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:

10 Sep 2026: In case you can not see the "uptime" clearly in companions, please ask us to build the fixed firmware for you in Instruction section. 05 Sep 2026: You are advised to reboot repeaters / room servers after on/off or changing RXPS settings to apply the setting the fullest.. 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

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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. You are strongly advised to reboot repeaters / room servers after on/off or changing RXPS settings. Added Battery voltage and PowerSaving status to repeater OLED Set dark theme for Heltec T096.

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.

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.

v1.170906

• New: LR1121 radio health telemetry, with automatic image recalibration. (Companion, Repeater, Room Server — LR1121 boards)

Supply voltage and die temperature are now surfaced as a "Radio" sensor channel — on the Companion Sensors screen and via Request Telemetry. The same reading also triggers an automatic image-rejection recalibration after a >10°C drift or a 10-20 MHz retune, per the datasheet — sub-GHz only, since the 2.4 GHz path doesn't support or need it.

• Changed: a large frequency change on set radio or tempradio no longer needs a reboot. (Companion, Repeater, Room Server — boards whose radio supports it)

A move of 20 MHz or more — crossing sub-GHz bands, or between sub-GHz and 2.4 GHz — now applies on its own by re-initializing the radio in place. Previously this required a manual reboot.

• Improved: RX Duty Cycle reliability. (All roles — SX1262 and LR1121 boards, RX Duty Cycle on)

General reliability work on the RX Duty Cycle path. Among it: the RSSI fast path from the hybrid channel-sensing feature (v1.150419) is no longer a fast path once RX Duty Cycle keeps the radio asleep most of the time, so it's skipped — with RX Duty Cycle on, int.thresh > 0 now only activates CAD.

• New: Node Discovery on the Recent page. (Companion — boards with a display)

Long pressing the Recent page (formerly "Recent Advert") now opens a two-item menu — Send Zero Hop Advert (the previous one-press action) and Node Discovery. Node Discovery probes for nearby repeaters and merges the answers into the same recently-heard list, showing SNR both ways instead of an age — your signal as the repeater heard it, then its signal as you heard it. A repeater that answers but isn't a saved contact shows its public key prefix instead of a name.

The Send Advert item is removed from Settings — Recent is now the only place to send one.

• Fix: set radio/tempradio now reject a bandwidth the radio chip can't actually use. (Companion, Repeater, Room Server — all boards)

A bandwidth outside the radio's actual supported steps, typed manually via CLI, used to be accepted instead of rejected. Now checked against the exact steps the radio chip supports.

v1.170906

• New: LR1121 radio health telemetry, with automatic image recalibration. (Companion, Repeater, Room Server — LR1121 boards)

Supply voltage and die temperature are now surfaced as a "Radio" sensor channel — on the Companion Sensors screen and via Request Telemetry. The same reading also triggers an automatic image-rejection recalibration after a >10°C drift or a 10-20 MHz retune, per the datasheet — sub-GHz only, since the 2.4 GHz path doesn't support or need it.

• Changed: a large frequency change on set radio or tempradio no longer needs a reboot. (Companion, Repeater, Room Server — boards whose radio supports it)

A move of 20 MHz or more — crossing sub-GHz bands, or between sub-GHz and 2.4 GHz — now applies on its own by re-initializing the radio in place. Previously this required a manual reboot.

• Improved: RX Duty Cycle reliability. (All roles — SX1262 and LR1121 boards, RX Duty Cycle on)

General reliability work on the RX Duty Cycle path. Among it: the RSSI fast path from the hybrid channel-sensing feature (v1.150419) is no longer a fast path once RX Duty Cycle keeps the radio asleep most of the time, so it's skipped — with RX Duty Cycle on, int.thresh > 0 now only activates CAD.

• New: Node Discovery on the Recent page. (Companion — boards with a display)

Long pressing the Recent page (formerly "Recent Advert") now opens a two-item menu — Send Zero Hop Advert (the previous one-press action) and Node Discovery. Node Discovery probes for nearby repeaters and merges the answers into the same recently-heard list, showing SNR both ways instead of an age — your signal as the repeater heard it, then its signal as you heard it. A repeater that answers but isn't a saved contact shows its public key prefix instead of a name.

The Send Advert item is removed from Settings — Recent is now the only place to send one.

• Fix: set radio/tempradio now reject a bandwidth the radio chip can't actually use. (Companion, Repeater, Room Server — all boards)

A bandwidth outside the radio's actual supported steps, typed manually via CLI, used to be accepted instead of rejected. Now checked against the exact steps the radio chip supports.

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