I think you have to enable power saving on it, and configure it to it doesn't deplete the battery, 4 Li-ion is overkill, unless it's some sort of gateway or router in a busy channel. ESP32 is known to be a powerhog even when it's idling, the LoRaWAN (i know Meshtastic have nothing to do with it) use some tricks to sinchronizy beacons to listen at the time the gateway is transmitting, so that they can have weeks+ of autonomy on one single battery for their sensors and beacons.
This is close to what I did. I put a 3.7 volt bms on each of the 4 batteries. Added an additional 3.7 volt solar charge controller. I can use the charger built in to the heltec with a solar panel and the added charge controller with another panel. That way I get more current going to the battery. I think the heltec controller built in is limited to 0.5 amp of current? The added solar charge controller adds another 1 amp of charging.
Those little solar cells you have, I bought a 10 pack. You might want to put them all in parallel if you also got the 10 pack. I tested 4 in parallel and the current was very low in full sun. Not really enough to keep it charged.
Yeah, that's a great build. Definitely a short coming of mine, that single solar panel isnt gonna help charging that much. The problem is in my typical use case it will be hanging from a tall tree in the Sierra's, so it will be high but still under the canopy so I dont expect much direct sunlight even if I had a better solar charging system such as yours. If I had more of a permanent mounting solution, with a clear view of the sky, then I would for sure do something similar as you. Right now my solar panel feels pretty gimmicky. It's my 1st build with an integrated solar panel so I wasn't banking on it being super helpful. Now if I can possibly pick up a 3d printer :) I would revisit this project and try and beef up the solar system. I also want to take a look around for a board that is a little more power efficient. With standard settings and the 4 18650 batt's I only get 24hrs of use. I am testing some settings now to see if I can extend that... Thanks for watching!
@@TechTinkerHobbyist I have the exact same board as you and I'm having a terrible time with the sleep setting. When it goes in to deep sleep I can't wake it up. I have to reset it. Both of my 2 boards do this. I have to run it in standard mode all the time. I have tried adjusting some of the sleep setting but it's been no use so far. I'm in the testing phase now with mine before I put it all up on a pole. Today is the first sunny day test. Last 3 days my Amazon solar panel managed to keep the battery from running completely down during cloudy weather. It's a 5 volt panel made to charge cellphones direct with USB c. I'm hoping it will be enough to run it indefinitely.
Yeah, the sleeping function isnt great. I just finished another power capacity test yesterday using sleep with settings to try and extend the life more and only got maybe 4hrs more run time, so not enough of a gain to have to deal with the sleep function. I will want to revisit this build at some point using a more power efficient board. I just bought a pair of these boards to play with, now that I have more of a use case I can get more specific with my build. In your case it sounds like you probably have enough solar to run it pretty much indefinitely aside from some extreme cases with no sun. Definitely a fun project with some interesting and helpful use cases.
I think you should put the solar panel on the other side of the box so you could have a clear view of the little screen...easier than having to flip the hiltec chip around and be obstructed by the switch and its wires. Hot glue the old holes and re-route the 2 black and red wires.
I thought about that, but I wanted to be able to set it down on a table also and the box has some small rubber feet in the back. For my use case I really don't need to see the screen as it will be up in a tree anyways. I really just wanted to try adding a solar panel in but dont expect much from it as when it is deployed it likely wont get much direct sunlight... I agree though that it doesn't look as nice this way
I am still trying to find the right setup for my mesh to stay on thru the night and charge via solar during the day. I put a 3000 ma battery in the setup with a 5 volt 6 amp solar charger and the battery depletes by the end of the day. I took it all inside and am going to charge the battery over night and add a second battery in parallel and see how that works tomorrow.
The single solar panel I used is not enough to recharge the device during the day even in direct fill sunlight. It just helps extend the battery a little. I would need several more panels connected to start making a real difference...
That size of solar panel won't really do any good. You need a large enough panel to boot the unit up without the batteries. I'm going to go with a Harbor Freight with a controller (12v) and a 5v regulator to step it down. Pretty bulky set up but those Heltecs suck the juice even when set to repeater mode. I'm also using a similar case with 4 batts. Only lasts all day and is dead by next morning. My current panel is slightly larger than yours, and needs to be in direct, high noon sunlight to boot the unit without a battery.
