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6B. Assemble Stacked Version Solar Powered Weather Station

Hardware Assembly

Stacked Shield Version

Use the photos as guides. The orientation of the breakout sensor boards and LiPo cell connections are critically important.

Use good quality small gauge rosin-core solder. Keep the iron tip clean and tinned.

Solar Charger Shield D1S-LiSo

  1. Assemble the board starting with the lowest components and working up.
    1. Resistor R1
    2. Slide switch
    3. XH-2P Socket for PANEL. Observe orientation.
    4. LiPo connector lead. Observe polarity: RED to (+), BLACK to unmarked pad.
    5. Headers pins for TP4056 (4 x 1p). Place short tails through the board.
  2. Solder the TP4056 to the header pins (no socket). Observe the orientation of the Micro USB connector.
  3. Solder one pin of each of the 8-pin female headers (2) for the D1 Mini shield. Square them up if needed and solder the remaining points.
  4. Solder the leads from the XH-2P connector to the back of the solar panel. OBSERVE THE POLARITY: RED to +, BLACK to -.
  5. Set switch RUN.
  6. Insert the LiPo cell connector onto the CELL pins. NOTE WELL!!! OBSERVE THE POLARITY!!! Red is positive (+), black is negative (unmarked).
  7. Set the 8-pin female header sockets (2) in place but do not yet solder them. The sockets should point up.
  8. Temporarily pass the leads of the pass-through connectors through the D1 Mini board and engage them with the header sockets on the charger shield.
  9. Solder the header socket pins on the underside of the charger shield.
  10. NOTE: There is no ON/OFF switch on this board. Disconnect the LiPo cell to power down the board.

D1S-WX1 Sensor Shield

  1. Insert the 4-pin female header socket at the BME280 location. Solder one pin on teh underside of the board. Square up the header if needed and solder the remaining points.
  2. Insert the 5-pin female header socket at the BH1750 location. Solder one pin on the underside of the board. Square up the header if needed and solder the remaining points.
  3. Set the BME280 on the 4-pin male header with the sensor pointing up. Solder one pin. Square up the header if needed. Solder the remaining pins.
  4. Set the BH1750 on the 5-pin male header with the sensor pointing up. Solder one pin. Square up the header if needed. Solder the remaining pins.
  5. Set the sensor board on two males headers and engage them with the pass-through sockets on teh D1 Mini. Solder one pin of each on the top side of the board. Square up if needed and solder the remaining pins.
  6. Insert the BME280 and BH1750 in the sockets.

D1 Mini Assembly

  1. At this point, the pass-through header sockets are loosely in place and engaged with the sensor and charger shields. Carefully disengage the charger shield from teh pins of teh pass-through connectors. Leave the sensor board plugged into teh sockets of teh pass-through connectors.
  2. Solder the long tails of the pass-through headers (2) to the underside of the D1 Mini. Refer to the photo for the orientation of the headers.

Final Assembly

  1. Place the D1 Mini onto the charger shield so that both Mini USB connectors are on the same side.
  2. Place the sensor shield onto the D1 Mini with the BH1750 above the Mini USB connector of the D1 Mini.
  3. Configure the firmware as described in Section 7. Configure Firmware
  4. Set the switch on the charger board to the position opposite RUN. Connect a Micro USB cable between your computer and the D1 Mini. Upload either the IoT or IoT-APRS weather station firmware.
  5. Solder the leads from the XH-2P connector to the back of the solar panel. NOTE WELL!!! OBSERVE THE POLARITY: RED to +, BLACK to —.
  6. Insert the LiPo cell connector onto the CELL pins. NOTE WELL!!! OBSERVE THE POLARITY!!! Red is positive (+), black is negative (unmarked).
  7. Set the switch to RUN.
Exploded view of stacked shields
Identification and arrangement of the three types of headers.

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