IBoard is a development board based on Arduino platform adopting W5100 chip with networking functions, SD card slot, XBee interface and nR24L01 wireless module interface. The electronic brick interface broken out from Iboard is used quite conveniently to connect to various electronic brick modules, and then you can connect Iboard to the router, finally you will be able to achieve remote operation on the web through the network platform.
Here, we use DHT11 temperature and humidity sensor as an example to demonstrate how to use LEWEI50 platform to achieve remote monitoring on temperature at home.
First, let me say something about hardware connection – we have always recommended the plug-and-play electronic brick module design. Connect DHT11 electronic brick module provided by us directly to A2 sensor interface of IBoard with connection cable as shown in the following figure. Thus the functional circuit is finished, and FOCA board connection in the picture is used for downloading program only which will be mentioned again later on.
In the example, the network service platform we used is LEWEI50. After registration, we can get our own User key and the corresponding gateway information, then log onto the account to view information about the newly-established equipment and sensor . In the example, IBoard will upload the temperature information of DHT11 in a way of address information to the only marked graph in the server system, so that we can observe the real-time ambient temperature information of the sensor on LEWEI50 webpage. Account registration address is: http://en.lewei50.com/home/register.
After registration, click "Personal settings" button under "My account" list, then account information in "My setting" will be displayed on the right side of the page, record the current "User KEY". "User KEY" value is "LW_USERKEY" value in the upload example of LeweiClient library. In this example, User KEY is "0ab11205c71343b2b771d6b46a3976ea".
Then click "Devices" button under "My console" list, and fill the the blanks in "Create a new device" page according to the following examples, then click the Save button. Wherein, "ID" value is the "LW_GATEWAY" value in the upload example of LeweiClient library, "Name" value is the "MY_NAME" value in the upload example of LeweiClient library and "Description" value is the "MY_DESC" value in the upload example of LeweiClient library. In this example, the device "ID" value is "01", device "Name" is "UNO1" and "Description" is "UNO test case".
After a new device is added, a sensor should be added for it. Click "Create" button under "My Sensors" list of "Senors" menu to enter the page for adding device. Fill the blanks in accordance with the following examples, and then click Save. Wherein, "ID" value is the "TEMP" value defined for temperature of DHT11 in the upload example of LeweiClient library. In the example, the sensor "ID" value is "TEMP".
After filling with the contents, save and download our modified LeweiClient library (library provided by the official supports domain name of Chinese version which is not directly compatible with the functions of the website of English version that we registered, so we've modified accordingly for you to use directly).
Send the library that we provide to the corresponding Arduino Library directory, open upload example of LeweiClient library with Arduino IDE. First of all, we need to replace "LW_USERKEY" value with User KEY obtained during registration, that is, "0ab11205c71343b2b771d6b46a3976ea"; replace "LW_GATEWAY" value with device ID value "01"; "MY_NAME" value with device name value "UNO1"; "MY_DESC" value with device name value "UNO test case" and the defined DHT11 temperature name value with sensor ID value "TEMP". If you follow the preceding steps 1 to 5, "LW_GATEWAY", "MY_NAME", "MY_DESC" and the defined DHT11 temperature name value will not need any modifications. In the code, we used A2 pin of IBoard to read the information of DHT11. To modify PIN number, you can change the figure 2 in code "DHT11 the_dht11 (2)" to analog pin number, namely "2 "represents A2.
Since we only need DHT11 temperature value in the example, the sensor registration code statement which is not needed in the program can be commented out.
Because IBoard is positioned as a low-cost networking platform (the latest Special Price is 17.5USD), we remove the circuit for converting USB into UART. As you need such modules to download program for IBoard from the computer, we recommend using our FOCA adapter plate. Insert it directly into the downloading interface of IBoard, you are free to download the program.
Select the corresponding port number and mainboard model (Arduino Duemilanove or Nano w / ATmega328), press the upload button to compile and download the codes that we have modified to IBoard.
After downloading the program, if you need to monitor via USB serial port, do not pull out FOCA board. Open the serial port of Arduino IDE, we can see that IBoard uploads the temperature data of DHT11 to LEWEI50 platform every 1 second. Click "User center" in LEWEI50 page, after entering the user page, click the “Real-time data" button under "My console" list. In “Real-time data" list, we can find the ”DHT11 Temperature Sensor“ added just now. Click “View”button under “Operation”list, DHT11 temperature data curve will be displayed in the page and the ambient temperature changes of DHT11 can be seen from the curve in the diagram directly.
With simple operations, we can monitor remotely the temperature at home through the Internet. When connected to other sensors, it is able to achieve monitoring on humidity, gas concentration, light intensity and so on. In addition to uploading data, we can also remotely control lighting and switches of electrical appliances at home via cellphone software or webpages. We will continue to release new tutorials later on to demonstrate how to use Iboard and network service platform to achieve remote control on switches.
*As LEWEI50 website only provides Chinese language service for controlling sensors, it is not convenient for overseas users. If you know other similar English platform, please kindly recommend and we will try to register an account and then provide the next operational tutorial : how to use IBoard to control your home lamp by Ethernet.