Remote weather station and sensor platform project with The Insight Centre and Galway Digital Makers display at Galway Science and Technology Festival - call for participation.

[Oisin Greaney]

Hi everyone,

(note that I've sent this to both the public and private lists to cover as much ground as possible - this means that some people may see this twice!)

There's been a few delays on getting this email out, so apologies about that. This will be the first collaboration between Insight, 091 Labs and hopefully multiple local community groups as part of Galway's City of Culture 2020 bid. Galway has just made the shortlist for the bid so things are going to kick into high gear and this is a fantastic opportunity to participate in something quite major for the city.

The aim:

To build an extensible remote sensor platform based on Open-Source Hardware to provide real-time or near real-time environmental sensor data from the heart of Galway City. It will be located within the Terryland Forest Park in a weatherproof enclosure and powered via solar panels. It will log ambient sensor readings and transmit them via a radio module to a nearby base station to be uploaded to the Internet (how to host/represent the data has yet to be decided).

The initial plan is to put together a weather station and add functionality as an evolving project. Ultimately the aim is to demo this project as a viable weather and pollution monitoring station with the aim to replicate the stations across the city with the support of the local Authority.


Project Components

Core components (from the Seeeduino waterproof solar kit:

Seeeduino-Stalker v3: The Arduino Compatible WSN Node

Lithium-ion polymer Battery - 1050mAh Capcity: Charged from Solar Panel using Stalker v3

0.5w Solar Panel 53x53mm

SanDisk microSD™ Card 4GB: Logs the sensor values and time-stamp data

UartSBee V4: Provides USB-Serial port to program Stalker V3 using Arduino IDE

Sensors:

Grove connector-equipped Temperature & Humidity Sensor

Grove connector -equipped Barometer Sensor

Flux Workshop Rain Water Detection Sensor Module

Communication:

The Seeeduino Stalker v3 has hardware-level compatibility with ZigBee modules. Originally we were going to use two XBee Pro Series 2 RF modules and Sparkfun's XBee Explorer, however the XBee 2mW radio modules and XBee Explorer order was cancelled by the supplier, At the moment we are planning on using an alternative supplied by Alanna in the form of Moteino Boards and Radio modules These have been used successfully with the Stalker board in other applications so we're hoping they'll work here. However, if anyone has any XBee modules and an Explorer they'd like to lend to the project we'd appreciate it! It is the easier option and they would be returned when we secure replacement modules.

Optional:

There are also some other components provided by Insight's Internet Of Things department that we may or may not use (at least in this first version of the project):

A Grove Base Shield compatible with Ardiuno Uno and clones that provides extra Grove connectors (shown above with two Grove connector-equipped modules connected).

And a 2.8" TFT Touchscreen shield.

The reasoning behind using the above hardware was that the Grove system allows relatively easy expansion for sensors, especially for participants who may not be familiar with electronics projects and that Seeedstudio has a fairly healthy community surrounding their projects with a fair amount of documentation available online. The platform is also specifically designed for Internet of Things applications. The Seeeduino store has quite a few different kinds of sensors in stock, including pollution sensors which would hopefully be the next addition to the project.

The project itself is based off this Instructables article (with updated hardware): http://www.instructables.com/id/Wireless-outdoor-Arduino-weather-station-with-PC-l/?ALLSTEPS 

So what is needed from the 091 Labs community is input and participation. There are many of us who have experience with these kinds of projects and will know right off the bat what we might be doing wrong, or better alternatives - please tell us! You may now have much time at all to contribute but every little helps. At the moment there are two members working on this who are also trying to juggle other very major commitments and a third who has expressed an interest. The success of this depends on enough people lending a hand. It doesn't have to be major but every little helps. I will be organising meetups about this over the coming days.

------------------------------------------------------------

Galway Science and Technology Festival

This event will be happening in the Bailey Allen Hall on Sunday the 22nd of this month. Brendan Smith of Insight has secured a large area for a group exhibit by 091 Labs and at least four other community tech groups, including CoderDojo and Rails Girls Galway. We will be hosting a pop-up Makerspace with bits and pieces of Labs projects. Set up for the event will be happening on Saturday night. Volunteers are needed to help set up, man the stall and help tear down at the end of the day. If we can get enough people together we can do two-hour shifts. 

There was a very productive initial Galway Digital Makers meeting at Insight last Monday. Lots was discussed and there will be an email about that later on.

