Weather Station With Wireless Data Transmitting

This project is the upgrade of my previous project - Weather station with data logging.
 

Previous project can be seen here - Weather station with data logging
So let's begin

Step 1: What Is New?

I have made some upgrades and improvements to my previous project - Weather station with data logging.

I added wireless data transmitting from weather station to the receiver which is located indoor.

Also SD card module was removed and replaced with Arduino Uno interface shield.

Main reason for that replacement was the space usage, interface shield is fully compatible with Arduino Uno so you dont need to use wires for connection.

Weather station stand was redesigned. Previous weather station stand was too low and very unstable , so I made new taller and more stable weather station stand.
I also added new holder for the housing which is mounted directly to the weather station stand.
Additional solar panel was added for supplying.

Step 2: Materials

Nearly all needed materials for this project can be bought on online store: DFRobot
For this project we will need:
-Weather station kit
-Arduino Uno
-Arduino Nano
-RF 433 MHz module for Arduino (receiver and transmitter)
-Protoboard
-SD card
-Solar power manager
-5V 1A Solar panel 2x
-Arduino Uno interface shield
-Some nylon cable ties
-Mounting kit
-LCD display
-Breadboard
-Li- ion batteries (I used Sanyo 3.7V 2250mAh batteries)
-Waterproof plastic junction box
-Some wires

For weather station stand you will need:

-about 3.4m long steel pipe or you can also use steel profile.
-wire rope (about 4m)
-wire rope clamp 8x
-Stainless Steel Turnbuckles 2x
-fi10 steel rod (about 50cm)
-Steel lifting eye nut 4x
You will also need some tools:
-soldering iron
-screwdrivers
-pliers
-drill
-welding machine
-angle grinder
-wire brush

Step 3: Summary

As I said this Instructable is the upgrade of my previous Instructable about weather station.

So if you want to know how to assemble weather station kit which is needed for this project you can take a look here:
How to Assemble Weather Station Kit

Also take a look at my previous instructable about this weather station.
Weather Station With Data Logging

Step 4: Weather Station Mounting Solution

With weather station there also comes the question how to make the mounting stand that will endure outside elements.
I needed to make some reserch about the types and designes of weather station stand. After some reserches I decided to make stand with 3m long stell pipe. It is recommened that anemometer is on the highest point at about 10m(33ft), but because I have weather station kit which is All-In-One I choose the recommened height - about 3m(10ft).

The main thing that I needed to consider is that, this stand must be modular and easy to assemble and disassemble so it can be carried to another location.
Assembly:

I started with fi18 3.4m(11.15ft) long steel pipe. First I needed to remove the rust from the pipe so I coated it with rust remover acid.

After 2 to 3 hours when the acid done its part, I started welding everything together. First I welded lifting eye nut on the opposite sides of steel pipe. I positioned it at the height of 2m from the ground, it can be also put higher, but not lower because then the upper part becomes unstable.

Then I needed to make two "anchors", one for each side. For that I took two fi12 50cm(1.64ft) steel rods. On the top of each rod I welded one lifting eye nut and a small steel plate so you can step on it or hammer it into the ground. This can be viewed on picture ( napiš na kiri sliki)

I needed to connect the "anchors" with the lifting eye on both sides of the stand, for that I used wire rope. First I used two about 1.7m(5.57ft) long pieces of wire rope, on side was directly attached to lifting eye nut with the wire rope clamp and the other side was attached to stainless steel turnbuckles. Stainless Steel Turnbuckles is used for tightening the wire rope.

For mounting plastic junction box to the stand I 3D printed handhold. More about this can be viewed in step 5
At the end I painted every steel part with the primar color (two layers). Onto this color you can then lay every color you want.

Step 5: 3D Printed Parts

Because I wanted for mounting stand to be easy to assemble and disassemble I needed to make some 3D printed parts. Every part was printed with PLA plastic and designed by me.

Plastic junction box handholder.

If you take a look at my previous instructable you can see that I made handhold with a steel plate which wasnt really practical. So now I decided to make it from 3D printed parts. It is made out of five 3D printed parts which allows quick replace of broken part.
With this holder, plastic junction box can be mounted directly onto the steel pipe. Height of mouting can be optionally.
Temperature and humidity sensor housing.

I needed to designe housing for temperature and humidity sensor. After some reserch on the internet I came up with a conclusion for the final shape of this housing. I designed Stevenson screen with the holder so that everything can be mounted onto the steel pipe.

It is made out of 10 parts. The main base with two parts and the "cap" which goes onto the top so that everything is sealed ,so that water cant come in.
Everything was printed with PLA filament.

Step 6: Indoor Data Receiver

The main upgrade of this project is wireless data transmitting. So for that I also needed to make indoor data receiver.
For that I used 430 MHz receiver for Arduino. I upgraded it with 17cm ( 6.7 inches) antenna. After that I needed to test the range of this module. First test was made indoor so that I saw how the walls affect on the signal range and how this affects on the signal disruptions. Second test was made outside. The range was more than 10m (33 feet) which was more than enough for my indoor receiver.

Parts of the receiver:
Arduino Nano
Arduino 430 MHz receiver module
RTC module
LCD display
and some connectors
As it can be seen on the picture, this receiver can display outdoor temperature and humidity, date and time of the day.

Step 7: Testing

Before I assemble everything together I had to make some tests.

At first I had to test transmitting and receiver module for Arduino. I had to find the proper code and then I had to chage it so it correspond to project demands. First I tried with simple example, i send one word from the transmitter to the receiver. When this was successfully completed, I continued with sending more data.
Then I had to test the range of this two modules. First I tried without the antennas but it didn't have such a long range, about 4 meters (13 feet). Then the antennas were added. After some research I came across some information, so I decided that the length of antenna will be 17cm (6.7 inches). Then I made two test, one indoor and one outside, so that I saw how the different surroundings affects the signal.

At the last test transmitter was located outdoor and receiver was located indoor. With this I tested if I can really make indoor receiver. At first there were some problems with the interruptions in the signal, because the received value wasn't the same as transmitted. That was solved with new antenna, I bought "original" antenna for 433 Mhz module on the ebay.

This module is good because it is very cheap and easy to use, but it is only useful for small ranges because of the interruptions in the signal.
 

The building of such a project from the idea to the final product can be really fun but also challeching. You need to take time and consider about numerus options for just thing of this project. So if we take this project as a whole you need a lot of time to really make it like you want.

But projects like this are really good opportunity to upgrade your knowledge on the designing and electronics.

It also includes a lot of other technical areas such as 3D modeling, 3D printing, welding. So that you dont just get the view of one technical area but you get the glimps how the technical areas intertwine in such projects.

This project is designed in that way that everybody with a basic skills in electronics, welding, griding, designing can make it. But the main ingredient of project like this is time.