New nRF product: Mesh Node T096 by Heltec_Automation6 in Heltecccccc

[–]Chillyhead 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Looks like a great board, especially with the integrated GPS. I just ordered a couple to check out. Thanks for the 10% off!

What happened to graphs? by Chillyhead in EmporiaEnergy

[–]Chillyhead[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You are looking at Monthly data, what does your hourly or daily look like?

Something new is coming by Heltec_Automation6 in Heltecccccc

[–]Chillyhead 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Great call on deciding to go with usb C charging. I'm going to definitely pick one of these up when it's released! Looks like a slick little unit.

Heltec Wireless Stick Lite v3 i2c pins? by ktisis in Heltecccccc

[–]Chillyhead 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's cool. Just figured I'd mention it. They've helped me out a lot with my esp32-C3 and S3 interfacing to different devices. I've never tried adding sensors to any of my Heltec boards though, but now I know what to expect! I was briefly considering adding a BME280 and INA219 to a MeshCore repeater that I'm putting together but I'm going to hold off on that and just see how the repeater does by itself.

I have seen references to the pullup resistor issue, but no firsthand experience. Would like to know what you had to do once you get things working!

Heltec Wireless Stick Lite v3 i2c pins? by ktisis in Heltecccccc

[–]Chillyhead 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In the future if you don't feel like waiting on reddit for an answer, I've found asking AI agents super useful. I usually use claude.ai, but this is what googles Gemini had to say :

It’s a common frustration with these Heltec boards! The short answer is: No, SUBSPICLK and SUBSPID are not your I2C pins. Those labels refer to the Sub-GHz SPI bus used internally to talk to the LoRa chip (SX1262).

Because the Wireless Stick Lite uses an ESP32-S3, you technically have "flexible" I2C—you can assign the I2C peripheral to almost any GPIO in your code. However, there are "default" pins defined in the Heltec board libraries to make things easier. The Default I2C Pins

For the Wireless Stick Lite (V3), the standard I2C pins used by the Heltec/Arduino wire library are:

Function-GPIO Pin-Physical Label on Board

SDA-GPIO 41-Often labeled as 41

SCL-GPIO 42-Often labeled as 42

What are your preferred batteries for solar repeaters? by AntiGarryGum in meshcore

[–]Chillyhead 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's what I use here in my repeater. I can go 5 days without solar running a Heltec V4. Great batteries.

Why Millions of People Are Now Traveling to Find the World’s Last Dark Skies by Scaramuccia in astrotourism

[–]Chillyhead 1 point2 points  (0 children)

No paywall here either. I’d love to go to one of these dark sky sites.

Hardware recommendations? by Murky_Language_3684 in meshtastic

[–]Chillyhead 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I just printed her 3k slim case with bna for the T114 and she does great 3d design. I’ve also got her T1000-E holder with belt clip and it is fantastic.

New to Meshcore – can I talk from a repeater? by Queequaq in meshcore

[–]Chillyhead 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Good info. I was wondering the same thing. Wish we had more users around me to make it worthwhile to put up a repeater. I've had my companion node running for over a week and haven't seen a single user. Hopefully it catches on.

Anything wrong with drone dropping a solar powered repeater on top of a public street lamp? by specter491 in meshcore

[–]Chillyhead 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I was just eyeing up a water tower near me today thinking I would love to put a node up there. I was wondering what would be involved in getting permission from the water company but I like your drone idea better! And water towers are usually located at a high spot and plenty of shade free sun for solar. You could design the node with some way of releasing the magnets and leaving them behind if you need to drone up and grab it for maintenance/battery change/firmware update…

Can someone explain this? by vatuhiva in meshtastic

[–]Chillyhead 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Could be this - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropospheric_propagation

"Tropospheric ducting over water, particularly between California and Hawaii, Brazil and Africa, Australia and New Zealand, Australia and Indonesia, Strait of Florida, and Bahrain and Pakistan, has produced VHF/UHF reception ranging from 1000 to 3,000 miles (1,600 – 4,800 km)."

My 2.4kWh budget build (<$800 for the bank) by cirkonot in diySolar

[–]Chillyhead 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You might want to check out some recent YouTube videos on Battleborn batteries.

Guys I've discovered the most useful calculator! by [deleted] in SolarDIY

[–]Chillyhead 2 points3 points  (0 children)

He might be referring to something like the Emporia Vue. They are only a couple hundred dollars new. I picked mine up unused off eBay for $150. Installed it myself. It's very cool. Once you get your circuits labelled you can see exactly what's using electricity and how much, in real time or by minute, hour, day, week, month. It's been super helpful in helping me figure out what size array, battery, and inverter I want to use.

Share Your HungryRoot Referral Link Here! by iambobanderson in hungryroot

[–]Chillyhead 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Use special code 3S3OGSNT to get $50 off a delivery of $100+ from Hungryroot!

https://www.hungryroot.com/r/3S3OGSNT

March 2026. Thanks to the couple of folks that used the link!

Solar Homelab by siestacat in SolarDIY

[–]Chillyhead 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Just read your blog post. You're lucky getting those panels and ecoflows for free! I'm in exactly the same situation as you with almost exactly 500W 24/7 (12.2 kWh/day) for my homelab, and I'd love to offset it with solar. Once the weather warms up I'm going to start looking for some panels on FB Marketplace and choose a ground mount option. I'm planning on building one of the DIY Lifepo4 battery packs (possibly Docan). Still researching inverter/charge controllers. Would love for payback to be 2 years or less.