The mesh is picking up over here... we have three new repeaters in the area.

Just looking back on a system we commissioned in late December 2025. He's used 78kwh (about $10) of electric from the grid since December. That was mostly due to him not running his batteries down below 20% in February. He'll be adding one more 16kwh battery this fall and I think he'll be 100% off grid. Once he gets to next March, he can decide it having the grid as an emergency power source is worth $36 a month.

Adding this... his power company charges him an extra dollar to send a bill in the mail and his minimum bill is $36 a month. So his bill got lost in the mail one month and the next bill showed a late fee and a back balance. So in addition to paying for a meter he's not using, he got a penalty because the bill was lost in the mail.

3/4” conduit tee with a solar panel from a patio light and a rak4631 module. There is a battery in the solar panel housing. That’s how small these mesh repeaters can be.

I desoldered ALL components off this board except for the "click click " swtich. Battery power is routed thru that switch.

I turned this PVC cap on the lathe to bore a hole in it for the SMA connector and also to face off some of the curved plastic on the top. This gives a flat surface for the connector to torque down onto.

Can you tell which inverter is overpanelled? Both identical 6kw inverters. The one with 2x panels makes predicable power all year because it makes full power from 10am util 3pm. The inverer with 1.25x panels makes varying amounts of power depending on season of the year. Around Sept and Dec 22 it will top out.

Hows this for a packet path?

Here's a 38 hop packet. Meshcore is really viable for regional comms.

I've never seen it and this is the first I've heard of it.

Night vision rat killing.

Just did some experimentation with the meshcore radios this morning. I had to go back here in the group and edit a post I made that said to avoid the Heltec T096.

I have found that the FEM (front end module) on the Heltec T096 is finicky. It seems to either cause increased RX noise or outright mutes the receiver. You can issue the command SET RADIO.FEM.RXGAIN OFF to disable it.

example... with FEM RXgain ON, the noise floor was showing at -100db (unusually noisy.). I switched the FEM RXgain off and noise floor improved to -116db. You may recall that eariler this week I noted a 16db difference in link margin... I think I found it. At another point this morning, I switched FEM RXGain ON and the noise floor went to -120db which indicates a dead (muted) receiver. So the FEM module is flakey.

Actually the heltec with the FEM disabled seems to have a 4db receiver advantage over the RAK 4631.

Transmit test
RAK -> St Chs  6.5db
T096-> St Che  3.75db
RAK ->Oswego  10.5db
T096->Oswego   3.75db

Receive Test
St Chs->RAK  1.5db
St Cos->T096 3.5db
Oswego->RAK  9.0db
Oswego->T096 9.75db

How cheap can these things get? The Sense Cap unit I bought for $130 is based on the Xiao chipset.... it's literally 1/2" square and sells for $13. Add an external antenna connector and a $12 antenna alongside some solar patio light that uses a 4.2v battery and you are off and running for potentially $35-$40 per repeater.

https://www.seeedstudio.com/XIAO-nRF52840-Wio-SX1262-Kit-for-Meshtastic-p-6400.html