Regards,

Ush

[Domhnall Walsh]

I trust that Alanna has run the numbers but I have concerns about your power budget??

Also, that looks like a DHT-11 or DHT-22 temperature and humidity sensor. They're not massively accurate as far as I know??

Anyway, would love to help.

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[Daniel Cussen]

>I trust that Alanna has run the numbers but I have concerns about your power budget??

Yes if using solar power make sure you have masses of extra power. On
a dark short winter cloudy rainy day you need to charge batteries
enough to last all night. Larger batteries do not help, the only
solution is to collect more energy than used.

On 14/11/2015, Domhnall Walsh <domh...@091labs.com> wrote:
> I trust that Alanna has run the numbers but I have concerns about your
> power budget??
>
> Also, that looks like a DHT-11 or DHT-22 temperature and humidity sensor.
> They're not massively accurate as far as I know??
>
> Anyway, would love to help.
> On 14 Nov 2015 1:30 a.m., "Oisin Greaney" <u...@091labs.com> wrote:
>
>> Hi everyone,
>>
>> (note that I've sent this to both the public and private lists to cover
>> as
>> much ground as possible - this means that some people may see this
>> twice!)
>>
>> There's been a few delays on getting this email out, so apologies about
>> that. This will be the first collaboration between Insight, 091 Labs and
>> hopefully multiple local community groups as part of Galway's City of
>> Culture 2020 bid. Galway has just made the shortlist for the bid so
>> things
>> are going to kick into high gear and this is a fantastic opportunity to
>> participate in something quite major for the city.
>>

>> *The aim:*

>>
>> To build an extensible remote sensor platform based on Open-Source
>> Hardware to provide real-time or near real-time environmental sensor data
>> from the heart of Galway City. It will be located within the Terryland
>> Forest Park in a weatherproof enclosure and powered via solar panels. It
>> will log ambient sensor readings and transmit them via a radio module to
>> a
>> nearby base station to be uploaded to the Internet (how to host/represent
>> the data has yet to be decided).
>>
>> The initial plan is to put together a weather station and add
>> functionality as an evolving project. Ultimately the aim is to demo this
>> project as a viable weather and pollution monitoring station with the aim
>> to replicate the stations across the city with the support of the local
>> Authority.
>>
>>

>> *Project Components*
>>
>> *Core components* (from the Seeeduino waterproof solar kit
>> <http://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/Seeeduino-Stalker-V3-Waterproof-Solar-Kit-p-2441.html?cPath=6_7>
>> :

>>
>> [image: Inline image 5]
>> Seeeduino-Stalker v3: The Arduino Compatible WSN Node

>> <http://www.seeedstudio.com/wiki/Seeeduino_Stalker_V3_-_Waterproof_Solar_Kit>

>>
>> [image: Inline image 4]
>> Lithium-ion polymer Battery - 1050mAh Capcity: Charged from Solar Panel
>> using Stalker v3

>> <http://www.seeedstudio.com/wiki/Seeeduino_Stalker_V3_-_Waterproof_Solar_Kit>
>>
>> 0.5w Solar Panel 53x53mm
>> <http://www.seeedstudio.com/wiki/Seeeduino_Stalker_V3_-_Waterproof_Solar_Kit>
>>
>>
>> <http://www.seeedstudio.com/wiki/Seeeduino_Stalker_V3_-_Waterproof_Solar_Kit>

>> SanDisk microSD™ Card 4GB: Logs the sensor values and time-stamp data

>> <http://www.seeedstudio.com/wiki/Seeeduino_Stalker_V3_-_Waterproof_Solar_Kit>

>>
>> [image: Inline image 9]
>> UartSBee V4: Provides USB-Serial port to program Stalker V3 using Arduino

>> IDE <http://www.seeedstudio.com/wiki/UartSBee>
>>
>> *Sensors:*

>>
>> [image: Inline image 3]
>> Grove connector-equipped Temperature & Humidity Sensor

>> <http://www.seeedstudio.com/wiki/Grove-_Temperature_and_Humidity_Sensor>

>>
>> [image: Inline image 6]
>> Grove connector -equipped Barometer Sensor

>> <http://www.seeedstudio.com/wiki/Grove_-_Barometer_Sensor_(BMP180)>

>>
>> [image: Inline image 1]
>> Flux Workshop Rain Water Detection Sensor Module

