Heltec Vision Master E290

⚠️ Check that radio.rxgain(on) and flood.advert.base (0.308) are set correctly after flashing! ⚠️

This build is based on official MeshCore 1.15.0 dev branch (as of 25-May-2026 and additionally includes the following unmerged upstream PRs/changes:

• PR2553: Limit flood advert packet forwarding --> set flood.advert.base 0...1 (0: no flood adv. forwarding, 0.308: default, 1: all flood adv. forwarding)
• PR1810: Allow direct message paths when denyf * is set
• :new: PR1727: Use hardware channel activity detection for checking interference --> Use set int.thresh 1 to activate hw based channel activity detection.
• :new: PR2377: Disable NRF52 undervoltage bootlock feature

Additional changes:

• Flood adverts are disabled (flood.advert.interval set to 0) by default
• :new: modified PR1810 to not block flood adverts but only PAYLOADTYPEGRPTXT and PAYLOADTYPEGRPDATA so that some limited flood advert distribution can be managed via PR2553 to support e.g. observer maps.

Changelog:

• Based on dev v1.15.0 as of 25-May-2026

Full Changelog: https://github.com/mattzzw/MeshCore-Evo/compare/v1.15.0-evo0.1.20...v1.15.0-evo0.1.21

Built for long off-road adventures and harsh winter conditions

• Based on MeshCore 1.17.1 mainline.
• Developed by IoTThinks and tested by our supportive MeshCore friends.
• Contribution to MeshCore: By IoTThinks%20is%3Apr%20author%3A%40IoTThinks).
• Source code: https://github.com/IoTThinks/MeshCore/tree/PowerSaving-v17
• With contributions from Dom4n and MeshCore friends

Notices:

16 Sep 2026: PowerSaving 17.1.5

• Disabled automatic light sleep for USB Companion on ESP32 for better serial connectivity.

15 Sep 2026: PowerSaving 17.1.4

• Imported a fix for RAK 3401 battery variant from MeshCore dev. If there is no GPS module, 5V power to the LoRa 1W will be floating and unable to provide maximum TX power as expected. Thanks Mr. Martenumberto for your discovery and persistence.
• Added BSEC for BME680 on RAK 3401

13 Sep 2026: PowerSaving 17.1.3

• (Repeater) RXPSv2: Better power consumption for "set radio.rxps balanced". You can now use "set radio.rxps max". All CLIs are at RXPS CLIs
• (Companion) RXPSv2 is enabled by default with powersaving on.
• (Repeater) Added support of button press for ESP32 repeaters with powersaving on
• (Repeater) Fixed crash if doing "gps" on ESP32 repeaters without GPS module
• (Companion) Moved uptime to below battery icon. Shifted dots left.
• (Repeaters and sensors) Added "If GPS on after powersaving on", telemetry request will trigger GPS update"
• (Sensors) Added MCU temperature
• (Sensor) Added PowerSaving for sensor firmware
• Added Tracker v2 and T-Deck
• Added heltec

trackerv2companionradiousbfemoff and heltectrackerv2companionradiousb_femon

Added board MKE-S3 (Vietnam)

10 Sep 2026: In case you can not see the "uptime" clearly in companions, please upgrade to PowerSaving 17.1.3 05 Sep 2026: You are advised to reboot repeaters / room servers after on/off or changing RXPS settings. Thanks Mr. Gordon for extensive testing.

Custom Development and Partnership

If you want custom development for your projects, Contact Us Looking for Partnership? Discuss Partnership

Support PowerSaving?

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Instruction:

• Flash Custom Firmware as in INSTRUCTION. 👈
• Scroll down to bottom to download uf2 / upgrade.bin to upgrade or freshInstall-merged.bin for new devices. 👈
• Heltec v4 bin files is for both Heltec v4.2 and v4.3. Heltec v4.3 bin files is for Heltec v4.3 only
• Heltec v4.3 and T096 have two options FEM RXgain on and FEM Rxgain off.
• If for board build or support, please ask us at GITHUB or Discord

Quick Usage

Repeaters / Room servers

All PowerSaving features are disabled by default and persisted across reboots. PowerSaving: powersaving on, powersaving off and powersaving GPS PowerSaving: powersaving on then gps on and gps. RX PowerSaving: set radio.rxps balanced and get radio.rxps. Repeaters with RXPS enabled are less affected by noises from cell towers. It may due to LoRa RX only wakes up periodically. Added Battery voltage and PowerSaving status to repeater OLED Set dark theme for Heltec T096. For Heltec v4.3, 4.3R8, T096 and Tracker v2, you may set FEM off to save 10mA: set radio.fem.rxgain off

BLE / USB Companions

All PowerSaving features are enabled by default. GPS PowerSaving is enabled when you enable Position in MeshCore app. Added uptime for all companions. Set dark theme for Heltec T096.

• For Heltec v4.3, 4.3R8, T096 and Tracker v2, you may use femoff version to save 10mA.

Complete Guides in Wiki

Check the PowerSaving Wiki for more details:

• All the features
• All CLI commands
• How it works
• Test results

Enjoy MeshCore with PowerSaving. 👍

v1.16_0611 pre-release for Heltec E213, Wireless Paper and E290

• New device: Heltec Vision Master E213 — full support (Companion, Repeater, Room Server).

The Heltec Vision Master E213 is now fully supported. It is an ESP32-S3 based board with a 2.13" e-ink display, SX1262 LoRa radio, and a USB-C port. The complete companion UI runs on the e-ink display — Quick Send, Contacts, Settings, Saved Locations, GPS Trace, and message preview. Repeater and Room Server firmware are also provided.

Notable characteristics:

• Always-on e-ink display — no screen timeout; the display retains its content indefinitely without power.


• Native multilingual text — Latin, Cyrillic, and Greek scripts render natively.


• I2C sensor support — environment sensors (temperature, humidity, pressure...) can be connected via the QuickLink I2C port.


• Two user buttons — the second button (GPIO21) makes navigation faster: press it to scroll up in any list, or to go back/exit any menu.

• New devices: Heltec Wireless Paper and Heltec Vision Master E290 — full support (Companion, Repeater, Room Server).

Two new e-ink boards are now supported:

• Heltec Wireless Paper — ESP32-S3 with a 2.13" e-ink display (same resolution as E213), SX1262 LoRa radio, and a compact form factor. Shares the same companion UI and firmware variants as E213.

• Heltec Vision Master E290 — ESP32-S3R8 with a larger 2.9" e-ink display (296×128), SX1262 LoRa radio, and a QuickLink I2C port for external sensors. The companion UI adapts automatically to the wider, taller display — showing more message lines and better-spaced layouts compared to the 2.13" boards.

v1.170914

• Fix: Companion could crash on start ota and then stay in a boot loop. (Companion — ESP32 boards)

Affects v1.170913 companion builds; repeater and room server are not affected.

v1.170914

• Fix: Companion could crash on start ota and then stay in a boot loop. (Companion — ESP32 boards)

Affects v1.170913 companion builds; repeater and room server are not affected.

Full Changelog: https://github.com/MichTronics/MeshCoreNG/compare/bridge-tcp-v1.0.5...repeater-v1.0.1

Full Changelog: https://github.com/MichTronics/MeshCoreNG/compare/bridge-tcp-v1.0.5...room-server-v1.0.1