I thought I saw this on one of the posts but I can’t find it anywhere:
I believe that when a device has been paired, it auto-power offs when it looses contact with the phone/tablet after some time to save battery. A brand new, never been paired goTenna mesh, by contrast, stays on 24x7 and will act as a node.
What do we need to do to switch a device that has been previously paired?
Also, again, I thought this was mentioned, that we can ping the GID of the goTenna mesh when it’s running as a node? Once the device is paired, it’s GID is the phone number you entered when you set up the software? How do you put it back to default and what is that default GID?
False.
The device does not turn off. The LED stops flashing after ~5 minutes to save battery. The device continues to function and will act as a relay node.
You can change the GID of a paired device through Side Menu → Settings-> Profile → GID
You can generate a new random GID for your relay node here. goTenna Mesh devices do not have default GIDs.
And just a quick note: We have a simpler relay mode UI coming with our next app release in October given how popular this feature is with all of you! (More than we expected it to be: a good thing!)
Yes and no. If you start a 1/1 chat between two gotennas, then turn off bluetooth on one of the phones, you can continue to send pings from the other phone to the phone-less ‘node’ gotenna and receive a green checkmark confirming delivery. So, yes, you can continue to ping a gotenna with no phone attached if you have already started a 1/1 conversation with another phone. If you setup a gotenna but do not start a conversation with another phone, but type in the GID of the unpaired gotenna, it will not recieve pings or messages unless a phone is connected. My guess is this is because in 1/1 chats, encryption is on, and a phone is required to pair the public/private keys first. It would be nice for Relay Only mode to have a setting to receive new 1/1 messages from anyone, so anyone could ping a relay node and see if it was online, but respond with an auto reply like “This is an unpaired relay node, messages are not read in real time” the first time a new GID sends a message and it does not have a phone paired. I already suggested this in another thread, but, you know, hint hint @danielagotenna@Rahul_Subramany
I got my fresh new black unit this AM. I put it in the window of the building on power having never paired it.
When I shout using my other orange unit I see the black unit flash.
However, when I send a 1 to 1 message to a distant user I do not see a flash.
I would have assumed the Black mode acting as a relay would pick up any signal and re-transmit it to extend the range of the mesh.
Am I missing something?
A secondary question: I have seen my paired unit flash sometimes when I was not sending or receiving a message but no shout came through. Was this a relayed message passing through?
I note that the Emergency Message says it will route the signal through as many units as possible. How is that different than a shout?
Odd then I will have to watch this more closely. There was no message for me so maybe it was some momentary disruption of bluetooth.
On this note, I did notice that when I am at home and the Gotenna is in the back of the house and I am on the edge of bluetooth range the battery dies much more quickly. I suspect the unit keeps connecting and disconnecting so the light flashes for much more than just 5 minutes. I seem to have drained nearly half a battery while watching a 100-minute movie in the front of the house and suspect this was the issue.
Maybe that 5 minutes of blinking is a bit too long for battery sake.
If you suspect you are at the edge of bluetooth range, it may be beneficial to close the app. This will prevent your phone from repeatedly connecting/disconnecting with your Mesh device.