100% agree. I knew the panel wasn't ever going to be enough, at best I was just hoping for an emergency power source. It will be placed up high in a tree but still under the canopy so for my use case I don't have a lot of direct sun to warrant a larger/more panels. And ya, those heltec boards are not the most power efficient. I will be looking for a different one on my next build.
More comment, My heltec charges the battery when connected to a USB power source. I do have the small charger boards and I will try those as well to see if they charge the battery better
Yeah, I am not sure what the heltec board charges at, those other usb charging boards are rated for 1amp. I have 4 5000mah batteries in a parallel config and it get just over 24hrs of use.
You can't really see it in the video but the USB port is totally accessible so it should be fine. However, I did only use hot glue to secure that just in case I made a bonehead mistake, happens a lot, and needed to reposition it or make some other change. Thanks for watching!
@TechTinkerHobbyist ah brilliant! Providing you can keep that firmware updated that is awesome! Quite a few changed have happened recently so always good to be able to keep it updated! 1:25
I have to test it thoroughly on an upcoming camping trip in June, however testing at home has shown it to work quite well. It only lasts about 24hrs though, that's the biggest change/update I will make in the next version, more batts and more solar, and a different more power efficient board, if I can find one... Thx for watching!
I kinda already can. It does have an integrated 1amp USB-C port so I can just attach a battery back to the back and plug it in. It is just not ideal in the current config. That USB board gets pretty warm and I worry about the combination of that heat, heat from the device operation, and just the ambient temps especially if it is in direct sunlight. I have a lot of hot glue in there right now that probably cant take all of that. I feel a redesign and rebuild will be worth it after field testing as there is already enough little things I would like to change.
Thanks for sharing. Working on a similar box - do you have the details and wiring diagram for the GPS you used ? Pins used and then what/how you confined in the Meshtastic App ?
I think you have to enable power saving on it, and configure it to it doesn't deplete the battery, 4 Li-ion is overkill, unless it's some sort of gateway or router in a busy channel.
ESP32 is known to be a powerhog even when it's idling, the LoRaWAN (i know Meshtastic have nothing to do with it) use some tricks to sinchronizy beacons to listen at the time the gateway is transmitting, so that they can have weeks+ of autonomy on one single battery for their sensors and beacons.
This is close to what I did. I put a 3.7 volt bms on each of the 4 batteries. Added an additional 3.7 volt solar charge controller. I can use the charger built in to the heltec with a solar panel and the added charge controller with another panel. That way I get more current going to the battery. I think the heltec controller built in is limited to 0.5 amp of current?
The added solar charge controller adds another 1 amp of charging.
Those little solar cells you have, I bought a 10 pack. You might want to put them all in parallel if you also got the 10 pack. I tested 4 in parallel and the current was very low in full sun. Not really enough to keep it charged.
Yeah, that's a great build. Definitely a short coming of mine, that single solar panel isnt gonna help charging that much. The problem is in my typical use case it will be hanging from a tall tree in the Sierra's, so it will be high but still under the canopy so I dont expect much direct sunlight even if I had a better solar charging system such as yours. If I had more of a permanent mounting solution, with a clear view of the sky, then I would for sure do something similar as you. Right now my solar panel feels pretty gimmicky. It's my 1st build with an integrated solar panel so I wasn't banking on it being super helpful. Now if I can possibly pick up a 3d printer :) I would revisit this project and try and beef up the solar system. I also want to take a look around for a board that is a little more power efficient. With standard settings and the 4 18650 batt's I only get 24hrs of use. I am testing some settings now to see if I can extend that... Thanks for watching!
@@TechTinkerHobbyist I have the exact same board as you and I'm having a terrible time with the sleep setting. When it goes in to deep sleep I can't wake it up. I have to reset it. Both of my 2 boards do this. I have to run it in standard mode all the time. I have tried adjusting some of the sleep setting but it's been no use so far.
I'm in the testing phase now with mine before I put it all up on a pole. Today is the first sunny day test. Last 3 days my Amazon solar panel managed to keep the battery from running completely down during cloudy weather. It's a 5 volt panel made to charge cellphones direct with USB c. I'm hoping it will be enough to run it indefinitely.
