Some back of the napkin math says my #solar node will probably cost $200 in hardware if everything was bought new (I'm reusing solar panels and batteries), excluding development costs, of course.

One node could cover a small town (e.g. 200,000 people) if put 100 ft up in the air.

I think I could get it down to $100 per kit if going as cheap as possible (smaller battery capacity, smaller antenna, not as much expandability/customization, etc.). However that $100 number **does** include a battery and solar panel!

If bought in bulk, both of these numbers could come down by at least 10% by saving on shipping costs of components.

#meshtastic #electronics #radio #mesh #decentralize #distributed

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The limiting factor right now is the solar power at 5W. To get more, it'd require a solar panel, MPPT board and battery. But then you could chain them to get as many as you want.

Minimum cost per 5W panel/9.5Ah battery is roughly $35 (again, lower if buying in bulk).

I don't have number on power draw, so I can't say how many days without sun this could last. I plan on getting some measurements from the field to answer this question.

When looking for batteries look here http://batteries.parametrek.com/index.html if you're in the US

Wow. Thanks for the hook up!

I'll try to zap you again when your lightning node is up (I'mgetting errors getting to the .well-known files)

Thanks. I'm in the process of migrating to a new node and I have still not opened up any channels.

I'm in the same boat. If you want me to open up a small (50K) channel with you, I'd be happy to do so. DM me your pubkey and the IP/port I should use.

What the strategy for elevation? Building, tower, or something?

Tower