24/7 meshed towns/Dedicated relays

did we ever get clarification on the newest FW if it it will power back up to last know state after the battery dies?

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@Idaho_Fluke goTenna Mesh does not support this yet. We hope to add this feature in the near future.

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Everything that I have read seems to indicate that it is NOT possible to monitor the battery level of a device that has been put into “relay mode”. Is that correct? Or, am I missing something.

Correct.
You will have to exit relay mode (power cycle) and then pair the unit to a phone to monitor battery level.

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I purchased 2 of these the other day with the hope that they would be the beginning of my stationary relay node journey. I have a couple of questions:

Do these have too much power?
Being battery packs with integrated solar will they automatically power off after they fully recharged?

I, obviously, want to set up the least maintenance relay node I can for the reasons being I want to put them at the highest point I can which is not on my property so do not want to have to come to power them on every week or more.

What is the cheapest and most maintenance free example anyone has to date if my newly acquired solar battery packs won’t do the trick? Thanks!

With goTenna Mesh, the feature that makes or breaks solar packs is an always-on feature. When a Mesh unit is fully charged, its power draw drops and tends to cause external battery packs to turn off their USB output.

Voltaic’s V15 and V44 packs are preferred because they have an always-on mode and recover themselves if they go dead (meaning that even through a dead battery, the external packs re-enable their output once they receive input from solar or another source).

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This is great info, thank you. So coupled with a relatively inexpensive solar device these sound like the most maintenance free option for a stationary relay node. Thanks again!

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The Voltaics are good stuff, I have three of the V15s. But I’ve also been exploring the somewhat generic world of cheaper battery packs. I have four of these 8,000 mAh ones I picked up from banggood.com, which come labeled as a way overoptimistic 20,000 mAh. Perhaps the mislabeling is art of the reason they’re so cheap ($14).

An early test seemed to indicate about a 4 day life without any solar supplement. I’m now testing with the solar panel exposed. This one has been on since Tuesday with the goTenna Mesh connected. The panel is rated at 1.5 W so not enough to reliably generate enough power during the gloomier section of the calendar depending on your local climate.

An 8,000 mAh pack provides much greater cushion of power than either of the small Voltaics. Finding the Always-On feature is key as was mentioned, as the descriptions of these things often calls it something else or doesn’t mention it at all. Test the pack with a GTM if in doubt to see if you get much more than the expected 24 hours from the internal battery.

I verified that these do provide Always-On and I’m going to be swapping in these packs for the Voltaic packs I’m running. What’s key to reliability is a larger panel output in order to charge enough even on cloudy days to keep things alive. I’l be upping the minimum output of the solar panels to at least 5 W not including the panel on the battery pack, as even 3.5 W panels seem a little too weak to deal with conditions here and keep things reliably alive without any drama.

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Even though I don’t have my stationary relay up yet (though it is built), I’m already looking at up-sizing the power system for any future relays. The approach I’m looking at is to crack the Mesh open and bypass the goTenna charging circuit by adding a JST connector to where the internal battery connects, allowing me to parallel an external pack. A 9 watt panel would charge a 6.6 Ah, 3.7 volt lithium ion battery, which then would directly power the Mesh through the added JST connector. This should increase efficiency by cutting out the boost-buck of going through the USB port, stopping the red LEDs from coming on, and stopping the repeated topping-off of the Mesh internal battery. Plus, when within Bluetooth range of the relay, the app’s battery meter would show the charge level of the external battery since it is directly feeding the Mesh.

I am assuming this requires opening the goTenna correct. Not quite at that level yet :slight_smile:

@bbwr10coqsm your picture shows a solar. Is the cheap battery pack you mentioned come with the built-in solar? Can you reply with the link to the battery you mentioned?

Thanks

Sure, it has 1.5 W panel built it. You can also charge it via the standard micro USB port.

This is the link, but it’s showing as they can’t ship to the US right now, They’ve sent me 4 so far, so ???
https://www.banggood.com/8000mAh-Ultrathin-Solar-Battery-Charger-Power-Bank-For-iPhone-iPad-Tablets-Smart-Phone-p-1217860.html?rmmds=myorder&cur_warehouse=CN

Ha! Thanks! I will give my 8000 mAh solar battery packs a try then and see how they perform.

If it has some sort of power button, current production power banks often have an undocumented Always-On feature. Fiddle with it and observe. You may already be good to go.

As I have said before, these little battery packs with a PV on the front always seem to not state what the solar will do, powerwise. The one Mattybme shows has nothing about the PV output, only a claimed battery storage size.
To use US numbers, 20w/sq ft is about the best one can do with current Photovoltaic Panel (PVs, Solar Panels) technology. 1 ft² = 144 in². 20 w/ft² divided by 144 in²/ft² leaves us with .138w/in².
A 3"x5" pv (my gestimate of the “Zbznk” shown} is 15 in².
0.138w/in² x 15 in² = 2.07² watts.
That is if aligned perfectly square to equatorial sunshine.
I am sorry if I keep posting the same rant over and over, but misinformation about PVs is a pet peeve of mine. If my numbers are wildly off please let me know.
But if you buy some “solar powered” THING ,one watt is at least 3 inches by 3 inches with absolute perfect conditions.
Don’t get burned.

The one I showed does have the specs printed on the back and that’s where I cited the 1.5 W from. It measures about 5" x 2" so is in the ballpark of your formula’s numbers. 'Course, this is also where it states 20,000 mAh and that’s certainly over optimistic. It was sold as 8,000 mAh by banggood, an indication that even with numbers, they may not always add up.

On the other hand, WYSIWYG and for the money, you’re getting plenty of storage capacity. I plan to use them for no other purpose with most of my nodes, as they’ll be locked up inside a black box and charged via far more adequately powerful external solar panel. Maybe it’s just best to think of the built-in panel as a nice perk that can be helpful, but usually doesn’t have the juice to handle what we need it for.

Now, if you’re a goatherder in Mongolia, that solar panel may come in handy to make that essential call when you’re about to return home after months on the steppes. :smile:

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From now on I will refer to the time that it takes one of these things to “CHARGE YOUR PHONE FROM THE SUN !” as the Mongolian goatherder constant.

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Yes, but remember that the goatherder only needs about 0.01 Mgc to make one call to let everyone know to put the teapot on and milk the yak. It’s a long way between cell towers in Mongolia, so plenty of time to charge up for that next call…if the sun is out.

This is obviously a communications business case that could be more efficiently served with a few goTenna Mesh units… :wink:

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Idaho_Fluke: How is your POE working out for you? I also wanted to ask what you did for putting your GTM up in the air

Hey all so I have been testing the Relay Mode with a solar/battery array. It seems the node is not staying on. I power it up, triple click and triple click to confirm and then come back a few hours later and triple clicking it does not do anything. I have to power it back on. What am I missing? I assume there is no other way to confirm the node is in Relay Mode other that a triple click correct?

That does sound familiar. If you triple click, you put it into relay mode. But if you triple click again, you take it back out. What you want to do is click it once to check what mode it’s in. If in standard mode, it blinks once back at you. If you have stationary node mode enabled, it will respond to one key press with three flashes.

What you described puts it in relay mode, then takes it right back out again.

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