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A project log for Low Power High Accuracy Weather Station

'Professional' wind instruments are mounted high on a pole in an exposed location with LoRa data transmission

capt-flatus-oflahertyCapt. Flatus O'Flaherty ☠ 02/16/2019 at 12:110 Comments

Although weather stations are normally quite easy projects with relatively simple electronics, they do have their challenges. I am currently using the LORAWAN 1300 mcu and finding that it is stable for about 24 hours and then crashes for no obvious reason. The most obvious culprit is the anemometer which uses the Arduino pulsein function, but it could also be due to my crappy coding or PCB design. Debugging is ongoing and the PCB has been redesigned with priority being given to the signal path from the anemometer.

I've also incorporated a watchdog chip (STWD100NYWY3F) which checks every 1.5 seconds for a heart beat pulse from the MCU. If the heart beat stops, it triggers a reset. The component is quite small but can be soldered without the need for a stencil as it has protruding legs and can easily be tested and replaced if there is a problem.

Obviously, it's still a good idea to find the actual fault in the system!

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