This post is a work in progress (v0.8 – 25/10/2021)
After watching this video from Jeff Geerling (demonstrating how to build a Air Quality Sensor) I have decided to make 2. but why not build something bigger?
I want to make a RaspBerry Pi server with a touch screen to receive data from a dozen other WeMos Sensors that I will build.
The Plan
Below is a rough plan of what I am building
In a nutshell, it will be 20x WeMos Sensors recording
I ordered all the parts from Amazon, BangGood, AliExpress, eBay, Core Electronics and Kogan.
Storage Type
Before I begin I need to decide on what storage media to use on the Raspberry Pi. I hate how unreliable and slow MicroSD cards. I tried using an old 128GB SATA SSD, a 1TB Magnetic Hard Drive, a SATA M.2 SSD and NVME M.2 in a USB caddy.
I decided to use a spare 250GB SATA based M.2 Solid State from my son’s PC in Geekworm X862 SATA M.21 Expansion board.
With this board I can bolt the M.2 Solid State Drive into a expansion board under the pi and Power it from the RaspBerry Pi USB Port.
Nice and tidy
I zip-tied a fan to the side of the boards to add a little extra airflow over the solid state drive
32Bit, 64Bit, Linux or Windows
Before I begin I set up Raspbian on an empty Micro SD card (just to boot it up and flash the firmware to the latest version). This is very easy and documented elsewhere. I needed the latest firmware to ensure boort from USB Drive (not Micro SD card was working).
I ran rpi-update and flashed the latest firmware onto my Raspberry Pi. Good, write up here.
When my Raspberry Pi had the latest firmware I used the Raspberry Pi Imager to install the 32 Bit Raspberry Pi OS.
I do have a 8GB Raspberry Pi 4 B, 64Bit Operating Systems do exist but I stuck with 32 bit for compatibility.
Ubuntu 64bit for Raspberry Pi Links
- Install Ubuntu on a Raspberry Pi | Ubuntu
- Server Setup Links
- Desktop Setup Links
Windows 10 for Raspberry Pi Links
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/iot-core/tutorials/quickstarter/prototypeboards
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/492917/how-to-install-windows-10-iot-core-on-raspberry-pi.html
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/iot/iot-enterprise/getting_started
Windows 11 for Raspberry Pi Links
https://www.youtube.com/user/leepspvideo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqFr56oohCE
https://www.worproject.ml
Setting up the Raspberry Pi Server
These are the steps I used to setup my Pi
Dedicated IP
Before I began I ran ifconfig on my Pi to obtain my Raspberry Pi’s wireless cards mac address. I logged into my Router and setup a dedicated IP (192.168.0.50), this way I can have a IP address thta remains the same.
Hostname
I set my hostname here
sudo nano /etc/hosts
sudo nano /etc/hostnameI verified my hostname with this command
hostnameI verified my IP address with this command
hostname -ISamba Share
I setup the Samba service to allow me to copy files to and from the Pi
sudo apt-get install samba samba-common-bin
sudo apt-get updateI made a folder to share files
mkdir ~/shareI edited the Samba config file
sudo nano /etc/samba/smb.confIn the config file I set my workgroup settings
workgroup = Hyrule
wins support = yes
I defined a share at the bottom of the config file
[PiShare]
omment=Raspberry Pi Share
path=/home/pi/share
browseable=Yes
writeable=Yes
only guest=no
create mask=0777
directory mask=0777
public=no
I set a smb password
sudo smbpasswd -a pi
New SMB password: ********
Retype new SMB password: ********I tested the share froma Windows PC
And the share is accessible on the Raspberry Pi
Great, now I can share files with drag and drop (instead of via SCP)
Mono
Snip from Home | Mono (mono-project.com)
Mono is a software platform designed to allow developers to easily create cross platform applications part of the .NET Foundation.I know how to code C# Windows Executables, I have 25 years experince. I do nt want to learn Java or Python to code a GUI application for a touch screen if possible.