>> <http://www.ebay.ie/itm/Rain-Water-Detection-Sensor-Module-Weather-Arduino-Raspberry-Pi-Flux-Workshop-/121654831156>
>>
>> *Communication:*
>>
>>
>> *[image: Inline image 10]*

>> The Seeeduino Stalker v3 has hardware-level compatibility with ZigBee

>> modules <http://www.seeedstudio.com/wiki/Bee_series>. Originally we were

>> going to use two XBee Pro Series 2 RF modules

>> <http://www.seeedstudio.com/wiki/XBee_Pro_Series2_RF_module> and

>> Sparkfun's XBee Explorer, however the XBee 2mW radio modules

>> <https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10414> and XBee Explorer
>> <http://www.sparkfun.com/products/8687> order was cancelled by the

>> supplier, At the moment we are planning on using an alternative supplied
>> by
>> Alanna in the form of Moteino Boards and Radio modules

>> <http://lowpowerlab.com/moteino/> These have been used successfully with
>> the Stalker board <https://lowpowerlab.com/forum/index.php?topic=940.0>
>> in other applications
>> <https://lowpowerlab.com/forum/index.php?topic=772.0> so we're hoping
>> they'll work here. *However, if anyone has any XBee modules and an
>> Explorer they'd like to lend to the project we'd appreciate it!* It is

>> the easier option and they would be returned when we secure replacement
>> modules.
>>

>> *Optional:*

>>
>> There are also some other components provided by Insight's Internet Of
>> Things department that we may or may not use (at least in this first
>> version of the project):
>>
>> [image: Inline image 7]

>> A Grove Base Shield <http://www.seeedstudio.com/wiki/Base_shield_v2>

>> compatible with Ardiuno Uno and clones that provides extra Grove
>> connectors
>> (shown above with two Grove connector-equipped modules connected).
>>
>> [image: Inline image 8]
>> And a 2.8" TFT Touchscreen shield

>> <http://www.seeedstudio.com/wiki/2.8%27%27_TFT_Touch_Shield_v2.0>.

>>
>>
>> The reasoning behind using the above hardware was that the Grove system
>> allows relatively easy expansion for sensors, especially for participants
>> who may not be familiar with electronics projects and that Seeedstudio
>> has
>> a fairly healthy community surrounding their projects with a fair amount
>> of
>> documentation available online. The platform is also specifically
>> designed
>> for Internet of Things applications. The Seeeduino store has quite a few
>> different kinds of sensors in stock

>> <http://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/Sensors-c-25/?ref=side>, including

[Oisin Greaney]

How do people feel about meeting up tomorrow night to work on the project? Alanna I know Tuesday's aren't good for you but my own hands are somewhat tied regarding availability this week.

Regards,

Ush

On Sat, Nov 14, 2015 at 10:39 PM, Oisin Greaney <u...@091labs.com> wrote:

Cheers guys, any help is fantastic. 

The current battery and solar panel were ordered based on reported performance with the board and hardware, none of us have had the time yet to calculate the kind of draw/recharge rate we should be expecting. These are the kinds of things that we need more hands on the project to help with!

I'm actually not sure why we ordered that particular temp&humidity sensor as I remember reading the spec sheet of a more robust version, I think I mis-clicked. Unfortunately it's not rated to record temperatures under 0 degrees. A better sensor can be ordered but for the time being we can see what kind of data we get from the one we have.

I will be trying to get in to Insight for this Monday evening, probably around 7pm.

Regards,

Ush

[Oisin Greaney]

Cheers guys, any help is fantastic. 

The current battery and solar panel were ordered based on reported performance with the board and hardware, none of us have had the time yet to calculate the kind of draw/recharge rate we should be expecting. These are the kinds of things that we need more hands on the project to help with!

I'm actually not sure why we ordered that particular temp&humidity sensor as I remember reading the spec sheet of a more robust version, I think I mis-clicked. Unfortunately it's not rated to record temperatures under 0 degrees. A better sensor can be ordered but for the time being we can see what kind of data we get from the one we have.

I will be trying to get in to Insight for this Monday evening, probably around 7pm.

Regards,

Ush

[Alanna Kelly]

I was in a prject meeting at DCU this week. Sorry for not replying sooner.

[Oisin Greaney]

No worries Alanna.

Unfortunately I haven't been able to make any progress on this. I had a session earlier in the week that was mostly troubleshooting minor issues and I've been unable to put aside extra time from college for further work.

