this post was submitted on 06 Dec 2025
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I just got these Heltec v3 sets for 29€ and plan to give one to a friend and keep the other for myself.

As they don't come with a battery it would be convenient to power them from a phone. I've read that this can be tricky with the Heltec v3, depending on if the phone will provide power without PD handshake or not. Does anyone know if this works with Xiaomi Redmi Note 13 (Qualcomm-based)? Does the cable make a difference when powering from a phone?

Also the antennas look quity wonky and the listing states 2dBi. We will run on 868mhz, what can I expect from this? My friend and I will be visiting a tech event soon and I guess there it'll be fine. In my home, the next node on meshmap is ~6km far, which is probably too much, right?

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[–] gravitywell@sh.itjust.works 2 points 18 hours ago

It should be okay to power from any phone that supports battery sharing.

The antenna that come with them are usually okay but eventually youll probably want to look into getting a better one. The small ones wont send far, but you should be able to see other far off nodes if they are high enough, they just probably wont see you.