Introduction: How to Make Real-Time WiFi Strength Visualizer
Hello friends, in this instructables i will show you How to Make Real-Time WiFi Strength Visualizer.
By the name you might have got an idea what this project is all about! If not im there to explain you, But before let me quickly tell you what made me to come up with this project.
I have always been using many applications to check my wifi speed, the process is time comsuming and its not that accurate(in terms of real time).
So i wanted to visualize the wifi that too in real time!
How fancy sounding this term is right? But you may ask now how the wifi can be visualized?
Yes it can be visualized and based on this topic this entire project was built.
Im not sure if the spirit boxes work(like you see in movies) But my wifi meter will definitely work!
This wifi visualizer will show the speed of connected wifi device in real time and it can be your next useful desktop gadget.
It serves the 2 purpose, The first one is the it converts the digital signal into the easily readable analog signal and it can be readable by anyone.
Secondly you are seeing the unseen signals! How cool is that right.
Here i have made a meter thing that fluctuates based on your current wifi speed, you can also verify this with a web server that comes along with this project.
I have segregated the speed of wifi into 3 different types.
Green - Fast wifi speed
Orange - moderate speed
Red - Poor speed
Since most of them use 200mbps or higher wifi, you can expect the wifi meter to show orange and green levels only.
If you uses 50mbps or less wifi speed than upon connecting to multiple streaming devices you can expect the red led to glow and the meter in the top left side.
This project is definitely a must try if you are a hobbyist who want to see the invisible things around you(im speaking about the wifi here)
Supplies
These are the materials that you will need to build this project
Wemos D1 Mini from amazon
Slicer Software(i used ultimaker Cura)
Tinkercad(If you want to make any changes to my design)
Arduino IDE
Jumper Cables
Super Glue
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Step 1: Circuit and Program
Since we are using only 2 components here, the connections are really simple
The servo and the ws2812b strip(single LED) are the electronics components here and both of them has the 3 terminals, 2 for the power supply and one for the signal.
I will connected both the grounds to the Gnd pin of the wemos board first.
The LED strip positive is connected to 3v pin of wemos whereas the servo pin is connected to 5v pin of wemos.
The singal pin of servo is connected to D3 whereas the LED pin signal is connected to D1
After these connections are complete, connect the wemos board to computer using the usb and then open the arduino ide.
Open the IDE and paste the below program, you might need to install the adafruit library if you have never used in any of your projects before.
Check the wifi id and password and replacwe it with yours whose speed you like to see inside the analog meter.
After the program is done uploading make sure to check the circuit first to see if everything is working fine.
Step 2: Design and 3d Printing
I designed the entire parts for this project using TinkerCad application, It was very fun to make the design using various shapes.
If you think you can make much more beautiful model than me then you can edit my tinkercad design
On the other way round if you want to use the same design simply download and use my files!
After i made the design i exported the files to cura slicer, there is no need of any rafts or supports and i have added the pictures of my settings which i used at the time of slicing.
There are total of 4 parts in total
I printed the base/main body first and i used the pla black color filament to print this and this part takes some time to print since this is the only big model in this project.
Then i printed the ring and the top lid part with red pla filament and these parts wont take much time.
In the end i printed the meter(semicircle) using the white filament and this is the least time taking part which you can print.
After all the models are done printing, there is no need of any post processing!
If your filament has moisture then you might see some web like tiny parts on the printed edges, you can remove them easily.
Now you have all the parts ready and we can head over to assembling the electronics inside these parts.
Step 3: Assembling Components
I will start by inserting the components inside the 3d printed frame, To begin with wemos d1 board was inserted into this and the wifi board in wemos will be fixed inside the rectangular space in the frame.
Not to worry this is very easy thing to do, I have designed the frame considering the jumper connected to wemsos board.
After this is done, insert the LED to the space provided and in my case the fit was very well without the need for glue.
In the end connect the servo to the slot provided, Here also there was no need of any glue.
Finish the base frame part with a lid and for securing it well i will use superglue.
Now the base part is ready, add the meter part that is the white semicircle that we made earlier.
Note that this part is glued to the servo body and not on the servo horns, Note this when you are connecting this part.
Now we have cased all the electronics inside the frame and the only thing left is making the analog meter and we will see that how in the next step.
Step 4: Analog Meter Setup
For the servo to show the accurate results before fixing the dial connect this device first and wait for the servo to come to its initial position(before connecting to wifi)
In my case after the circuit testing i had a initial position which i marked for later.
I made use of small piece of pla filament, and the red color was chosen since it looks good with white background.
I made use of small lighter to heat this and straighten the filament so that it fits for the role of dial.
The tip was made triangle(kind of) and the base was flattened so it will fit the servo horns with ease.
I then added a drop of super glue and fixed the dial in the servo horn, depending on the initial position of yours you can either keep it left/right pointed.
Now mark the meter reading on the white semicircular part, i painted it with colors and also marked words for easy readability.
Now we are almost done with the build part, we can test the project to see its working.
Step 5: Finishing and Using
Using this device is very much exciting because we can finally see the results of our build.
To use this project all you have to do is power the device with usb power supply and the servo resets for its default position and in few seconds you can see the wemos board connecting the wifi(earlier given credentials)
Now on your phone/wifi connected device check for the ip address of your wemos board.
Copy and paste this IP address on any browser, and you will see a web server showing the same results as in analog meter
Now you will see the led light glowing in either red/orange/green along with the servo movements.
If the wifi strength is good the color of led wil be green and the meter will be in green zone(this indicates the excellent strength) and if the speed is moderate the led will be orange and the meter will be in middle.
The red color you can expect very rare if your wifi is deactivated or too many devices are streaming at once, I was able to get this when i was streaming in almost 4 devices and my 100mbps wifi was barely able to maintain the speed.
You can also check this by connecting your wifi to one device and with multiple device.
Also you can cross check with web server also, just refresh the page and you should be able to see the same.
Don't miss to check the full build tutorial along with working video.
Thanks for reading and have a great build.
