Hello! Want to join us in setting up a mesh network? Great. You'll want a Chipset and an Antenna, then some way of powering it (probably a battery pack and a solar panel). Buy only 1 of each (or more if you want to donate some parts to the cause.)
- https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256807707856279.html
- https://www.amazon.com/LILYGO-Meshtastic-Development-CH9102F-Soldered/dp/B0B63FV7FR/
- https://lilygo.cc/products/t-beam?variant=43059202719925
- https://www.aliexpress.us/item/2255800643565793.html
- https://store.rokland.com/products/8-dbi-n-male-omni-outdoor-helium-915-mhz-antenna-large-profile-40-for-rak-miner-2-nebra-sensecap-m1-bobcat-hotspots
You can also just buy full kits here: https://store.rokland.com/
It can be triangulated, and it can be found and compromised. Be careful where you put it. The serial number can be traced to you- the stores you purchase things from are happy to hand over purchase data. Buying secondhand can help. We'll buy a number of these after we apply for a grant for it, then hand them out so the serial number is not attached to you.
One consideration to keep in mind with batteries is that lipo batteries will explode if the charger tries to charge them while they're below freezing temperatures. There are a number of workarounds for this such as simply manually disconnecting them when it's going to freeze. There are also approaches that use larger self-heating batteries but that requires a more complex solar charge controller. Some people are using lithium-titanate (LTO) batteries instead of LiPo. There is also the possibility to use LiFePo4 which is probably the best option but there aren't simple drop-in replacements.
The downside to all of these alternatives is that they require some kind of different controller because they all have their own charging characteristics. It seems like the most obvious option is to have the board monitor the temperature and simply disable charging the LiPo if temperatures are below zero, but this isn't something any of these boards has built in. Another reason it would be better to design our own boards in the long-term. (And it would mean we can have them broadcasting weather conditions from across the region which would also be an interesting angle to take the project, including things like air quality and so on)
the solar panel and box link are the same link