Welcome to EnviroDIY, a community for do-it-yourself environmental science and monitoring. EnviroDIY is part of WikiWatershed, an initiative of Stroud Water Research Center designed to help people advance knowledge and stewardship of fresh water. New to EnviroDIY? Start here
Tips & Pointers
Sharing what we’ve learned so that others don’t have to reinvent the wheel.
Getting sensor wires into the enclosure
One of the biggest challenges when building your own environmental monitoring instrumentation is how to get the sensor cable into the waterproof box with the logger. There are several different methods, but I prefer plastic or nylon cable glands. You can get them from a variety of vendors and for many different diameters of cables. They also make ones that allow you to run anywhere from 2 to 6 ...[Read More]
Datalogger enclosures
One of the most important things to consider when deploying devices outdoors is what type of enclosure you’re going to use. Many designers say they focus on finding the ideal enclosure first, then they design their circuit board to fit that particular enclosure. For our projects, we have been using Pelican brand waterproof cases. A handy size is their model 1050. I like them for a cou...[Read More]
Protecting circuits from moisture
I have had several questions lately asking what is the best way to prevent corrosion on the datalogger circuit boards. Even if your boards are deployed in a waterproof enclosure, they will be subjected to high humidity inside the case, usually caused by condensation in the air in the box. Occasionally you might also get a stick, leaf, wire, or something else that crosses the edge of the waterpro...[Read More]
Getting Started with Arduino
If you are new to Arduino and are wondering what you need to buy to get started with making your own datalogger, things have just gotten a lot easier.
Helpful Links
Arduino Electronics Platform Arduino’s home page An introduction to Arduino The most common hardware used with Arduino Online Resources, Tutorials, Products Arduino forum Forum for Adafruit Industries, an open-source hardware company that sells kits and parts for original, open source hardware electronics projects http://www.sparkfun.com/tutorials Xbee ZigBee Radio Modules Open-source ZigBee wirel...[Read More]