As it is, I am going into my last week of college, followed by a study week, followed by two weeks of exams, followed by Christmas. The workload we've been saddled with for the last two-three weeks of term has been fairly crazy and we have deadlines due almost every day these coming eight days right up to the last day of teaching this Friday week (not exaggerating here). I cannot commit myself to this any longer without dropping college assignments and taking major hits to my grades. As much as I hate to say it this also means I don't think I can be available for Sat night/Sunday.

Ush

On Thu, Nov 19, 2015 at 4:20 PM, Alanna Kelly <ala...@091labs.com> wrote:

I was in a prject meeting at DCU this week. Sorry for not replying sooner.

--

[Alanna Kelly]

Okay. I'll try to do it myself.

[Oisin Greaney]

I'm working on getting some volunteers together so that hopefully shouldn't be necessary.

On Thu, Nov 19, 2015 at 7:01 PM, Alanna Kelly <ala...@091labs.com> wrote:

Okay. I'll try to do it myself.

--

[Domhnall Walsh]

Hey Ush:

Your messages were flagged as spam until just now (/me fixed that) so there's not a whole pile of notice to respond, so bear that in mind.

Tuesdays are no good for me until 2016 FWIW, but I would like to help.

I see the simplicity brought to the table by using a kit like this but I think you really need to rethink how you're powering something with sensors and radios, and also think about the list of "standard instruments" that make up a weather station so that we can contribute to local weather monitoring generally.

Also, bear in mind that Li-Ion and Li-Poly batteries contain water and will freeze, which will kill them stone dead. Conversely, they have a nasty habit of bursting into flames if they get too warm - unlikely in Ireland, but possible in worst-case conditions. Their available storage capacity also nosedives as they get close to 0 degrees C so you can't depend on them in an essentially outdoor environment without thermal management (heating _and_ cooling). Stick with a simple, proven technology like gel acid instead which can go to about -30C before it has the same issues. Ideally, you want something that'll run for something like a week with no power input from the solar cells. Since it's a fixed installation the extra weight from a gel-acid cell won't be a world-ender.

Most solar systems are geared up for 12/24V anyway so these batteries are a natural fit. An MPPT (Maximum Peak Point Tracking) charge controller and a reasonably efficient DC-DC converter to drive your weather station electronics (5V/3.3V/whatever) can be done with stuff of eBay. Ideally, you also want to monitor voltages and currents basically everywhere and couple it with coulomb counters or something like that so that you can estimate power consumption and battery reserve power, and include all this in the telemetry from the device.

You might also want to consider an ARM-based "brain" like a Teensy (which is still Arduino compatible) that would give you a LOT more bang for your buck than what's in that kit (an Atmega328) for roughly the same money.

There's a guy I subscribe to on Youtube called Julian Ilett (channel link) that does a lot with Solar and Arduinos, probably worth a look...

Hope this helps,

Domhnall.

[Domhnall Walsh]

Haha, then my response was flagged as spam. Classic.

[Oisin Greaney]

Thanks for the heads-up regarding the spam Domhnall, and for the hardware advice. I'll have to look into that later.

For the event: we are still looking for volunteers to help Saturday night and Sunday. See the poll here to volunteer: https://doodle.com/poll/fiv569yhgrm33grr . I may have shared it with everyone on the private list already - both the Doodle mobile site and app are surprisingly counter-intuitive to use so I'm not entirely certain.

Regards,

Ush

[gerryk]

FYI, I have had a wx station on a rooftop in Mervue for a while - http://gerryk.sdf.org/wx/

Some graphs here - http://aprs.fi/weather/a/EI2GCP-2

Listenable on 145.800MHz, 1200bps AFSK modulation.

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[gerryk]

Some pics here, including the sensor cluster - http://gerryk.com/node/39

[Domhnall Walsh]

Hi Gerry:

I seem to be making a habit of unblocking posts the public lists these days, but thanks for those posts, that's great. I'd love to know more about your setup as it would undoubtedly inform whatever comes out of the Insight/'labs station. 

I'm guessing that APRS setup requires a licence to operate?

Cheers,

Domhnall.

[Antóin Óg Ó Cuinneagáin]

http://www.nuigalway.ie/iruse/weather.html

NUIG has a weather station also

[gerryk]

Hi Domhnall...

