2/7/2026 - Design thought

It's going to be a hidden router in the woods so it needs to be covert.

I have a super strategic place near pputim and it will connect Pisek and Strakonice. And it seem slike there's someone on Drahonice.

I've tried to simulate Putim but it seems that it's too low.

Also I have another spot on which I would like to make a router. I will ask nicely if I can make two routers. Because it would be great to have both coverages.

Most people are building these kind of router with the RAK4631, but a Seed Studio XIAO would be better pricewise. https://www.seeedstudio.com/XIAO-nRF52840-Wio-SX1262-Kit-for-Meshtastic-p-6400.html
One downside is that this combo isn't always in stock.

Solar panel is also crucial as well the battery.
And I'll make the birdhouse from the CAD files.

And that should be it.

2/15/2026 - Started work on the CAD model

So today I began on the CAD for the project.
I've tried to do thing a bit diferently and I made it super easy to customize using the spreadsheet feature of feeCad. And it took me a lot more time than I thought than it would.
But I love the result for now.

I have thought of where to add the electronics and the top just under the roof seemed great.
Next I'll need to think about the electronics and batteries as Lions seem way too dangerous to put into a birdhouse.

Also an INA219 is needed to measure power.

And I though that this is a great enviromental sensing powerhouse, so I added a thermometer and a eCO2/VOC sensor to the eqation. Maybe a PIR sensor or an ultrasonic sensor would be also neat as I would know if it's ocupated!

2/27/2026 - redid/rethought the BOM

So, when doing the CAD I have noticed that the BOM wasn't optimal. Because the BOM was only a Blueprint and now that I have the idea about the enclosure I can rethought the BOM.

I'm pretty sure that the xiao will stick as its cheap and small.
My first thought was to use the common 18650 LiIon batteries. But I would like to monitor the birds not to kill them. So I would like to use LTO batteries because there pupies are tanks. They can be discharged to almost 0V without damage. So my fist instinkt was to use a BMS.
But I maybe doesn't need to have it and I can get away without it. I need to think about it a bit more. Also there aren't much off the shelf BMS's out there. So I would either have to make my owm or use a super expensive multiple input one.

Also I chose a 2s configuration as the battery operating volatge matches the operating voltage of the xiao.

Almost everything is revolved around the batteries, that's why I chose an adjustable a real MPPT charger.
My first thought was to buy things locally but aliexpress just has everything and for cheaper. :(

Then I searched around for a suitable antenna with gain and I came across a lot of fakes of this one but the gizont store seems to be selling legit antennas.
The ipex to N connector isn't strictly defined as I'm leaving it to be decided in the next roud of CAD.

Moved everything over to aliexpress and thats it.

3/8/2026 10 AM - Modeled the HW

I've modeled the HW that will go into the bird house. And it's starting to look very wierd. hopefully the outside is going to be OK.

I pulled the dimensions off aliexpress so hopefully they will be correct.

Next I'll design mounts for the ipex to N connector for the antennas. And also a 3D case to enclose the electronics.
Oh also we have a spring break this week so I need to make drawings of the wooden parts because othervise I won't finish it in time.

3/8/2026 2 PM - Made the 3D printed case

Everything would be easier if I based the 3D models around a random bird house I've built without plans. But this way it's going to be my first time having plans while building out of wood neat.

I needed to put my math and engineering brain to work. Maybe I'm designing in CAD wrong but I wanted everything to be parametric.
Next time I'll be doing something like this I'll skip the CAD and do it the YOLO way or atleast simplify it.
One dimension needed trigonometry so I painfully came up with this equasion =((tan(Spreadsheet.roof_angle) * Spreadsheet.BirdPart_x / 2 - wall - bottom_ofset) / tan(Spreadsheet.roof_angle) - 2 * Wood_3DPrint_tolerance) * 2

3/8/2026 8 PM - Moved the HW into the right spot and updated dimensions

Allright so I've moved the HW in the what seems good places. Yeah that's it IDK about what else to write about.

Maybe about that I need to make the drawings quickly and send them to dad so he can print them out. Also I need to make the block diagram, it's probably going to be drawio.

Upate: All of this was slightly for nothing...
I forgot that I need to update the dimensions because I found fitting wood and it's a bit bigger.

3/10/2026 - Made the wooden bird house

Oh today was a rolercoaster. Oh, I love working with wood so much! And so much work for ... nothing!?

Its my fist time working with wood and also having plans available.
I began with cutting the wood to size, after that I noticed that some dimensions are off.
So I rushed to my computer to check and yeah it was off. My parametric CAD wasn't parametricking.
The corerctions were made and the drawings were updated. I mean drawn over the paper.

Then I took the needed break for lunch.

After that I have finished cutting and tried assembling the birdouse but I didn't know how so I went back to my computer to look how it should be assembled.

It looked pretty nice, but the parts didn't look quite correct so I've debuged more.

Then my mom called me for a sidequest because she saw me woodwoking. So I fixed her planter.

After that was sanding which took ages.
Then I screwed it all up. The roof didn't look right so I have sanded it some more and it fit.

When having it all assmled I started worrying about its suitability for birds as the cavity looks so small. And my mom thought it too. So I asked about it with chat GPT and it said that it isn't suitable either. Sadly this one is going to be just a router. And I'll build another one for real bird monitoring with real dimensions for our birds. And also I'll try contacting the local Ornotolog to consult placement near Řežabinec for quality data.
So to recap this one is going to be a hybrid router. And the other one is going to be a hybrid router with bird monitoring. neat!

