I recently found interesting project https://www.telraam.net/ It’s an open source project where a Raspberry Pi with camera counts traffic passing by (pedestrians, bicycles, cars and other heavy vehicles). The device is (as stated by authorts) “mounted on the inside of an upper-floor window with a view over the street. To send the traffic count data straight to the central database, the device needs a continuous Wi-Fi connection to the internet.” I placed one in my home on the window and it started counting some day after installation.
Next I wanted to install one in my remote location, where I have internet for other IoT purposes. There is no “upper-floor window”, which means I should place my raspberry and camera outside. Here is how I did it…
I bought used outdoor WiFi access point for couple of coffees. At first I wanted to use only the housing for conversion of the TTN Indoor gateway to outdoor gateway. But after some testing and factory reset of the AP I found out it is working and could be configured as stand-alone WiFi MIMO AP. Usually such APs require infrastructure, or at least some management server.
This is short tutorial how to send data from sensor connected to The Things Network via LoRaWAN to Weather Underground. I will use Scidrom air quality sensor whic I developed for students in local school. Just a quick reminder the “AQ” sensor detects PM10, PM2,5 particles, air pressure, temperature and humidity and solar radiation in visible in UV spectrum. More details are available in older post.
“Special offer” came out for 5GHz antenna. It was posted on Polish web store Interprojekt, where I sometimes buy some equipment for long range WiFi point-to-point links.
Gold WiFi grid antenna, price 13 EUR
The antenna came well packed in carton with additional box for the feed. The grids were separated with paper to avoid scratches during transport.
The solar radiation shield is a low cost DIY device to protect temperature, relative humidity and other sensors from the weather, while shielding them from the sun for highest accuracy. Provided here are instructions and files. It require some CNC machinig, but then it could be assembled in minutes. It is made from plant pot saucers.
A multisensor LoRa end device has been designed for connecting different sensors to LoRa network. It’s primary use can be LoRa weather station but is not limited only to enviromental applications.
LoRa sensor interface – typical application
Typical “weather” application is shown in image above: 1-LoRa sensor interface, 2-Particle sensor, 3-Sun shield with temperature and humidity sensors, 4-UV-index and illumination sensor, 5-solar panel for autonomous operation. Different sensors will be described separately. I hope this project could grow into different directions.
Amazfit pace went swimming and drowned 🙂 After unsuccessful warranty claim I put watch in the drawer and forget about it because it looks “unopenable”. Today I learned it could be opened easily when heated. So I decided to try it. I grabbed hot air gun and shot few blows into the housing heating up to 80°C. It is just below 85°C, which could be a limit for some electronic components.
The proper tool to open the smart watch
The disasembly was piece of cake. Just separate the two pieces.
I designed simple two pice toothbrush stand for 8 brushes. In our large family it is sometimes hard to track the toothbrushes only by color. I decided to put this issue in order by ordering the brushes with two simple 3D printed parts. Front one has magnets for removing from the shelf when needed due to cleaning.
Two magnets (12mm dia, 2mm thick) are attached with epoxy into front holder. Add two more magnets and attach with epoxy to the uderside of the shelf as shown in the first picture.After curing/drying the holder can be removed and cleaned.
Rear holder is attached with two side self adhesive.
Every wine producer needs to know their temperature during fermentation. There are many small producers (like in our family) without high-end equipment for fermenting the grapes and must. We produce wine for our own use (around 1000 litres) and the technology relies mostly on experience and limited information about the fermentation process. One of the most important paramters is temperature or more specifically, the temperature profile (time dependance), its gradient and maximum value as well. In the past I connected simple I2C sensor to raspberry pi and sent data to mysql database via WiFi connection. It is shame to mention the power consumption of such thermometer.
Loradunchy module on top of the low cost solar cell
Recently, I placed LoRaWAN gateway at the top of the vineyard to cover all future need for connecting winegrowing sensors in all neighbouring vineyards. The r.pi thermometer was upgraded to LoRa and I used my own design, the LoRaDunchy module with small LiPo battery, TMP75 as sensor element and small solar cell for supplying the power. Solar power is somehow overkill for this application, but I want to check the real life solar powered sensor. It would be good experience for future sensors which I intend to place in the field for monitoring the microclimatic conditions (and possible prediction of the vine diseases).
LoraDunchy Connection diagram for thermometer application
