Fire hazard on the WisMesh Pocket

the bottom right of the perforated battery — Perforated battery pouch with a bulge

This is a public service announcement concerning the WisMesh Pocket V2 as sold by RAK Wireless. We have on-hands experience with two devices that exhibit premature wear and tear of the battery pouch due to what seems to be a design flaw.

Warning

We have reasons to believe WisMesh Pocket V2 devices present a fire hazard and need to be immediately inspected for internal damage.

One device was acquired by anarcat directly from RAK wireless and another by Sean from Rokland.

Rokland acknowledged the issue and shipped back a replacement. We are waiting for a statement from RAK wireless.

Action to take¶

To ensure the safety of your device, please take the following steps:

remove the four screws holding the case together, with the screen facing down
delicately open the back of the case outwards, to the right side
look at the bottom right of the battery for physical damage
if the battery is bulging or scratched, consider replacing the battery entirely, or, as a temporary measure, disconnect the battery from the board

In any case, we encourage you to contact your supplier for support if you find any anomaly.

Issue description¶

It seems like the case design physically connects the edge of the power switch to the lithium-ion battery pouch. The sharp angles on the switch scratches the pouch which can puncture. In anarcat's case, it only showed some small scratches, but for Sean, the battery pouch was actually perforated and inflated.

We feel this is a serious flaw in the WisMesh Pocket V2 design. The case should be a little bit thicker to leave room for the battery and the power switch.

In anarcat's case, this flaw was also compounded with a problem with the pins holding the board to the back of the case, which torn off from the back, leaving the main board loose in the case.

What we did¶

We first contacted Rokland to see if they could do something about it, and they sent a replacement device.

Then we contacted RAK Wireless with the following question while writing this (on 2026-08-26):

Subject: fire hazard in WisMesh pocket v2

I have concerns with the design of the WisMesh pocket v2. i believe the power switch scratches against the battery pouch which can lead to being punctured and, ultimately, fire or explosion.

a colleague of mine already had a device returned with Rokland, but i believe the problem is not a simple case of replacing a device, but a fundamental design flaw.

i am about to publish an article about this for the local Montreal mesh community.

are you aware of this design flaw? are there plans to do a recall of those devices?

thanks for your prompt response.

We'll update this announcement as we hear from RAK. So far they have confirmed reception of our message and requested further photos which were provided.

Workaround and next steps¶

It seems possible to glue back the pegs with "crazy glue" or some other similar compound.

But clearly the prints are not solid enough to withstand casual use: this device was anarcat's daily driver for less than a year before first switching to a Lilygo T-Echo and then a Wio Tracker L1 Pro.

For now we strongly discourage everyone from getting a WisMesh Pocket until this situation is clarified.

Other RAK Wireless products are, as far as we know, not plagued with similar design flaws. We warmly recommend the RAK Solar Mini repeater, the WisMesh Tag, and the 4631 kits for DIY builds!

Timeline¶

2026-08-13T09:50-04:00: Sean notices issues with the power switch being unreliable
2026-08-20T15:17-04:00: Sean notices the swollen battery, requests pictures from the community
2026-08-20T19:22-04:00: Sean shares first pictures of swollen battery
2026-08-21T22:32-04:00: anarcat shares pictures of his battery
2026-08-21T22:35-04:00: Sean identifies scratches on anarcat's pictures
2026-08-21T22:45-04:00: Sean contacted Rokland for support
2026-08-21T23:07-04:00: anarcat publishes a first warning
2026-08-24: Rokland confirms the battery is dangerous and should be disposed of properly, and that they will send a new unit
2026-08-26T22:04:06-04:00: anarcat contacts RAK Wireless about the issue
2026-08-26T22:47:47-04:00: RAK requests pictures
2026-08-26T23:39:58-04:00: anarcat provides pictures
2026-08-27T11:19:51-04:00: anarcat publishes this article
2026-08-27T11:27:22-04:00: anarcat sends article to RAK
2026-08-28T09:16-04:00: anarcat republishes on Mastodon, with extra pictures and explanations
2026-08-28T11:50:35-04:00: RAK confirms reception