Mesh Networks (Meshtastic, Meshcore, AREDN)

As I mentioned on the net, I had a Meshtastic node up for about a month.  See original post and photo.  It stopped charging on solar power so I took it down. Then I found a small amount of water inside the supposedly weather proof enclosure and the battery was swollen. Luck for me.. the board was not damaged.

This is a prepackaged Wismesh Repeater mini from Rak Wireless (150 x 100 mm enclosure).  Before deploying I added RTV sealant to the antenna mounting on top of the box, and self-sealing silicone tape around the joint in the antenna.  I have some doubts about the hold and plug they use to allow access to the USB port. 

I put the case with the cover off in a water bath with the water up to the open side so that the water covered the antenna mount and the USB plug.  I found no water coming in by doing that but it is not a good test.  We did have some wind driven rain here but exactly how the water got in I don’t know.  The cover O-ring looks good and it was clean as was the grove it sits in.  I’m not sure how I am going to proceed but I might drill a drain hole as suggested by K3TCM.

As for the battery, I have a Rak Green Power Module which might work better as I suspect the solar power is not regulated well without it and that might have caused the battery to fail and swell from over voltage.

By the way, I was able to receive a number of message but I never could get a message out from my rural location.  I was able to get message confirmation to another node here so it was working but I was too far (and low) to communicate with anyone else.

Thanks, I'll put that on my calendar.