8 ms·

Internet of Things Temperature and Humidity Monitor

68 points by robputt796 10y ago

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
JshWright 10y ago
If you're interested in playing with the ESP8266, I would really recommend the D1 mini, by Wemos. It's an ESP8266 breakout, with a 5v regulator, a USB programmer, and a micro-USB port built in (in a very small package). They also make 'shields' that will plug directly into the headers, with a variety of functionality (including the sensor used in this build). https://www.wemos.cc/ https://www.wemos.cc/ (I'm not affiliated in any way, just my go-to product for DIY IoT stuff)
Animats 10y ago
That's amusing. Everything has to be "cloud" oriented. This is a simple temperature and humidity sensor which requires a web server to which it can report. It can't talk to a local machine, unless it has a local DNS name and routing. How did we manage to screw up networking so bad that you can't talk to a local machine easily?
- joezydeco 10y ago
  How would you suggest getting that information (say, a fixed IP address and gateway) into a part that has no user interface and no removable storage? How about after deployment?
  - Animats 10y ago
    The device here had to be configured with a URL for the user's web server. The real problem is, how do you securely introduce your home devices to each other? Various schemes have been tried - proximity, reading serial numbers off labels, and pushing the "pair" button at both ends at roughly the same time.
    - deleted 10y ago
      [deleted]
  - laichzeit0 10y ago
    Isn't the usual approach for these things to not use IP or wireless at all, but some other simple serial protocol like ZigBee and have them talk to a gateway "controller" that's connected to the outside world? The last time I played with wireless sensor networks that's how it worked, and they can actually form their own mesh network.
    - jordz 10y ago
      That's still the case indeed.
  - Isamu 10y ago
    Zeroconf networking? I've done a bit of that, both Bonjour (Apple) and UPnP (Microsoft). It is doable. I recognize that these things are tiny, but I've worked with extremely limited, real-time devices too - it can be done. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero-configuration_networking https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero-configuration_networking
  - CountSessine 10y ago
    So the fact that this isn't possible easily is the answer to Animat's question, "how did we screw up networking." As for how I would solve it, it seems like something like mDNS should be in the solution space. But I don't think consumer routers or operating systems make this easy enough.
  - Taniwha 10y ago
    We have a similar device, using better sensors, runs off 2 AAs (the DH11 is cheap but us not very accurate) - we run in deep sleep to get good battery life - we'll open source it soon. We configure it by making the device an AP an offering up a list of local APs on a tiny web server
- roymurdock 10y ago
  Well the point of this project was to provide an introduction to IoT sensors, so the main requirement was to connect the sensor to a web server. If you had hundreds of these things connected, and wanted to run analytics, push the data to other devices off the local network, or store the data efficiently then a cloud networking architecture might be exactly what you're looking for. If not, there are plenty of non-IoT sensors you can connect to a local machine or gateway with your choice of wired/wireless comms protocols. You could just leave also just leave this sensor connected to the computer via USB. It wouldn't be practical for much, but it would be simple!
sprobertson 10y ago
Has anyone had luck with a battery powered ESP8266? I built one of these temperature loggers and gave it 3xAA but it never lasts more than 2 weeks, while "real" things (SmartThings sensors) last months on a single smaller battery. I'm a beginner in EE but I'd like to know what's possible to stretch the juice. So far I have it sleep between every 15m measurement which brought it up from three days of battery life.
- JeremyMorgan 10y ago
  I have had the same results as you did. It's a bit of a power hog, but extremely powerful. I think one of the best bets for this device is to embed it into a power supply block and put them into the outlets of your house. Seems kind of limiting but I couldn't find any combination of batteries that would make it last more than a few days.
- emilburzo 10y ago
  > I built one of these temperature loggers and gave it 3xAA but it never lasts more than 2 weeks For comparison purposes, I just changed the 3 x AA batteries on my outside sensor[1], the batteries lasted for 13 months (again, in outside conditions, including a very harsh winter). I'm planning to write a post one of these days, but the gist of it is: - attiny84 (don't even think about using an Arduino) - DHT22 sensor (looking into SHT7x for better accuracy, but they're expensive as hell) - TX module (I went with 433MHz because of better penetration) I made 4 of these sensors, powered by batteries, so I can put them anywhere (within range, of course). They send the reading every 4..7 x 8 seconds[2], both to keep the frequency clear (as required by law, I think it was 95% of the time) and as a poor man's anti packet collision. They all report to a master RX, which is connected via USB to my server (which is always on anyway). A small parser reads from serial USB and saves it in Mongo. From there I can see the data in a simple webapp[3]. Oh yeah, and as a bonus, I made another thing that intercepts the outside sensor and display it on a 7 segment display[4], which looks really cool (plus I don't have to open the web page to see what's it like outside) [1] https://twitter.com/emilburzo/status/799886284730892288 https://twitter.com/emilburzo/status/799886284730892288 [2] https://github.com/ambient-monitoring/node/blob/master/node.ino#L130 https://github.com/ambient-monitoring/node/blob/master/node.... [3] http://ambient.emilburzo.com/ http://ambient.emilburzo.com/ [4] https://www.flickr.com/photos/eaglex/30242342623/in/dateposted-public/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/eaglex/30242342623/in/datepost...
icoder 10y ago
Cool project! I recently did roughly the same, publishing to the MQTT server on my Raspberry Pi, which will be the 'backbone' of my home automation system. It's insane how cheap you can get these parts off Ali Express and the likes. I powered it from a programmer for now sticking out of a powered USB HUB (probably not so wise!), but ordered a few sub-dollar 'power' modules to try out as well.
stinos 10y ago
I think this could be done using MicroPython as well (e.g. https://github.com/micropython/micropython/tree/master/esp8266 https://github.com/micropython/micropython/tree/master/esp82...). Should be the same functionally, but using Python 3 instead of Lua.
nicois 10y ago
Are there any recommendations for combining these sorts of sensors with long-range radios (e.g. HC12) and building a mesh network? Power consumption is less critical an issue as usually a small solar panel can provide topups. I am tempted to use micropython and effectively write my own mesh protocol but I'd hate to be reinventing the wheel.
- mianos 10y ago
  https://www.pycom.io/solutions/py-boards/lopy/ https://www.pycom.io/solutions/py-boards/lopy/ Lora, works for kilometers. Micropython, easy sensors (supports the DHT out of the box).

