Tutorial: Part 6 -Building a Solar Powered Raspberry Pi Weather Station – GroveWeatherPi

The Raspberry Pi is a fabulous device to on which to build your projects.    The GroveWeatherPi project is designed to show the capabilities of this computer while remaining accessible to a diverse Maker community.

GroveWeatherPi is a Solar Powered Raspberry Pi WiFi connected weather station designed for Makers by SwitchDoc Labs ( www.switchdoc.com). This is a great system to build and tinker with. All of it is modifiable and all source code is included.

This tutorial for building your own Solar Powered Weather Station based on the Raspberry Pi consists of 14 parts.

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The Wiring List

 

Here is where we install all of the Grove cables, the 7 jumper wires and the one optional jumper cable to a SOLDERED joint on the USB Power Control Board.  Note:  If you have a new I2C Mux board without the JP6 header, you can ignore the red instructions below:

 

Wiring List for Raspberry Pi GroveWeatherPi System
From	To	Description
Pi2Grover / D13/D16	MOD-1016G / Grove IRQ	50cm Grove Cable
Pi2Grover / D21/D26	Weather Board / Grove D Rain Bucket	Grove Cable
Pi2Grover / D26	Weather Board / Grove D Anemometer	Grove Cable
Pi2Grover / Grove I2C	4 Chan I2C Mux / Grove J1 – Computer I2C	Grove Cable
4 Chan I2C Mux / Grove J2 / Bus0	4 Slot I2C Expander / Any Slot	Grove Cable
4 Chan I2C Mux / Grove J3 / Bus1	MOD-1016 / Grove I2C	50cm Grove Cable
4 Chan I2C Mux / Pin Header JP7-1	4 Chan I2C Mux / Pin Header JP6-1	Set Power of I2C Bus to VDD
4 Chan I2C Mux / Pin Header JP7-2	4 Chan I2C Mux / Pin Header JP6-2	Set Power of I2C Bus to VDD
4 Chan I2C Mux / Pin Header JP7-3	4 Chan I2C Mux / Pin Header JP6-3	Set Power of I2C Bus to VDD
4 Chan I2C Mux / Pin Header JP7-4	4 Chan I2C Mux / Pin Header JP6-4	Set Power of I2C Bus to VDD
4 Slot I2C Expander / Any Slot	OLED Display / Grove I2C	Grove Cable
4 Slot I2C Expander / Any Slot	Grove 4Ch/16Bit ADC / Grove I2C	Grove Cable
4 Slot I2C Expander / Any Slot	Weather Board / Grove I2C	Grove Cable
Grove 4Ch/16Bit ADC / Grove A1	Weather Board / Grove A Wind Vane	Grove Cable
Weather Board / Grove I2C	Grove AM2315 Temperature / Humidity Sensor	Grove Cable
(Optional) HTU21D-F Inside Temperature / Humidity Sensor	Weather Board / JP14 Plug in	Plug in Board
Weather Board RJ11 – Rain Bucket	WeatherRack Rain Bucket Plug	RJ11 Cable
Weather Board RJ11 – Anemometer / Wind Vane	WeatherRack Anemometer / Wind Vane Plug	RJ11 Cable

Note:   You will use the Female Pin Header to Grove Connector cable provided with your SunAirPlus board in this section.

Wiring List for Solar Power Subsystem for the Raspberry Pi GroveWeatherPi System
From	To	Description
Raspberry Pi Power Micro  USB	USB PowerControl USB Out	Uses USB cable – A/MicroB
USB PowerControl USB In	SunAirPlus 5V USB Power Out
USB PowerControl LIPOBATIN	SunAirPlus JP4 Battery Out	Female to Female Header Jumper Wire
SunAirPlus – From Computer / SCL	Yellow Female Header Pin on Grove Connector	SCL
SunAirPlus – From Computer / SCL	White Female Header Pin on Grove Connector	SDA
SunAirPlus – From Computer / SCL	Red Female Header Pin on Grove Connector	VDD
SunAirPlus – From Computer / SCL	Black Female Header Pin on Grove Connector	GND
Grove Connector (Previous 4 Items)	4 Chan I2C Mux / Grove J4 – Bus 2	Female Pin Header to Grove Connector
SunAIrPlus  Battery Female Plug	LiPo Battery JST-2 Plug
SunAIrPlus Solar Panel Female Plug	Solar Panel JST-2 Plug – Note:  If you have two solar panels, you will need to solder + to + and – to – on the back of the solar panels.   A VoltaicSystems Solar Panel will require an adaptor plug

 

Wiring List for WatchDog Board for the Raspberry Pi GroveWeatherPi System (optional)
From	To	Description
WatchDog Board JP5/VDD	Raspberry Pi GPIO Header Pin 1/3.3V	Female to Female Jumper Wire
WatchDog Board  JP5/GND	Raspberry Pi GPIO Header Pin 6/GND	Female to Female Jumper Wire
WatchDog Board JP7/Dog1	Raspberry Pi GPIO Header Pin 11/GPIO17	Female to Female Jumper Wire
WatchDog Board JP4/ArduinoReset	USB PowerControl TP3/COUT – Soldered To Pad   (DO NOT CONNECT THIS WIRE UNITL YOU ARE DONE TESTING AND MODIFYING THE SOFTWARE!)	Cut one end of 12 inch Female to Female Header Jumper Wire and solder it to TP3/COUT pad as shown below

Note:  If you are using a Voltaic Systems Solar Panel and you don’t want to solder your own plug, you need the following adaptors:

Female JST PH 2 Pin to Female 2.1mmx5.5mm Jack https://www.mcmelectronics.com/product/29-6380

Male 2.1mmx5.5mm to Male 2.1×5.5mm https://www.ebay.com/itm/5-5mm-x-2-1mm-Male-Plug-to-5-5mmx2-1mm-Male-CCTV-DC-Power-Plug-Adapter-Connector-/300689722442?hash=item4602810c4a:g:5m4AAOSwpDdVNdbs

Female 2.1mmx5.5mm to Female 21.1mmx3.5mm Adaptor  https://www.voltaicsystems.com/f5521-f3511

DS3231 Real Time Clock

Plug the included DS3231 Real Time Clock into the provided socket on the Weather Board.  Align the GND pins!   The battery faces the inside of the board and the LED side faces the outside of the board.

Now before you power anything on, go back and check every connection!