Table of Contents
This post is still work in progress.
For many years I have been experimenting with automating my reptile enclosures.
Finally I have a setup that I’m happy with using ESP8266 micro controllers with on board WiFi to do measurements and control relays.
Overview
Every enclosure is equipped with a control node which consists out of a Wemos D1 mini microcontroller, one or more temperature/humidity/other sensors and optionally one or more relays.
Wemos D1 mini
The Wemos D1 mini is a microcontroller board with an ESP8266 as its processor. One of the benefits of this board is that it is cheap, has on board WiFi and is small.
DS18B20 temperature sensor
I typically use DS18B20 temperature sensors:
This device is a simple digital temperature sensor that is also available in a watertight (well my aquarium proved that wrong after several years but they are cheap as well) stainless steel enclosure for easy usage inside my enclosures.
An additional bonus is that they have unique identifiers so it is possible to connect multiple sensors on a single pin.
SHT11 temperature/humidity sensor
The humidity is measured using a Sensirion SHT11 digital temperature/humidity sensor. This particular sensor can be considered ancient as I have been using them for the past 20 years or so. But I see no reason of replacing them with more modern replacements as I have enough stock of these…
As the SHT1x is no longer produced these sensors will probably be replaced by SHT30 sensors in the future. Or at least the code needs to be updated to allow the usage of SHT30 sensors.