68 points by robputt796 10y ago

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

If you're interested in playing with the ESP8266, I would really recommend the D1 mini, by Wemos. It's an ESP8266 breakout, with a 5v regulator, a USB programmer, and a micro-USB port built in (in a very small package). They also make 'shields' that will plug directly into the headers, with a variety of functionality (including the sensor used in this build). https://www.wemos.cc/ https://www.wemos.cc/ (I'm not affiliated in any way, just my go-to product for DIY IoT stuff)

Animats 10y ago

That's amusing. Everything has to be "cloud" oriented. This is a simple temperature and humidity sensor which requires a web server to which it can report. It can't talk to a local machine, unless it has a local DNS name and routing. How did we manage to screw up networking so bad that you can't talk to a local machine easily?

joezydeco 10y ago
How would you suggest getting that information (say, a fixed IP address and gateway) into a part that has no user interface and no removable storage? How about after deployment?
- Animats 10y ago
  The device here had to be configured with a URL for the user's web server. The real problem is, how do you securely introduce your home devices to each other? Various schemes have been tried - proximity, reading serial numbers off labels, and pushing the "pair" button at both ends at roughly the same time.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
- laichzeit0 10y ago
  Isn't the usual approach for these things to not use IP or wireless at all, but some other simple serial protocol like ZigBee and have them talk to a gateway "controller" that's connected to the outside world? The last time I played with wireless sensor networks that's how it worked, and they can actually form their own mesh network.
  - jordz 10y ago
    That's still the case indeed.
- Isamu 10y ago
  Zeroconf networking? I've done a bit of that, both Bonjour (Apple) and UPnP (Microsoft). It is doable. I recognize that these things are tiny, but I've worked with extremely limited, real-time devices too - it can be done. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero-configuration_networking https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero-configuration_networking
- CountSessine 10y ago
  So the fact that this isn't possible easily is the answer to Animat's question, "how did we screw up networking." As for how I would solve it, it seems like something like mDNS should be in the solution space. But I don't think consumer routers or operating systems make this easy enough.
- Taniwha 10y ago
  We have a similar device, using better sensors, runs off 2 AAs (the DH11 is cheap but us not very accurate) - we run in deep sleep to get good battery life - we'll open source it soon. We configure it by making the device an AP an offering up a list of local APs on a tiny web server
roymurdock 10y ago
Well the point of this project was to provide an introduction to IoT sensors, so the main requirement was to connect the sensor to a web server. If you had hundreds of these things connected, and wanted to run analytics, push the data to other devices off the local network, or store the data efficiently then a cloud networking architecture might be exactly what you're looking for. If not, there are plenty of non-IoT sensors you can connect to a local machine or gateway with your choice of wired/wireless comms protocols. You could just leave also just leave this sensor connected to the computer via USB. It wouldn't be practical for much, but it would be simple!

