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Weather Station Hardware => Davis Instruments Weather Stations => Topic started by: azchrisf on April 03, 2021, 10:10:28 PM
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I thought for the weekend I'd show you guys my weather station, and my project I made using an Arduino to monitor the enclosure and the FARS AC Fan speed.
When I did the AC FARS conversion, I had to run conduit from an external outlet with an extender box to allow conduit connection since I have a house built in the early 80's that did not have more than 1 "external" outlet. Once I got the hanging and digging done up to the pole and the 14 gauge Romex run (it was already on a GFCI circuit - a MUST), I realized obviously we needed something to convert to DC. Since I now how AC on the pole and the ISS is there too, I bought 2 adjustable power supplies - one for the ISS, and one for the FARS fan since both will require different voltages (fan 12V, ISS 5.5V). A medium size pole-mount enclosure was purchased to place the power supplies in. With all that, the FARS AC conversion was done after of course running the wiring and putting the fan in the FARS enclosure. With that, I got to thinking, what if the fan fails and I don't notice it? So I got to thinking about a prior project where a user replaced their entire ISS with their own making, so I adapted that idea into a "Enclosure/FARS monitor" system. It monitors the temp/humidity of the enclosure, the Fan speed tach output from the fan, etc. and I wired into the Supercap to monitor it's voltage as well, although it will just deplete or stay the same because the ISS does not charge it when on AC power.
This project took me over a month and a few revisions, the first board I showed was tiny and used the Arduino still connected to it, which didn't fit in the box right. It's rather simple to disconnect the Arduino and use a 328P by itself, if you know what you're doing. if not, just keep it plugged into the Arduino. I learned alot of new things and experience by doing this project - Arduino stuff, electrical components, etc. etc. it was fun.
It's a project you can all modify to your heart's content - whatever YOU want to do, it CAN be made!
I will add in that you DO NOT have to go anywhere near this complexity to do the AC FARS conversion. I'm a computer technician by trade so electronics are my thing to play with - As long as you can run a DC fan into it, and power it thru a AC/DC converter - tiny board or large wall wart in a large sock-it box (http://www.sockitbox.com/) or something - anything - do it - as long as it's SAFE. You WILL save money over the long run vs. buying the Davis fan motors or changing them out constantly if Jameco's don't last.
If you guys would like a component list, let me know. I'll be glad to post what I used.
This is the station (the Anemometer and Solar/UV are up on a 33ft Chimney not visible, and my dog knocked over my beer... :( )
(https://i.ibb.co/nLLS6sJ/IMG-20210403-182240.jpg)
(https://i.ibb.co/bmw03xK/IMG-20210310-102056.jpg)
Inside for curious people:
(https://i.ibb.co/tpZs1L8/IMG-20210403-182315.jpg)
The transmitter board by itself.
(https://i.ibb.co/HFCJCYV/IMG-20210320-104909.jpg)
This is the receiver prototype (it's different now, smaller...)
(https://i.ibb.co/HzC9hx6/IMG-20210307-134833.jpg)