Getting Started

This guide gets a LIA board running Meshtastic firmware and visible in the Meshtastic companion app. It assumes you already have an assembled board — see Assembly if you’re starting from bare PCBs.

What you’ll need

• A LIA board (see Hardware for build files)
• A USB-C cable or a magnetic 4-pin connector (like Seeed’s T1000)
• The Meshtastic Android or iOS app installed on your phone

1. Flash the firmware

LIA runs stock Meshtastic firmware for the ESP32-S3 target, plus a LIA-specific lia_v1 board variant layered on top that adds support for the mode switch, status LED, charger status, battery gauge, IMU, and text-command interface — the same lia_v1 build is correct for both V1.0 and V1.1 boards (see Building the Firmware).

Caution

The Meshtastic Web Flasher only offers stock, generic ESP32-S3 firmware — it has no lia_v1 target and doesn’t know about LIA’s board-specific peripherals, so it isn’t usable here. Go straight to Building the Firmware for the full build-and-flash procedure.

Caution

The board’s mode switch has a third, OFF position that cuts power to the ESP32-S3 entirely (see Power Management). USB/pogo power alone won’t turn the board on if the switch is OFF — it only charges the battery. Make sure the switch is in either of its other two positions before connecting to flash or use the device over serial.

Tip

If the board doesn’t show up as a serial port, install the CP210x or native USB CDC driver for your OS first.

2. Pair with the app

1. Open the Meshtastic app and add a new device over Bluetooth.
2. Select your LIA device from the scan list.
3. Once connected, confirm it reports a GPS fix — see GPS if it doesn’t.

Tip

Set the device role to Tracker and note the node ID of the phone/node you want LIA to report to — LIA sends position broadcasts and text-command replies as direct messages to a single hardcoded target node, not a channel broadcast, so that node must be configured in the firmware before flashing — see Meshtastic Configuration for exactly what’s required and why.

3. Confirm mesh connectivity

Send HELP as a direct message to the device. A reply listing the available commands confirms the LoRa radio, antenna, and firmware command handling are all working end-to-end — see Meshtastic Configuration for the full command list.

Next steps

• Tune radio and region settings in LoRa.
• Configure sleep/wake behavior in Power Management.
• Something not working? Check Troubleshooting.