Make a Weather Monitoring Station Using Environmental Sensor

Background

On a daily basis, people use weather forecasts to determine what to wear on a given day or to plan travel or events

However, it only tells temperature in a relatively large range. Sometimes we need environmental parameters in a specific place like a fishpond, greenhouse, an open field, etc. Here I want to know the exact temperatures during the day on my terrace. So I decide to make a weather monitoring station that outputs the real-time data I need.

I got this environmental sensor from DFRobot that can measure temperature, humidity, pressure, ambient light, and UV, which is well suitable for this project.

This summer is much hotter than previous ones, and many places got record-breaking temperatures of over 40℃. For the sake of convenience, I add a UART fiber optic transceiver module in the project for data transmission, so I don't need to go outside to view data all the time.

Hardware Connection

Assembly

Data Display End :

We need to design the housing first and 3D print it.

Then connect all the modules according to the connection diagram.

Now we put hardware modules into the housing. Install ESP32 main controller first (please be careful during installation to avoid wire disconnection), then fix the battery on the top of the housing with glue.

And install the UART fiber optic transceiver module on the bottom of the housing.

Connect ESP32 to the cable that comes with the OLED transparent display, and tidy it up.

Connect the cable to the display converter.

Next, we need to make a frame for the display. Draw the frame and laser cut two acrylic sheets according to the drawing.

Then put the display between the two sheets and join them with super glue.

Install the display frame on the housing, and the display end is done.

Sensor Monitoring End:

Design the housing for the sensor end.

In the same way, connect all the modules according to the connection diagram.

Then we need to make the battery charger and the sensor adhere to the fiber optic transceiver. Use glue to fix the charger; thread a nylon hex bolt through the upper-right holes of the sensor and transceiver and fasten it with a fit nut to fix the sensor.

Fix the battery on the transceiver with glue, and thread nylon hex bolts through the holes in the two corners of the fiber optic module and fasten them so that the structure can keep steady on flat.

As shown in the figure below, the structure has three layers.

Now put the structure into the housing.

And put on the cover.

Finally finished! Let's have it a go.

Test

Now we place the tripod holding the sensor end outside.

Connect the sensor end to the display end with optic-fiber cable.

Then we can view the real-time temperature and humidity data at the display end.

If there is no data shown on your display, try exchanging pins TX and RX of one end.

With the multi-functional environmental sensor, the weather station can also measure air pressure, ambient light and UV intensity besides temperature and humidity, so we can use our brains to make the most of it. For example, we can apply it to greenhouse planting monitoring, fishpond status view, laboratory experiments, etc. But we need to take good care of the display lest a backlight bleed may occur at the damaged corner and thus affect display effect.

Thanks for reading, feel free to leave your comments if you have any other good ideas!