How to Build a Solar Powered Wi-Fi Weather Station with an ESP32 and 0 Lines of Code

Building your own solar powered Wi-Fi weather station with an ESP32 microcontroller is an excellent electronics project that allows you to get real-time local weather data without needing to write any code! With the right components and a bit of soldering, you can build an automated weather station that measures temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, rainfall, and more.

What You Will Need

Here are the main components I used to build my solar powered ESP32 weather station:

• ESP32 microcontroller - This provides Wi-Fi connectivity and works as the brain of the weather station.

• Solar panel and charge controller - To power the ESP32 and sensors from the sun. I used a 5V, 2W solar panel.

• Weather sensor module - I used an all-in-one module that measures temp, humidity, pressure.

• Rain gauge - Measures rainfall. An easy DIY option is a tipping bucket.

• Breadboard and jumper wires - For connecting the components.

• Battery - A Li-ion battery to store power from the solar panel.

• Enclosure - To house all the components. A weatherproof junction box works well.

Assembling the Electronics

With all the parts gathered, it's time to start assembling the weather station. Here are the key steps I followed:

• Connect the solar panel to the charge controller. Make sure to observe the correct polarity.

• Use jumper wires to connect the charge controller to the Li-ion battery.

• Connect the ESP32 and weather sensor module to the breadboard. Refer to the pinouts.

• Use jumper wires to connect the ESP32 and sensors according to the circuit diagram.

• Finally, connect the battery to provide power to the ESP32 and components.

Flashing the Firmware

The amazing thing about this project is that the firmware code has already been written! We will use a pre-made firmware for the ESP32 called ESP32-MQTT-Weather-Station.

• Download the firmware code from GitHub: https://github.com/RuiSantosdotme/ESP32-MQTT-Weather-Station

• Install the Arduino IDE and the ESP32 board package.

• Connect the ESP32 to your computer via USB.

• In the Arduino IDE, open the firmware code and upload it to the ESP32.

That's it! The ESP32 will now start measuring weather data and publishing it to an MQTT server.

Connecting to Wi-Fi and MQTT

To get the weather data online, the ESP32 needs to connect to your Wi-Fi network and MQTT broker.

• In the firmware code, update the Wi-Fi credentials and MQTT server details.

• Upload the code again. The ESP32 should now connect to Wi-Fi and start publishing weather data.

• Sign up for a free MQTT account like CloudMQTT. Use a client like MQTT Dash to view incoming weather data.

Powering from Solar

With the electronics assembled and firmware loaded, its time to install the weather station outdoors and power it from the sun.

• Place the solar panel in direct sunlight. Angle it towards the midday sun for best energy generation.

• Mount the enclosure containing the ESP32 and battery in a shaded spot. Connect the solar panel.

• The battery will charge automatically during the day, powering the station continuously.

And that's it! I now have my own automated solar weather station that publishes temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, and rainfall data over Wi-Fi to an MQTT server - all without writing a single line of code thanks to the ESP32. Let me know if you have any other questions!