Is anyone is interested in working out the hardware and any software alterations needed to put together a remote relay/repeater? We can collaborate on Slack and then share our work on the wiki. Some of the topics that will be covered, will duplicate with other topics already raised. But the hope would be to keep in all in one topic and share our efforts, findings to help others.
Points to cover:
Weather proofing against heat/cold, dust, water.
Power requirements
Custom code to disable bluetooth & GPS if possible
Battery banks
Solar/Wind Charging
@geeksville
Is it possible to disable bluetooth altogether by altering the device code?
Is it necessary to have GPS enabled for a node to operate on the network?
I’d be interested in having an option to disable broadcasting node GPS locations. Not sure how much I can help with implementation. I have software experience, but arduino/ESP32 development is new to me.
I totally agree with this and I think it should be a super high priority.
It is possible to disable bluetooth (and GPS) based on existing parameters. Just no GUI in the android app yet - though the python tool can do it.
Also:
We should have ‘router’ nodes be smart enough to go into super low power mode when battery capacity drops below X %. In super low power mode the node should only come back on at the beginning of every hour and stay receiving for 5 min. This would ensure that even if solar cell failed at topping up the battery (unlikely unless you are super far north like @jetatomic), the node (which might be installed in an physically challenging location) would still keep minimal network connectivity.
I can share a spreadsheet with power calculations and solar cell sizes for this config.
I think a ‘#repeater’ channel on slack is a great idea.
Here’s the bug we we can track the issue:
Not sure where to drop this, but with 8 channels of LoRa, it might be worth a look for remote repeaters. They’re finally shipping. In-stock for $55 at Mouser, though I know how we all love waiting for the TTGO boards to drift across the ocean on chunks of flotsam and jetsam.
It’s designed for LoRaWAN, and I don’t even know if it can be reasonably compatible with Meshtastic.
If we can overcome the obstacles to building a remote repeater that works for you’re environment @jetatomic, in the process we will have learned much that can be applied for other real world applications elsewhere.
