SkyWeather - A Raspberry Pi Weather Station Kit for the Cloud

This product has been replaced by SkyWeather2

Go to SkyWeather2

This kit is a perfect technology project to learn all about the weather and how to sense the environment around you.  Including Air Quality and Lightning.  Right here.  Right in your neighborhood.  

This Raspberry Pi kit allows you to build your own weather station with a Sky Cam to take pictures of your Sky and display them the cloud on WeatherSTEM.  You might even make it to the WeatherChannel!

 The magic of this Kit is that it provides all the needed interfaces and plugs to convert your Raspberry Pi into a real Weather Station.  You build.  You Learn.

Note:   You only receive a WeatherSTEM SkyWeather Serial number with the full kit purchase. 

The Latest!

June 28, 2020:   SKyWeather now ships with the improved reliability SHT30 Temperature and Humidity sensor rather than the AM2315.

December 24, 2019:  Version 055 - Bug fixes and SolarMAX Support for MySQL

October 15, 2019:  Version 051 - Support for SolarMAX Lead Acid and small Bug fixes for Buster and RPi 4B

Extender Kits Available:

Assembly and testing documentation for these SkyWeather extender kits are on these pages.

Tutorial on Selecting a Solar Power System Here.

• Compact Solar Power for SkyWeather
• SolarMAX LiPo 12V Solar Panel Power System for SkyWeather
• SolarMAX Lead Acid 18V Solar Panel Power System for SkyWeather
• Solar WXLink System for SkyWeather 
• Display Pack for SkyWeather (coming soon)

SkyWeather in Palm Springs

What about the Cloud?

SwitchDoc Labs is proud to announce our partnership with WeatherSTEM.com for taking SkyWeather to the cloud.  

That's right.  Your weather station and sky pictures will be visible to everyone on the Internet and you will be sharing your local weather with locations all  over the globe!

WeatherSTEM is an innovative cloud-based weather education platform for people of all ages and professions.   Our innovative curriculum is designed to help you and your students understand the myriad ways weather impacts just about everything in our lives.  SkyWeather is a great way to become part of the WeatherSTEM community.

Note to Educators:  WeatherSTEM has a full set of experiments and curriculum for your class to use SkyWeather and WeatherSTEM in the classroom

SkyWeather Features

• Barometric Pressure
• LIGHTNING!
• Outside Temperature 
• Outside Humidity 
• Altitude 
• Inside Temperature (in box)
• Inside Humidity (in box)
• Air Quality - AQI (your own local Air Quality Sensor)
• Sunlight
• Wind Speed
• Wind Direction 
• Rain 
• All your weather information on the Cloud including history

This project, being open source, is expandable - there are hundreds of Grove modules available!

Application notes and Tutorials

• Tutorial - SkyWeather Assembly Tips
• Tutorial - Adding a Fan to SkyWeather
• Tutorial - Adding a WatchDog Timer to SkyWeather
• Tutorial - Tuning Lightning Detection in SkyWeather

Downloads and Manuals

• SkyWeather Assembly and Testing Manual (1.7)
• SkyWeather Box Build and Weather Proofing Guide
• SkyWeather Configuration and Operations Manual 
• SkyWeather Open Source Python Software
• SkyWeather WeatherSTEM.com Cloud Configuration Manual 
• SkyWeather Blynk App Configuration Manual
• SkyWeather WeatherUnderground Configuration Manual 
• SkyWeather Advanced REST Programming Manual (Coming Soon)

Current Blynk App QR Code

Version 004 (No Thermal Tab  9,300 energy) 

Version 004 (full version with Thermal Tab 14,200 energy)

What is in the Kit?

The kit does not include a Raspberry Pi or Bud enclosures box and other weatherproofing parts.  However, we do supply the list of all the parts needed in the "SkyWeather WeatherProofing Manual" listed below.

This kit also does not include an SD Card (you can find it here).

