Meshtastic

1218 readers

47 users here now

A community to discuss Meshtastic (https://meshtastic.org/docs/introduction)

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

Sal@mander.xyz

Does anyone know of a way to make a solar (no battery) meshtastic node? (piefed.social)

submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by mesamunefire@piefed.social to c/meshtastic@mander.xyz

19 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Ive had a number of these devices. And the number 1 thing that fails is the battery. It might also be where I am at. We have 110+F days that cause spicy pillows or failures after a year or so.

So I was wondering, is there a way to make a "daytime only" node that turns on where theres enough sunlight to power the thing, and then turns off where there is not enough sunlight?

I figure I could just get a 5V solar panel and hook it up directly to one of the nodes. I'm just nervous that it will under voltage the device over the long run if that makes sense.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago

“daytime only” node

There's lots of ways to store energy besides batteries...

Depending on how much you'd want it at night, or just how bored you are, you could do something with a simple motor/generator combo, have it pump water up to a mini tower, and then when solar kicks off it flows back down turning the pump into a generator and powering the solar till the tanks empty.

Almost definitely not worth the hassle, but would be a pretty fun project to fuck around with.

I’m just nervous that it will under voltage the device over the long run if that makes sense.

There definitely should be some kind of capacitor. Likely built into your panel, but you want to make sure there's one somewhere