I have a bunch more photos, the best, from the point of view of the installation is this one - https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/32770/2014-10-25%2018.05.13.jpg

We have a sensor cluster that talks via 1-wire protocol back to a radio modem, which builds an APRS sentence, FSK-modulates and sends as an audio signal to a radio, which pushes it out over VHF. The only license-specific aspects are the frequency it operates on. You could broadcast APRS over any unlicensed frequency, like 27MHz or PMR. You can also inject wx data onto the global APRS network over IP without necessarily having a callsign. 

There are plenty of things out there without amateur radio licenses - for instance, there's a ship in Galway right now - http://aprs.fi/#!call=i%2F250000918 - or one of many weather stations around the country - http://aprs.fi/#!mt=roadmap&z=10&call=a%2FEW6697&timerange=3600&tail=3600

I guess the sensor cluster could talk to any device that can do 1-wire. Pretty sure there are Arduino libraries for it.

/ Gerry

[Domhnall Walsh]

Thanks Gerry.

Looking at what would constitute a "standard" suite of sensors and if there's some spec regarding minimum accuracy and/or preferred device types and so on.

That setup looks good!

[gerryk]

I'm not sure, Domhnall. The sensors we use would be firmly of the 'hobbyist' grade. That said, I have an identical sensor cluster at home, and it has survived thus far for 4 years+ and continues to perform well.

I would imagine that the target audience would dictate the quality of sensors used. The advantage using the sensors I have used is that they are already weather-sealed and come with nice mounting brackets. A DIY approach would need to consider this, although many of the sensors (pressure, temperature and humidity) would live in a Stevenson Screen type of enclosure.

I guess the main things people would be interested in would be temperature, pressure, rainfall, humidity, windspeed & direction. Also some record of elevation & location would be useful.

/ Gerry

[Chris Collins]

Hi Oisin

I've got a home weather station up and running on the Internet, though this is probably not going to meet your project requirements.  The hardware is a N96GY which I picked up cheap in a Maplin sale:

http://www.maplin.ie/p/black-usb-wireless-touchscreen-weather-centre-n96gy

Though I guess this fails the open hardware/ extensible requirements.

The kit comes with sensors (external: temperature, humidity, rainfall rate, wind speed and direction, Internal: barometer, temp & humidity) and transmits to a base station.  The base station keeps a log of about a week's worth of weather data, which you can access over USB with the supplied EasyWeather software (Windows only, unfortunately).

In my case I've hooked it up to a Rasbperry Pi and I'm using Pywws (http://pywws.readthedocs.org/en/latest/) to slurp in the data regularly and process it.  I'm using this to live-log the data to Weather Underground (http://www.wunderground.com/personal-weather-station/dashboard?ID=IGALWAYG4).  Live logging uploads data about once every 40 seconds, though you can do it on your own schedule too.  I'm also tweeting every hour with current conditions (https://twitter.com/LoughreaWeather).  The raw data is saved as CSV files on the Ras-Pi, so it's free to be processed by you in whatever way you see fit.  This is admittedly, a pretty basic use of pywws, which can support many more processing options.

I haven't needed to run this really remotely, so I've got nothing to add on how to power this on solar, and retrieve data, though I guess it's not impossible to hack together a mobile phone with the RasPi for a data connection over GPRS.  

-Chris

[Domhnall Walsh]

Some thoughts on this.

1. A Pi Zero could be an ideal "brain" for this. And it's super-cheap.
   
2. I really like the look of the Hydreon RG-11 optical rain sensor. It can detect whether it's raining right now, and can emulate a more traditional tipping-bucket rain gauge, but how accurate it is in this mode I don't know. It's about USD70.
3. I found this wind speed sensor on eBay that doesn't look too shabby.
4. I found a fantastic looking waterproof temperature and humidity sensor on Farnell, but it's 95 euro (!) so maybe we'd need to look at cheaper options.
5. I'm thinking that a 20-30w panel makes more sense than a 0.5w panel for this.
6. If we can keep the supply current under 5A, then we can use something like this to manage battery charge from the solar panel.

Anyway, just thought I'd fire this off to the list for thoughts.

Domhnall.

[Alanna Kelly]

Agree with PiZero but we won't be able to get them until January.

[gerryk]

Another candidate for a controller - http://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/LinkIt-Smart-7688-Duo-p-2574.html

On 27 November 2015 at 11:33, Alanna Kelly <ala...@091labs.com> wrote:

Agree with PiZero but we won't be able to get them until January.

