How long will mesh stay powered on with constant power

@Idaho_Fluke sounds like a bug. We will investigate and fix this for the next revision of the app/firmware.

a small update to this, it looks like if being used as a stand alone repeater, it needs to be unpaired to stay powered on, even with constant power.
1 test while paired to phone. constant power, leave bluetooth range so it disconnects. the go tenna looks like it powers off after it cant re connect to paired phone.
2 test unpaired and constant power, go tenna looks to stay powered on, I have not verified if it will pass traffic to other go tennas, as I only have the two to test with currently.

@Idaho_Fluke a Mesh device in stand alone repeater mode, does not need to be constantly paired.
In your Test #1, after Bluetooth disconnects, the LED flashes for upto 5 minutes to indicate that goTenna Mesh is in a ‘Waiting to pair’ state. The LED shuts off, after 5 minutes to conserve power. Even thought the LED turns OFF, the device is still powered ON and ready to relay/repeat.
If you tap the power button in this state, the LED will immediately flash - indicating that the device is ON.

You can verify if this goTenna Mesh is still working by sending a ‘Shout Message’ from your 2nd goTenna Mesh. The LED on goTenna Mesh #1 will flash to show that it received a message (even though its currently not paired).

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I will test this tonight when I get home, but to clarify… If I have the mesh device and I pair it to my phone and send a message etc. then I dont unpair it, but rather 1 move phone out of bluetooth range, 2 turn off bluetooth, 3 power off phone. then the white light flashes showing its disconnected and trying to re connect. If I use another phone or ipad at that time could I pair it to the mesh device? Even if I didnt do the unpair in the 1st phone.

also when I did test via pushing the power button after being disconnected via bluetooth for an extended time. the red light was on indicating charging, but the white light wouldn’t come on with just a press, but it would after a press and hold, indicating it was in a powered off but charging state?

Its not a big deal for me, just trying to get you as much info as possible.

If I have the mesh device and I pair it to my phone and send a message etc. then I dont unpair it, but rather 1 move phone out of bluetooth range, 2 turn off bluetooth, 3 power off phone. then the white light flashes showing its disconnected and trying to re connect. If I use another phone or ipad at that time could I pair it to the mesh device? Even if I didnt do the unpair in the 1st phone."

You can pair to the Mesh device in this state, from another phone or device. To do this, go into Settings-> click Unpair goTenna and follow instructions.

The white light flash is hard to see when the charging RED led is ON. Unplug the device from charging & try again.

If you press & hold the power button for >3 seconds, the device enters power down mode & turns OFF.

https://youtu.be/U8b08WLAw60

this is after being plugged into constant power all day with the phone it is paired to out of bluetooth range. the app showed looking for device.
once I “powered it back on” it re connected… I did not power off this unit.

@Idaho_Fluke have moved this conversation to DM, to get the issue resolved asap.

Meant to follow-up and see how service was in Idaho Falls during the eclipse after all? And did goTenna Mesh come in handy?

we saw slowdown in data, and messaging via cellular network, with some areas being completely down for a small amount of time. But I was next to my family during the eclipse and didn’t need to use the gotenna, but the peace of mind that we could still communicate if we split up was priceless.

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