advice on very remote monitoring
Posted: 14 Mar 2017, 16:09
So I am trying to help my friend on a project. I have convinced him to use domoticz and a DHT22 for some of his stuff at home which he is going to get setup
He also has some land about 1 hour away that he wants to monitor things at, problem is no electricity no internet.
So I have a problem of trying to come up with a solution for him.
He will on his land have a solar panel and an array of 3-4 12v deep cycle batteries for when he is there he can run light etc.
He wants to monitor wind speed, rain fall, temp, humidity, soil dampness and some security window open sensors on his build
I was going to use an esp12 however I am running into 2 issues that I’d like your guys feedback on
here are the sensors I am going to use
wind speed - not sure
rain fall - maybe a pulse counter?
temp and humidity for inside and outside - dth22
soil damp -SEN-13322
window/ door sensors mc-38 reed switches
here are some problems I have
power and internet to put it blatantly
my solution for power put the esp12 into deep sleep and wake it up every X time collect data then send to server go back into deep sleep. This is a great solution I think however there are a few problems I see
1 the reed switches for windows and doors, if someone opens them then closes them while its asleep it will never register that it was open
2 pulse counter for rain would be incorrect unless I can store the information somewhere and when it queries it it gets how many pulses and clears it then sends it
3 since there is no RTC on the ESP having it wake up every X time will eventually become out of sync- possible solution add an ultra-low power RTC on it then it can wake it up reliably - does anybody know of one? and how would I set a specific time on it to wake the esp up?
internet solution - have one of those pocket mifi devices that output wifi and connects to 3g with a sim data package
problem - those take way to much power - does anybody know any lower power 3g options
What I was thinking was having a relay trigger to turn it on and turn it off based off the RTC switch but these things take a few minutes to boot up and acquire signal so I couldn't have them both turn on at the same time as the ESP would send data most likely quicker than the mifi could boot up.
Can you guys think of any solution to the problems I present?
I just recently thought of the RTC but still unsure of many factors, any idea/ input / better solution would be appreciated
He also has some land about 1 hour away that he wants to monitor things at, problem is no electricity no internet.
So I have a problem of trying to come up with a solution for him.
He will on his land have a solar panel and an array of 3-4 12v deep cycle batteries for when he is there he can run light etc.
He wants to monitor wind speed, rain fall, temp, humidity, soil dampness and some security window open sensors on his build
I was going to use an esp12 however I am running into 2 issues that I’d like your guys feedback on
here are the sensors I am going to use
wind speed - not sure
rain fall - maybe a pulse counter?
temp and humidity for inside and outside - dth22
soil damp -SEN-13322
window/ door sensors mc-38 reed switches
here are some problems I have
power and internet to put it blatantly
my solution for power put the esp12 into deep sleep and wake it up every X time collect data then send to server go back into deep sleep. This is a great solution I think however there are a few problems I see
1 the reed switches for windows and doors, if someone opens them then closes them while its asleep it will never register that it was open
2 pulse counter for rain would be incorrect unless I can store the information somewhere and when it queries it it gets how many pulses and clears it then sends it
3 since there is no RTC on the ESP having it wake up every X time will eventually become out of sync- possible solution add an ultra-low power RTC on it then it can wake it up reliably - does anybody know of one? and how would I set a specific time on it to wake the esp up?
internet solution - have one of those pocket mifi devices that output wifi and connects to 3g with a sim data package
problem - those take way to much power - does anybody know any lower power 3g options
What I was thinking was having a relay trigger to turn it on and turn it off based off the RTC switch but these things take a few minutes to boot up and acquire signal so I couldn't have them both turn on at the same time as the ESP would send data most likely quicker than the mifi could boot up.
Can you guys think of any solution to the problems I present?
I just recently thought of the RTC but still unsure of many factors, any idea/ input / better solution would be appreciated