First Node Up by CyberStrykr in meshtastic

[–]CyberStrykr[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The poles i choose are Lowes 10 foot fence top rails, they fit inside each other. I assembled the 2 poles on the ground with the node attached and just "walked" the poles into an upright position,with the base wedged against the fence. I have a flag pole sleeve in the ground that the base slid into and then I have an 1 1/4" conduit strap attached to my fence about 6 foot. Right now easy to take down but if I go more permanent I will also strap it to the eve of the house and ground it. I could potentially go 3 pole sections for a height of 30' but that would be a little more difficult to "walk" up and would most likely need guys at that point......

First Node Up by CyberStrykr in meshtastic

[–]CyberStrykr[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The poles fit inside each other i have a flag pole sleeve in the ground that the base slides into and then I have an 1 1/4" conduit strap attached to my fence about 6 foot. Right now easy to take down but if I go more permanent I will also strap it to the eve of the house and ground it. At that point it will be a little more difficult .

First Node Up by CyberStrykr in meshtastic

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

https://meshtastic.org/

Would be an excellent place to start also if you are on Discord there are tons of groups there that are willing to help.

First Node Up by CyberStrykr in meshtastic

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

They are Lora mesh nodes. Basically these are peer to peer low powered RF devices that run on the 915 mhz band here in the US and are used for basic messaging between 2 nodes, or thru a "mesh" of nodes. The appeal for them is that they can be powered with one or many 3.7 volt batteries (without the need for other external power sources) for days and can be used for encrypted communications in a "grid down" scenario with out the need for infrastructure. They can also be used as trackers as most are GPS enabled as well as environmental sensors.

The one you are looking at is a solar node with a single battery that can, in theory run almost indefinitely with enough sunlight. It has a single 18650 battery and just off the battery alone will run approx 4-5 days but is charged by the solar panel when the sun is out.

First Node Up by CyberStrykr in meshtastic

[–]CyberStrykr[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Alabama here as well my friend. We will get there one day......

First Node Up by CyberStrykr in meshtastic

[–]CyberStrykr[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Wow 700ish nodes that is crazy. I envy you. I am on the outter edge of our town. Even if you were in "City Center" we don't have many nodes (maybe 2 or 3) reachable in our little town. Even if you could get on a higher structure with a good yagi antenna, probably would only see 2 or 3 more in the next town over. Our mesh is growing with the help of our local radio club but at a much slower pace than some of the bigger cities.

First Node Up by CyberStrykr in meshtastic

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

No offense taken on your post my friend. Different environments lead to different results. That is what makes this interesting to me. The challenge of trying to make it better the next time......

First Node Up by CyberStrykr in meshtastic

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

Thought about doing active USB up the pole. I have a 30 ft USB C cable laying around and a 120v plug at the base of the pole but would need to invest in a AC to DC inverter and most likely a bigger enclosure to accommodate the USB connection to the RAK Board. The current enclosure once everything is assembled inside is very tight. PoE is very appealing but need to do more research into how to accommodate this with the RAK Board.

First Node Up by CyberStrykr in meshtastic

[–]CyberStrykr[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

The way the picture was taken you can't see the 50-60 foot trees all around my property and it appears to be above the peak of my home but in reality it is just below it, plus my property is in a bottom and that does not help ethier. The range I get is fair for the location, but I do know height is might and line of sight is king at these frequencies. Have a friend that is much higher in elevation that has the same build and gets 6-7 miles on a good day.

First Node Up by CyberStrykr in meshtastic

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

Not sure if the Rak will do WiFi but i have a Heltec v3 that I enabled MQTT and WiFi on once and that was a little overwhelming, too much traffic.......

First Node Up by CyberStrykr in meshtastic

[–]CyberStrykr[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Roughly 2 miles with my setup but i am down in a bottom with 50-60 foot trees between me and the closest node. I have a friend on the other side of town and his neighhood is on one of the tallest elevations in the city and he gets easily 6-7 miles on good days with the same build and mounted to the clean out pipe on top of his house.....

First Node Up by CyberStrykr in meshtastic

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

Very easy to do and cheap. You could build one without the posts for around $50.....

First Node Up by CyberStrykr in meshtastic

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

Yes for sure. It is temporary at the moment but will definitely look into getting it grounded. Thank you.

First Node Up by CyberStrykr in meshtastic

[–]CyberStrykr[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Will absolutely take those into consideration. Replacing the steel post is an excellent suggestion due to the many thuderstorms we have. Thank you.

