Speaker 1: Meshtastic has been pretty big lately, lots more features coming
Speaker 1: to the mesh Tastic and mesh Core line. But what
Speaker 1: is the best outdoor node? What's the best solar node?
Speaker 1: A mesh Tastic solar node that's meant to be deployed
Speaker 1: outdoors with a solar panel running Meshastic, mesh Core, some
Speaker 1: sort of Laura device. We're going to talk about it today.
Speaker 1: So some of these videos I've made recently, people will
Speaker 1: comment and I call them Meshtastic nodes, and people will
Speaker 1: comment and say, well, mesh coord is getting more popular,
Speaker 1: and mesh coord is getting this and mesh cod Okay, fine,
Speaker 1: this is a hardware list.
Speaker 2: This is four.
Speaker 1: It's actually five pieces of hardware. You can load mesh
Speaker 1: Tastic or mesh Core onto any of them. Okay, I
Speaker 1: use mesh Tastic in the title of the YouTube video
Speaker 1: because more people know what it is. Mesh Cord is
Speaker 1: a little bit newer. But these are all Laura wan devices,
Speaker 1: long range or Laura devices. So that's what we're going
Speaker 1: to talk about today, is the best four that include
Speaker 1: a solar node. Now I'm going to star and I'm
Speaker 1: going to go in order of price. Okay, I'm not
Speaker 1: going to tell you which one is better than which one,
Speaker 1: because out of all of these, I've really only.
Speaker 2: Used one of them.
Speaker 1: A couple of weeks ago, I did a video about
Speaker 1: the Ella crow Think node M one and M two.
Speaker 2: Those are some neat little pocket devices.
Speaker 1: This is an M six, an M six outdoor solar
Speaker 1: powered node for Laura, okay, supports nine hundred and fifteen
Speaker 1: megahertz inside of the USA. In other countries it's going
Speaker 1: to be a different frequency. So what the thing we
Speaker 1: want to look at when we are researching these nodes?
Speaker 1: Price is certainly an issue. Three important things you want
Speaker 1: to look at in my opinion, and I'll be interested
Speaker 1: in your opinion in the comments section below. Size of
Speaker 1: the solar panel, how many watts is the solar panel?
Speaker 1: What type of chip is it is an ESP thirty
Speaker 1: two chip or the new NRF chip? And what type
Speaker 1: of antenna does it have? So those are the basic
Speaker 1: three things we're going to look at today. Again, the
Speaker 1: M six node has a six wat high efficiency monocrystaline
Speaker 1: silicon solar panel.
Speaker 2: Okay, six what not.
Speaker 1: Huge, but not bad. I mean six watts is better
Speaker 1: than zero wats. If your no doesn't have a panel
Speaker 1: at all. It does contain the NRF fifty two to
Speaker 1: eight forty chip, a built in sixty four megahertz arm
Speaker 1: Cortex M four processor with a DSP instruction set enables
Speaker 1: smooth execution of complex algorithms. Okay, Bluetooth five point four
Speaker 1: b ALE provides low power subsecond network provisioning, and Laura
Speaker 1: SX twelve sixty two covers the full one hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty to nine hundred and sixty megor hertz spectrum. So,
Speaker 1: in other words, depending on what frequency mesh Core and
Speaker 1: or Meshtastic is using in your country, it can be
Speaker 1: configured as such. That's how I read that anyway. So
Speaker 1: that's the first one. The think node M six six
Speaker 1: watts solar panel with the NRF fifty two eight to
Speaker 1: forty chip, which is great. That's the newest chip, and
Speaker 1: this chip enables the battery to last longer. Right here
Speaker 1: it says this version does not support mestastic firm where.
Speaker 1: If you need to use the mestastic functionality, please click
Speaker 1: here to purchase the meshtastic version. I actually went to
Speaker 1: this one first. This one's out of stock right now. Okay,
Speaker 1: so but this one here and I don't know what
Speaker 1: the difference is. It's still a six SWAT panel, it's
Speaker 1: still the NRF chip, it's still the one hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty to nine er sixty megahertz frequency range, and it
Speaker 1: has a GPS built in. But they are out of
Speaker 1: stock at the Lacro website right now. I'll put a
Speaker 1: link in the description blow hopefully those will be back
Speaker 1: in stock soon. I was looking to see if I
Speaker 1: could find what type of battery is included, and I'm
Speaker 1: not seeing what type of battery is included for this
Speaker 1: specific node, because the solar panel is going to keep
Speaker 1: your battery charged, and the good thing about the NRF
Speaker 1: chip is that your battery is going to last longer.
Speaker 1: The ESP thirty two chip, which has been around a
Speaker 1: little bit longer, fine chip, nothing wrong with that. Got
Speaker 1: several meshtastic nodes that run the ESP thirty two chip,
Speaker 1: and the ESP thirty two chip will is used in
Speaker 1: many more pieces of IoT hardware than just mestastic devices.
Speaker 1: But it is an older chip and it's a little
Speaker 1: bit more power drain, a little bit more power intensive
Speaker 1: than the new NRF chip. So if you find a
Speaker 1: node that you want to get and one has the
Speaker 1: TERF chip and one has ESP thirty two chip. Just
Speaker 1: know that the the NRF chip is going to be
Speaker 1: a little bit more efficient and make your battery last
Speaker 1: a little bit longer. So if you have a solar panel,
Speaker 1: or if you have a solar node with a smaller
Speaker 1: solar panel, only a five or six watt solar panel,
Speaker 1: then maybe if you have an NRF chip and a
Speaker 1: large enough battery, maybe it'll be just efficient enough for
Speaker 1: you for your situation and how much sun you get
Speaker 1: at your location, it may not matter. So again, I
Speaker 1: did not see what type of battery is included in
Speaker 1: this six nodes, so maybe that's something I'll research here
Speaker 1: in a minute. Mo went on to number two. This
Speaker 1: is the Seed Studios sense a cap solar node P
Speaker 1: one for mesh tastic. Okay, now there's a P one
Speaker 1: version right here, and this one's seventy six ninety nine,
Speaker 1: and there's a P one pro version and this one
Speaker 1: is eighty nine ninety eighty nine ninety is about what
Speaker 1: thirteen more dollars?
Speaker 2: Okay?
Speaker 1: The difference is if we scroll down right here, they
Speaker 1: have a nifty little chart right there that tells you
Speaker 1: the exact difference. The difference is basically that the P
Speaker 1: one Pro comes with four built in eighteen six fifty
Speaker 1: batteries and a GPS module. The chow L seventy six
Speaker 1: K GPS model. Chowboard is one of the boards that
Speaker 1: studios mates and they use it in multiple radios. So
Speaker 1: that's the difference. So if you want to put your
Speaker 1: own batteries in, or you don't care about a GPS model,
Speaker 1: this version will do just fine for you. If you
Speaker 1: want it pre built and pre configured and pre done,
Speaker 1: I suggest spending another thirteen dollars in getting this version,
Speaker 1: this P one pro version. Okay, So it does have
Speaker 1: the chow NRF fifty two to eight to forty chip
Speaker 1: in it, so we got a good chip in that,
Speaker 1: and it took me a minute to find. And it's
Speaker 1: got four eighteen six fifty batteries scroll down here to
Speaker 1: find this which are thirty three hundred and fifty milli
Speaker 1: amps each, so three point three amps each times for
Speaker 1: roughly about thirteen amps something like that. Assuming those eighteen
Speaker 1: six fifty batteries are providing what they advertise, which sometimes
Speaker 1: is a question. Okay, And this one also has a
Speaker 1: five watt solar panel.
Speaker 2: Now this node here.
Speaker 1: I've actually got this note, I haven't deployed it, I
Speaker 1: haven't put it up yet, and I haven't made a
Speaker 1: video about it yet.
Speaker 2: But this is on.
Speaker 1: This is one of the things that's on my list
Speaker 1: of things to do. Okay, there's a good shot right
Speaker 1: there of the batteries in the back of the rate
Speaker 1: and this enclosure here and this solar panel here. So
Speaker 1: a five watch solar panel is gonna be a little
Speaker 1: bit smaller in size, and it's going to be not
Speaker 1: as much capacity. But if you're running something that's in
Speaker 1: a more compact location and you know you've got plenty
Speaker 1: of sunlight, then this might be a good choice for you.
Speaker 1: I would again, I would get the P one Pro,
Speaker 1: but it's up to you. You've got choices there. So
Speaker 1: those first two are pretty reasonably priced under one hundred
Speaker 1: dollars each, seventy nine dollars for that one, eighty nine
Speaker 1: dollars for that one. The next one. This is where
Speaker 1: we step up. This is where we're going to get
Speaker 1: into nodes that are made for more harsh environments.
