Trixology

Weather => Weather Hardware/Measurement => Topic started by: The Grand Poohbah on November 20, 2017, 05:59:49 PM

Title: Arduino
Post by: The Grand Poohbah on November 20, 2017, 05:59:49 PM: I recently discovered the Arduino Uno, an inexpensive (<$8) and versatile micro controller that's programmable in C. There are a lot of hardware add-ons available and the software libraries are free and abundant. My first project is to animate multi-colored LED strips for an outdoor Christmas decoration.

One strong feature of the Arduino is its ability to interface with the outside world. It has built-in digital and analog connectors for sensing and controlling in real time. I was wondering if anyone is using the Arduino with WeatherCat and weather stations.
Title: Re: Arduino
Post by: ceciltheturtle on January 13, 2018, 03:28:57 AM: I?m thinking about it. I?d like to add some other temperature sensors around my house and record the data in WeatherCat. Might use the EsP8266 board for cheap communication. Haven?t got very far yet, just in data gathering mode at the moment.
Title: Re: Arduino
Post by: mcrossley on January 13, 2018, 09:49:08 AM: Not with WC obviously, but I am using one with my Davis VP2. I have made a "relay device" for the radio transmissions.

I suffered from a not uncommon problem with the VP2, namely the solar and UV sensors have to be attached to the ISS. I already had a separate wind transmitter to get those sensors up above my roofline and keep the ISS way down the garden away from the house. The solar and UV sensors really need to up above the roofline as well to avoid any shading by trees etc - you need visibility of the horizon almost all the way round at this latitude.

So I have a an Arduino (actually a Moteino with onboard radio module) the receives the transmissions from both the ISS (station id 2) and the wind transmitter (station 1) extracts any data and rebroadcasts it as station 3. The console just listens to station 3 as an ISS.

I moved the solar and UV to the wind transmitter (which is just an ISS with a different part number), and bingo, the console thinks it has a single ISS with temp, humidity, rain, wind, solar, and UV.
Title: Re: Arduino
Post by: ceciltheturtle on January 13, 2018, 04:25:10 PM: how are you rebroadcasting as a Davis ISS? Everything I've seen so far in my (admittedly) short research only mentions receiving signals from an ISS, not broadcasts. Got any recommendations as a starting point?

TIA
Title: Re: Arduino
Post by: xairbusdriver on January 13, 2018, 04:58:12 PM: BTW...
Welcome AboaRd, CecilTheTurtle!

We have folks from around he globe, but I think you are the first turtle! [lol] Please go to the New Member Introductions (http://athena.trixology.com/index.php?board=8.0) forum and let us welcome you, officially! [tup] At least let us know if you are a fresh or salt water type!
Title: Re: Arduino
Post by: ceciltheturtle on January 13, 2018, 05:22:27 PM: LOL. Freshwater I guess, as the Turtle is a reference to my old Jeep, which when flipped on its back would be in trouble. Not really a newbie, as I've been a WeatherCat user since 2012, but just haven't had a reason to post until now. Thanks for the welcome!
Title: Re: Arduino
Post by: mcrossley on January 13, 2018, 07:08:56 PM: Quote from: CecilTheTurtle on January 13, 2018, 04:25:10 PM
how are you rebroadcasting as a Davis ISS? Everything I've seen so far in my (admittedly) short research only mentions receiving signals from an ISS, not broadcasts. Got any recommendations as a starting point?

TIA
I posted my code on Github - I forked the excellent VPTools (https://github.com/mcrossley/VPTools) as a starting point, tweaked the base class slightly and added a RelayRxTx sketch (https://github.com/mcrossley/VPTools/tree/master/Examples/RelayRxTx).

I don't think git has my very latest code, but it should be functional.

It can output data in various formats to the USB port (I have mine plugged into the same Raspberry Pi I run my weather software and web page on), but I recommend you only use that feature for initial setup/debugging - writing the serial data ties up quite a lot of CPU cycles. You can set/tweak various parameters via the serial port to tune reception drift and timing etc, the values will be stored in non-volatile memory to survive power cycles of the Arduino.

I power my Motenio via the USB port, if you d this I recommend that you cut the link on the board that connects the link active line to the CPU reset, otherwise you reset the thing every time you establish a serial connection.

The Motenio is relatively expensive, but it does provide a very neat package to integrate Arduino and radio on a single board. Especially good if you are technically challenged with a soldering iron and SMD components like me.

EDIT: I see the VPTools author has added a Relay sketch to the base library now, and has been actively making updates - probably worth having a look at his code as well - it will no doubt be better structured than mine.
Title: Re: Arduino
Post by: ceciltheturtle on January 13, 2018, 07:50:56 PM: Thanks for the info! Unfortunately I?m way better with a soldering iron than I am with code. This gives me a good start though!