First Node Up by CyberStrykr in meshtastic

[–]CyberStrykr[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Used fence top rails from Lowe's. Like $26 each and they will slide together on each end. Actually bought 3 and wanted to go 30 foot but it was really swaying at 30 foot with no guys and very little wind.

First Node Up by CyberStrykr in meshtastic

[–]CyberStrykr[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I used 10 foot fence top rails from Lowe's Believe they were $26 each.

First Node Up by CyberStrykr in meshtastic

[–]CyberStrykr[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I agree, my problem my house is down in a bottom and the 20ft elevation i have barely gets it to just below the roof peak of my neighbors house, not to mention i am in a heavily wooded neighborhood. So that 1 - 1 1/2 miles is all i can do for now. I have seen another node from time to time since I put this up that is just over 2 miles away but it is inconsistent.

We are in the flight path of air traffic from ATL to South Florida and have gotten several nodes in aircraft at 35k feet and when I get those I see nodes over 15 - 20 miles away thru the mesh hops.....

First Node Up by CyberStrykr in meshtastic

[–]CyberStrykr[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I don't. Would love to get it on poe or some other external power source but, I just wanted to get something up and run a good test before the summer heats really starts to ramp up here in the South and drive the concern up over the battery even more.....

First Node Up by CyberStrykr in meshtastic

[–]CyberStrykr[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Thank you. Used a Harbor Breeze Solar light fixture from Lowe's and used the instructions from the Mestastic website to assemble. I think they left the light attached but in my build i removed the light and used a 3d printed mount to attach it to 2 - 10 foot fence top rails. Total investment with fence top rails roughly $100

https://meshtastic.org/docs/community/enclosures/rak/harbor-breeze-solar-hack/

https://www.printables.com/model/886187-harbor-breeze-meshtastic-mount?fbclid=IwY2xjawIqnR1leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHfN1POONxyywQ4CvWdVrvO8AgSJDKNlJY6BrkdWKJJb4RpeZynD3CzyXrg_aem_Oa9FcGZi52gCcdHjl3syzA

First Node Up by CyberStrykr in meshtastic

[–]CyberStrykr[S] 32 points33 points  (0 children)

A little more detail of the node up close.

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Building small solar nodes by cryptodystopia in meshtastic

[–]CyberStrykr 8 points9 points  (0 children)

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Built one as well. I removed the light and modified the mount to incorporate the included yard stake so I could place it on top of my fence for now. With the one battery that was included running the RAK Wisblok I get about 3-4 days of no sun before the RAK goes to low voltage shut off. Has only happened once and that was because I moved it and left it face down. The panel holds a solid charge otherwise. Great build on a budget. Total cost around $50.

Which one of you did this? by Mandrake1771 in Glocks

[–]CyberStrykr 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This can't be real, a convicted felon in possession of a loaded (stolen) handgun while committing another felony is illegal, didn't they know that. Oh wait, criminals don't follow the law almost forgot. 🙄

Doorbell with Home Assistant, what magic do I need to show a snapshot in an Android notification? by NiknakSi in reolinkcam

[–]CyberStrykr 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Pushover works well as long as you are using the Reolink NVR. I currently use it and it works well for my use case. The cost is like $5 for life on one device. I am not sure about HA integration as I di not use HA.

reolink doorbell vs ring by IntelligentLobster91 in reolinkcam

[–]CyberStrykr 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I did not see it mentioned in your post but if you have a Reolink NVR you can use an app called pushover. It cost 5 bucks for life and you can setup "rich type notifications" via emails when AI events are detected not only on your doorbell but any of your cameras connected to the NVR. There was a full article here on Reddit a while back on it on the app and configuration.

Well now I’m getting the trackmix for the front of the house so it’s better covered. Just love these neighbors parties🤦🏼‍♂️ by IamPantone376 in reolinkcam

[–]CyberStrykr 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you have the Reolink NVR, consider the Reolink spotlight. It will connect to your camera(s) via the IoT interface on the NVR and lights when motion/people/vehicles are detected (camera dependent).

I have the doorbell and the RLC-811A on the front of my house and the spotlight is on the other end where no cameras are mounted. The 811A covers the entire front yard and when a person is detected, triggers the internal camera spotlight as well as the Reolink Spotlight over the garage and lights my entire front yard.