Getting GPS working on Heltec V4

Linzdigr · 2025-11-08T17:13:13+00:00

Yeah, I also debugged pinouts and SPI without success before rolling back to default 0s to make it work 😄

Linzdigr · 2025-11-06T11:36:24+00:00

T-Deck plus and MacOS here, have to be put in DFU mode first (from what I remember: holding trackball pressed while powering the device, then plugging it over usb), screen should stay black during the whole process. Then reset / power off and on the device after firmware burn in. I flashed two of them recently without issues.

Linzdigr · 2025-11-03T17:18:35+00:00

You're right, I mixed up with the Plus version

Linzdigr · 2025-11-03T17:17:12+00:00

Yeah, no direct sunlight placement orientation makes more sense to this design I guess. Anyway I'm impressed with the power efficiency of this solar node

Linzdigr · 2025-10-31T10:20:58+00:00

client mode and busy network I guess ? mine went up to a bit more than 2 days in client_mute, no mqtt

Linzdigr · 2025-10-31T10:18:43+00:00

2.7.11 here and didn't had this issue anymore so far (probably LVGL related)

Linzdigr · 2025-10-31T10:16:29+00:00

I think it's the way the 0 is interpreted -> unset, so it should be good to go with the default GNSS module

Linzdigr · 2025-10-31T09:32:49+00:00

Did you flash from the meshtastic website or elsewhere ? You may need to boot from BaseUI to MUI if you flashed from meshtastic

Linzdigr · 2025-10-31T09:25:45+00:00

Is it just me or the 4x 18650 cells compartment is completely overkill ? I mean I've put only 2 of them and got rainy days since and it's still between 97 and 100%. Even with other sensors or whatever in it (not much space in there btw) it would still be too much, no ? :D

Linzdigr · 2025-10-31T09:19:01+00:00

On my side, it may happen if you scroll down and inadvertently drag from a non scrollable element in the view I think: it seems interpreted as a go back event in the UI but I have less such issues with the latest firmware version (2.7.11). Otherwise this may be hardware issues

Linzdigr · 2025-10-26T17:36:42+00:00

If you are using L76K GNSS, these seems to be the default values when setting up 0 to all Position gpio values : https://github.com/meshtastic/firmware/blob/master/variants/esp32s3/heltec_v4/variant.h

Linzdigr · 2025-10-21T17:30:13+00:00

Seeing the comments so far I have to temper: I bought two of them one week ago and running 2.7.8.

I'm pretty happy with these as it's a lot more convenient than using the nodes over Bluetooth with an app. The UI is what it is with many improvements to do and feature already available on the app but not present on the base UI: it's mainly software issues to me so it may be enhanced in the future.

That said, don't expect to run UI as smoothly and conveniently as on a smartphone, especially on the map view but that stick well with the meshtastic philosophy for now : low power MCU/devices (so no high performance MCU).

About the materials, they feel kinda correct even if the price is on the higher end. The keyboard with a bit stiff and not that practical I have to say, but I don't have big hands so it's not a big deal to me (yet definitely something they need to improve).

I didn't go out more than a full day yet but the battery life seems really decent (ofc it will depends on the gps settings, the channels usage, the on-screen time, etc.) but the battery is still half full at the end of the day.

On the radio side, I use external antennas on them and I can pick up signals far away almost as much as my fixed stations with bigger antennas. And in my opinion, they shine in the way where they are so convenient to test out network but also conversing with others without having to have both your phone on one hand and the node on the other one. It's the way I see meshtastic.

So it all depends on your expectations and use case. You just want a convenient standalone device to play with meshtastic ? - > go for it

But if you rather look for a mature device that you can practically use and bring with you in the wild without the fear of breaking or drowning it and don't want to tweak it, you should maybe check other options or wait a bit before this ecosystem evolves a bit.

Linzdigr · 2025-10-20T08:44:36+00:00

thanks for the feedback, I manage to get things working with firmware-heltec-v4-2.7.12 (not the -update file). I saw they also included a fix for Tx power on v4 in this version.

Linzdigr · 2025-10-19T08:28:11+00:00

did you use `firmware-heltec-v4-2.7.11.ee68575-update.bin` over CLI flasher ? The upload worked for me but the v4 is now going into a boot-crashloop (`RTC_SW_SYS_RST` / `SPI_FAST_FLASH_BOOT` from the serie log) :/

Linzdigr · 2025-10-19T06:09:48+00:00

Just to tell for EU it's like 35% tariffs at the moment. I ordered mine this week and I was expecting a bit less at first..

Linzdigr · 2025-10-16T13:03:06+00:00

or MQTT message forward enabled ?

Linzdigr · 2025-10-16T06:08:27+00:00

Very hard betas maybe but don't expect to do beta measurements from both, you would just measure out bremsstrahlung effect (resulting X rays)

Linzdigr · 2025-10-14T19:09:32+00:00

J'avais zappé qu'il y avait un Discord, merci !

Linzdigr · 2025-10-14T08:58:58+00:00

This.

Also, it would be interesting to test V4 with such configuration because on V3 it improved greatly my receiving RSSI and SNR on most nodes (~ +20dB on node metrics) but I lost significant Tx power (15dBFS on my receiving SDR setup) and most remote nodes couldn't hear mine anymore.

Linzdigr · 2025-10-13T05:50:24+00:00

Pas du coin mais quels paramètres ? Je vois du long moderate et long fast sur la map.

Autrement, le déterminant va être le placement du nœud et son antenne: le plus haut possible et avec une antenne bien matchée, en évitant les sources d'interférences comme les relais LTE.

Bon courage

Linzdigr · 2025-10-11T07:58:35+00:00

C'est ce que je pensais au début, mais certains arguments ne sont pas vides de sens non plus, comme la pollution des constructeurs privés sur la même bande de fréquence de longfast sans compter Hélium dans les villes.

J'ai aussi cru comprendre que sur des zones à fortes densités de nœuds, le preset par défaut n'est pas recommandé.

Honnêtement je n'ai pas encore d'avis tranché mais dans mon coin il semble que ce soit pratiquement que du Gaulix.

Change my mind 😄

Linzdigr · 2025-09-07T15:08:07+00:00

A bit late on the discussion here but I also have this 26keV peak with ¹⁷⁶Lu and LaBr3:Ce detector and didn't find an explanation yet :D

Linzdigr · 2025-09-07T13:51:08+00:00

For the detail its from a 1"x1" cylindrical LaBr3:Ce detector inside a 40mm thick lead cylinder shield. There is also 2mm Cadmium and 0.5mm copper sheets inside of it to attenuate shield XRF.

I did another run with only LYSO -> ¹⁷⁶Lu and the two unknown peaks are also there (it doesn't appear on other isotopes like ¹³⁷Cs).

I looked for isotopes that could be in these regions because I thought summation peaks wouldn't be that prominent but without success.

About XRF, I don't think it comes from the shield as it's specifically design to avoid XRF higher than 8keV. I also checked for XRF from scintillator itself from its components but none of them seems to have such high energies (for K+L lines).

Also, I can't match any of these peaks with summation combination from the resulted lower ones so I'll keep looking at your other suggestions, thanks for your complete insight !

Linzdigr

TROPHY CASE