SNE-1 Solar Node Enclosure Kit

Overview

A sealed, solar-ready enclosure for off-grid LoRa mesh nodes (MeshCore, Meshtastic) and other small outdoor electronics. The kit is the enclosure only: you supply the electronics, batteries, panel and antenna. The 10 W solar panel hangs in front of the box on a hinged, lockable tilt frame. It shades the box, keeps the whole node about 285 mm wide, and swings up out of the way when you need to open the lid. Every outdoor part is printed in UV-stable ASA. Designed and printed by Puget 3D on the Seattle Eastside, with Pacific Northwest rain and low winter sun in mind.

• Panel in front, not beside

  A hinged frame carries a Voltaic P110 (10 W) panel. Tilt it from 45° to 75° in 5° steps, locked by a pin through numbered holes so wind can't move it. There's also an UP position for service.

• Gasketed lid

  A 4 mm silicone foam cord sits in a groove sized for about 30% compression. Eight M4 stainless screws close into captive nuts, so there are no threads in plastic.

• Knock-out ports

  All five ports print closed: 2 × N-type, 2 × PG7 and 1 × M12 breather vent. Open only the ones you use. Unused ports stay sealed and the outside stays clean.

• Breathes, doesn't leak

  A pressure-equalising M12 × 1.5 vent faces down, and a desiccant sachet controls condensation.

• Swappable chassis plates

  Electronics mount on a removable plate held by 4 × M3 brass heat-set inserts (chassis interface I1). Use the MeshCore build plate, the generic grid plate, or design your own on the published pattern.

• Mast or wall

  One mount plate takes 25–60 mm OD masts (3/4"–2" pipe) with U-bolts, or 4 screws into a wall. A V-saddle on the back centres the mast automatically.

• Service in minutes

  Pull two pins and flip the panel UP. All 8 lid screws are then reachable, and two 45° pry chamfers lift the lid off the gasket.

• Places for the details

  A locator for a 15 × 15 mm GPS patch antenna inside the top wall, and an outline for a 62 × 29 mm label (Brother DK-1209) on the lid's inner face.

Specifications

Enclosure (box and lid)

Box outside (incl. screw lobes)	212 × 138 × 51 mm (8.35 × 5.43 × 2.02 in)
Lid	204 × 138 × 8.2 mm
Interior (usable)	166 W × 100 H × 48 D mm (6.5 × 3.9 × 1.9 in), ≈ 0.8 L
Depth in front of a chassis plate	≈ 38 mm
Walls	3.2 mm ASA
Lid fastening	8 × M4 × 16 stainless socket-head screws into captive hex nuts
Lid seal	4 mm closed-cell silicone foam cord in a 5.0 × 2.8 mm groove (0.56 m)
Chassis interface	I1: 4 × M3 brass heat-set inserts on a 148 × 78 mm pattern, 6 mm bosses (pre-installed)
Ingress protection	Designed for outdoor exposure: gasketed lid, sealed glands, downward vent. Not IP-tested or certified.

Ports (all print as knock-outs)

Positions are seen from the front (facing the lid) and measured from the box centre-line.

Port	Location	Opened hole	For
Antenna	Top, 45 mm right, toward the back	Ø16.2 mm	N-female bulkhead (5/8"-24)
Spare antenna	Top, 45 mm left	Ø16.2 mm	Second N bulkhead
Cable gland	Bottom, 50 mm right	Ø12.8 mm	PG7 gland (panel cable, 3–6.5 mm)
Spare gland	Bottom, 20 mm left	Ø12.8 mm	Second PG7 gland
Breather vent	Bottom, 50 mm left, facing down	Ø12.2 mm, round	M12 × 1.5 vent with O-ring

Each knock-out is a full-thickness plug held by a 0.5 mm skin on the outer face, with a 0.6 mm groove on the inside along the hole outline. A small dimple marks the centre. It takes a sharp tap with a screwdriver and small hammer to open, so a plug can't be pushed out by accident. The N and PG7 holes are slight "teardrops" so they print cleanly without supports; the vent hole is a true circle so its O-ring seals.

Solar panel frame and tilt

Panel	Voltaic Systems P110 (10 W, 6 V). Panel not included
Panel frame	273 × 222 × 114 mm, ASA, 8 panel-screw positions
Tilt	45°, 50°, 55°, 60°, 65°, 70°, 75° and UP (service)
Lock	M6 index pin through numbered holes in both yokes (ball-lock pins optional)
Hinge	2 hinge yokes, M6 pivot bolts; hinge axis 95 mm in front of the mount plate
Panel-to-lid air gap	37–49 mm, open on all sides (the panel shades the box)

Suggested tilt for about 47° N (Seattle area): 70–75° in Nov–Feb, 50° in spring and autumn, 45° in summer. 65° is the set-and-forget setting, biased toward winter.

