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ESP8266 WiFi Weather Station with Color TFT Display
We were playing around already with LED MATRIX’s, devices to visualize measured values and/or texts. In this blog post (Tutorial) we will use a TFT Display (Thin-film-transistor liquid-crystal display) with touch screen to display a three (3) days weather forecast with moon phases. This little weather station acquires its data over a Wi-Fi connection from an online weather server, Wunderground.
We will use devices from ADAFRUIT; they have developed a special product series for easy mounting, the FEATHER series. We need the TFT FeatherWing – 2.4″ 320×240 Touchscreen and the ADAFRUIT Feather HUZZAH which has included an ESP8266. We used the ESP8266 already in our previous blog post <===> First Steps with the ESP8266 Wi-Fi Module | Maker, MakerED, Coding | Scrolling Text (Time, Temp., Humidity…) with 8×8 LED MATRIX <===> so we are already familiar with its use!
What is GREAT with this project, there ISN’T any wiring, no cables to connect; apart from plugging in the accumulator! 😉 BUT, please check the video below who explains in detail:
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Detailed parts list, supplier and prices
Please find below the detailed parts list as well as the supplier and the prices.
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Item and quantity |
Supplier and order number |
Price |
| ADAFRUIT Feather HUZZAH | ADAFRUIT: ID 3046 | 18.95$ |
| ADAFRUIT TFT FeatherWing – 2.4″ 320×240 Touchscreen | ADAFRUIT: ID 3315 | 29.95$ |
| Lithium Ion Battery – 3.7v 2000mAh | ADAFRUIT: ID 2011 | 12.50$ |
| Slide switch | 1$ | |
| Total: | 62.40 $ |
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I suggest to you to read the full article from ADAFRUIT here <===> https://learn.adafruit.com/wifi-weather-station-with-tft-display/overview?embeds=allow <===> who explains in detail ALL the necessary steps!!
For the case of the weather station ADAFRUIT provides the 3D Design files, so you can 3D print it:
As you can see the price is reasonable for this project, ONLY 62.40$ and easy to realize! ALL what YOU need is a bit time, passion and here we GO! 😉 Have FUN!
Online ordering links:
- Adafruit
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Preparation: Libraries, code and API Key
There is some preparation needed before we can test our code for the weather station: I suggest that you read and that you follow each step as shown in this tutorial by ADAFRUIT (very important, otherwise it won’t work!!):
It isn’t difficult, but it needs some time and you must be careful to follow each step!
We need ALSO an account on the weather server Wunderground to create our “API” (Application Programming Interface) which we need to implement in our code settings! THIS is also well explained here:
Same procedure as explained already above, follow very carefully each action step by step!
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Are there some pit falls?
YES, this could be!
- It ONLY works with the ADAFRUIT Feather HUZZAH!!! It’s an ESP8266 but it has a different PINOUT as the normal ESP8266!!
- When it doesn’t work, you won’t GET an internet connection, thus meaning that you see on the screen “Internet Connection” for a loooong time, without that the weather data gets shown, you didn’t follow step by step the instructions!! Check our previous blog post (Tutorial) on How-To let the NEW device GET access to your Network:
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The code is running, how it shows up in reality
Well, you haven’t encounter any problem or the problems are solved, this is WHAT you will see appearing on the TFT:
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As you can see in “Picture 6“, that is what shows up on the first start! Is it the right time which is displayed? Is it the right measure unit which is displayed (°C OR °F)? If SO, it is OK then, if NOT, then we have to look on the code and change some settings!!
Here below the How-To:
Open the Arduino IDE and click on the “Settings.h” tab, check below where and how to change (adapt) the settings to your country and time zone.
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Click the image, please, to enlarge
Once done, save the code and upload it again. You will GET the right data displayed then as shown below:
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The author Gust MEES is ICT Course Instructor, ”Member of the Advisory Board” from “Luxembourg Safer Internet” (LuSI), BEESECURE, Official Partner (Consultant) from the Ministry of Education in Luxembourg, project “MySecureIT“, Official Partner from the Ministry of Commerce in Luxembourg, project “CASES” (Cyberworld Awareness and Security Enhancement Structure). The author was also a winner of an electronics contest (Germanic countries) in 1979 and got his project published in the “Electronics Magazine ELO”. |
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Stay tuned for next blog post(s) 😉..
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Keywords necessary for me to create this project: Adafruit Feather HUZZAH, ESP8266, Adafruit Feather TFT Display, 3 days weather station, weather forecast, moon phases, Wunderground, Wi-Fi module, ESP8266 and Adafruit Feather HUZZAH NOT the same pinout!!, where to buy?, time zone, metric, imperial, °C, °F, Arduino IDE, web server, weather server,
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EDU: Digital CitiZENship, CyberSecurity, eSkills, Modern EDU by Gust MEES 