Nginx Web Server
I Installed NginX
sudo apt-get install nginxI edited the NginX config
sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default
sudo nano /etc/nginx/nginx.conf I started NginX
sudo systemctl start nginxNodeJS/NPM
I installed NodeJS
wget https://nodejs.org/dist/v16.9.1/node-v16.9.1-linux-armv7l.tar.gz
tar -xzf node-v16.9.1-linux-armv7l.tar.gz
cd node-v16.9.1-linux-armv7l/
sudo mv node-v16.9.1-linux-armv7l /usr/bin/node
sudo ln -s /usr/local/node/bin/node nodeI verified Node was installed
node -vPHP
I installed PHP
sudo wget -O /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/php.gpg https://packages.sury.org/php/apt.gpg
echo "deb https://packages.sury.org/php/ $(lsb_release -sc) main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/php.list
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y php8.0-common php8.0-cli php8.0-xml
php --version
I verified PHP with this command
php -vI reviewed PHP Settings
sudo nano /etc/php/8.0/cli/php.ini
sudo nano /etc/php/8.0/fpm/php.iniMySQL Database
I installed MariaDB
sudo apt install mariadb-serverI updated my pi password
passwdI ran the Secure MariaDB Program
sudo mysql_secure_installationAfter setting each setting I wan mysql as root
sudo mysql -u root -pI created a Database
CREATE DATABASE dbname;I created a database user
CREATE USER 'username'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'username;I assigned permissions
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON dbname.* TO 'username'@'localhost';
I saved the access to the database
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
I installed the PHP Mysql software
sudo apt install -y php8.0-mysqlTest Webpage/API
Todo
I installed PM2 the NodeJS agent software
sudo npm install -g pm2 Node apps can be started as a service from cli
pm2 start api_v1.jsPM2 status
pm2 statusYou can delete node apps from PM2
pm2 delete api_v1.js7 Inch Full View LCD IPS Touch Screen 1024*600
I purchased a 7″ Touch screen from Banggood. I got a head up from the following Video.
I plugged in the touch USB cable to my Pi’s USB3 port. I pliugged the HDMI adapter into the screen and the pi (with the supplied mini plug).
I turned on the pi and it work’s and looks amazing.
This is displaying a demo C# app I wrote. It’s running via mono.
I did have to add the following to config.txt to bet native resolution. The manual on the supplied CD was helpful (but I did not check it at first).
max_usb_current=1
hdmi_force_hotplug=1
config_hdmi_boost=7
hdmi_group=2
hdmi_mode=1
hdmi_mode=87
hdmi_drive=1
display_rotate=0
hdmi_cvt 1024 600 60 6 0 0 0
framebuffer_width=1024
framebuffer_height=600PiJuice UPS HAT
I purchased an external LiPi UPS to keep the raspberry pi fed with power (even when the power goes out)
The stock battery was not charged and was quite weak when I first installed it. Do fully charge the battery before testing.
Stock Battery = 3.7V @ 1820mAh
Below are screenshots so the PIJuice Setup.
PiJuice General Settings
There is an option to set events for every button
LED Status color and function
IO for the PiJuice Input. I will sort this out later.
A new firmware was available. I had v1.4
I updated the firmware
Firmware update worked
Battery settings
PiJuice Button Config
Wake Up Alarm time and RTC
System Settings
System Events
User Scripts
I ordered a bigger battery as my Screen, M.2, Fan and UPS consume near the maximum of the stock battery.
WeMos Setup
I orderd 20x Wemos Mini D1 Pro (16Mbit) clones to uise to run the sensors. I soldered the legs on in batches of 8
Soldering was not perfect but worked
Soldering is not perfect but each joint was triple tested.
I only had one dead WeMos.
I will set up the final units on ProtoBoards
20x Wemos ready for service and the external aerial is glued down
Wifi and Static IP Test
I uploaded a skepch to each WeMos and tested the Wifi and Static IP thta was given.
Sketch
#include <ESP8266WiFi.h>
#include <ESP8266HTTPClient.h>
#define SERVER_IP "192.168.0.50"
#ifndef STASSID
#define STASSID "wifi_issid_name"
#define STAPSK "************"
#endif
void setup() {
Serial.begin(115200);
Serial.println();
Serial.println();
Serial.println();
WiFi.begin(STASSID, STAPSK);
while (WiFi.status() != WL_CONNECTED) {
delay(500);
Serial.print(".");
}
Serial.println("");
Serial.print("Connected! IP address: ");
Serial.println(WiFi.localIP());
}
void loop() {
// wait for WiFi connection
if ((WiFi.status() == WL_CONNECTED)) {
WiFiClient client;
HTTPClient http;
Serial.print("[HTTP] begin...\n");
// configure traged server and url
http.begin(client, "http://" SERVER_IP "/api/v1/test"); //HTTP
http.addHeader("Content-Type", "application/json");
Serial.print("[HTTP] POST...\n");
// start connection and send HTTP header and body
int httpCode = http.POST("{\"hello\":\"world\"}");
// httpCode will be negative on error
if (httpCode > 0) {
// HTTP header has been send and Server response header has been handled
Serial.printf("[HTTP] POST... code: %d\n", httpCode);
// file found at server
if (httpCode == HTTP_CODE_OK) {
const String& payload = http.getString();
Serial.println("received payload:\n<<");
Serial.println(payload);
Serial.println(">>");
}
} else {
Serial.printf("[HTTP] POST... failed, error: %s\n", http.errorToString(httpCode).c_str());
}
http.end();
}
delay(1000);
}The Wemos booted, connected to WiFi, set and IP, and tried to post a request to a URL.