Screwed it back down. Now it's getting dawn and I had the briliant idea of rounding off the edges with a router. Of couse with a light. It went luckly fine.

Then a bit more sanding this time hand sanding.

Cleaned my mess and put the tools away.

Went for a vecere.

Asked AI on how to make the wood last for a long time.
Settled for a thinned out stain for the fist coat.

And I went back to the workshop to finish staining. And oh boy it was so eventfull after a long day of work. I have spilled it a bunch luckly it was only on the paper I put down.

Then wrote this smoll update. ;)

I'm overall pretty satisfied with the result, although I won't be able to use it for monitoring bird health it's going to make a great repeater.

3/11/2026 - Finished the cad for BirdMesh-Router_edition

Allright, so after tomorrow I need a break, so today I finished the CAD for BirdMesh-Router_edition (Aka Bird monitoring gone MeshKredit).

I have split the models into the two routers.

Also I have decided on more of the HW. And made a holder for the antenna.

Only hard part about it was finding the dimensions of the N female connector base as the seller didn't share it. So I messaged him and went on to find what seemed the right drawing so I have roughly modeled it. I'll have to check tomorrow when he replies.

I wasn't satisfied with the solar panel as it seemed way too small after designing the antenna holder.
So I have tried finding a larger panell but almost every option was too expensive. So I have settled for an even cheaper 4 pack.

Next I'll finish the bird health monitoring. And also do some more research into bird monitoring. Aw man I'm tired so sorry for the short jounal entry.

3/12/2026 - Modeled a lot of holders and decided on sensors

So today was mostly spent behind a computer. Although I have oiled a planter and assembled the birdhouse.

The most notable thing is that the BirdMesh health edition is starting to take shape.

Today began with researching and implementing the correct cavity for the birds. Basically it needs to have a higher roof. Unfortunatly I don't have any lumber left so I'll also need to buy it.

Bird species	Entrance hole diameter	Hole center above floor	Floor size (typical)	Interior height
Blue Tit	25–28 mm	17–20 cm	~12 × 12 cm	20–25 cm
Great Tit	30–32 mm	17–20 cm	~12–15 × 12–15 cm	20–25 cm
Eurasian Tree Sparrow	34–35 mm	17–20 cm	~14 × 14 cm	20–25 cm

I've ressearched what sensors would be good for this project as I had a feeling that a temp sensor and VOC isn't it. Don't get me wrong the temp sensor is pretty good pick as I can see the cavity warming up. But when researching with ChatGPT it told me that there are too many variables influencing VOC (Stain, Bird thing, wind and other things).

There were some pretty interesting picks like a Microphone, accelerometer, light sensor.
So I began thinking about the microphone and it seemed like a good thing but I didn't want to bother implementing it into meshtastic. PS: When writing this journal I think that it could be interesting. For the sake of time I'll use my mics as the FW should be ready when shipping.

The accelerometer seems also neat as it would monitor vibrarions perhaps from small chicks.
Then I thought more about sensing bird entering. But a light sensor seemed wrong.
My other thought was a sensor based on reflection then I had an idea to use a light gate.
Although it can draws a lot of current, but it can maybe be reduced by my lower voltage and also by poling just in 1Hz intervals.

Modeled Holder for the Solar pannel, case for the accelerometer which will be epoxied in I mean hot glued, breathable covers for the temp sensors. And modeled the light gates for the assembly.
And also assembled the other bird house.

And the naming convension I randomly made up is starting to make me crazy.

Next up making a better naming convension, finishing CAD, making a block diagram in raw.io.

That's how the almost finished product looks like.

And that is the BirdMesh Router edition.

3/13/2026 - Organized the Files

This morning I've sorted the files as it was a mess.

I made a prefix for them BM-He- and BM-Re-.
While using F2 for renaming I mistakingly pressed F3 and my GUI is now messed up. So I atlest tried to clean it up. I need to rethink my workspace as I've been using the default one.

The files look pretty clean now.

3/14/2026 - Created schematic for it

I have completed the schematic in EDA. After holding a rough idea of the schematic in my head, I was very exited to make sense of my thoughts.

I tried using draw.io to make the block diagram but I found that way too cumbersome. So I've opted for using kiCAD. Even thought it wasn't made for block diagrams I found it pretty easy.

Btw I got inspired by this pretty block diagram from our comunity made in draw.io

Seed studio makes almost all their stuff open source! Atlest the xiao line had full KiCAD project and footprints in which I was most interested because it made my life do much easier.

After that there was wiring it all up and finding the right symbols for the battery cells were easy but the PV cels got me really exited.

I made a generic I2C module symbol for the sensors as KiCADD wasn't made for block diagrams...
Yeah pretty painless. And also I'm super familiar with Kicad.

PS: Also the seller sent me the drawings and it looks correct.

3/15/2026 - Finished the projects blueprint

Today I was buttoning the project up and making it suitable for publishing.

I have my bom in /production/BOM.ods which is meant to be the general BOM for people getting inspired by this project.

My BOM workflow is BOM.ods is the main one with all the nessesery calculations and links. Then export to csv and change it apropriatly for ordering through Blueprint. Saving and importing it into MD with this converter https://tableconvert.com/csv-to-markdown.

Aliexpress it such a shady website. They aren't straight about their prices! Because I have a fresh account for blueprint they have lowered evhery price for "new user discount." on every product page. So after adding everything ito the cart the price magically increased like 30 usd from the calculated one. So I needed to redo the BOM every time I caught a mistake.

Also finished the readme.

I'm super happy about how this project turned out! From a secret router ide to a real word use case!