sprobertson 10y ago

Has anyone had luck with a battery powered ESP8266? I built one of these temperature loggers and gave it 3xAA but it never lasts more than 2 weeks, while "real" things (SmartThings sensors) last months on a single smaller battery. I'm a beginner in EE but I'd like to know what's possible to stretch the juice. So far I have it sleep between every 15m measurement which brought it up from three days of battery life.

JeremyMorgan 10y ago
I have had the same results as you did. It's a bit of a power hog, but extremely powerful. I think one of the best bets for this device is to embed it into a power supply block and put them into the outlets of your house. Seems kind of limiting but I couldn't find any combination of batteries that would make it last more than a few days.
emilburzo 10y ago
> I built one of these temperature loggers and gave it 3xAA but it never lasts more than 2 weeks For comparison purposes, I just changed the 3 x AA batteries on my outside sensor[1], the batteries lasted for 13 months (again, in outside conditions, including a very harsh winter). I'm planning to write a post one of these days, but the gist of it is: - attiny84 (don't even think about using an Arduino) - DHT22 sensor (looking into SHT7x for better accuracy, but they're expensive as hell) - TX module (I went with 433MHz because of better penetration) I made 4 of these sensors, powered by batteries, so I can put them anywhere (within range, of course). They send the reading every 4..7 x 8 seconds[2], both to keep the frequency clear (as required by law, I think it was 95% of the time) and as a poor man's anti packet collision. They all report to a master RX, which is connected via USB to my server (which is always on anyway). A small parser reads from serial USB and saves it in Mongo. From there I can see the data in a simple webapp[3]. Oh yeah, and as a bonus, I made another thing that intercepts the outside sensor and display it on a 7 segment display[4], which looks really cool (plus I don't have to open the web page to see what's it like outside) [1] https://twitter.com/emilburzo/status/799886284730892288 https://twitter.com/emilburzo/status/799886284730892288 [2] https://github.com/ambient-monitoring/node/blob/master/node.ino#L130 https://github.com/ambient-monitoring/node/blob/master/node.... [3] http://ambient.emilburzo.com/ http://ambient.emilburzo.com/ [4] https://www.flickr.com/photos/eaglex/30242342623/in/dateposted-public/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/eaglex/30242342623/in/datepost...

icoder 10y ago

Cool project! I recently did roughly the same, publishing to the MQTT server on my Raspberry Pi, which will be the 'backbone' of my home automation system. It's insane how cheap you can get these parts off Ali Express and the likes. I powered it from a programmer for now sticking out of a powered USB HUB (probably not so wise!), but ordered a few sub-dollar 'power' modules to try out as well.

stinos 10y ago

I think this could be done using MicroPython as well (e.g. https://github.com/micropython/micropython/tree/master/esp8266 https://github.com/micropython/micropython/tree/master/esp82...). Should be the same functionally, but using Python 3 instead of Lua.

nicois 10y ago

Are there any recommendations for combining these sorts of sensors with long-range radios (e.g. HC12) and building a mesh network? Power consumption is less critical an issue as usually a small solar panel can provide topups. I am tempted to use micropython and effectively write my own mesh protocol but I'd hate to be reinventing the wheel.

mianos 10y ago
https://www.pycom.io/solutions/py-boards/lopy/ https://www.pycom.io/solutions/py-boards/lopy/ Lora, works for kilometers. Micropython, easy sensors (supports the DHT out of the box).