Solar Weather Station [WiFi, MQTT, Smart Home, ESP8266]

This video shows and explains the hardware of a solar powered WiFi weather station. Using MQTT it publishes sensor values to Node-RED which shows it in the browser.

Project page (All details, codes, files, and flows):

Check out the playlist for the other parts of this series:

Twitter: @bitluni

If you like the video consider supporting my work on Patreon and get some extras:

[christianmeinert]

Still using a dht ... perhaps take a look on the bme280! Temperature, humidity and pressure - from Bosch. Best environment sensor i know for 3€ on an breakout board.

[Dav]

Being able to see your formula in that spreadsheet was great! Love this project

[TheDefpom]

Nice project, you also edit your videos very well, I had a laugh when you dumped the brick on the table!

[orientowitz]

I recommend protecting the PCBs from water damage (there will be condensation inside the open tube) with either conformal coating or something like CorrosionX which I used successfully in the past to protect boards exposed to elements. One thing to keep in mind though is the barometric sensor, you will damage it if something gets inside metal housing. Otherwise you will inevitably have burnt boards when condensation inside the tube causes a short circuit.

[StaxxxInMyJeans]

If you want to slightly reduce connection time of esp to wifi and save some energy you can use a static ip instead of dynamic.
BTW, a project is awesome! :-)

[mmajstruk]

Well done, very good video. I`ll research your project page as I`m sure I`ll get lots of ideas for myself.

[HOrst]

Hallo Maker, toll gemacht, sehr gut erklärt und umgesetzt. Es hat richtig Spaß gemacht dieses Video anzuschauen. Ich wollte mir schon lange eine Wetterstation bauen, bin aber trotz gleiche Komponenten nicht sehr weit gekommen. Jetzt wo Du eine gute Vorlage geboten hast werde ich Dein Projekt nachbauen. Der einzige das mir fehlt, ist die Wind Messung mit Amplitude und Richtung. Vielen Dank das Du dieses Projekt mit uns teilst. Danke

[rgmtb]

Thank you for this! I've been trying to make my weather logger and failed. I'll take a look at yours closely for advice! Great help my friend 👍

[zukjeff]

another well described project. With PV panels of less than 5 watts i just shunt across the panels with a zenner.

[unbekannternutzer]

The battery lifetime will be reduced when keeping the cell voltage at maximum all the time.
Recommendations for lithium manganese cells (max 4.2V) is to charge them to only 4.1V to increase lifetime.
The capacity however might only be at around 80% then.
You can lower the floating voltage of your lifepo4 too.

[dmixer]

I have just started this project. I already have the brick. LOL

[RadionicaExpress]

I think its best tutorial i found, but actually i am looking with a BH1750 module for LUX readings for the light sensor. all the best!

[antonis]

an excellent channel! keep up the good work!

[MrBobWareham]

Silicone conformal coating on the boards would work well and you can work on the board again loved the project

[rsolovye]

Really like your channel. Me and my dad were watching your videos and he betted a bottle of "Tokai" that you are from Hungry.

[paulorobalo]

Your video puts many TV shows to shame! Congratulations!

[aliavestan]

Very useful and nice work 🤗 ... waiting for your new video

[igorybema]

I am testing the solar + lifepo4 + solar of this setup on low battery levels. I discovered that, when on low battery, the wemos wouldn't start up properly resulting in constant high current draw (no deep sleep) which in turn results in emptying the battery even faster. Adding a 1000uF capacitor resolves this issue extending the setup to run on battery longer. That could just save that one day extra without solar power. I also added a connection to the analog input of the wemos (not using the analog light sensor) from the battery positive terminal (with a 100k ohm resistor as voltage divider) to measure the battery voltage. This could be used to lower the update frequency when the voltage is dropping.

[Dgtdggff]

i can also recomment such solar lipo charger boards as a powersource for example the "DFRobot Solar Lipo Charger". I connected it directly to the wemos d1 mini 5v and ground pins and it works just fine

[Ed]

Be careful with skottky diodes. They can have a relatively large reverse current, which kinda defeats their use in Backvoltage protection