With the Aenmosens_MCU board it is possible to use Anemosens as a stand-alone anemometer, which can be used for long-term observations in remote areas (hence the microSD card slot) or as a further part of your weather station (hence the RS485 interface ).
The RS485 interface is used to provide the measured data via Modbus. In this way you can easily connect the anemometer to your RaspberryPi, PC or many other platforms that support RS485 or Modbus.
In addition, a serial stream of data (packaged as a handy JSON) can be activated via the USB connection.
And last but not least, the built-in ESP32 also starts a BLE server. This also gives you the option of calling up the data wirelessly with your smartphone or computer.
Of course, you can also write your own firmware and program it via the integrated USB-C port. The QWIIC port enables additional sensors to be connected easily via I2C.
I had the circuit board manufactured by the circuit board manufacturer PCBWay.com , who made it available to me free of charge. At this point, thank you again for the great service and cooperation. 🙂
In the following you can see a few pictures of the fully assembled circuit board and (almost) all possible components. Unfortunately, due to the current shortage of chips, some sensors such as the BME280 are very expensive or poorly available, which is why I did not install it.
You can also see more information about Anemosens in the following video.
Safety instructions
I know the following hints are always a bit annoying and seem unnecessary. But unfortunately, many people who knew it "better" from carelessness lost their eyes, fingers or other things or hurt themselves. In comparison, a loss of data is almost not worth mentioning, but even these can be really annoying. Therefore, please take five minutes to read the safety instructions. Even the coolest project is worth no injury or other annoyance. https://www.nerdiy.de/en/sicherheitshinweise/
Affiliate links / advertising links
The links to online stores listed here are so-called affiliate links. If you click on such an affiliate link and store via this link, Nerdiy.de receives a commission from the online store or provider concerned. The price doesn't change for you. If you do your purchases via these links, you will support Nerdiy.de in being able to offer further useful projects in the future. 🙂
Requirements
For the construction you have to master SMD soldering tasks. The following articles provide tips on how to do this.
- Electronics—My friend the soldering iron
- Electronics – Solder THT components by hand
- Electronics - Soldering SMD components by hand
Required tools:
PCB manufacturing: You can find all the information you need to manufacture PCBs here:
The Assembly
In previous projects I inserted individual pictures at this point showing which components have to be soldered where on the PCB.
An even better way to get an overview of which components belong where on the PCB can be seen in the following paragraph. Thanks to the work of the OpenScope Project , you can now generate very helpful HTML files in which you can see directly which components have to be installed where on the PCB.
You can see the overview for the Anemosens sensor PCB here: Anemosens_MCU PCB
The current file can also be found in the GIT repository under the following link:
https://github.com/Nerdiyde/Anemosens/blob/main/PCB/anemosens_mcu_v1.3_bom.html
(Please note that you have to download the HTML file in order to display it. This is not possible directly from the GIT repository.)
Programming firmware
The firmware for controlling the sensors on the Anemosens sensor PCB in combination with the Anemosens_MCU PCB is still under development. You can download the current status from the GIT repository . You can find the firmware under the following link.
Have fun with the project
I hope everything worked as described. If not or you have any other questions or suggestions, please let me know in the comments. Also, ideas for new projects are always welcome. 🙂
P.S. Many of these projects - especially the hardware projects - cost a lot of time and money. Of course I do this because I enjoy it, but if you appreciate that I share this information with you, I would be happy about a small donation to the coffee box. 🙂
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Super excited to build this, thanks for posting! Haven't ordered a PCB before, when I go to check out it asks:
"Please fill in the layer order from top side view to bottom side according to
the layer name in your file."
What should I put in for L1, L2, L3, and L4? Again, really looking forward to learning as I go on this, thanks so much for making it available!
Hi Nick,
Uh, thanks for the hint. Didn't know that this is asked during the order process.
