Weather station kits purchased after July 2022 are preprogrammed. They are configured using a cell phone or W-Fi connected computer. These instructions are for a cell phone to configure either the single board or stacked version of the weather stations. The same method can be used with a Wi‑Fi connected computer.
You must be familiar with how to open the Wi-Fi connection settings on your phone, how to open your phone’s web browser, and how to enter an URL into the browser’s address bar. If unsure, look up these features for your phone in your phone’s instruction manual or use your favorite search engine.
This procedure will temporarily turn the weather station into a Wi-Fi access point. You will connect your cell phone to the weather station’s Wi-Fi signal. Then you will use your cell phone’s web browser to open a web page hosted by the weather display. This is known as a captive portal. After you enter the configuration information into the web page, the weather station will connect to your Wi-Fi network and begin normal operation.
Instructions for overriding the supplied programming (not recommended) are provided in Section 7B. Weather Station Firmware Configuration – Manually Programmed
- Have all the configuration information at hand ready to enter. Use the table below as a guide.
- If you are not a licensed Amatuer Radio Operator or do not wish to post your weather data on APRS then you need only your Wi-Fi logon credentials and your ThingSpeak API key:
- Your Wi-Fi name (SSID) and password.
- Your ThingSpeak write API key. Since this is a long key it may be easier to use cut and paste to avoid errors. To obtain an API key see 3. Open a ThingSpeak account
- Your elevation in meters. https://www.freemaptools.com/elevation-finder.htm Accurate elevation of the station is needed to calculate equivalent sea level barometric pressure.
Your selected interval between transmissions.TBD- Leave all APRS fields blank.
- If you are a licensed Amateur Radio Operator and wish to post your data to APRS you will need these additional items:
- Your call sign with your selected SSID. The preferred SSID for weather stations is 13. For example, W1AW-13.
- Your APRS passcode. https://apps.magicbug.co.uk/passcode/
- Your latitude and longitude in decimal degrees. To find your location on google.com/maps/ right-click on your location and read your coordinates at the top of the list.
- Open your phone’s Wi-Fi connection settings. Change the setting for your normal Wi-Fi connection to disable auto-reconnect. Refer to instructions for your phone to learn how to do this.
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- For single-board versions: Turn switch SW1 to ON. SW2 must be set to RUN. For stacked versions set the switch on the charger board to RUN. You now have four minutes to enter your configuration data.
- Observe the list of available networks on your phone. After a brief delay “D1M-WX2-portal” will appear. Select it and wait for your phone to connect. You may safely ignore any warning that no Internet is available.
figure
- Open your phone’s browser. Enter 192.168.4.1 into the address bar. The WiFiManager page will appear.
- The weather station will save the configuration data, connect to your WI-Fi and begin normal operation. This may take a minute or so. Be patient.
- At this point your should see data appear on your ThingSpeak channel.
- If you ever need to change any parameter, press the reset button on the D1 Mini twice in succession about one-second apart. You may have to do this a few times. The unit goes into configuration mode when the blue LED on the D1 Mini turns on. Repeat the configuration steps.
Configuration Parameters
Parameter | ThingSpeak Only (non-licensed operators) | APRS & ThingSpeak (licensed operators only) |
|---|---|---|
| Wi-Fi SSID | <your Wi-Fi SSID> | <your Wi-Fi SSID> |
| Wi-Fi Password | <your Wi-Fi password> | <your Wi-Fi password> |
| ThingSpeak Parameters: | ||
| ThingSpeak Channel ID | <your channel ID> | <your channel ID> |
| ThingSpeak API Write Key | <your write key> | <your write key> |
| Elevation | <station elevation> | <station elevation> |
| TBD | TBD | |
| APRS Parameters: | ||
| Callsign-SSID | [leave blank] | <your callsign-SSID> |
| Passcode | [leave blank] | <your passcode> |
| Latitude | [blank or latitude] | <station latitude> |
| Longitude | [blank or longitude] | <station longitude> |
Serial Monitor
You do not need to install the Arduino IDE to configure the weather station if used with the pre-programmed firmware, however, the IDE is useful for troubleshooting. It is interesting to can view the workings of the station on the serial monitor built into the IDE. Install the IDE with the instructions in 4. Prepare the Arduino IDE. Connect the USB cable to the D1 Mini. NOTE: Turn the SW1 switch to OFF to prevent backfeeding the the LiPo cell. Set the baud rate to 115,200 in the serial monitor.
This is an example of typical output: