Thank you all for creating and maintaining this project! I'd like to give back by sharing some experiences.
I built some faketecs last fall in order to run them as unattended solar nodes. I had seen different approaches with 3D-printed cases and the like, but the pragmatist in me chose to use off-the-shelf waterproof electrical junction boxes for about 2,50 EUR a pop:
I had pondered using “proper” solar charging circuits instead of mis-using the venerable TP4056 boards (which I liked for their battery protection features). After one winter and more than 150 days in which the voltage never dropped below 3.9V, this setup seems to be okay when using such an oversized solar panel – they are leftovers from previous projects where friends of mine analyzed chinese bikesharing locks. I have finally started tests with smaller solar panels to find out whether I actually need the “proper” MPTT circuits or whether it just ain't worth the hassle.
//addendum: I also took photos of my faketecs in a clean studio environment and uploaded them to the Meshtastic category at Wikimedia Commons – there had been little freely licensed imagery before. I'd love if others also contributed some photos under CC licenses there!
Thank you all for creating and maintaining this project! I'd like to give back by sharing some experiences.
I built some faketecs last fall in order to run them as unattended solar nodes. I had seen different approaches with 3D-printed cases and the like, but the pragmatist in me chose to use off-the-shelf waterproof electrical junction boxes for about 2,50 EUR a pop:
I had pondered using “proper” solar charging circuits instead of mis-using the venerable TP4056 boards (which I liked for their battery protection features). After one winter and more than 150 days in which the voltage never dropped below 3.9V, this setup seems to be okay when using such an oversized solar panel – they are leftovers from previous projects where friends of mine analyzed chinese bikesharing locks. I have finally started tests with smaller solar panels to find out whether I actually need the “proper” MPTT circuits or whether it just ain't worth the hassle.
//addendum: I also took photos of my faketecs in a clean studio environment and uploaded them to the Meshtastic category at Wikimedia Commons – there had been little freely licensed imagery before. I'd love if others also contributed some photos under CC licenses there!