Capturing Environmental Data. A How To?

We would advise that you have at least some basic Arduino knowledge before having a go at this.. The Arduino website has everything you need to get started.

This quick walkthrough will show you how to start getting some environmental data into you computer over USB.

Here’s a list of all the bits you will need, google them if you’re unsure about anything! We would recommend using Cool components and rapid electronics.

1 x DHT22 temperature & humidity sensor
1 x LDR (Light dependent resistor)
2 x Nails (Any nails will do for now)
2 x 10K ohm resistors
1 x Arduino UNO & USB A>B cable
Prototyping breadboard
Hookup wire

And here’s how it should be wired up:

You should preferably solder the wires to the nails, but failing that, you could just wrap them around the ends. The two nails should be pushed into moist soil about 1 inch apart.

Once that’s all done, download the zip file from this page

This contains the Arduino sketch and DHT22 library. Pop the DHT22 folder in the Arduino library folder, upload the sketch to the Arduino, open the Serial monitor window and enjoy! If you have any problems, check you have Arduino version 1.0 or later and that everything is the same as the diagram above.

Next up, We’ll be showing you how to upload this data to a COSM account via WIFI and eliminate the USB cable!

You can see a realtime visual representation of our test environment data capture from COSM here.

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Tags: Arduino, big, big data, capturing, community, data, education, environment, music, sensor, wales