Hardware
Power systems, enclosures, and hardware considerations.
Hardware Considerations
A MeshCore repeater needs three things: a LoRa radio running repeater firmware, an antenna, and reliable power. How you combine these depends on your deployment location and budget.
The LoRa radio
Any MeshCore-compatible LoRa device can be flashed with repeater firmware. The radio is rarely the performance bottleneck - location and antenna matter far more. Key requirements:
- 915 MHz band - required for US/Canada. Beyond interoperability, the band choice is a legal one: 902-928 MHz is the FCC-authorized license-free ISM band in the US/Canada (47 CFR 15.247). The EU 868 MHz band is not authorized for this use in the US, so 868 MHz hardware (common in European product listings) should not be transmitted on here regardless of network compatibility — and it would not interoperate with the US network anyway.
- External antenna connector - essential for connecting a quality external antenna. Devices with only a PCB trace antenna are not suitable for fixed outdoor deployment.
- MeshCore firmware compatibility - verify against the MeshCore compatibility list before purchasing.
Purpose-built outdoor units vs. DIY
Purpose-built solar repeater units
Several manufacturers produce all-in-one weatherproof units with integrated solar panels, batteries, and LoRa radios. These are the simplest path to a permanent outdoor installation - they arrive ready to mount and flash.
Advantages: weatherproof from the factory, integrated power system, no enclosure engineering required.
Disadvantages: higher cost, limited hardware customization.
DIY builds
A builder can assemble a repeater from individual components: a LoRa board, weatherproof enclosure, solar panel, charge controller, and battery. The main challenges are reliable weatherproofing and correctly sized cable penetrations.
Advantages: full customization, potentially lower cost, complete control over every component.
Disadvantages: requires time and skill; waterproofing failure is a leading cause of field failures.
Enclosures
Electronics exposed to outdoor conditions should live in a weatherproof enclosure rated IP65 or higher. Note that the IP rating only holds if every penetration is sealed with a rated cable gland — drilling unsealed holes voids the rating. Key considerations:
- Proper cable glands on all penetrations (antenna, power, USB)
- Desiccant packs inside to absorb residual moisture
- UV-resistant material for sun exposure
- Thermal management - a sealed enclosure in direct sun can reach internal temperatures that exceed electronics and battery ratings (typically around 60 °C) without ventilation or shading. Shade the box or use a light-colored, UV-resistant material to reduce solar heating.
Power and Solar Systems
A repeater that runs out of power disappears from the network. Power system design is as critical as radio configuration for a reliable long-term deployment.
Why solar works for repeaters
MeshCore repeater firmware is designed for low power consumption. A repeater draws very little power when idle and slightly more when forwarding packets. This makes solar deployment practical even with modest hardware.
Sizing your power system
The goal: enough battery to run through several consecutive cloudy days, and a panel large enough to fully recharge on a typical sunny day.
- Solar panel: A 5 - 20W panel is reasonable example sizing for a low-draw repeater, but the right wattage depends on your load and your site's worst-month sun-hours. Mount it south-facing (in North America) and angle it roughly to match your latitude for best year-round output; if cloudy-season uptime is critical, tilt toward latitude +10-15 degrees to favor winter sun.
- Battery chemistry: LiFePO4 (lithium iron phosphate) is strongly recommended for outdoor use. It tolerates cold discharge well, has a much longer cycle life than LiPo, and is significantly safer. However, LiFePO4 (like any lithium chemistry) must NOT be charged below 0 °C / 32 °F - charging when frozen causes permanent lithium plating, reduced cycle life, and a fire risk. For cold climates, use a pack with a low-temperature charge cutoff in its BMS, or add a low-temp charge disconnect. Size for several days of runtime without any solar input - 3 - 5 days is a common minimum starting point; increase it for cloudy climates or critical links. For emergency-grade deployments, size the battery for your worst-case multi-day low-solar period (often longer than 3 - 5 days in winter) and validate it with a no-charge runtime test before relying on the node.
- Charge controller: Required between panel and battery. MPPT (Maximum Power Point Tracking) controllers are more efficient than PWM, especially in cold/temperate climates and on larger arrays. On very small systems the efficiency gain is modest, and a simple PWM controller is often sufficient and cheaper.
- Fuse the battery. Install an inline fuse in the battery positive lead close to the battery, sized per your controller and wiring. A LiFePO4 cell can deliver very high fault current; an unfused short can start a fire. Wire in order: battery → charge controller → panel.
Mains power
For rooftop installations with building power access, mains power plus a battery backup is more reliable than solar alone. Use a quality regulated supply and consider a small UPS to ride out brief power interruptions.
Power optimization
- Disable unused features: display backlight, Bluetooth, WiFi (if present on the board)
- Set a long flood advertisement interval for fixed infrastructure - the MeshCore default is commonly 12 hours, set via
set flood.advert.interval {hours}(range ~3-168; verify in your firmware version). Note this is separate from the zero-hopadvert.interval(default 0/off). More frequent ads increase power draw with minimal benefit. - Do not set TX power higher than needed for your coverage goals - the power amplifier is the largest current draw during transmission. On a low-traffic repeater that spends most of its time receiving, idle/RX current may dominate total energy use, so also minimize wake/advertise frequency. TX power is also legally capped: 47 CFR 15.247 limits conducted power to 1 W (30 dBm) in 902-928 MHz, reduced dB-for-dB for antennas above 6 dBi.