Description
WindIOT is a anemometer that is solar powered and uses cellular data for transmitting data. One unique feature is the wind direction instrument has single degree resolution. It uses a magnetically coupled pointer and hall effect IC to measure with high resolution. When on a buoy, a compass provides the relative heading of the system so that the true wind direction can be calculated.
The controller is an Electron by Particle.io, it is an Arduino based system with built in cellular data and solar controller, perfect for a remote system. Particle.io provides web hooks for passing on the transmitted data and POSTing it to a website.
The system has been in development for several years as a night time project, it was deployed for the first time the summer of 2021 where it worked very well. It was placed on an 18” diameter racing buoy about ½ mile offshore. Sending data to the Pultneyville Yacht Club’s web server every 20 minutes for display on the club’s website. The summer deployment did indicate some issues, the biggest is that if we had 3 cloudy days in a row the solar panels could not keep up. So, for 2022 a bigger battery and maybe turning off cellular data between 11PM and 5AM.
The system is meant to built in a workshop of moderate means, I have a basic tool box, a drill press and chop saw will make the frame building easer. There are twelve 3D printed parts that can be printed on a small printer with PLA or PETG. There are two custom PCBs – one through hole and the other surface mount, so a soldering kit is required.
WindIOT Features
- High resolution wind direction sensor - 1 degree.
- Wind Speed and Direction - 10 minutes of data analyzed for gust & average wind speed and direction.
- 3 Axis Compass for buoy heading.
- Air and Water Temperature every 20 minutes
- Cellular data modem - data send to server every 20 minutes.
- Two 6” Solar cells and onboard battery - can handle several days without sun.
- Low power and hibernate modes
- Designed to waterproof IP68 standard to survive on the buoy.
Github Repositories
WindIOT-CAD CAD models of the mechanical parts and assemblies. STL files for the 3D printed parts and STEP model of the whole system for import into another CAD package. The models were developed with Alibre Atom3D – a nice hobbyist CAD package.
WindIOT-ControllerSoftware Control software for reading sensors and offboarding data. System uses Particle.IO Electron controller which is Arduino based and uses C computer language.
WindIOT-PCBs There are two custom PCBs used on the project. A controller PCB that is in the enclosure and has Electron microcontroller and connectors to sensors and solar panels. It is through hole. The second PCB is the wind speed and direction PCB that is on top of the sensor mast. It is very small and has surface mount components.
WindIOT-WordPressPlugIn Like most small organizations PYC uses WordPress to edit and organize the website content. This plug-in is PHP based and is compatible with WordPress 5. It is not an official plug-in and need to be manually installed. There is a second data API that receives the web hook data from Particle.IO.