Mounting

Mount plate	284 × 210 × 28 mm, ASA
Mast	25–60 mm OD (3/4" to 2" pipe, 1" EMT), 2 stainless U-bolts. Rod ≤ 8 mm (M6/M8/5/16"), legs 24–80 mm apart
U-bolt inside length	≥ 13 mm + 1.21 × mast OD (e.g. ≥ 53 mm for 1" pipe, ≥ 71 mm for 1-1/2" pipe, ≥ 86 mm for 2" pipe)
Wall	4 × Ø5.4 mm countersunk holes on a 176 × 184 mm pattern; #10 × 2-1/2" flat-head screws into framing

Overall size (assembled, mast mount, panel fitted)

Width	≈ 285 mm (11.2 in)
Height	≈ 219 mm (8.6 in) at 65°
Depth from mounting face	≈ 235 mm at 65° · 285 mm at 45° · 205 mm at 75°
Printed parts weight	≈ 0.9 kg (estimate; plus hardware, electronics and panel)

Materials

Box, lid, mount plate, hinge yokes, panel frame	ASA: UV-stable, holds its strength next to a dark panel in summer sun
Chassis plates (inside the box)	PETG
Hardware	A2 stainless steel
Gasket	Closed-cell silicone foam cord

Branding is by texture contrast in the same filament (no paint or labels outside): a Puget 3D badge on the lid and puget3d.com on the back of the panel frame.

Dimensions and drawings

True-scale projections of the CAD model, in mm with inches. Select a drawing to open it full size.

What's in the box

Hardware (A2 stainless)

Qty	Item	Use
4	M3 brass heat-set inserts (pre-installed)	Chassis-plate bosses
12 + 12	M4 × 16 socket-head screws + M4 hex nuts	8 lid screws, 4 box-to-mount-plate
4	M4 flat washers	Under the box-hanging screws
4 + 4	M6 × 16 socket-head screws + M6 nuts	Hinge yokes to mount plate
4 + 4 + 8	M6 × 40 socket-head screws + M6 nyloc nuts + M6 washers	2 hinge pivots + 2 tilt index pins
8 + 8 + 8	M3 × 12 screws + M3 nuts + M3 nylon washers	Solar panel to frame
0.6 m	4 mm silicone foam cord	Lid gasket
1	M12 × 1.5 pressure-equalising vent with O-ring and nut	Breather port
1	PG7 IP68 cable gland with locknut (3–6.5 mm cable)	Panel cable
1	Silica-gel desiccant, 5 g	Inside the box

Chassis plates

Electronics mount on a removable PETG plate that screws to the box's four I1 inserts. Any plate marked I1 fits any SNE-1 v2 box.

Choose one when you order. The generic plate is $5 less.

MeshCore build plate (SNE1-CP-MC v1.3)

A drop-in plate for a solar MeshCore or Meshtastic repeater. It has a cradle for a 4 × 18650 battery holder and standoffs placed for the RAK WisBlock base, the solar charger and the power monitor. Boards fix with ordinary M2.5 machine screws that cut their own thread into undersized pilot holes, so you don't need inserts or nuts. Debossed labels mark each board's position, the battery's output side, the USB-C direction and the panel-cable pass-through.

Position (from the front)	Board (not included)	Fixing
Left two-thirds	Geekworm X12-A1 4 × 18650 holder (93.9 × 77.1 mm; holes 86.9 × 61.5 mm)	4 × M2.5 standoffs and/or 2 hook-and-loop straps; cradle rails clear the holder's bottom pins
Right	RAKwireless RAK19007 base (with RAK4631; USB-C up)	4 × M2.5 standoffs
Centre bottom	Adafruit bq24074 solar LiPo charger	4 × M2.5 standoffs
Centre top	Adafruit INA3221 3-channel power monitor	2 × M2.5 standoffs

