Ok so I’ve been inspired by Tom’s laser cut map to document my next project on discourse, so here goes!
The basic premise is I want something a bit like an analog clock which will sit next to my quartz clock on the wall at home but display the current and forecast weather for my local area.
So far I have a vague design for the face; temperature runs around the outside while outlook, relative humidity, wind speed and direction will be separate indicators within that circle. I’ve modified some code for the ESP8266 which takes the BBC RSS feed for my area and parses out the necessary data for the forecast, eventually I’ll also have some sensors outside my house to take actual readings.
Half the point of this project is to learn to use some of the fancy kit in SLMS, so the face will probably be laser cut and I’m hoping to 3D print the surround. That process starts tonight with my induction into the mysteries of the Ultimaker, as I leap these various hurdles I’ll keep you all updated.
I’ve just started on a similar project for my new shed - ESP8266 based datalogger and electrics controller that will monitor rainfall, temperature, humidity, sunshine etc whilst also securing my shed with an alarm, motion sensor etc as well as acting as an LED strip dimmer for when I’m in there at night.
Where are you based? I’m in Peckham; maybe we can cross-reference our weather data to build up an accurate representation of south London?
i’ve been working on a solar powered weather node based on an esp8266 as well ! its currently on test sitting on a bird table in my garden in Bromley, kent…
It’s coming along a little slower than expected as my spare time is taken up with job applications and interview prep at the moment
Having said that I’m beginning to make some progress, the latest hurdle has been trying to get i2c working between the 3v esp8266 and the 5v led displays I’m using however a fancy bi-directional logic shifter should be arriving soon which should solve that particular problem.
I haven’t quite figured out the weather station side of it yet, I want to build something that can be completely off grid as I may duplicate it in my Gran’s huge garden in Surrey so either a cellular module or a packet radio to an esp8266 on a nearby wifi network…
Either way it needs to at least collect readings on humidity, temperature, pressure and rainfall. Ive also been wondering how to record cloud cover, A camera with a circular fisheye would work but would be a big additional power requirement.
I’m based in Wimbledon so between me you and Courty we have quite a spread, I’ll be the early warning site for any storms arriving over the Atlantic!
Have you looked at these rf modules which claim to transfer data over 2km:
I’d be interested in how your camera idea would convert into meaningful cloud coverage data since the images would have to be analysed in some way, or would you do that yourself? The hard way would be a machine learning algorithm to process the images based on some training data. The easy way would be to ditch the camera and use an LDR to measure changing light levels. Nice challenge though!