In a recent blog post, I discussed a weather prediction program that took user input data about the weather conditions, and then spit out a prediction (which you can read all about here). I also mentioned that it would be so much more convenient to get that data from a weather station that automatically puts in the data…
So I’m building a weather station I guess?
I am starting off by building a circuit that collects the data. I don’t actually know all that much about building weather stations. When it comes to science, analog, practical science will always be my one true love. But in this digital age, you have to keep up with the times.
For this I am using a tutorial I found on instructables here. Not all of what I am doing lines up exactly with this project but it is a start.
For this to work with my weather prediction system I need three pieces of information: temperature, humidity and pressure. That doesn’t sound too hard… right?
Well turns out I was wrong and it is actually very hard and I immediately melted a temperature/humidity sensor. Who knew that would happen when you don’t plug in the right wires. So to start off with, I am keeping it very simple. This project is probably going to take a while and will happen in parts.
The Breakdown
To break it down into parts, I need to:
Get the sensors to work
Get the TFT to display the data
Transmit data from the sensor to the TFT via bluetooth
Add in the pressure sensor that is not in the tutorial I am using.
The set up is approximately like this:
Sensors outside collecting data – Bluetooth transmitter transmits data to the receiver inside – TFT screen displays said data (arduino for the receiver also records the data so I can plug it into my weather prediction program).
To get automatic weather predictions I will have to translate my python code into C++ for the arduino to be able to understand it, but first I need a working weather station.
First port of call: Temperature and Humidity. I am only going to focus on that in this article (totally not because I am stuck trying to get my TFT screen to work… just keeping things simple).
I am using a DHT22, a small breadboard and an arduino mini. This sensor measures both humidity and temperature and works well with the Adafruit DHT library that is available on Github.
Weather Station Progress
Once I got the wiring right so that my sensor doesn’t melt, it is on to the code. Since I am using an arduino for this project, I have to learn a new coding language. Arduinos run on a strange language that is a simplification/dialect of C++.
After much trial and error, my arduino is able to collect data from the sensor and outputs it to the console. The next step in this project is getting the TFT screen to work.
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