I am working on a new course, where I upgrade the Raspberry Pi Full Stack application (the topic of the course by the same name) with new hardware and features.
You’ll find all the details and a full demo in the video above (a lecture from the new course).
But here’s a summary of what’s new:
- The application runs on a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W. A lot of power in a small footprint and low cost.
- Replaced the Arduino Uno with an ESP32 for the remote node. You can still use any Arduino-compatible board; there is nothing special about the ESP32.
- Replaced the nRF24 RF transceiver with the HC12 RF transceiver. This move simplifies communications between the Raspberry Pi and the remote node.
- Replaced the DHT22 with the BME280 on both local (Raspberry Pi) and remote (ESP32) nodes. This speeds up readings and provides barometric pressure readings (in addition to temperature and humidity).
- Upgraded Plotly to the latest Python module (version 5.11, from the original 3.10) so that the application can generate charts locally.
- A new OLED display (SSD1306) for the Raspberry Pi to show local and remote sensor information and status.
- New PCB for the Raspberry Pi HAT (working on a new PCB for the ESP32 in KiCad).
In the course, I show you how to (a) upgrade the hardware, (b) restore the original functionality based on the new hardware, and then (c) upgrade the application with the new features to take advantage of the new hardware.
This upgrade now opens the road to explore more ideas, such as adding three or more remote nodes (a new challenge for the HC12 transceiver), integrating a Node-Red server for visual programming and powerful dashboards, and improving the web user interface (a big challenge for me as my design skills are very poor).
I always thought of Raspberry Pi Full Stack as a platform for learning and experimentation, a work in perpetual progress. Even though I am always busy with projects, a couple RPi Full Stack implementations have always been running in the corner of my workbench, collecting data and patiently waiting for the time I would get the project going again.
Finally, this time is now.
I expect to have this new course ready in 2-3 weeks.
To make the most of it, you should have completed the original Raspberry Pi Full Stack or at least have a good understanding of the technologies in that course. In the Upgrade course, I built on the content of the original course and spent very little time re-explaining everything.
In the meantime, what would you like to see in a future upgrade of the Raspberry Pi Full Stack application? Your comments (below) are very welcome.