Small Temperature and Lightness Sensor Shield

by ohneschuh

23K2563

Intro: Small Temperature and Lightness Sensor Shield

For my wifi weather station (Arduino + ESP8266) I need an temperature and lightness sensor shield. Therefore I designed the following one.

I will publish the whole weather station later, too. Actually I'm still working on the software. But the last step shows a picture of the final design.

STEP 1: Parts

To build this weather station you need some parts:

  • 1x stripboard 4x5 vertical
  • 2x Resistor 10 kΩ
  • 1x headers 4x1 male 90°
  • 1x light-dependent resistor (LDR) - I use a GL5537
  • 1x thermistor - I use R0=10 kΩ, beta=3950
  • one short wire

STEP 2: Build Up

I will not show the whole build up of the shield because it's easy soldering. Only the steps:

  • Insert the cut in the breadboard
  • solder all parts onto the right place
  • Finished

STEP 3: Outlook

Here's a brief look to the final weater station measuring

  • temperature
  • lightness
  • air pressure
  • humidity

and send the data via wifi to thingspeak.com! And all combined on a stripboard size of 5 to 6 cm.

So, follow me for the further instructables.

9 Comments

TheMakMan 8 years ago

project i love it it is very coool

AlyssonR2 8 years ago

Nice!!

I'm using a photodiode for light levels - and a piece of Woods Glass over one to monitor UV radiation (mainly UVA).

I found that the LDRs, while inexpensive, are slow to react and tend toward a high hysteresis.

You are so right about the thermistor being faster than the DHT11 being slow, and the thermal sensor in there is primarily for temperature compensation in the DHT11.

ohneschuh 8 years ago

Hello,

yes you are right. The LDR is slow but for me fast enough for daylight changes. More important for my project are the deviations of the parameter R(10lux) and gamma. Coming from this problem I just prepare a series of instructables "Measuring the world". The first will be "How to calibrate a LDR".

Regards.

ohneschuh

AlyssonR2 8 years ago

Now that sounds like a series worth following!

JmsDwh 8 years ago

Very nice. The humidity sensor can also do air temperature but it seems to be slow to react to changes. Maybe a UV sensor would be handy too?

ohneschuh 8 years ago

Yes you are right. The DHT11 is slow but more important the accuracy is only ±2°C. There's also an BMP180 on board for measuring the air pressure. This shield also includes an themperature sensor. But the precision is also not the best. The thermistor is much better regarding my measuring range.