myWiFi Information Station

Description

A take on the classic https://computerpowertest.blogspot.ca/

A wall-mounted light-up display that alerts you whether or not your WiFi is live. This will utilize the ESP8266 to poll your home network.

Other features include:

• displays WiFi network name and password upon request (allow company to access your network);

• fetch and display your network download and upload speeds.

I don't know how I've lived this long without it.

Initial Designs

I changed the original vision slightly by removing the option of doing an internet speed test. I decided I didn't want to deal with having to redesign and reprogram if the internet speed test API changed or went offline.

For the frosted decal I used the website BannerBuzz with the image I designed.

I designed the enclosure in Autodesk Fusion 360 to be 3D printed.

The case and glass

25.5 hours, my largest print yet. Glad the power didn't go out!

Once the frosted glass decal arrived I bought some clear acrylic and cut it to size. The finished result was pretty good.

The acrylic was cut slightly too wide, so I tried cleaning it up without much success. I cut a fresh piece of acrylic and applied the other copy of the decal I ordered.

Putting it all together

With everything ordered and printed, I soldered up the electronics. It was an absolute mess, and I'll definitely be ordering custom PCBs for future projects.

I 3D printed several light diffusing sheets of different thicknesses. I ended up going with 0.8mm thick of printed PLA. The pyramid-shaped diffuser was neat but didn't suit the project.

Notice the standoff I ripped out in the middle due to a lack of space.

What a mess.

I ended up running out of space on the main board and put a satellite board on the right side of the enclosure. Luckily I didn't really need a second button!

I designed up a little WiFi symbol to cover up the open hole.