[zitoune]

Hello everyone,

After looking for a new DIY electronics magazine to subscribe to, I ended up getting Silicon Chip. This one is very similar to my old time French magazine I used to read when I was younger. Unfortunately its editor put an end to its issuance a few months ago.

Straight I was caught by this weather station; so I ordered the missing issues with the idea to start again some DIY stuff - and this station was a perfect project for me to start soldering again!
I then ordered all the pieces I needed to build it and eventually a few weeks later I ended up building the 3 boards. Casing was the next step.

I publish a few first pictures of my work here below, the WD board is still missing a case - I am trying to figure out which one would be the best.

Let's start with the sensors: I mounted the mat with all the sensors on an old mop stick whose tip had an hole that fits exactly the mat (I needed to slightly crush it with a pair of plier so that it was the exact same shape as the whole). A few clamps later and it was done!




I chose a water proof casing for my TX - I live ina very humid country. I still need to seal the holes with some silicon.
It has a transparent top (very popular here!) because I wanted to see the emitter LED from outside. I used two circular connectors for the power supply and the sensors. All of them are using a standard telephone wire with four wires. The temperature shield contains a DHT22.
Here is it what it looks like:



I have fixed the PCB with two screws and spacers underneath - the screws are actually glued to the bottom of the case. Pretty neat.



The position in my building is definitely not the most optimum one but this is only what I can do for now (maybe I should climb to the roof a find a space to put it with a solar panel - probably the next move!).

The RX unit is inside, with a flat rounded corner shape box. The two antennas are at the top with the BP in the center. I cut the LCD whole with a simple cutter and it worked pretty well! I still need to put a bezel to make it look nicer. I'll post inside pictures later one.
Here it is:




It's a bit hot in the case, mainly due to the heat generated by the regulator but also the outside temperature which is always around 30 degrees ++



I love the blue color of the LCD

The WD is done but still misses a case.

Any comment is welcome! I'll post more soon

[zitoune]

Here we go again - inside the RX box

Similar to the RX, the PCB is fixed at the bottom of the box with 2 screws glued.



The temp sensor is glue through a square shaped hole:



The whole box with the LCD - is is cramped inside its hole with no glue.

[uncle_bob]

Very impressive. Nice workmanship.
Me envious

[zitoune]

Thanks a lot uncle_bob !

Very impressive. Nice workmanship.
Me envious

---

I add a few more of the TX unit with no glass top.

[werk_ag]

Congratulations, you had a lot of care with this construction.
I'm wrong, or you are using original Arduinos from Grativetch US?

[zitoune]

Thank you very much

Yes the nano boards are all original from Gravitech US.

I also had to get the Arduino ISP to burn the boot loader again after a few tries to upload sketches - somehow, at some point, it would not load anything to the nano. Burning again the boot loader solved the issue.

Congratulations, you had a lot of care with this construction.
I'm wrong, or you are using original Arduinos from Grativetch US?

[zitoune]

I have finished the WD board and its casing.

I used a case initially dedicated for a Raspberry Pi as it had the 2.8" hole for the screen. It was a bit challenging to put everything inside due to the limited volumes, so I had to find some tricks.

Here is the details of the interior:



I had to remove the connector housing I made by crimping wires on contacts because their height in the case was too much.
So I soldered the 4 wires of the temperature sensor directly to the male connector of the PCB and used a telephone cable instead of the ribbon cable that took too much space in the enclosure.
I did the same with the TFT screen connectors: each side of the ribbon had initially a housing with crimped connectors which I had to remove to solder the wires directly on the PCB contacts. It's less "nice" but I had no choice - the case would not close at all otherwise..

Next I wanted to pass a USB cable through the case to power the board so i drilled a hole accordingly. But the cable being positioned at the top of the case and it was ugly - well I was not convinced of the rendering. So, I decided to use a male mini USB plug which I hooked directly to the USB cable. As you can see the previous hole I made for the mini USB connector was useful given the extra length of the mini USB plug

The screen is screwed on the panel from behind.

Another view of inside:



And now the finished product!



The temperature sensor is glued on the side as follows:



The antenna adds a bit of weight and moved the gravity center a bit behind - so I have to maintain it against my lamp for now



And of course the enclosure keys are functional: I have glue a special push button behind to get my display working



That's it !

[hornychz]

I have finished the WD board and its casing.

Congratulations. Very nice. And the result is a very slim.

[uncle_bob]

Great job!
That case would be ideal if it was just a little bit bigger.

[zitoune]

Yes the space is very limited indeed and does not give much choice in using fancy connectors.

But it does the job, looks great and nicely sits on a table/desk