Good idea however what if I want to use my phone with my own GoTenna once this is setup?
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Polarisation is important. But the effect is most noticible at short distance. Over longer distance the signal will be reflected and change polarisation. If you are on the edge of reception it mgiht help to turn the device and even rotate it to get just a little bit more signal.
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Well, you can’t. That’s why I suggest setting up the relay using a tablet or other device you won’t normally use with gotenna. I have some older Android phones, one is paired to my home relay 24/7 to monitor for shouts.
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Is there no way to turn off the flashing LEDs?
I used electrical tape to cover the LED on mine.
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Yeah, I did electrical tape on my always on node too. I think it’s the “standard”
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I’ve now had my solar powered stationary node running for the last 2,5 weeks without any problems. I changed the battery pack from the Voltaic Systems V15 which can power a gotenna for about 4 days without being charged to the V44 which can power it for about 2 weeks. I’ve also changed the solar panel from the 2W panel to a 9W panel which has been able to keep the battery pack fully charged even through pretty cloudy couple of days. (I get a maximum of 3,5 sun hours a day in the direction of the panel at the moment) Here are some pics:
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Cool. I just ordered a 1W, 2W and the 3.5W from voltaic to see which one can keep me powered up 24/7. I’m attaching these at the top of some ridges that get 8-10hrs of Hawaiian sun per day. I tried a 7Watt GoalZero and it charged a unit in a couple of hours. I’m trying to build the smallest, deployable units.
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The 2w worked well but you went with the bigger 9w to increase/help on cloudy days? Otherwise the 2w was doing the job?
Thanks
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No, the 2W panel wasn’t enough up here in the north at this time of year. (See my earlier post on this, Sep 17) But it may be enough for your conditions. The 9W panel is still producing more than is needed even in these bad conditions but it will only get worse. In December - February I’ll be happy to get 1h of direct sunlight a week, so that’s why I went with the 9W. It will be interesting to see how well it performs in those conditions (if all the components survive the cold)
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Ok, I’ve got the solar smackdown contest going here. Pictured, are three panels from voltaic.com. Left to right, it’s a 3.5W, a 2W, and a 1W. Each one is connected to the Voltaic USB 5V regulator, and each panel is connected to a completely-dead gotenna mesh. On the bottom is a 7W GoalZero panel, with a 4th GoTenna Mesh unit with a dead battery. The GoalZero has a USB port on it already.
All four panels are connected directly to the GoTenna Mesh devices with no battery in-between. I had tested with the GoalZero last week, and it charged the GoTenna is about 2-3 hours and kept it charged all day long. Then the GoTenna made it down to 55% each night before the sun came up again.
It’s a dreary, rainy day here in Hawaii. But if I’m going to deploy these things in strategic locations, I have to make sure the panel can keep it charged no matter the conditions. At the end of today, I will pair with each unit and see how much each one charged, even in the rain. Will post results tonight!
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@danielagotenna is there any way to change the behavior of the gotenna so that it automatically powers on when the battery reaches a certain charge? I wanted to deploy a few of these in tree tops, but if I have to push the button if the power dies, then that’s not going to work. Maybe I could solder a photocell cds sensor so that when the sun hits the sensor, it “pushes” the button. Something like this:
But would prefer some other way than opening these things up. Like if you turn it on using a double-tap or a triple-tap, then it’s in “always-on” mode. Similar to how the Voltaic batteries operate. I guess the other option is for me to just put in an inline battery.
Thanks for any input.
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And just in case anyone else was wondering. here is the eBay special panel/battery/flashlight combo. They look like they were made for each other! lets see how it works.
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@tonybarnhill you’re looking for @Rahul_Subramany our product manager to answer these questions not me 
(I’m just the CEO, not the product manager haha)
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I bought this solar panel to recharge my Gotennas and/or power a permanent node.
Solar Panel for Ring Stick Up Cam, Power your Ring Outdoor Camera continuously with our new Solar Charging Device – by Wasserstein https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072LX4LTV/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_taa_L476zbY5B3QAE
I’ve tried it out, and it works great.
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for anyone else out there, my goTenna Mesh battery has a capacity of 643mAH. And it charges at a voltage of 5.1 Volts at .29 Amps, for a total wattage of 1.47 Watts.
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@tonybarnhill we are aware of this limitation. In future, we are considering adding a feature that returns the device to its previous state after a battery drain related shut off.
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@Rahul_Subramany @danielagotenna
Let’s see if we can get the wording “considering” changed to “planning”. It seems as though a lot of us out here want our Gotennas to power back up after power failure. It would be a big deal for those of us looking at deploying always on nodes.
Let me be the first to mention wind and hydro as alternative power sources. I know hydro sounds odd but roll with me on this for a second. Let’s say you live in a rainy place. Let’s also pretend you have gutters on your home. Not practical in many places but this is a very diverse group living in lot’s of places. Presuming you also like green living you might also use rain catchment. You could run something directly off the overflow or before it enters the catchment system. The point is no single green power source is reliable all the time so we must diversify.
Rain + rain gutter = possible mini hydro setup
(If anyone steals this idea then promise to share the results)
If anyone thinks my idea is totally ridiculous then I’ll point you here.
If you don’t want to read the whole article go here for the relevant bit.
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Planning is indeed whats happening!
Just trying to set the right expectation.
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