Flash a SenseCAP Solar Node P1
Flash your board with Hopspot (Prns) firmware from your browser. The board will run as a standalone Reticulum LoRa transport node at 915 MHz.
Requires: Desktop Chrome or Edge (WebSerial), a USB-C data cable, and a SenseCAP Solar Node P1.
Step 1 — Enter bootloader mode
Double-tap the reset button (RST, not PWR) on the SenseCAP Solar Node P1. A USB drive called XIAO-BOOT should appear on your computer.
If the drive doesn't appear, unplug the USB cable, wait 5 seconds, plug it back in, and double-tap reset immediately.
Step 2 — Flash with the reticulum.rs flasher
Click the button below to open the reticulum.rs browser flasher. It will detect your board, flash the Hopspot firmware via DFU, and reboot the board automatically. The board auto-configures the SX1262 radio to 915 MHz for North America — no manual frequency configuration needed.
The flasher takes about 4 minutes. If the board doesn't reappear after flashing, unplug and replug the USB cable.
Step 3 — Set up the host
After flashing, the board appears as "Personal Hopspot (SenseCAP Solar Node)" on USB.
Run the CanMesh setup script to install prnsd and configure the Reticulum daemon:
git clone https://github.com/canmesh/canmesh.git cd canmesh ./setup.sh
The script installs prnsd, creates a udev rule for USB access,
and adds a PrnsUsbAuto interface to your Reticulum config.
Step 4 — Verify
~/.local/bin/prnsd status
The Hopspot-LoRa interface should show Status: Up with traffic flowing. The board is now communicating at 915 MHz.
If the interface shows "Down" with zero traffic, you need to create a udev rule for USB access. Run:
echo 'SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="1209", ATTR{idProduct}=="0001", MODE="0666"' | sudo tee /etc/udev/rules.d/99-hopspot.rules
sudo udevadm control --reload-rules && sudo udevadm trigger
Then unplug and replug the board, and restart prnsd.
Troubleshooting
Board not detected
Try a different USB cable — some are charge-only. Try a different USB port.
prnsd: "permission denied"
The udev rule wasn't applied. Run the sudo command above, then replug the board.
Interface shows "Down" with traffic
This is normal when no other Reticulum LoRa nodes are in range. The radio is active and announcing at 915 MHz.
Do NOT flash microReticulum/RNode firmware
The microReticulum firmware has a USB CDC bug on the P1 that prevents serial communication. Use Hopspot (Prns) firmware — that's what the reticulum.rs flasher installs.