Speaker 2: I will put it. Okay, this Altavex.
Speaker 1: Began solar mesh no now, just yesterday I've been looking
Speaker 1: at this thing for about a month. Okay, you can
Speaker 1: see it's got a very high gain intenna on it.
Speaker 1: That's the other thing about these two nodes. These two
Speaker 1: nodes have what I would consider this INTENTNA is not bad.
Speaker 1: It doesn't look like it's about it doesn't. There's nothing
Speaker 1: in here that I can find about the gain on
Speaker 1: the intenna. Anytime you're talking about radio, the gain on
Speaker 1: your intenna is important because that's how far you can hear.
Speaker 1: So if you put up a solar node or a
Speaker 1: meshtastic node of any type, put one on your car,
Speaker 1: you're carrying one on your backpack, whatever, and it has
Speaker 1: an antenna with a very low or inefficient gain, you're
Speaker 1: not going to be able to hear as far.
Speaker 2: You're not going to be able to connect as far.
Speaker 1: Okay, if it has a higher gain, you'll be able
Speaker 1: to hear it, it will be able to hear more nodes,
Speaker 1: and it has a greater earp. Effective isotropic radio power
Speaker 1: in other words, it's going to enhance the power output.
Speaker 1: It's going to virtualize the power output of your meshtastic device.
Speaker 1: So if it's a couple one hundred milliwatts, your mestastic
Speaker 1: devices or mesh core devices, and you put a higher
Speaker 1: gain antenna on it, it can increase the EERP and
Speaker 1: it effectively acts like a higher output on your transmitter. Okay,
Speaker 1: now you can learn about this, and you can learn
Speaker 1: about antennas, a lot about antennas, and a lot about
Speaker 1: radio propagation. If you want to go get your Ham
Speaker 1: radio license, in which case I would highly recommend Ham
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Speaker 1: out the link in the description blow and be sure
Speaker 1: to use the coupon code of Jason twenty. So you're
Speaker 1: gonna want to look for that you're gonna look for
Speaker 1: the type of antenna that is being used on some
Speaker 1: of these radios. Now, this one right here has dual
Speaker 1: antennas that could be a better gain than a single
Speaker 1: antenna like that one. Okay, but the Altavex Beacon has
Speaker 1: a very good high gain antenna right here. It comes
Speaker 1: in nine hundred and fifty megaherds for the USA and
Speaker 1: under of sixty eight mega herds for overseas in Europe.
Speaker 1: European mesh tastic. Here it's got dual antennas on it
Speaker 1: also very good. It is in a hardened weather proof case.
Speaker 1: I've been reading some reviews on this device, and I've
Speaker 1: gotten read a lot of really good feedback about this device.
Speaker 1: I do not have one of these nodes right now,
Speaker 1: but I signed up for their affiliate program about two
Speaker 1: days ago at the time of this recording, because I
Speaker 1: knew I was going to be talking about this device today.
Speaker 1: And the owner of the company, Altavox reach out to me,
Speaker 1: his name is Matt. Matt, thank you very much for
Speaker 1: your email, and he's going to send me one of
Speaker 1: these for evaluation. So we're going to get to make
Speaker 1: a video about this two hundred and thirty five dollars
Speaker 1: for this one. Again, if you've got a harsh outdoor
Speaker 1: environment somewhat like my house in Galveston, we'll get to
Speaker 1: that in a minute. Somewhere where it gets really hot
Speaker 1: or maybe really cold, somewhere where it doesn't have as
Speaker 1: much sun, wants something with a larger solar panel or
Speaker 1: a larger battery. Now, this one right here has a
Speaker 1: five watt solar panel, USBC chargeable five thousand million power battery,
Speaker 1: which is a five amp battery, and a very hardened case. Okay,
Speaker 1: so up until now, all of these devices have had
Speaker 1: about the same size solar panel. How that sits, And again,
Speaker 1: that's something you want to look at. You look at
Speaker 1: the chip. I starched up and down through this page,
Speaker 1: and I'm not finding which chip is in this device. Okay,
Speaker 1: so it could be an NRF chip, it could be
Speaker 1: an ESP thirty two chip.
Speaker 2: I'm not sure.
