# How to use painless mesh with node red
**URL:** https://discourse.nodered.org/t/how-to-use-painless-mesh-with-node-red/50912
**Category:** General
**Created:** [12 September 2021 07:26 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/how-to-use-painless-mesh-with-node-red/50912 "2021-09-12T07:26:19Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Eldho-Abraham-coder](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Eldho-Abraham-coder)
#### Post date: [12 September 2021 07:26 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/how-to-use-painless-mesh-with-node-red/50912/1 "2021-09-12T07:26:19Z")
see [https://github.com/gmag11/painlessMesh](https://github.com/gmag11/painlessMesh)
this is mesh technology for esp8266 family of wifi microcontrollers is the a node available to be part of this mesh technology.
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### Author:  [@Eldho-Abraham-coder](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Eldho-Abraham-coder)
#### Post date: [12 September 2021 07:34 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/how-to-use-painless-mesh-with-node-red/50912/2 "2021-09-12T07:34:17Z")
i am running a raspberry pi zero as a master which has a node red running on it . this then collects data and shows it on a dashboard . i am using mqtt nodes to handle this now. but this creates a dependency with router and rssi value is bad for distant client modules .So i am planning to move my esp8266 client's to mesh technology which makes them router independent.
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### Author:  [@Eldho-Abraham-coder](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Eldho-Abraham-coder)
#### Post date: [12 September 2021 07:37 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/how-to-use-painless-mesh-with-node-red/50912/3 "2021-09-12T07:37:10Z")
a solution is to use esp32 or esp8266 to receive and pass data by uart to raspberry pi , but is there a clean solution.
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### Author:  [@Colin](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Colin)
#### Post date: [12 September 2021 09:05 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/how-to-use-painless-mesh-with-node-red/50912/4 "2021-09-12T09:05:20Z")
I have not met this before, but it appears to be dedicated to ESP hardware, it seems it will only run on those devices.
Are you sure it is reliable? I see it has not been updated for two years, and there are a number of unaddressed issues at [Issues · painlessMesh / painlessMesh · GitLab](https://gitlab.com/painlessMesh/painlessMesh/-/issues)
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### Author:  [@Gunner](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Gunner)
#### Post date: [12 September 2021 09:30 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/how-to-use-painless-mesh-with-node-red/50912/5 "2021-09-12T09:30:20Z")
> [@Eldho-Abraham-coder](#):
>
> a solution is to use esp32 or esp8266 to receive and pass data by uart to raspberry pi , but is there a clean solution.
I think you have already stated the best solution.
A device is either part of a mesh, which the device running Node-Red most likely wouldn't be... Or the closest one acts as a go-between to the device running Node-Red.
And as a mesh is generally meant as the communications backbone, the data itself would possibly be best using MQTT across the whole mesh anyhow.
Perhaps like this? (just from a quick Google... and it looks rather old, but again, just the first one that popped up)
> **[ESP8266 MQTT Mesh - Arduino Reference](https://www.arduino.cc/reference/en/libraries/esp8266-mqtt-mesh/)**
>
> The Arduino programming language Reference, organized into Functions, Variable and Constant, and Structure keywords.
Here is a more current one...
> **[GitHub - sglvladi/meshquitto: A simple Arduino project, which aims to provide...](https://github.com/sglvladi/meshquitto)**
>
> A simple Arduino project, which aims to provide a gateway between a mesh network of ESP8266's and a remote MQTT broker. - GitHub - sglvladi/meshquitto: A simple Arduino project, which aims to p...
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### Author:  [@TotallyInformation](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/TotallyInformation)
#### Post date: [12 September 2021 10:12 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/how-to-use-painless-mesh-with-node-red/50912/6 "2021-09-12T10:12:00Z")
Agree that the UART to Pi connection shouldn't be needed. Especially if you have a 1 or 2 ESP32's in the mix somewhere. They should be more than enough to act as MQTT hubs for the other devices.
Also noting that ESP devices already have a mesh network defined by Espressif so you might not need PainlessMesh.
[ESP-WIFI-MESH | Espressif Systems](https://www.espressif.com/en/products/sdks/esp-wifi-mesh/overview)
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### Author:  [@system](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/system)
#### Post date: [11 November 2021 10:12 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/how-to-use-painless-mesh-with-node-red/50912/7 "2021-11-11T10:12:11Z")
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