Please enter the following:
L1: GTL
L2: G1
L3: G2
L4: GBL
Let me know if you need anything else. 🙂
Best regards
Fab
Hi Fab,
Very cool, that got me to the next step. This'll sound abysmally ignorant, but I didn't realize I had to also order all the components with the board; I thought they were included. 🙂 Is there a way to select an option where the factory assemble/populates them so the board arrives pre-made?
Hi Nick,
Yeah, that's a sad point I'm working on (If everything goes well I will offer the assembled board in the future). But so far the only option is to order the PCB preassembled by PCBway.
All the needed additional files are in the github at: https://github.com/Nerdiyde/Anemosens/tree/main/PCB/manufacturing
Let me know if you need anything else
Best regards
Fabian
Dang, I didn't see a "pre-assembled" option in PCBway. Is it there and I'm missing it, or do I have to order the components separately and assemble them? Either way, exciting!
As far as I remember (cant check it right now) you will see the assembly option during the PCB order process. It should be at the bottom of the same page where you also had to select the allocation of the layers you asked about earlier. 🙂 Hope that helps to find it. Otherwise I can check it tomorrow to give you more details.
Best regards
Fab
Cool, I found it! I uploaded the BoM .xls on it, and got the following clarification request from PCBway:
Please provide exact part number or component URL for SMT2X4MMTACTILE_PUSH_BUTTON.
Is there a specific one you've used? This is so cool to go through and try to get right! I've got a bunch of printed boards in transit and will order a few of the assembled ones as well. Fun project!
Hi Nick,
glad to hear that it worked (so far). 🙂
The component mentioned is not really needed for normal usage. The both buttons are responsible to reset and/or put the ESP32 in programming mode. I integrated it mainly to make the development a bit easier.
Both (reset and putting ESP32 to programming mode) is now handled by the integrated USB2Serial bridge. So in case this is enough for you I would recommend to just not assemble these buttons. 🙂
Please let me know if you want to assemble them anyways, then I will try to find the correct component id.
Sorry for this bumpy way gathering all the needed components. I have to make this a bit easier..
Best regards
Fab
No worries. So I can just tell 'em to drop that component entirely?
Hey, if you need help with making this easier I'm happy to put my shoulder to the wheel. All of the Amazon Affiliate links don't work for US customers, I'm still hunting around the 'net for some of 'em. That diametrically magnetized disc is hard to find outside of the link you gave (which doesn't ship to the US.)
Not sure how much you know about Helium/LoRa, but in my perfect world we'd put together a more or less "push-button" set of instructions so anyone anywhere can have the 3D files printed including a LoRa radio/antenna, order the assembled boards, order all the parts, and build their own weather station to provision on the Helium Network.
I would LOVE to work on that project with you if you're game.
Yes exactly. Just tell them you don't want to have these components assembled. Shouldn't be a problem.
Yeah that issue regarding Amazon is a bit anygoing. Chose them because I thought that they could use their global delivery network to make all the components globally available. Sadly that's not the case.
My (future) solution here will be as well that I try to offer the needed components in a small shop. Sadly I'm not at this point yet. :/
That sounds awesome. I heard about Lora and also have some components here at hand because I always wanted to work with it.
Maybe it could make sense to develop a PCB with the same dimensions but more optimized for lora so that it could be used as a drop-in replacement?
I'm currently working in a wifi version (same MCU) that will be more optimized for battery powered operation, maybe this could be used as a starting point.
What do you think?
Best regards
Fab
Got it, I'll let 'em know to remove that request.
If we go the LoRa/Helium direction developing a PCB we can apply for grant funds for the development (if that's useful to you). My goal would be a stand-alone solar powered weather station that you could "plant" anywhere there's Helium/LoRa coverage (which at this point is getting ubiquitous in populated areas).
Feel free to email me if you'd like to discuss further, this would be a super interesting project to do!
ps Every time I submit a comment, I get this message. I just hit the back button and re-submit, it works fine the second time. "Error: You have entered an incorrect reCAPTCHA value.
Click the BACK button on your browser and try again."