
Function is gone, was for tbeams
I managed to get to 2hrs with tracker and powersave. Do you believe 2 days are achievable?
Could you share your full settings?
i have it running for two+ days nowā¦
key is the firmware version:
i updated it to 2.4.3 alpha
by wifi.
it is still on the first 2.4.3 alpha, have not updated to the newer 2.4.3 hotfix !
this firmware can send the capusle to sleep !, you can see that the white LED stays off after postion work
it just starts blinking according to postion update intervallā¦
leave all settings default, maybe do factroy reset by app.
my settings:
set role to tracker
set powersaving on
set position broadcast intervall to some high value 10.000 seconds or more (makes almost 3 hours)
set smart position OFF.
all position flags off (just position)
power saving on is the last setting to setā¦ oherwise the unit may shut down before all settigns are finishedā¦
then place outside (GPS antenna upwards, LED downwards) wait for it to get a fix, then it will go to sleepā¦ first fix can take some minutesā¦ consecutive fixes can e very fastā¦
the unit consumes quite alot of mA when getting the fix, but when sleeping it does not, so you can get it to run (sleep) for several days mainly depending on gps update intervallā¦
i dont know how many fixes you can get from fully chargedā¦ maybe just 20-30 in my case, but that can still be some days of sleepā¦ i think on my device the battery is damaged,
dont play sith other settings to much. i have read of some user who managed to brick the devcie due to not perfectly adotped firmwareā¦ i hope this wont happen with newest firmware. but no reasen to play with settings too much, its just a tracker !
could you please elaborate on how did you download the firmware ?
pressing the button for along time, so the capsule will make its own wifi, connect to that wifi with you computer / or device, then there will be a page to upload new firmware
as described in the link below under Enable WirelessBoot Mode
No special hardware or tools required !
https://docs.heltec.org/en/node/esp32/wireless_boot/quick_start.html#quick-start
Thank you, I appreciate your help.
Regarding 2.4.3 alpha firmware, where did you got it exactly? The one i found 2.4.1.
the firmware uplad is a little tricky, sometimes does not work, also you have to use the correct browser for it to wrok. ( i think i used chrome)
I was able to upload the firmware, and I see the device as available in the bluetooth tab of the meshtastic app, but when I try to connect, it simply disconnects right away. Anywone have this happen to them?