Size	163 × 97 mm, 3.5 mm plate; 10.8 mm overall with the cradle walls
Board standoffs	Ø6 mm, 5 mm tall (battery standoffs 3.5 mm), Ø2.2 mm self-threading pilots for M2.5
Box fixing	4 × M3 × 10 countersunk into the box's I1 inserts (heads flush)
Cable routing	Panel-lead slot (bottom right, 12 × 5 mm) and return hole (centre right, 7 × 6 mm), zip-tie slot pairs beside the boards
Clearance to lid	RAK 17.9 mm · bq24074 25.4 mm · INA3221 21.9 mm · cells 11.9 mm
Notches	Clear the N-bulkhead nuts at both top antenna positions
In the pack	The plate, 4 × M3 × 10 countersunk screws (don't use longer), 14 × M2.5 × 8 pan-head screws, 2 × 12 mm hook-and-loop straps (~300 mm), 6 small zip ties. Boards, cells, wiring and antennas are not included.

Self-threading pilots: drive each M2.5 screw slowly, by hand. The first turn forms the thread; fast driving melts PETG. Stop at snug. Treat each hole as one-time: a screw can go back into its own thread a few times, but it'll loosen eventually. If a screw is very tight, run a Ø2.3 mm drill through by hand.

Generic chassis plate (SNE1-CP-GEN v1.2)

A blank mounting plate for your own build: a Meshtastic node, an ESP32 sensor, a tracker or something new. It's covered in 230 self-threading pilot holes, 126 for M2.5 screws and 104 for M3, on two interleaved 10 mm grids. Wherever a board's mounting holes fall, there's a hole for it within about 5 mm. Drive a screw or nylon standoff straight in and it cuts its own thread, so you don't need nuts, inserts or drilling. The plate screws into the box's four brass inserts, so your whole build lifts out in one piece for service.

• 4 mm thick, so a screw gets a full 4 mm of thread even without a standoff.
• Two 30 × 6 mm slots for routing cables or zip ties.
• Notches that clear the antenna bulkhead nuts at both top antenna positions.
• About 38 mm of usable depth in front of the plate.
• A small puget3d.com mark along the bottom edge, so no holes are lost to branding.

Size	162 × 92 × 4 mm, PETG
Pilot holes	126 × M2.5 (Ø2.2 mm) and 104 × M3 (Ø2.7 mm), self-threading, on offset 10 mm grids
Box fixing	4 × M3 × 10 countersunk into the box's I1 inserts (heads flush)
In the pack	The plate and 4 × M3 × 10 stainless countersunk screws. Electronics and standoffs are not included.

Tips: male–female nylon standoffs work well: the male thread self-taps into a pilot hole and keeps solder joints off the plate. Drive each screw slowly by hand and stop at snug. Each hole is good for one thread-forming, but there are plenty to spare.

Assembly

The illustrated guide covers every step, the service position and the hardware for each joint.

Assembly guide (PDF, 7 pages, 1.9 MB)

1. Test-fit nuts and ports.
2. Open the knock-outs you need.
3. Fit the ports (N bulkhead, PG7, vent).
4. Drop the captive nuts into place.
5. Bolt the yokes to the mount plate.
6. Mount the plate on the mast or wall.
7. Hang the box.
8. Build the electronics on the chassis plate and fit it.
9. Seat the gasket and close the lid.
10. Fit the panel and set the tilt.

Service

Pull both index pins, swing the panel up to horizontal and pin it through the UP holes. All 8 lid screws are then reachable. To lift the lid off the gasket, twist a flat screwdriver in one of the two 45° pry chamfers on the bottom edge. To remove the MeshCore plate, take the battery out first: it covers the two left plate screws.

Compatibility and versions

• Versioning: v<major>.<minor>. A new major version means parts no longer fit older versions. A new minor version is a compatible improvement. Parts move independently, so a v2.12 kit uses a v2.12 box with a v2.11 lid.
• Interface I1: any chassis plate marked I1 fits any SNE-1 box with I1 (4 × M3 on 148 × 78 mm). The plate drawings above let you design your own.
• Panel: the frame is sized for the Voltaic P110 (≈ 258.7 × 207.2 mm hole spacing). Other panels need a different frame.

Care and safety

• Fit the box with the vent and gland facing down, and give the panel cable a drip loop.
• Lithium cells: use protected or BMS-managed 18650s and a charger with temperature cut-off. Don't charge below 0 °C. Keep cells away from the lid screws when closing. A sealed box in summer sun runs warm; the panel shading the box helps.
• Check the lid screws and pins after the first storm season. Replace the desiccant when you open the box.
• ASA is UV-stable, but no plastic part is forever: inspect the hinge yokes and pins yearly.