Get Started with MeshTracker X1

note

When the device is in the states below, please don't manually reboot or turn it off. Or else the device can be dead.

1. Not finishing the message transmission process
2. Being configured

Get Started

Power on the device

Press once to power on the device. There will be a rising melody, and the green 🟢 LED light will stay on for about 1 s.

tip

If the device doesn't respond when you press the button, please charge it first. Do not use the fast-charging charger.

Power off the device

Hold the button for more than 5s. The device will shut down after three beeps from the buzzer.

Connect via App

Download the Meshtastic App:

• IOS App
• Android App

IOS App

• Select the target device on the Bluetooth panel.

• Enter the code (default code is 123456) and then click Pair to connect the device.

Android App

• Select the target device on the Bluetooth panel.

• Enter the code (the default code is 123456) and then click OK to connect the device.

Configure the LoRa

In order to start communicating over the mesh, you must set your region. This setting controls which frequency range your device uses and should be set according to your regional location.

IOS App

Android App

Region List

Region Code	Description	Frequency Range (MHz)	Duty Cycle (%)	Power Limit (dBm)
UNSET	Unset	N/A	N/A	N/A
US	United States	902.0 - 928.0	100	30
EU_868	European Union 868MHz	869.4 - 869.65	10	27

Refer to LoRa Region by Country for a more comprehensive list.

info

EU_868 has to adhere to an hourly duty cycle limitation of 10%, calculated every minute on a rolling 1-hour basis. Your device will stop transmitting if you reach it, until it is allowed again.

Now that you have set the LoRa region on your device, you can continue by configuring any LoRa Configs to suit your needs.

Device Status

Light Status		Device Status
🟢green	Constant	Device Turning on
	Fast Blinking	Normally Running
	Slow Blinking	Charging
	Constant	Fully Charged
🔴Red	Blinking	Low Power
⚪️white	Constant	DFU Mode/Bootloader Mode

Button Control

Button Control	Device Respond
Click once (Turning off)	Device Turning on
Long press for 5s	Device Turning off
Double Click	Broadcast node ID and Position
Triple Click	Turning on/off GPS
four clicks	Temporarily turning on/off buzzer

Flash Firmware

note

Please don't use OTA to update the firmware, it may cause the device to be completely dead. For detailed information, please click here

Step 1: Enter DFU mode

Enter DFU via the web flasher. If this fails many times, enter DFU manually.

Via Web Flasher

Visit Meshtastic Web Flasher.

Connect the device to your PC, select the device as SenseCAP Mesh Tracker X1 and choose the latest firmware, then click Flash.

Click Enter DFU Mode, there will be a serial port named X1 xxx displayed. Click and connect it.

Manually Enter

Connect the USB cable to your PC, press and hold the device button, then quickly connect the charging cable twice.

The white ⚪️ LED will be solid if X1 is in DFU mode. And there should be a driver named X1 displayed on your computer.

Step 2: Flash Erase

Before flashing the firmware, please first erase it!

Click the trash symbol.

Download the erase firmware and copy it to the driver.

This process may take some time; wait for the drive to disappear.

Step 3: Flash Firmware

Select the latest firmware, and download the UF2 file.

Copy the UF2 file to the DFU drive. Firmware should be flashed after the file is downloaded and the device reboots.

Advanced Tutorial

Configure GPS

Please set GPS enabled. You can adjust the update interval and broadcast interval to obtain more up-to-date location information.

For IOS, please turn on the Accurate Location. Otherwise, the positioning may deviate.

Connect via Website

If you want to send text messages and communicate with other nodes in the website, you can connect the device to the Meshtastic Website now.

Step 1: Open the Website

Click here to go to the Website.

Step 2: Add the new device

Click "+ New Connection".

There are two ways to connect. You can choose your preferred method.

Bluetooth

Choose Bluetooth. Choose the device ID in the pop-up window.

Serial

Choose serial method. Open the device manager to see which port the device is connected to. Choose that port in the pop-up window.

Your device will be shown in the list. Click to connect. If the connection succeeds, you can see the device status directly on the website.

Configure Sensor

Sensor	Description
Pressure	✅
6-Axis Sensor (future version)	✅
3-Axis Sensor (future version)	✅

Buzzer and LED Config

	Type	Output PIN
Buzzer	PWM buzzer	25
LED	RGB	R:03 G:24 B:28
Vibra	-	05

IOS App

Navigate to Settings -> External Notification -> Enable GPIO -> Set Output Pin GPIO.

Android App

Navigate to Settings -> External Notification -> Enable GPIO -> Set Output Pin GPIO.

Check External Notification Config for more details.

tip

After you update the device configuration, the device will restart, which may take some time.

Configure Ringtone

Navigate to Settings -> Ringtone Config, then enter the RTTTL ringtone string you want to use for external notifications.

