Weather Station Project #20 - Found a Neat Resource for the Weather Display

About 2 months ago, a post was made to GitHub at https://github.com/kmkingsbury/raspberrypi-weather-station from Kevin Kingsbury.  This is a RPi based weather station, but has a twist in that there is an avid use of the Weather Underground API for his display.  I plan on tapping into that code for use with my RPi based Weather Display.  As you know, I plan on extracting all of my information for the Display from outside sources, particularly Weather Underground.  By using some of this code my life will be made simple.

BTW, Kevin has done a fine job with the backgrounds and displays for Austin, TX.  The last time I was in Austin was for a conference in 1996 where I gave a paper on Requirements creep and Software Design Patterns.  Memories.

Weather Station Project #18 - Obtained a Weather Underground API Key

I have been in the process of coming up with a way of (1) calibrating the upcoming Solar Radiation and UV sensors for my Weather Station; and (2) determining how I can display the Weather Underground information for my Weather Station on a convenient interactive home display.  So the first thing that needed to be done was to obtain an API key to Weather Underground.  They have made this extremely easy to do, especially for a developer.

I will first use the key to build a data extraction tool to gather solar radiation and UV readings from stations near me so that I can come up with an equation for my sensors that will put me in the ballpark of the more costly ones.  This will allow me to modify the weewx routines on my RPi to accept the new sensor information and then send it on to Weather Underground.

I will then use the key to put together a touchscreen style display controlled via a RPi that will display the current and forecast weather for my Weather Station.  I intend to do this as discussed in weather-station-project-9-building a weather and general info display.  The key is necessary to pull the Weather Underground information.  Of course, it could be used to display the information from any Weather Underground station, but let me build it first.

The general sequencing will be as follows for the RPi Weather Display:

Weather Station Project #17 - Waiting for some parts to Start on the Solar Radiation/UV Sensor

I just purchased a TP-Link TL-POE150S PoE Injector and a TL-POE10R PoE Splitter over the weekend.  What intrigued me was that the TL-POE150S came with a 48 volt power supply to inject power through the Ethernet cable. The TL-POE10R had a selection switch to convert down to 12, 9, or 5 volts prior to splitting the output via a 5.5mm x 2.1mm connector (cable included).  I also picked up a clear sandwich box to put the equipment into.

I ordered a power splitter, power adapter plugs, and power to micro USB adapters from Amazon.

The parts list looks like this so far:

1. Raspberry Pi B+
2. Gertduino
3. Arduino Proto Board
4. Raspberry Pi No-IR camera
5. TP-Link TL-POE150S PoE Injector w/power supply
6. TP-Link TL-POE10R PoE Splitter w/power connector cable
7. Power splitter cable (1 female to 4 males - 5.5mm x 2.1mm)
8. Power adapter plug (1 female 5.5mm x 2.1mm to ISO block)
9. Power plug 5.5mm x 2.1mm to micro USB cable
10. Ethernet socket adapter (for mounting on wall of sandwich box)
11. Clear sandwich box (see-through for RPi camera)
12. RTV to pot up the holes so that water can't get in
13. Mounting platform and hardware to mount sandwich box on outside

For the moment, I am going to forgo the Pollen Sensor and concentrate on the other two sensors.  I will update this list and add a picture as the stuff comes together this weekend.

Update: I have the power splitter cables in, still waiting on the power plug to micro USB cable to come in.  They were supposed to be delivered on Monday and it is Thursday already.  I can't complain because the adapters were only about a buck apiece.  Somehow they are tied up in Indianapolis, IN under a "Processing Exception", whatever that means.  I may end up ordering the cables from a different source.  Ok, put in another order in case this one doesn't come through.  These cables are apparently tough to find.

I added the picture below to show the new setup with the two sensors on top, on an Arduino breadboard, Gertduino, on top of a Raspberry Pi B+.  There is also a No-IR RPi camera peeking out from between the Gertduino and the RPi.


I am also wondering if I should make the unit multi-tasking.  If so, I could setup my own web service API so that the unit would respond with values from the sensors, pictures from the camera, and potentially other information gleaned from Weather Underground for my weather station.  That way I could minimize the kiosk nature of my RPi Weather Display and use unit as the main source for the display.  That also simplifies the interface with my weewx software connected to the Davis Console.

Weather Station Project #9 - Building a Weather and General Info Display

I thought  that I might take some time and figure out a weather display for my PWS.  I am intending on using another RPi, different from the one running the PWS to do the interface to an old monitor that I have lying around.  I intend on have some sort of touch pad and people sensor attached to the RPi and mounted on the top of the monitor; also holding the RPi on the back of the monitor.  The idea is to be able to change what is being displayed, or send it into a rotation mode, by tapping on the touch pads, and have an IR sensor determine when someone walks into the room.  So the requirements look like the following:

(1) Raspberry Pi displaying output from the PWS / Weather Underground / Google Calendar / NOAA radar map / ABC News feed / Fox News feed, etc.

(2) a touch pad connected to the Raspberry Pi which is able to sense a touch and cause the display to change to the desired feed, or conversely to change to an auto rotating display.  The touch pad should also be able to turn the display off (sleep mode).

(3) an IR sensor connected to the Raspberry Pi which will detect when someone enters the room and turn the display on (from sleep mode), it should be able to be set to go into sleep mode automatically after a certain amount of time in which there is no movement in the room.

(4) the Raspberry Pi should be able to be connected to the wi-fi system via a usb adapter and have only a power connection to get it running.

Update: this is a shot of a Raspberry Pi B+, in a case, attached to the back of a Acer touch screen monitor via a little lexan Vesa mount that I picked up at Micro Center for cheap.  I am in the process of setting it up to do the afore mentioned items.  I just picked up the Acer Touch Screen Monitor from Micro Center for about $250.  It's a 21.5 inch screen area with two HDMI ports.  It has it's issues, and no I haven't tried out the touch screen interface on the RPi yet, but seems to be near enough to what I want to use.  Also, it doubles as the display for my Mac Mini.  I got it for a potential portable Weather Display.  BTW, the long adapter is for a Logitech keyboard; small adapter plus an extension.