Recommendations for Vehicle Nodes? (mander.xyz)

submitted 1 year ago by AlchemicalAgent@mander.xyz to c/meshtastic@mander.xyz

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I've been brainstorming ways to get a permanent node on my truck for various reasons. Here's what I have so far:

Hard-wired for power. The vehicle battery is pretty large, and I have a solar-maintainer installed with enough power left over to run a node.
GPS module for tracking
External antenna (915 MHz). I already have cargo racks on the truck bed so plenty of space to attach a mount.

Unfortunately I haven't found much in the way of hardware guides. Initially I figured a 33 cm ham antenna would be perfect but haven't seen much available. For the node itself I was looking at either a heltec tracker or a Wisblock with location module. Anyone suggestions?

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[-] 3holly3@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 year ago

I’m brainwaving a vehicle setup too, so here’s some stuff to consider from what I’ve learned:

Rak with gps in an IP67 box attached to the roof rack. Rak for the low power draw -Gizont 20 or 40 cm whip, because my vehicle is tall and I don’t want a rigid Alfa or something getting sheared off in a parking garage.
you likely know this already but better to not cable from a node in the car to antenna on the roof- keep them together.
look at the Rak green power module, which will accept 12v directly from your cars system and convert to a stable 5v. With a 3000+ size battery in the box , you may not even need a solar backup as the car will top it up as you drive. If you want it to run while the car sits for a week +, then maybe a solar in addition is better for you. -if you want zero fuss, you could also wire up an external waterproof reset switch

I thought it would be kinda cool (though unnecessary) to have a display wired inside the car from the roof…. Anyone done this, know if it’s possible, or know the limitations of cable length from a rak baseboard to a display?

Show us what you come up with!

this post was submitted on 22 Feb 2025

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