Notes · LoRa · Meshtastic · Solar

Build vs buy: a solar Meshtastic repeater for the Adelaide Hills

A solar Meshtastic repeater on a ridge in the Adelaide Hills will cost you about $150–$200 either way. The real choice is between convenience and control.

Off-grid mesh messaging has become one of the hottest corners of the maker world. Cheap LoRa radios now pass text messages hop to hop with no mobile coverage, no Wi-Fi and no subscription. The piece that turns a few handhelds into a real network is the fixed repeater: a node bolted to a pole somewhere high, running on sunshine, forwarding everyone else's messages.

The Hills need exactly that. Gullies, ridgelines and patchy mobile coverage make it hard country for radio, and bushfire season makes reliable backup comms worth more than a hobby. So at AP Design Labs we asked the obvious question: should you buy a ready-made solar node, or build your own?

Meshtastic in 60 seconds

Meshtastic is open-source firmware that turns inexpensive LoRa radios into a long-range, off-grid text network. Each radio rebroadcasts what it hears, so messages hop across the mesh until they reach the person they're meant for. You pair a node with your phone over Bluetooth, and messages are encrypted.

• Range: a typical hop covers 2–5 km. Height changes everything: the official community record is 331 km, so ignore older articles quoting 254 km.
• Licence: none needed. Australian nodes must use the 915–928 MHz band, which is the ANZ region setting in the app (SARC).
• Firmware: Meshtastic is flashed with its web flasher or arrives pre-flashed. This is one project where you won't be opening Thonny, although a MicroPython sensor board can feed data into a node over serial later.

Option 1: Buy a SenseCAP Solar Node

Seeed's SenseCAP Solar Node is the off-the-shelf favourite: unbox it, add batteries, bolt it to a pole. It pairs an nRF52840 with an SX1262 LoRa radio, a 5W panel and a holder for four 18650 cells. It also has an internal Grove port for sensors and comes pre-flashed with Meshtastic. Seeed quotes 8–9 km in open country (Meshtastic docs).

Shop around: Core Electronics lists the same P1 at $259.95. Pakronics also sells a P1-Pro pre-flashed with MeshCore, an alternative mesh firmware that matters in Adelaide (more on that below).

The catch: you get Seeed's enclosure, Seeed's panel angle and Seeed's battery management. That's fine for most people. But if the panel mount doesn't suit your pole, or you want a bigger panel for winter, you're modifying a sealed product.

Option 2: Build your own on RAK WisBlock

The DIY route lands at roughly $140–$160, about the same as buying. What you get for the effort is a node you understand and can repair. The heart is RAK's WisBlock Meshtastic Starter Kit: an nRF52840 core on a RAK19007 base board, pre-flashed, with a built-in charger and a 5V solar input.

Two things to know about the RAK19007 before you wire it:

• Panel voltage. RAK's documentation says the solar input must not exceed 5.5V. RAK staff say an on-board Zener diode gives headroom up to about 7V (RAK forum). The Waveshare panel above is rated 7.2V open-circuit, so measure yours. If it's over about 6.5V, add a small 5V buck regulator.
• Charge rate. The on-board charger is a single-cell TP4054 shared by USB and solar (RAK forum). It's great for one or two cells, but slow for big parallel packs. For a large pack, use an external solar charge manager and feed its 5V output into the solar connector (RAK forum).

Build log

This is the build in eight steps. Swap in your own photos and measurements as you go: readers love real numbers.

1. Bench test first. Plug the RAK kit into USB, pair it with the Meshtastic app and set the region to ANZ. Confirm it can see another node before anything goes in a box.
2. Measure the panel. In full sun, check the open-circuit voltage with a multimeter. Under about 6.5V, it goes straight to the JST solar connector. Over that, fit a 5V buck regulator inline.
3. Check polarity twice. JST leads from different suppliers often have red and black swapped. A reversed solar or battery lead can kill the board.
4. Fit the batteries. Use protected 18650s in parallel, matched and at the same charge before you join them. Builders report two cells running a RAK node for over two weeks without sun (MakerWorld).
5. Box it up. Mount the board on standoffs, run the antenna through a bulkhead SMA connector, and seal cable entries with glands. Add a small vent or desiccant pack, because Hills mornings are damp.
6. Mount the panel facing north. In the southern hemisphere, panels face north. Adelaide sits near 35°S, so tilt it about 35° for year-round output, or steeper (around 50°) to favour winter.
7. Configure the role. Give it a clear name, such as "APDL-Hills-01". Use the CLIENT role unless the local mesh community agrees you've got a prime site for ROUTER, because badly placed routers congest a mesh.
8. Soak test for a week. Log battery voltage in the app each evening. If it's still dropping after a sunny week, upsize the panel before the winter solstice does it for you.

Want to size the panel and battery properly for a Hills winter before you buy? Put your node's average current into Will it survive winter?.

Siting it in the Adelaide Hills

In the Hills, height beats hardware. A cheap node on a ridge will outperform an expensive one in a gully every time.

• Line of sight. Ridgelines that look out over the Plains can link the Hills to the city mesh. A node tucked into a valley may only reach the next property.
• Heat. A sealed box in a 40°C Hills summer gets much hotter inside. Seeed rates the P1-Pro to charge only between 0 and 50°C (RobotShop listing), so use a light-coloured box and give it shade or airflow.
• Bushfire season. Treat the node as a backup, not a lifeline. Keep it clear of dry vegetation, and always get the landowner's permission for the pole.

Meshtastic or MeshCore? Adelaide has a twist. The South Australian Repeater Group reports that volunteers have built 26 MeshCore repeaters across the Adelaide Plains and regional areas (WIA). MeshCore and Meshtastic don't talk to each other. Before you install anything permanent, check which network actually covers your area, then flash to match. Both the SenseCAP and RAK hardware can run either firmware.

The verdict

If you want one reliable node up this weekend, buy the P1-Pro. If you want to learn, repair, expand or build several nodes, build on WisBlock.

Our take at AP Design Labs: buy one to learn what a good node looks like, then build the next one. Either way, the mesh only grows when someone puts a node on a hill.

Sources

Prices checked October 2026 and may change.

• Meshtastic – Introduction
• Meshtastic – SenseCAP Solar Node
• Meshtastic – RAK WisBlock base boards
• Pakronics – SenseCAP Solar Node P1
• Pakronics – SenseCAP Solar Node P1-Pro
• Core Electronics – SenseCAP Solar Node P1
• Core Electronics – WisBlock Meshtastic Starter Kit (RAK19007)
• Core Electronics – Waveshare 5.5V 6W solar panel
• RAK forum – Solar panel voltage on RAK19007
• RAK forum – RAK19007 charger
• RAK forum – Higher charge rate for solar
• MakerWorld – Meshtastic Node Solar Station
• SARC – Meshtastic in Australia
• WIA – SA Repeater Group MeshCore network
• RobotShop – SenseCAP P1-Pro specifications