Hello @arcturus. Curious if you were able do any testing with your kit unit? Thanks.
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Whoa! That might to big, I think I found the perfect one though…
Here is the link BUT watch the video first! And you know @Amon and I are all up on the MOAN unit (and mini MOAN!). This panel can go on a Pelican 1030 case easy and not mess with the RF, I show y’all my V1.0 ASAP!
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Yes, the solar panel doesn’t seem to be effective enough when placed inside the case. The external battery had drained to 50-75% yesterday, so now I’ve placed the panel outside of the case to see how that works. The external battery seems to drain quite fast when in the always on mode so I’m also gonna test to see how long the battery lasts without the solar panel connected. I’ve got two batteries so doing the tests simultaneously.
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Thanks for the update @arcturus. My guess since the solar wasn’t that effective inside the case this may have had a impact on the external battery. Look forward to your updates. Thanks for posting.
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I am trying a few other options for dedicated power, using usb to cat 5 extenders and supplying power from the grid.
I am also exploring the solar option, but that is well covered. 
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Great thread! Thank you all for sharing in this great adventure.
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@Idaho_Fluke Great idea using a conduit box, hides flashing LED and makes it very unobtrusive to mount somewhere. I’ve purchased these 90 degree USB charging adapters because of the charging port design.
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Using either a conduit box or small pelican case with a foam insert.
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@mark So, the external battery that was not connected to a solar panel lasted about 4 days. And the 2W panel was unfortunatly not able to recharge the battery fast enough. It’s been a bit cloudy here while testing so it might work in areas with more reliable sun hours. Right now I have the gotenna connected to a 15W panel which is more than enough. Next week I’ll try a 4W and a 9W panel to see how that works out. I’ll keep you updated!
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Question, I am planning to mount a Mesh unit on a ham radio repeater site located on Sulfer Mountain, CA.
Planning on housing the unit in a PVC pipe and use the available 12V power to feed the Mesh with a 12V USB power converter.
Question:
Can I just turn the unit on or do I need to do something to make it work as a 24/7 mesh station?
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Just turn her on and that’s it.
Now your mesh device in relay mode.
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The man is right! If a Mesh device has never been paired to phone then it’s a simple as that. If it has previously been paired to an iOS or Android device just follow the instructions in the app to unpair the device and make it a simple relay node.
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call me crazy but I thought having a mesh device already paired and turning off the phone turns the mesh device into a relay node, right? You have to unpair it in order for it to work as a relay node? 
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You’re probably not crazy. Let’s let @Rahul_Subramany clarify it for us in the morning. I forget if I have this right. But this is also why I shouldn’t be at the office at 1:15 am 
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A paired goTenna Mesh, not connected to a phone will act as a relay. However, if you are going to use your phone with another Mesh device, you must update the goTenna ID on your relay unit.
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@arcturus the only possible issue I see with this set up is antenna polarization. @Rahul_Subramany and @Jin_Gotenna, what is the antenna polarization of GoTenna Mesh? Vert, horz or a mix?
The easiest way I can explain antenna polarization loss is through this video…
And here are a couple of pics to help with the idea…
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Holy !@#$ @RogerOrange your repeater site is sexy. Yes, I said sexy! Y’all aren’t messing around. I LOVE IT! Now let’s get you a MOAN unit up there to really make things jump off!
The more dBd the better
Hi @gua742, the antenna designed in MESH is linearly polarized. Depends on how you orient the transmitter relative to the receiver, it could be horizontal or vertical polarized
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Actually I would suggest pairing it to a tablet or cheap phone you don’t use often, then start a 1/1 chat message with another gotenna on another phone. Then you can turn the “relay only” phone off, and continue to ping the relay node from the other phone to test range. The relay node will also store any shout messages it picks up, and you get to download that next time you’re up there with the relay only phone to see who is in the area, since shout messages do not get rebroadcasted by the relay, only 1/1, group, and emergency messages do.
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