Most of what I’ve dealt with were ESP32-based devices like the Heltec V3 (now V4) that have integrated LoRa radios. It should be possible to add on a SX1262 LoRa radio via SPI and flash Meshtastic firmware, but most people just start with a pre-built kit since they’re pretty inexpensive and have battery charging circuitry and everything already onboard (which you’d otherwise have to handle yourself with a vanilla ESP32).
I started with the Heltec V3, and the V4 improves several gripes I had with it. They’re easy to get started with, lots of case designs available, and generally good entry points.
SeeedStudio has a lot of pre-built options as well. My new daily driver is the SenseCap T1000e which is about the size of a few credit cards stacked together. Posted about it here: https://startrek.website/post/34105873
There’s two main flavors of Meshtastic devices: ESP32-based and nRF-based. The former are generally a little less expensive and have WiFi but are a lot more power hungry.
The nRF-based ones are more power efficient and can run longer from smaller batteries. The tradeoff is those only have Bluetooth and lack WiFi. I don’t really use WiFi with these, but it can be useful if you want to connect a node to MQTT.
Oh wow! I was not aware how inexpensive pre-builts were. I may just pick one of those up then. Thank you for the link!! Is there any benefit of having nodes connected to MQTT? Ive heard theres some smart-home applications for people with acres of land, but would you say theres a usecase for people who live in an apartment or in.the suburbs?
I don’t use MQTT currently, but there’s several things you can do with it:
Pass some messages as plaintext for use in, say, HomeAssistant
Bridge meshes over the internet
Send/receive ProtoBuf messages from an MQTT client to the Meshtastic node and the mesh
Plugging in some of the mesh mapping programs to visualize the mesh
I tried setting up MQTT with HomeAssistant but couldn’t get messages to come in correctly. Most likely my own fault but I just never got back to it as I didn’t have a specific need in mind when I was setting it up.
Bridge meshes could be interesting. Like if I could convince a friend to get one as well, then we could use meshtastic when were nearby each other or miles apart.
MQTT is kind of a PITA to get working. I had to use MQTT-Explorer to figure out a proper configuration. It seems since then, the developer has started using Copilot to write and test the application.
Most of what I’ve dealt with were ESP32-based devices like the Heltec V3 (now V4) that have integrated LoRa radios. It should be possible to add on a SX1262 LoRa radio via SPI and flash Meshtastic firmware, but most people just start with a pre-built kit since they’re pretty inexpensive and have battery charging circuitry and everything already onboard (which you’d otherwise have to handle yourself with a vanilla ESP32).
I started with the Heltec V3, and the V4 improves several gripes I had with it. They’re easy to get started with, lots of case designs available, and generally good entry points.
SeeedStudio has a lot of pre-built options as well. My new daily driver is the SenseCap T1000e which is about the size of a few credit cards stacked together. Posted about it here: https://startrek.website/post/34105873
There’s two main flavors of Meshtastic devices: ESP32-based and nRF-based. The former are generally a little less expensive and have WiFi but are a lot more power hungry.
The nRF-based ones are more power efficient and can run longer from smaller batteries. The tradeoff is those only have Bluetooth and lack WiFi. I don’t really use WiFi with these, but it can be useful if you want to connect a node to MQTT.
Check out Seeed to see some of their pre-made options: https://www.seeedstudio.com/LoRa-and-Meshtastic-and-4G-c-2423.html
Oh wow! I was not aware how inexpensive pre-builts were. I may just pick one of those up then. Thank you for the link!! Is there any benefit of having nodes connected to MQTT? Ive heard theres some smart-home applications for people with acres of land, but would you say theres a usecase for people who live in an apartment or in.the suburbs?
I don’t use MQTT currently, but there’s several things you can do with it:
I tried setting up MQTT with HomeAssistant but couldn’t get messages to come in correctly. Most likely my own fault but I just never got back to it as I didn’t have a specific need in mind when I was setting it up.
Bridge meshes could be interesting. Like if I could convince a friend to get one as well, then we could use meshtastic when were nearby each other or miles apart.
MQTT is kind of a PITA to get working. I had to use MQTT-Explorer to figure out a proper configuration. It seems since then, the developer has started using Copilot to write and test the application.