16 Oct
2021
16 Oct
'21
6:12 a.m.
Hi all,
Just wondering if anyone has used some of the other brands of ESP32 + LoRa
radios, and whether they’d work? There’s a few choices on Amazon. Sparkfun
doesn’t seem to have any with esp32 anymore and choosing their board would
mean porting disaster radio to ARM & how their board is set up.
I ordered lilygo ttgo boards from Aliexpress, but after waiting over 6
weeks, little cameras arrived — the wrong thing. Not willing to roll the
dice again with such a long shipping process.
Best,
--
Matt Gauger
16 Oct
16 Oct
6:42 a.m.
Matt Gauger <matt.gauger(a)gmail.com> writes:
Just wondering if anyone has used some of the other
brands of ESP32 + LoRa
radios, and whether they’d work? There’s a few choices on Amazon. Sparkfun
doesn’t seem to have any with esp32 anymore and choosing their board would
mean porting disaster radio to ARM & how their board is set up.
No experience, and not really what you asked, but I do not understand
why an ESP32 (nodemcu style board) attached to an RFM95 module via SPI
with both on a breadboard wouldn't either work or be easily made to
work. That strikes me as a parts list that should be relatively easy to
obtain, even if it's not great for deployment.
I ordered lilygo ttgo boards from Aliexpress, but
after waiting over 6
weeks, little cameras arrived — the wrong thing. Not willing to roll the
dice again with such a long shipping process.
Thanks for the data point...
11:04 a.m.
Hi Matt
> Just wondering if anyone has used some of the
other brands of ESP32 + LoRa
> radios, and whether they’d work?
Have you seen
https://github.com/sudomesh/disaster-radio/wiki/Devices--&-Hardware
LoPy is probably the nicest hardware, but a bit spendy.
There’s a few choices on Amazon. Sparkfun
> doesn’t seem to have any with esp32 anymore and
choosing their board would
> mean porting disaster radio to ARM & how their board is set up.
If you want to invest time in getting new hardware going I'd look at
the NRF52 which would offer considerable power savings.
Some work has already been done here:
https://github.com/beegee-tokyo/Disaster-Radio-BLE---nRF52832
Rak 4361 is the flavour of the month over at Meshtastic.
> I ordered lilygo ttgo boards from Aliexpress, but
after waiting over 6
> weeks, little cameras arrived — the wrong thing. Not willing to roll the
> dice again with such a long shipping process.
If you let Lilygo know I'm sure they'll re-send the correct boards, or
failing that open an issue on Aliexpress to get the correct boards
sent or a refund.
2p
Sam
Thanks for the data point...
11:14 a.m.
I wasn’t happy with the Lilygo customer support — they offered to give me a
$5 coupon to keep the cameras, which I can’t use. (They’re “really popular”
they said, even though it is the wrong device.)
And it isn’t worth trying to ship the devices back and wait for
shipping+customs, especially if I pay for the shipping. Sorry, I know this
isn’t the place to vent about lilygo, but I do think we need a better cheap
option here for hardware.
For example: we couldn’t conceivably order and deploy 100 devices at a time
if we’re worried that it will be the wrong devices, and if shipping takes 6
weeks or longer.
On Sat, Oct 16, 2021 at 1:04 PM <sam(a)bristolwireless.net> wrote:
Hi Matt
...
If you let Lilygo know I'm sure they'll re-send the correct boards, or
failing that open an issue on Aliexpress to get the correct boards
sent or a refund.
2p
Sam
Matt Gauger
Thanks for the data point...
-- 
11:20 a.m.
Could organize a group buy-in or the like for interested parties. I think many of the
LilyGo designs are open source hardware, so sending out for 100 to be made by an outfit
like pcbway or OSHpark is an option.
In addition, I think LilyGo would handle it more seriously if they lost a $2000 order
(20x100 pieces)
Oct 16, 2021, 18:14 by matt.gauger(a)gmail.com:
I wasn’t happy with the Lilygo customer support — they
offered to give me a $5 coupon to keep the cameras, which I can’t use. (They’re “really
popular” they said, even though it is the wrong device.)
And it isn’t worth trying to ship the devices back and wait for shipping+customs,
especially if I pay for the shipping. Sorry, I know this isn’t the place to vent about
lilygo, but I do think we need a better cheap option here for hardware.
For example: we couldn’t conceivably order and deploy 100 devices at a time if we’re
worried that it will be the wrong devices, and if shipping takes 6 weeks or longer.
On Sat, Oct 16, 2021 at 1:04 PM <> sam(a)bristolwireless.net> > wrote:
Hi Matt
...
If you let Lilygo know I'm sure they'll re-send the correct boards, or
failing that open an issue on Aliexpress to get the correct boards
sent or a refund.
2p
Sam
--
Matt Gauger
Thanks for the data point...
12:33 p.m.
Hi Matt
I wasn’t happy with the Lilygo customer support — they
offered to give me a
$5 coupon to keep the cameras,
That is crappy. Open a ticket on Aliexpress, they favour customers
over suppliers.
And it isn’t worth trying to ship the devices back and
wait for
shipping+customs, especially if I pay for the shipping.
No, agreed you should keep them, and get the boards you ordered. If
you open a ticket on Ali I expect this is what will happen.
Sorry, I know this
isn’t the place to vent about lilygo, but I do think
we need a better cheap
option here for hardware.
As before, if you have the energy to work on this, a port to
https://store.rakwireless.com/products/rak4631-lpwan-node /
https://store.rakwireless.com/collections/wisblock-base/products/wisblock-b…
would be time well spent, as we'd get _considerable_ power savings over ESP32. The
code linked previously is a good starting point. BeegeeTokyo may even help if you reach
out.
For example: we couldn’t conceivably order and deploy
100 devices at a time
if we’re worried that it will be the wrong devices, and if shipping takes 6
weeks or longer.
TBH I don't think your experience is typical. I've seen no other
complaints on Meshtastic forums for example where they order
significant quantities.
2p
Sam
On Sat, Oct 16, 2021 at 1:04 PM <sam(a)bristolwireless.net> wrote:
Hi Matt
...
If you let Lilygo know I'm sure they'll re-send the correct boards, or
failing that open an issue on Aliexpress to get the correct boards
sent or a refund.
2p
Sam
Matt Gauger
Thanks for the data point...
--
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