Skip to main content

Pairing

Pairing is how two or more Nanos get introduced to each other. Once paired, devices stay linked across reboots, so you only need to do this once per group.

Before You Start​

On every Nano you want on the mesh:

  • Make sure BLE Adv is turned on in Config -> Settings -> Shiver. Pairing itself runs over Bluetooth, then the devices swap to the mesh after they're paired.
  • Optionally set a mesh name in the Name row so other Nanos show a friendly label for the device instead of its eFuse ID (see Overview).

Long Range mode doesn't matter here. It only affects how the mesh talks after pairing, not the Bluetooth link used during pairing itself.

How Pairing Works​

Pairing uses one initiator and one or more peripherals. The initiator is the Nano you drive through the Pair menu; the peripherals are every other Nano that shows up in its scan. A single initiator can pair with up to 15 peripherals in one round.

  • On the initiator, open Shiver -> Pair.
  • Press [S] to start a scan. The screen shows "Click [S] to scan" until you do.
  • The initiator scans over Bluetooth for other Nanos that are advertising themselves as pairable. You'll see a progress indicator while it runs.
  • Each peripheral that the initiator finds shows a popup on its own screen: "Pair with [eFuse]", where [eFuse] is the initiator's short fingerprint. Press Yes on each peripheral to accept.
  • When the scan finishes, the initiator shows how many new Nanos were found.
  • Press [S] again on the initiator to finalise. You'll see "Paired!" followed by "Enabling mesh" and "Rebooting..." on every device as they finish setting up.
Setup firmware auto-accepts

If a peripheral is still running the setup firmware (the state a Nano is in when it first ships, before its first full boot), it won't show the "Pair with [eFuse]" popup. It accepts automatically. The popup only appears on Nanos that have already been through normal setup at least once.

If the scan doesn't find anything, check that every other Nano is powered on and that BLE Adv is enabled on them, then retry.

tip

You only need to run Pair from one Nano. When that initiator finishes, every peripheral that accepted the popup is brought into the same mesh automatically.