........................................................
Connected! IP address: 192.168.0.51
[HTTP] begin...
[HTTP] POST...
[HTTP] POST... failed, error: connection failedThe POST failed because my PI API Server was off.
Touch Screen Enclosure
I constructed a basic enclosure and screwed the touch screen to it. I need to find aflexible black scrip to put around the screen and cover up the gaps.
The touch screen has been screwed in.
Over the Air Updating
I followed this guide and having the WeMos updatable over WiFi.
Basically, I installed the libraries “AsyncHTTPSRequest_Generic”, “AsyncElegantOTA”, “AsyncHTTPRequest_Generic”, “ESPAsyncTCP” and “ESPAsyncWebServer”.
A few libraries would not download so I manually downloaded the code from the GitHub repository from Confirm your account recovery settings (github.com) and then extracted them to my Documents\Arduino\libraries folder.
I then opened the exampel project “AsyncElegantOTA\ESP8266_Async_Demo”
I reviewed the code
#include <ESP8266WiFi.h>
#include <ESPAsyncTCP.h>
#include <ESPAsyncWebServer.h>
#include <AsyncElegantOTA.h>
const char* ssid = "........";
const char* password = "........";
AsyncWebServer server(80);
void setup(void) {
Serial.begin(115200);
WiFi.mode(WIFI_STA);
WiFi.begin(ssid, password);
Serial.println("");
// Wait for connection
while (WiFi.status() != WL_CONNECTED) {
delay(500);
Serial.print(".");
}
Serial.println("");
Serial.print("Connected to ");
Serial.println(ssid);
Serial.print("IP address: ");
Serial.println(WiFi.localIP());
server.on("/", HTTP_GET, [](AsyncWebServerRequest *request) {
request->send(200, "text/plain", "Hi! I am ESP8266.");
});
AsyncElegantOTA.begin(&server); // Start ElegantOTA
server.begin();
Serial.println("HTTP server started");
}
void loop(void) {
AsyncElegantOTA.loop();
}I added my Wifi SSID and password, saved the project and compiled a the code and wrote it to my WeMos Mini D1
I added LED Blink Code
void setup(void) {
...
pinMode(LED_BUILTIN, OUTPUT); // Initialize the LED_BUILTIN pin as an output
...
}
void loop(void) {
...
delay(1000); // Wait for a second
digitalWrite(LED_BUILTIN, HIGH); // Turn the LED off by making the voltage HIGH
delay(1000); // Wait for two seconds (to demonstrate the active low LED)
...
}
I compiled and tested the code
Now to get new code changes to the WeMos Mini via a binary, I edited the code (chnaged the LED blink speed) and clicked “Export Compiled Binary”
When the binary compiled I opened the Sketch Folder
I could see a bin file.
I loaded the http://192.168.0.51/update and selected the bin file.
The new firmwaere applied.
I navighated back to http://192.168.0.51
TIP: Ensure you add the starter sketch that has your wifi details in there.
Reading files via SPIFFS
Todo
Power over Ethernet (PoE)
Todo
Building the Co2/PM2.5 Sensors
Todo
Building a NodeJS API (to receive data from the sensors)
Todo
Building a C# GUI for the Touch Panel
Todo
Building the housing
Todo
Backing up the Raspberry Pi M.2 Drive
This is quite easy as the M.2 Drive is connected to a USB Pliug. I shutdown the Pi and pugged int he M.2 board to my PC
I then Backed up the entire disk to my PC with Acronis Software (review here)
I now have a complete backup of my Pi on a remote network share (and my primary pc).
Version History
v0.8 OTA Updates
v0.7 Screen Enclosure
v0.6 Added Wifi Test Info
v0.5 Initial Post