Yeah, the sleeping function isnt great. I just finished another power capacity test yesterday using sleep with settings to try and extend the life more and only got maybe 4hrs more run time, so not enough of a gain to have to deal with the sleep function. I will want to revisit this build at some point using a more power efficient board. I just bought a pair of these boards to play with, now that I have more of a use case I can get more specific with my build. In your case it sounds like you probably have enough solar to run it pretty much indefinitely aside from some extreme cases with no sun. Definitely a fun project with some interesting and helpful use cases.
nice, thx to you. I'll make it
I think you should put the solar panel on the other side of the box so you could have a clear view of the little screen...easier than having to flip the hiltec chip around and be obstructed by the switch and its wires. Hot glue the old holes and re-route the 2 black and red wires.
I thought about that, but I wanted to be able to set it down on a table also and the box has some small rubber feet in the back. For my use case I really don't need to see the screen as it will be up in a tree anyways. I really just wanted to try adding a solar panel in but dont expect much from it as when it is deployed it likely wont get much direct sunlight... I agree though that it doesn't look as nice this way
I am still trying to find the right setup for my mesh to stay on thru the night and charge via solar during the day. I put a 3000 ma battery in the setup with a 5 volt 6 amp solar charger and the battery depletes by the end of the day. I took it all inside and am going to charge the battery over night and add a second battery in parallel and see how that works tomorrow.
The single solar panel I used is not enough to recharge the device during the day even in direct fill sunlight. It just helps extend the battery a little. I would need several more panels connected to start making a real difference...
Could you please show the wiring diagram?
That size of solar panel won't really do any good.
You need a large enough panel to boot the unit up without the batteries.
I'm going to go with a Harbor Freight with a controller (12v) and a 5v regulator to step it down.
Pretty bulky set up but those Heltecs suck the juice even when set to repeater mode.
I'm also using a similar case with 4 batts. Only lasts all day and is dead by next morning. My current panel is slightly larger than yours, and needs to be in direct, high noon sunlight to boot the unit without a battery.
100% agree. I knew the panel wasn't ever going to be enough, at best I was just hoping for an emergency power source. It will be placed up high in a tree but still under the canopy so for my use case I don't have a lot of direct sun to warrant a larger/more panels. And ya, those heltec boards are not the most power efficient. I will be looking for a different one on my next build.
More comment, My heltec charges the battery when connected to a USB power source. I do have the small charger boards and I will try those as well to see if they charge the battery better
Yeah, I am not sure what the heltec board charges at, those other usb charging boards are rated for 1amp. I have 4 5000mah batteries in a parallel config and it get just over 24hrs of use.
Awesome build, it's going to be a pain in the ass to update the firmware - Gather you'll just unglue it for the updates?
You can't really see it in the video but the USB port is totally accessible so it should be fine. However, I did only use hot glue to secure that just in case I made a bonehead mistake, happens a lot, and needed to reposition it or make some other change. Thanks for watching!
@TechTinkerHobbyist ah brilliant! Providing you can keep that firmware updated that is awesome! Quite a few changed have happened recently so always good to be able to keep it updated! 1:25
I am curious to find out how well this worked.
I have to test it thoroughly on an upcoming camping trip in June, however testing at home has shown it to work quite well. It only lasts about 24hrs though, that's the biggest change/update I will make in the next version, more batts and more solar, and a different more power efficient board, if I can find one... Thx for watching!
@@TechTinkerHobbyist are you going to set it up for external battery pack attachment?
I kinda already can. It does have an integrated 1amp USB-C port so I can just attach a battery back to the back and plug it in. It is just not ideal in the current config. That USB board gets pretty warm and I worry about the combination of that heat, heat from the device operation, and just the ambient temps especially if it is in direct sunlight. I have a lot of hot glue in there right now that probably cant take all of that. I feel a redesign and rebuild will be worth it after field testing as there is already enough little things I would like to change.
Thanks for sharing. Working on a similar box - do you have the details and wiring diagram for the GPS you used ? Pins used and then what/how you confined in the Meshtastic App ?
Thanks for watching! I got the info from another very helpful video - ua-cam.com/video/SflpABkJAQ4/v-deo.html