IOS App

Android App

The Legend of Zelda: Item Get

24:d=16,o=5,b=120:g,c6,d6,2g6

Super Mario Theme (Short)

24:d=4,o=5,b=100:16e6,16e6,32p,8e6,16c6,8e6,8g6,8p,8g

Mario Coin

24:d=8,o=6,b=200:b,e7

Nokia Ringtone

24:d=4,o=5,b=180:8e6,8d6,f#,g#,8c#6,8b,d,e,8b,8a,c#,e,2a

Mario Power-Up

powerup:d=16,o=5,b=200:g,a,b,c6,d6,e6,f#6,g6,a6,b6,2c7

Morse Code CQ

24:d=16,o=6,b=120:8c,p,c,p,8c,p,c,4p,8c,p,8c,p,c,p,8c,8p

Configure Buzzer

The buzzer is enabled by default. If you want to disable the buzzer, set Alert Message buzzer, Alert bell buzzer and Use PWM buzzer as shown in the following screenshot.

FAQ

How to check the device ID

Check the device back

The last four digits of the MAC address is the device ID

For example, the device ID of the device below would be A0D4

Via Serial Tool

Visit Meshtastic Web Flasher.

Click Open Serial Monitor, connect the device to your PC, check the serial log, keyword using nodenum.

How to reboot the device

Press and hold the button, then connect the charging cable.

Troubleshooting

Device never turns on

• The device may appear to be powered off when the LED indicator and buzzer are not activated. Before performing the above steps, it is recommended to check the following parameters:

• Use a known working USB cable to charge the device continuously for 1–2 hours to ensure the battery has sufficient power to wake up the system.

• If the device still does not respond after charging, perform a hard reset as follows: Unplug the USB cable. Press and hold the button, then plug in the USB cable while keeping the button pressed. Hold for approximately 3 seconds, then release it. This forces a system reset.

• If still no luck, Connect a USB cable to a computer. Hold the device button, then connect the device to the computer, see whether or not the a disk pop out in your PC. If so, re-install the bootloader

Device stuck in boot loop

Description:

The device will restart repeatedly, and the serial port connects and disconnects repeatedly.

Solution:

• Step 1: Try to enter DFU mode manually: press and hold the device button, then quickly connect the charging cable twice

The device is in DFU mode if the white LED is solid on.

note

To successfully enter the DFU mode, you need to perform this operation quickly. You may need to try multiple times.

• Step 2: Erase Flash

• Step 3: Flash Firmware

Bootloader Installation

Install from Adafruit-nrfutil

• Bootloader download

note

When you are flashing the bootloader, please make sure the cable connection is stable and DO NOT disconnect it during the flash process.

Step 1: Adafruit-nrfutil Installation

For Windows users, press the "Win" key and the "r" key, then enter "cmd" in the pop-out window, and click "Enter". This can open the command line.

For MAC users, press the "Command" key and the "Space" key, so that you can open Spotlight. Then enter "termial", click "Return". This can open the command line.

Prerequisites

• Python3
• pip3

Check in your command line whether or not Python and pip are installed successfully.

python --version

python -m pip --version

Then "Python xxx" and "pip xxx" should appear. If it does not, please try installing Python again.

This is the recommended method to install the latest version:

pip3 install --user adafruit-nrfutil

Check the installation path:

python -m pip show adafruit-nrfutil

This is the installation location:

For Windows users, you may need to add the path manually. Copy the installation location shown in the last step. Then add it as followed:

Step 2: Check your port number

Connect your device to your PC, and check the port number.

For Windows users, open your device manager, and go to port, the port number newly popped out after the device connection is the device port number.

For Mac users, for example:

For Windows users, for example:

Step 3: Flash the bootloader

In the terminal or command prompt, navigate to the directory where you downloaded the bootloader zip package and execute the following command, replacing the correct port for your device:

• For Windows:

adafruit-nrfutil --verbose dfu serial --package mesh_tracker_x1_bootloader-0.10.0-13.zip -p COMxx -b 115200 --singlebank --touch 1200

Please change COMXX to your COM number. For example, if your device is on com6, change the command to be:

adafruit-nrfutil --verbose dfu serial --package mesh_tracker_x1_bootloader-0.10.0-13.zip -p **COM6** -b 115200 --singlebank --touch 1200

Some of the devices will change their port number after you enter this command. So if the installation fails, check the port number again.

• For others:

adafruit-nrfutil --verbose dfu serial --package mesh_tracker_x1_bootloader-0.10.0-13.zip -p /dev/tty.SLAB_USBtoUART -b 115200 --singlebank --touch 1200

When you have completed the above steps, then you can follow this step to flash the application firmware.