Speaker 1: I'm not finding it on this page. I've heard several
Speaker 1: of you and comments of various videos mentioned this device,
Speaker 1: so I know a few of you have it. So
Speaker 1: if you know what chip it has, put a comment
Speaker 1: in the video below. But by the time this video
Speaker 1: post I might actually have one of these in my hand,
Speaker 1: so we'll see from there. I'll make a full full
Speaker 1: fledged video about this device when I finally get it.
Speaker 1: But high gain it dual high gain antenna's five watt
Speaker 1: solar panel, and that's two of the three things we're
Speaker 1: going to look at. This is a Spec five relay.
Speaker 1: It's got a very high gain intenna on it. It
Speaker 1: comes with a twelve watt solar panel. Okay, right here,
Speaker 1: this is the fourth node. The first three had a
Speaker 1: five or six wat solar panel. This one has a
Speaker 1: twelve wat solar panel, more than twice what the other
Speaker 1: ones have.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: It has two internal eighteen six fifty lithium iron phosphate batteries.
Speaker 1: The Rack wiz Block Laura radio in it, so the
Speaker 1: Rack Wireless wiz Block radio in it. Firmer says that
Speaker 1: at support it's both meshtastic and mesh core and also attack,
Speaker 1: which most of these probably will. It's made out of
Speaker 1: pet G material for three D printing, and I'm not
Speaker 1: really seeing Rack Wireless the wiz board. I believe the
Speaker 1: rack wiz Block has an ESP thirty two chip. Yeah,
Speaker 1: looking over here at Rackwireless dot Com, it's listed as
Speaker 1: a ESP thirty two w rover module on the rack
Speaker 1: wireless board. So rack Wiz block board really good, really
Speaker 1: tried and true rack wireless. They reached out to me
Speaker 1: recently also they're going to be sending me some stuff
Speaker 1: to review. Smeshtastic things really taken off. But the Spec
Speaker 1: five relay is fantastic because if you are in an
Speaker 1: area that's more harsh, like the salt air coming off
Speaker 1: of the ocean anywhere.
Speaker 2: If you live near the ocean, like my Galveston house,
Speaker 2: Galveston gets a lot of sun, but we also got
Speaker 2: to do.
Speaker 1: A lot of rain down there, a lot of clouds,
Speaker 1: so there might be two or three or four days
Speaker 1: a row, maybe a week or so where I don't
Speaker 1: get direct sun on it. Okay, so your twelve watt
Speaker 1: solar panel is going to pull in more energy and more.
Speaker 1: It's going to charge the battery more, even if you're
Speaker 1: only pulling in like one or two watts. It's got
Speaker 1: more surface area because it's a larger solar panel than
Speaker 1: a five watt solar panel would, so it's gonna be
Speaker 1: a little bit more efficient in an area where you
Speaker 1: don't have as much sunlight. This one comes in at
Speaker 1: two seventy five today. Spec five is a Texas company.
Speaker 1: I've had a Spec five coupon in the past. I'm
Speaker 1: not sure if that's still active or not, but I
Speaker 1: will put a link to this and everything else we
Speaker 1: talked about today in the description blow and any coupons
Speaker 1: I have, I will put those down there as well.
Speaker 1: But those are the top four solar nodes that I
Speaker 1: have found. There are a couple of other smaller ones,
Speaker 1: like anybitty like one or two watt panel nodes that
Speaker 1: you can connect to your backpack or add to like
Speaker 1: a Trekker board or a rack wireless board.
Speaker 2: Or something like that.
Speaker 1: And there's a few more options like that. All four
Speaker 1: of these that we talked about today are pre configured.
Speaker 1: You can buy them fully assembled, put them up and
Speaker 1: just be done with it.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: If you want to build your own, of course, there's
Speaker 1: the option for that as well. These are four of
Speaker 1: the ones I found today. If you have something else
Speaker 1: that you use, something else, you have experience with something else,
Speaker 1: you have questions about something with a solar panel attached
Speaker 1: to it, I love to know what that is. Put
Speaker 1: a comment in the video let me know what you
Speaker 1: think about these. If you have one of these or
Speaker 1: multiples of these, let me know what you think about
Speaker 1: each one. Eventually, you're going to see a video about
Speaker 1: all four of these on this channel, so I look
Speaker 1: forward to seeing your feedback on that. Seventy three guys,
Speaker 1: thanks for watching today, and if you enjoyed this video,
Speaker 1: check out these videos up here. This is what YouTube
Speaker 1: thinks you want to watch next. We'll catch you next time.