• WeatherSTEM Software Serial Number
• PiWeather Board (I2C Mux, Barometer, Altitude, Inside T/H, IAirQ)
• Pi2Grover Board
• Sunlight Sensor
• Outside Temperature and Humidity Sensor (SHT30)
• Sky Camera (Includes Pi3 cable, PiZero cable and 50cm Pi3 Cable)
• Six Port I2C Hub
• Grove Cables for Assembly
• Air Quality Sensor
• WeatherRack (Wind Speed, Direction and Rain Bucket)
• ThunderBoard Lightning Detection
• Grove PowerSave for AQI and AM2315

 Software Updates

• December 24, 2019:  Version 055 - Bug fixes and SolarMAX Support for MySQL

• October 15, 2019:  Version 051 - Support for SolarMAX Lead Acid and small Bug fixes for Buster and RPi 4B

• September 1, 2019: Version 047 - Fixed to Camera Exposure, Minor tweak to WeatherSTEM Interface and SolarMAX (added Version)
• August 19, 2019: Version 046 - Minor Bug release (matplotlib, SolarMAX, blynk)
• August 14, 2019: Version 045 - Camera Debug Support - SolarMAX support - Must update conflocal.py
  
• August 12, 2019: Version 044 - Camera Debug Support - Overexposure problem
  
• August 8, 2019: Version 043 - Improved AM2315 Detection, SQL Structure Fixed, time and date changed, debug for overexposure 
• August 6, 2019: Version 042 - Overlays, Lightning Params added - Must update conflocal.py if used
• July 27, 2019: Version 041 - Fix to SHT30 for > 122 degrees
• July 8, 2019: Version 040 - WeatherUnderground Fix, Support for SHT30- Must update conflocal.py if used
• June 5, 2019:  Version 039 - AM2315 Reliability Fix
• May 21, 2019: Version 038 - Blynk Bug Fix
• May 21, 2019: Version 037 - Blynk Changes / Bug Fix
• May 20, 2019: Version 036 - Fixed Barometric Pressure Reporting
• May 12, 2019: Version 035 - Debug Statements removed
• May 4, 2019:   Version 034 - WeatherSTEM testing Version
• May 1, 2019:   Version 033 - WeatherSTEM API Started
• April 29, 2019: Version 033 - WeatherSTEM Modification
• April 28, 2019: Version 032 - Improved MySQL Reporting
• April 28, 2019: Version 031 - Fixed WXLink Temperature Reporting
• April 27, 2019: Version 030 - Modified test programs
• April 20, 2019: Version 029 - Fixed Lightning_Mode added Image test to blynkCode
• April 6, 2019: Version 028 - Support for WXLink - remote WeatherRack/Temp/Humidity
• April 3, 2019: Version 027 - Mod AS3935 Interrupt, added AQI to Database
• March 31, 2019: Version 026 - Fixed Pins for Optional Fan On/Off

SkyWeatherKit Descriptions and Extensions

SkyWeather SD Card containing SkyWeather and Raspberry Pi OS

You can find a pre-configured SD Card here.

SkyWeather

• All the software, electronics and cables to build your SkyWeather Kit (not including the Raspberry Pi)

The full SkyWeather kit including the Lightning and Wind Direction, Speed and Rain sensors. Includes: Rain, Wind Speed / Direction, Lighting Detection, Outside Temperature and Humidity, Barometric Pressure, Internal Temperature/Humidity, Sunlight Strength, and Outside Air Quality.

SkyWeather Solar Extender Kit

• The solar panels and solar controller SunControl (not including the Raspberry Pi)

SkyWeather Solar is designed for off-the-grid usage where bringing power is tough. The kit including the Lightning and Wind Direction, Speed and Rain sensors.

Solar Power Your SkyWeather Kit. The Solar SkyWeather kit includes a SunControl based solar power system.

Supplies excellent and complete information about the solar power performance and charging status. Really understand solar power.

SkyWeather Solar WXLink Extender Kit

• The hardware to move your WeatherRack (Wind Direction, Speed, Rain and Outside Temperature/Humidity) away from your base SkyWeather unit. (not including the Raspberry Pi) and the Solar Panels to power the WXLink.

SkyWeather with Solar WXLink Extender Kit is designed for those who would like their base weather station in one place and the temperature/humidity/wind/Rain in another place connected wirelessly and the sensors are solar powered.

The SkyWeather Plus Solar WXLink Remote kit includes remote wireless solar power sensor kit for the WeatherRack and Outside Temperature/Humidity Sensor.  Supplies excellent and complete information about the solar WXLink Remote Sensing power performance and charging status. 

SkyWeather 3D Prints

You can order pre-printed parts or do it yourself with the STL files here.