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[Domhnall Walsh]

Looks interesting. That MediaTek MT7688 chip that is the main "brains" of the outfit is a MIPS24k device, similar to an Arduino Yun and a lot of low-end routers.

TBH, I don't know if on-board Wifi is actually useful; it'll depend a lot on where the device is physically installed, and my gut feeling is that it may be tough to get WiFi coverage without some point-to-point stuff being set up.

Looks interesting though!

[gerryk]

I'm planning to get a couple to use in home automation stuff... I'll let you know how they are.

[Domhnall Walsh]

Nice, thanks.

[Oisin Greaney]

Hi there folks,

It's really heartening to see ongoing discussion and suggestions, trying to make progress on this before Christmas made me realise I was a bit out of my depth with the project. I'll be organising some meet-ups later this month for anyone interested in getting a basic weather station set up.

I'm not too worried about the resolution of the sensors - the initial aim is to have a very basic demo system that can be upgraded later on but Domhnall is right about the power issues, we'll need to look at alternatives.

Regards,

Ush

[Oisin Greaney]

Hello everyone,

I'm hoping to meet Brendan soon (exact time to be sorted) to chat about the weather station project. Would anyone be interested in joining?

Ush

[Domhnall Walsh]

Yeah, I'll look in on it to, tine permitting.

[gerryk]

I'd be interested in coming along too, also, time permitting.

Gerry Kavanagh about.me/gerrykavanagh

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[Oisin Greaney]

What kind of timeframe would be good for you guys then? I'm a bit tied up this weekend but I can usually do most evenings.

[gerryk]

I can (at some notice) be available most evenings, apart from Tuesdays, and Wednesday of next week.

I was wondering something... less about the actual weather station, and more about data aggregation. Would it be of interest to provide weather data from other locations? Right now, I have two weather stations, one in Oranmore and one in Mervue, and will soon have a third in north-east Galway (near Abbeyknockmoy). If we could agree on a common schema, might it be worthwhile to collect data from these also?

/ Gerry

[Domhnall Walsh]

I should be able to do a weekday evening (Mon-Thu) with enough notice.

[Oisin Greaney]

Speaking to Brendan, his best evenings would be Monday or Tuesday next week, alternatively Friday.

Is Monday evening too short notice?

Gerry, I think the sharing of weather data is definitely something that Brendan would be interested in.

Ush

[gerryk]

I could probably do Monday.

[Oisin Greaney]

Hey everyone,

Brendan says he can be free from 6pm tomorrow, to meet at the Labs space at Insight.

[Domhnall Walsh]

So the meeting's at six then? Okay.

[gerryk]

Earliest I could be there is 7.30.

[gerryk]

Is this going ahead? Is there any point in me coming if it's going to start at 6?

[Domhnall Walsh]

I suspect only Brendan or Oisín (or possibly Alanna, not sure) can answer that question.

I'm going to chance heading up for six anyway, hopefully I can get in the door...

[Oisin Greaney]

Gerry - the confusion in this is my fault, I haven't had much of a chance to check the thread since yesterday and I completely blanked on you needing time to get over when settling on a time. Very sorry about this, I'll make sure the follow-on meeting has a more accommodating time for everyone. I'll be meeting Brendan at 6 in the Computer Museum - Domhnall, I think Insight lock their doors after 7pm so access shouldn't be an issue.

[Oisin Greaney]

Hello everyone,

There will be another weather station meet-up tomorrow (Tuesday) from 7.30pm at 091 Labs. Hope to see you there! 

Regards,

Ush

[gerryk]

Yup. I'll be there.

[Domhnall Walsh]

Crap, can't go tonight, really sorry :(

[Domhnall Walsh]

Did the meeting go ahead? If so, what happened??

[Oisin Greaney]

Hi everyone, Gerry will be speaking about his work with remote weather stations at Insight tonight from around 7pm, so if you're interested, drop by!

Regards,

Ush

[Domhnall Walsh]

Ach crap, thought it was 7:30. As it turns out, I'll be late anyway :(

[gerryk]

Hi Oisin...
I have no slides but I'm happy to talk.
/ Gerry

[Oisin Greaney]

Ah, what I meant was you'll be there and people will be asking you about the stations. Nothing formal :-)

Ush

[Domhnall Walsh]

I'm afraid I won't be able to make it tonight, sorry.

[Oisin Greaney]

Hi everyone,

This is at short notice, sorry about that, but if you're interested in chatting about the Weather Station project, drop by the Computer Museum this evening around 7pm.

