Raspberry Pi Weather Station

This is an example of building a weather station using a few components, that clicks together with no need for wiring or soldering.

Step 1: Ready the Raspberry Pi

• Download Raspbian Lite and unzip

• Download Etcher and install

• Insert the Micro-SD card into your computer

• Run Etcher using Raspbien Lite as input and the Micro-SD card as output

• Create a empty file called 'ssh' on the root of the Micro-SD card. On a Mac that is easiest done by opening a terminal window and type:

cd /Volumes/boot
touch ssh

• Now eject the Micro-SD card from your computer.

Step 2: Assemble the Components

Assemble the Raspberry Pi with the ☒CHIPs as illustrated in the "video" at the top.

• Click the IR02 into the Raspberry Pi with the header connected to the pins closest to the Micro-SD card end of the Pi

• Click a XC10 connector into the IR02

• Click the SW01 into the connector. Make sure the sensor is facing up (the SW01 name is facing up, similar to the IR02 name), and make sure the ☒CHIPs are aligned. Only 2 of the sides of the SW01 will fit into the IR02.

• Insert the Micro-SD card into the Raspberry Pi

• Connect an Ethernet cable from your router to the Pi

• Connect a Micro-USB power source to your Pi

Step 3: Configure your Raspberry Pi

• Connect to your Raspberry Pi using ssh. From a Windows computer, you have to install a ssh program such as PuTTY, but from a Mac you simply open a terminal window, and type:

ssh pi@raspberrypi.local

The default password is 'raspberry'.

Once you are logged in, type this:

sudo raspi-config

That opens a configurations program where you:

• Choose: 5 Interfacing Options

• Then choose: P5 I2C

• Then answer "Yes" to "Would you like the ARM I2C interface to be enabled?"

Then we need to install a bit of software:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install i2c-tools python-pip
sudo pip install RPi.bme280 

Let's just check that we can see the Weather sensor, type:

i2cdetect -y 1 

And see if you get this:

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ i2cdetect -y 1 
    0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  a  b  c  d  e  f 
00:          -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --  
10: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --  
20: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --  
30: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --  
40: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --  
50: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --  
60: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --  
70: -- -- -- -- -- -- 76 --                          
pi@raspberrypi:~ $  

Step 4: Program and run

Copy the 5 line program below into a file. Let's call it test.py, just cut and paste the following into you terminal

echo ' 
import smbus2 
import bme280 
bus = smbus2.SMBus(1) 
bme280.load_calibration_params(bus, 0x76) 
print(bme280.sample(bus, 0x76)) 
' > test.py 

Now run the code:

python test.py

...and you should see this:

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ python test.py
compensated_reading(id=7c98f6f7-a677-4766-92dd-8b5def7c038a, timestamp=2017-10-09 21:03:46.202243, temp=27.583 °C, pressure=1023.24 hPa, humidity=38.52 % rH) 
pi@raspberrypi:~ $