WeatherPiArduino Complete and Ready for the Caribbean

September 10, 2014 Arduino, Project Curacao, Raspberry Pi, RasPiConnect, SwitchDoc Dual WatchDog Timer, Weather, WeatherPiArduino, Wind Power
WeatherArduino
WeatherArduino and SwitchDoc WatchDog Ready to Ship

WeatherPiArduino Complete and Ready for the Caribbean Deployment

WeatherArduino
WeatherPiArduino and SwitchDoc WatchDog Ready to Ship

The WeatherPiArduino board is now up and finished.  The board to the right of the WeatherPiArduino is a new board called the SwitchDoc Dual WatchDog.  It implements an external watchdog function for both the Arduino and Raspberry Pi finally making a real Dead Man Switch.  I’ll be talking about this board in October and there is an article coming out about the SwitchDoc WatchDog in November.

 

Wind Power
Original Wind Turbine Destroyed on Project Curacao

Wind Power

It is now ready to be shipped down to the Caribbean to be put on Project Curacao.  That means the next time the Wind Turbine is ripped to bits, at least we will know how fast the wind was blowing.

RasPiConnect
WeatherArduino RasPiConnect Control Panel

WeatherPiArduino

WeatherPiArduino is an interface board for the Arduino and Raspberry Pi that connects a wind vane, anemometer and rain gauge to the Arduino.  All the software for both the control panel is shown (using RasPiConnect) and the Arduino C++ software is here as well as the board design, parts list and description is here.

SparkFun
WeatherRack Meter Sensors

 

 

It was specifically designed to interface with the WeatherRack sensors along with some auxiliary I2C units:

  • Interfaces on WeatherPiArduino Board

    • I2C for Raspberry Pi
    • I2C for Arduino
    • RJ11 Plugs installed for SwitchDoc Labs WeatherRack, etc.
    • Wind Vane, Rain Bucket, Anemometer computer connections for Raspberry Pi and Arduino

    I2C devices Included with the WeatherPiArduino Board

    Plug in I2C Interfaces provided

    • Embedded Adventures I2C Lightning Detector MOD-1016 board
    • Adafruit HTU21D-F Temperature/Humidity breakout board
    • Adafruit 32KB FRAM I2C breakout board
    • Adafruit ADS1015 4 Channel A/D I2C board

This board was designed for the Project Curacao Weather Upgrade to be performed in September 2014.

Project Curacao
Open Project Curacao Box Right Before Deployment

The full WeatherArduino article will be published in Raspberry Pi Geek magazine in September, 2014.

Project Curacao Upgrade

Here’s what I am doing to the box later this month.

1) Replacement of Wind Turbine. We are going to use the same $80 Wind Turbine with some installation changes.  You can find this turbine on here.

2) Stiffening the Turbine Mount

3) Addition of a vibration sensor on the Turbine Mount (NOT doing this.  Out of time for software/hardware – Next trip)

4) Adding a loose strap over the top of the turbine to allow turning but not “popping out” of the mount

5) Adding Wind Speed and Wind Direction to the box using WeatherPiArduino.

6) Modification of the Arduino Battery Watchdog to record Wind Turbine current and voltage even when the Raspberry Pi is off.

7) Adding two solar panels.  One for the Raspberry Pi and one for the Arduino much less of an angle to the sun.

8) Adding the SwitchDoc WatchDog board to the Arduino to reboot the Arduino if it gets lost.