I have three Heltec V3 that I am planning on using as repeaters. I have my test unit in which I wired 3x 3400mah 18650 batteries in parallel for 10200mah, I have a solar panel plugged in via USB C for solar charging. The issue I am having is no matter the mode the node is set to be it client or repeater. The battery drains inside of 20 minutes. It drops from 4.2v to 3.2 in 15 > 20 minutes. Is anyone else having this issue? If so is there a fix?
the v3 can use 50-100 mA, since it is esp32
but id did not measure the mA going in.
for solar nodes its best to use a rak wireless device , that can run from tiny solar panel, just using 8-12mA
the solar panel and stuff will be so much cheaper that you can easily pay the slightly more expensive RAK.
maybe you can measure the mA going in?
if it drains 3x18650x 3000mA (what i doubt) in 20 minutes , that would be a continous current of 9000maH/20 minutes that would be 27Amperes … alle the wires and the device would go up in smoke within 5 seconds…
i bet the batterys are broken and dont deliver more than 250mAh each, or something else is getting really hot during these 20 minutes,.
do you have a device to measure battery capacity?
i have some V3, they usually run 1-2 days from one 18650. i tried to power them by solar, but that did not work for me. not enough energy from solar, and not enough battery for cloudy days.
My V/Ohm Meter is on my work van I’ll grab it tomorrow and check the batteries.
Good to know. I have some wisblocks coming with nRF52 cores coming to perhaps use as repeaters instead. Ill likely use the Heltec v3 for vehicle/client use instead.
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Im going to checkt these 18650 batteries output tomorrow. But my thought now is to turn these Heltec’s into client nodes instead. I have some 3D printed cases coming for them.
if i remember correcty, the have wifi, (Rak dont)
so they are also ideal for using meshtastic on computer !