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A $35 Solar Mesh Node Anyone Can Build: The People’s Repeater [Black Flag Civilian] (www.youtube.com)
submitted 4 months ago by to c/meshtastic@mander.xyz
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The People’s Repeater is a cheap solar-powered LoRa mesh repeater you can build yourself using a $10 garden light and a small, 3D printed hub. In this video I walk through the design, do a range test, blast the repeater with pressurized water for an hour, and then show you how to build one step by step.

My goal is to get Meshcore and Meshtastic into actual neighborhoods, where ordinary people can build their own off-grid, encrypted text messaging infrastructure.

Support Black Flag Civilian & connect to the BFC discord: https://www.subscribestar.com/blackflagcivilian

FREE DOWNLOAD of People's Repeater Hub & Mount STL Files: https://www.printables.com/model/1768397-the-peoples-repeater-affordable-solar-mesh-repeate

People's Repeater Hubs & Mounts for sale on Black Flag Civilian's web store: https://blackflagcivilian.bigcartel.com/product/3d-printed-peoples-repeater-hub-mount

Parts lists (including links to specific parts) are available at both Printables and the BFC Webstore, linked above.

all 21 comments

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[–] 13 points 4 months ago (9 children)

I love the idea of these things, but I have no one to talk to with them.

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  • [–] [S] 10 points 4 months ago* (4 children)

    Build some for your friends and neighbors. Then in an outage or calamity you can atleast talk to someone.

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  • [–] 1 point 4 months ago (1 child)

    I think file sharing could be a decent immediate use-case, high-speed internet can be expensive and these days we often deal with chonky files, so something like this could (with the right software setup) let you simply drag-and-drop files between households.

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  • [–] 2 points 4 months ago (3 children)

    Have you tried the public channels?

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  • [–] 1 point 4 months ago (2 children)

    I checked the map. There are 0 nodes in my town.

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    • [–] 7 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    The only thing I see missing from their build is a wrap of some kind of sealing tape on the SMA connector. Those bulkhead connectors are sealed to the housing they're installed in but the threaded connection to the antenna is NOT sealed and will eventually corrode if/when moisture gets inside.

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    • [–] 6 points 4 months ago (6 children)

    I wonder where I could buy these lights outside US. I’ve seen them mentioned in some meshtastic builds, but I guess it’s a brand only available in the states.

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  • [–] 4 points 4 months ago (5 children)

    Those little solar garden lights are mostly just consumer shovelware, they're not any specific brand. I was able to find some similar looking lamps on Aliexpress in a few minutes- while they're popular and easy to find in the US, I'm sure getting them globally isn't that hard either.

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  • [–] 1 point 4 months ago (4 children)

    Isn’t getting the right size key to fitting them together with this project? If you could link them I’d be grateful ;)

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  • [–] 1 point 4 months ago* (3 children)

    I mean yeah, for this project specifically you'd need the right lights. In general you could adapt any other solar light, especially one that already has a wall mount- the hardware is so tiny it basically fits anywhere, and they all use the same lithium cells these days.

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  • [–] 1 point 4 months ago (2 children)

    Instead of adapting (I have NO 3d modeling skills), I can just use another project where relevant parts are available. This one looked pretty straightforward (as in: not much assembly required compared to other projects), which is why I’ve asked about getting the right part.

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  • [–] 1 point 4 months ago (1 child)

    Well, I use the term adapting loosely. There are wall mount lights where no modelling or printing is even needed- just drill a hole for the antenna bulkhead and replace the guts.

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  • [–] 0 points 4 months ago

    Assuming there is space for the new guts inside. If I buy something similar, But it won’t fit, I’m wasting time and money. I was asking if I could get the same thing - it saves time and money not trying to figure stuff out again. Otherwise I can just use a different model to print.

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    • [–] 3 points 4 months ago

    If you have access to 5v power you can do it for even cheaper

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    [–] 2 points 4 months ago

    It looks like he used meshcore with a lot of the testing. I wonder how this would have changed if he used meshtastic?

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    8 comments in c/mesh@piefed.social view that post
    [–] 1 point 2 weeks ago (7 children)

    Greetings, thanks for sharing this. Are these devices stable enough to run 24/7…always wanted to tinker with it but didn’t really know where to start.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 weeks ago (4 children)

    Absolutely. These are great. Just keep in mind you will need a companion as well as a repeater for Meshcore

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  • [–] 1 point 2 weeks ago (3 children)

    10-4, thank you. Whats the range between repeaters you get with this setup?

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  • [–] 1 point 2 weeks ago (2 children)

    Line of sight. They can hear a lot further than they can broadcast though. Miles at night.

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  • [–] [S] 1 point 2 weeks ago (1 child)

    Ive got one thats been doing its thing for 2 years without needing too much maintenance. Theres a couple of mountain nodes that are surrounding where im at that have been doing their thing even longer. Its pretty cool.

    Its a hobby to me but some people take it to another level. Its awesome to see what the community does with them.

    I started with a couple of heltec v3s less than 20$. Theres probably better options now for beginners, but my advice is to not overspend your first couple of devices. Play around with it, get the phone apps, and try to make something work.

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    [–] 9 points 4 months ago (2 children)

    This sounds fun, but a nearly 40 minute YouTube video is, for me, the worst way to go about finding out how to build the thing. More websites, less Google please.

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  • [–] [S] 6 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

    If you want to build this specific DIY device (as it's quite cheap), then it's probably worth clicking around the video to find the relevant bits of assembly (as a good portion of the video is just demonstrating its range and weatherproofing). If you want to avoid Google seeing you watch it, I believe Freetube still works to circumvent that.

    There are some written guides for building a similar device but...

    • This guide and this other guide don't appear to mention how much they cost to build without looking at each part's product page.
    • This guide does mention the price of the build, but it's quite expensive at $120 per unit.

    Alternatively, there does exist this pre-built solar meshtastic node, which is $79.

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    • [–] 7 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    We have a really impressive mesh in Utah. Living in a valley between mountains has its perks.

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