Regards,

Ush

[Domhnall Walsh]

No can do, not in Galway tonight :(

[Alanna Kelly]

I'm sick :(

[gerryk]

Can't. I'm having a service.

On 20 Apr 2016 8:45 p.m., "Alanna Kelly" <ala...@091labs.com> wrote:

I'm sick :(

[Oisin Greaney]

Domhnall: I had an idea that you might be away, no worries!

Alanna: No worries, get well soon!

Gerryk: What are you doing looking at things? Get well soon!

As it transpired there was only myself and Brendan. Made a bit of progress though, updates soon.

Regards,

Ush

[Oisin Greaney]

Hello again everyone,

our next project meetup will be tomorrow (Thursday) from 7pm at Insight, so if you can make it do drop by! Materials are coming together and Insight have arranged for an intern to work on the project so things are making progress. We need to nail down details on work requirements for the intern, skills to build and deliverable outlines. I think it would also be a good idea to hold some workshop sessions, both to assist the intern and also move toward a creating a basic sensor testing rig. These are some of the sensors that we hope to incorporate into the sensing platform (I need to finish detailing the rest of the list):

Anemometer & wind vane (Wind Speed and Direction)
Technoline WS1600 - tx23		€44.55 (£34.96)
https://www.weathershop.co.uk/shop/technoline-tx23-sensor
Rain Gauge
Maplin N77NF		€7.35
http://www.maplin.ie/p/maplin-replacement-rain-gauge-for-n25frn96fyn96gy-n77nf
Temperature And Humidity
Grove Temperature and Humidity Sensor Pro		€13.01 ($14.90)
http://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/Grove-TemperatureHumidity-Sensor-Pro-p-838.html?cPath=25_125
Dust sensor
SparkFun Optical Dust Sensor - GP2Y1010AU0F		€10.43 ($11.95)
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/9689
Sensor Mating Connector		€0.31 ($0.35)
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/9690
Pins (for connector) *6		(€0.52) ($0.60)
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/9728
CO2 Sensor
Olimex SNS-MQ135		€5.50
https://www.olimex.com/Products/Components/Sensors/SNS-MQ135/

One thing we're lacking is publicity about the project: if someone would like to write up a blog post about the collaboration with Insight and the basic aims of the station I'd really appreciate it as I'm a bit run off my feet at the moment. We can take some pictures for the post tomorrow.

Regards,

Ush

[Domhnall Walsh]

I can't, largely because I'd need more than 24 hours notice at the moment, sorry.

I'm worried that the gas sensor is not very selective about what gas it detects (something like an MG-811 would be better to detect just CO2 unless we're confident that the other stuff that sensor detects is not in the air being sampled, though it is dearer)

Also, that dust sensor is humidity sensitive according to the data sheet, and... well, this is Galway...

Do we have any info on how to read the wind and rain sensors?

Just my 2c...
Domhn all.

[gerryk]

Hi...
Won't be able to join you, unfortunately. Still in recovery. Soon though.
Gerry

[Domhnall Walsh]

Hey guys:

Out of curiosity, do you have any info as to how to read those "spare part" sensors? The wind and rainfall ones? How do pulse counts equate to rainfall, wind speed, etc.? Is there any info about them online?

Cheers,

Domhnall.

[Domhnall Walsh]

Just thought of something - did you guys get that barometric sensor in the end?

[Oisin Greaney]

Hey Domhnall,

So, the modules were selected based on affordability, availability and, essentially, their generic nature. There's a large amount of documentation online regarding interfacing very similar units with DIY Arduino weather stations, such as here and also here. No point in getting some esoteric bit of hardware that no one has encountered before. I haven't had a proper hunt for part-specific documentation, simply due to a lack of free time on my part. I should be (again, free time lacking) at some point publishing a list of tasks that members can take on as they feel so inclined, this kind of thing would be on that. Also, part of the interns duties will be to help us build up a spec sheet on each sensor used in the project, including links to relevant resources, as well as assist in measuring the sensors.

I believe the barometric sensor we have is the Bmp280, there is a second sensor provided by Kenneth that is of a higher spec. I'll need to double check that. All current gear is in the filing cabinets in the 'Labs if anyone wants to go through it - note that there might be a bunch of Arduino boards and sensors in there that are for a separate smart cities project.

Regards,

Ush