Off-grid networking

[code123]

I'm taking the Meshtastic pill, but want to set this up in what appears to be a very non-standard way. I want to access the webclient of a Meshtastic node via browser over ethernet. I have a PoE switch in the garage for security cameras and a mast for an SDR. Ideally I'd put a Meshtastic node on top of the mast and power it via PoE. It would get great signal and I could do all the communication from the comfort of my desktop computer.

However, almost every Meshtastic appliance out there wants you to use your phone or connect to the device with bluetooth or it's own broadcast wifi. The only product I could find is this MQTT gateway. I dont really intend to use this for MQTT, just as a standard node or relay, but this has a PoE powered radio in a waterproof box. What I can't figure out is if this will acutally get a DHCP lease from my router and be accessible over ethernet. Does anybody have experience with this particular product or have suggestions to acomplish my preferred configuration?

you can definitely configure the nodes from a pc with ip access to the node, as that was how i used mine with one up in my attic.

but i would think you would be better off just running a usb cable up your mast and just having the device join your wifi for network access.
you could probably get a poe to usb adapter that would convert the poe power into something the device can use, but you would need to get networking from something like wireless anyway.


but before you do any of that i would just put up a node in your attic or somewhere moderately elevated and see if you have any activity in your area, i live in a fairly populated area and there is no meshtastic activity near me.

 

[myhairisonfire]

having the device join your wifi

Garage is too far away from the house to get wifi, but throwing one up in the attic first isn't a bad idea!