Install from Source

Use this method if you have issues installing with PyPi or want to modify the tool. First clone this repo and go into its folder.

git clone https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_nRF52_nrfutil.git
cd Adafruit_nRF52_nrfutil

Note: The following commands use python3; however, if you are on Windows, you may need to change it to python since the Windows installation of Python 3.x still uses the name python.exe

To install in user space in your home directory:

pip3 install -r requirements.txt
python3 setup.py install

If you get permission errors when running pip3 install, your pip3 is older or is set to try to install in the system directories. In that case, use the --user flag:

pip3 install -r --user requirements.txt
python3 setup.py install

If you want to install in system directories (generally not recommended):

sudo pip3 install -r requirements.txt
sudo python3 setup.py install

To generate a self-contained executable binary of the utility (Windows and MacOS), run these commands:

pip3 install pyinstaller
cd Adafruit_nRF52_nrfutil
pip3 install -r requirements.txt
cd Adafruit_nRF52_nrfutil\nordicsemi
pyinstaller __main__.py --onefile --clean --name adafruit-nrfutil

You will find the .exe in Adafruit_nRF52_nrfutil\nordicsemi\dist\adafruit-nrfutil ( with .exe if you are on Windows). Copy or move it elsewhere for your convenience, such as a directory in your %PATH%.

Step 2: Check your port number

Connect your device to your PC, and check the port number.

For Windows users, open your device manager, and go to "port", the port number newly popped out after the device connection is the device port number.

For Mac users, for example:

For Windows users, for example:

Step 3: Flash the bootloader

In the terminal or command prompt, navigate to the directory where you downloaded the bootloader zip package and execute the following command, replacing the correct port for your device:

• For Windows:

adafruit-nrfutil --verbose dfu serial --package mesh_tracker_x1_bootloader-0.10.0-13.zip -p COMxx -b 115200 --singlebank --touch 1200

Please change COMXX to your COM number. For example, if your device is on com6, change the command to be:

adafruit-nrfutil --verbose dfu serial --package mesh_tracker_x1_bootloader-0.10.0-13.zip -p **COM6** -b 115200 --singlebank --touch 1200

Some of the devices will change their port number after you enter this command. So if the installation fails, check the port number again.

• For others:

adafruit-nrfutil --verbose dfu serial --package mesh_tracker_x1_bootloader-0.10.0-13.zip -p /dev/tty.SLAB_USBtoUART -b 115200 --singlebank --touch 1200

When you have completed the above steps, then you can follow this step to flash the application firmware.

2) Device can not enter DFU mode, but the serial port can be detected.

• Open a serial port tool

• Set the baud rate to 1200.

• Connect the device. The light will flash briefly when you connect it. Keep trying this until the light stays on, which means the device can go back to DFU mode, then flash bootloader -> erase flash -> flash the firmware.

3) Device can not enter DFU mode, and no serial port display

• press and hold the device button, then connect the charging cable. After a disk pops out on your PC, you may see the serial port.

• If still no luck, please disconnect the charging cable and leave the device for a few days until the battery is completely drained, then connect the charging cable and try to pair it again.

4) If none of the above steps work, please contact tech support: [email protected]

Device automatically turns off

• Phenomena Description

• After the device turns on, it will turn off or reboot automatically after a while.

• The serial port log ran for a while and then stopped.

This is possibly caused by manually and forcibly rebooting or turning off the device when the device is in the following states: not finishing the message transmission process, being configured......

• Troubleshoot

Click here to perform a flash-erase.

Factory Reset

If you want to restore to the default settings, you can do a factory reset. There are two methods for you to do the factory reset.

• Click here to flash erase the device, and then re-flash the latest firmware.

• Click the Factory Reset button on the app. The device will reboot with the factory configuration automatically.

  

Direct Message Fail

NodeDB Reset

NodeDB is the local database that stores information about nodes discovered in the current Mesh network. If you encounter a situation where you can't communicate with a certain node, it might be because your nodeDB has stored outdated information for that node. You will need to update it.

Open the app and connect to the target device. Go to Settings->Device->Device Config->Reset NodeDB.

Exchange User Info

Each node will periodically send its own node information, enabling other nodes in the mesh to "see" and "recognize" it. Two nodes need to exchange their node information with each other in order to be able to communicate with each other. If you are unable to send or receive private messages with another node on the list, you can manually prompt them to exchange information in the app.

Regenerate Private Key

Two nodes need to know their private key with each other in order to be able to communicate with each other. If one node keeps failing in private message transmission, try regenerating the private key for it.

Reboot the faulty device to make the configuration function.

note

After the key regeneration, other devices need to reconnect with the node. So it is better to delete the node from the other device's node list.

Signal Quality

• SNR reflects the quality of the communication link. A normal device usually operates above -7 dB. A device with a SNR lower than -10 dB indicates poor performance.

• RSSI is determined jointly by the device and its surrounding environment. A normal device usually operates above -110 dBm. A device with an RSSI lower than -115 dBm is considered to have poor performance.

  To achieve the best signal effect, please use the device in an open, unobstructed area with minimal interference for use.

Resource

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