How-to: battery powered temperature and humidity sensors

Published by Benoit Dumas on July 23, 2015

Using an esp8266 and a DHT11 (temperature + humidity) sensor, I created a network of battery-powered sensors that I can put anywhere in my house. In this post I’ll explain how you can make your own.

The esp8266 WiFi modules are great, with their embedded microcontroller you can control a lot of devices via your WiFi network (your coffee machine for example!). With the help of a home automation server such as Domoticz, you can gather all the information from your sensors and switches into one space that allows you to monitor and control you whole house.

One of the basic sensor is temperature, and today you can find sensors that packs both temperature and humidity in one handy module, the DHT11. Its precision and range is not incredible (+-2 °C, cannot measure temperature below 0°C, etc…) but it is very cheap. (If you need a better sensor, the DHT22 is a great alternative, which of course comes with a higher cost).

Because I want to have my sensors anywhere without having to think about cables, I’ll use batteries for them (see this post about how I got a lot of cheap li-ion batteries, and this one about how I built a protection circuit for them). This of course means that the consumption needs to be minimal.

Lastly, the code running on the esp8266 needs to be very robust, as I do not want to go and restart them everyday because they crashed or lost connection to the server.

So, let’s get started! First we’ll see how we can make sure the esp8266 use a little power as possible by activating the deep sleep mode.

esp8266 and deep-sleep

As many of you, I’m using NodeMCU as a firmware for my esp8266, that allows me to upload lua scripts to them. Looking at the API of the lua scripts, I saw that there was a deep sleep mode available. This allow the module to almost entirely shutdown for a given period of time. Using this function I will be able to send the data from the sensor and go to deep sleep for a couple of minutes before sending the data again, hence having the module (almost) off most of the time.

But there’s a problem, in order to activate the deep sleep mode, you need to connect two pins of the esp8266 chip together: RST and XPD_DCDC. In later version of the esp8266 module, these pins are available easily and can be connected without problem. The version I use (ESP-01) do not have these pins available, so I had to actually solder them on the chip directly.

This was a very scary operation, but I managed using a 0.1mm insulated copper wire.

You want to connect the wire on the bottom right of the chip to the second pin from the top on the right .

The end result.

Another way to reduce the consumption of the modules is to remove both the power and status leds from the board. I’m planning on doing that in the next version of my sensors.

Creating the circuit

The circuit is really straightforward, it contains three components:

A 4×2 female pins socket for the esp8266 (so it can be easily removed for programming)
A large capacitor to absorb peaks of current (bigger the better, I used 2200uF)
The DHT11 module (that only adds a resistor and a capacitor to the sensor)

The two modules (sensor and esp8266) are powered with a 3.3V line, the capacitor is placed between the + and – of the power input and the DHT11 middle pin is connected to GPIO2 on the esp8266. (don’t forget to put CH_PD at VCC on the esp8266, otherwise it won’t work.)

the three components, esp8266, DHT11 and capacitor

You can clearly see the LEDs on the bottom left of the esp8266 module.

OK, so you’ve got the hardware all setup, now we need to add virtual sensors to Domoticz, we will then use these placeholders to store the sensors data.

Setting up Domoticz

You will need to add a virtual hadware device, I called mine “esp8266_sensors”:

In Domoticz web interface:
click on the last tab “Setup”
click on “Hardware”
Under the list are the field for adding hardware, enter the name you want, select “Dummy” as type
No data timeout
Click ‘Add’ – Do not leave the page

Now that we have the higher level hardware, we can add virtual sensors

While still on the Hardware page, click the “Create virtual sensors” button next to the new hardware you created
As a type, put Temp+Hum
Repeat this operation for each sensor you are setting up ( I did it 5 times)
Now, we’ll configure the sensors, go in Setup > Devices
You will see your newly added sensors in the list, if you click on the green arrow on their right, you’ll be able to input a name for it (something like balcony or fridge).
You’re now all set. You need to take note of all your device unique identifier, in the column Idx. You will need to put this number in each esp8266 program.

Now, let’s program the modules to send temperature and humidity data at regular intervals.

Some programming

The code

You can find the program on github here. I tried to put a lot of comments in the code to make it as readable as possible, feel free to ask me if you have some questions about it.

-- Measure temperature, humidity and return the values as a combined string.
-- Based on DHT11 code from esp8266.com

local dht11 = {}

local pin = 4
local Humidity = 0
local HumidityDec=0
local Temperature = 0
local TemperatureDec=0
local Checksum = 0
local ChecksumTest=0


function dht11.getData()
    Humidity = 0
    HumidityDec = 0
    Temperature = 0
    TemperatureDec = 0
    Checksum = 0
    ChecksumTest = 0
    
    --Data stream acquisition timing is critical. There's
    --barely enough speed to work with to make this happen.
    --Pre-allocate vars used in loop.
    
    bitStream = {}
    for j = 1, 40, 1 do
         bitStream[j]=0
    end
    bitlength=0
    
    gpio.mode(pin, gpio.OUTPUT)
    gpio.write(pin, gpio.LOW)
    tmr.delay(20000)
    --Use Markus Gritsch trick to speed up read/write on GPIO
    gpio_read=gpio.read
    gpio_write=gpio.write
    
    gpio.mode(pin, gpio.INPUT)
    
    --bus will always let up eventually, don't bother with timeout
    while (gpio_read(pin)==0 ) do end
    
    c=0
    while (gpio_read(pin)==1 and c<100) do c=c+1 end
    
    --bus will always let up eventually, don't bother with timeout
    while (gpio_read(pin)==0 ) do end
    
    c=0
    while (gpio_read(pin)==1 and c<100) do c=c+1 end
    
    --acquisition loop
    for j = 1, 40, 1 do
         while (gpio_read(pin)==1 and bitlength<10 ) do
              bitlength=bitlength+1
         end
         bitStream[j]=bitlength
         bitlength=0
         --bus will always let up eventually, don't bother with timeout
         while (gpio_read(pin)==0) do end
    end
    
    --DHT data acquired, process.
    
    for i = 1, 8, 1 do
         if (bitStream[i+0] > 2) then
              Humidity = Humidity+2^(8-i)
         end
    end
    for i = 1, 8, 1 do
         if (bitStream[i+8] > 2) then
              HumidityDec = HumidityDec+2^(8-i)
         end
    end
    for i = 1, 8, 1 do
         if (bitStream[i+16] > 2) then
              Temperature = Temperature+2^(8-i)
         end
    end
    for i = 1, 8, 1 do
         if (bitStream[i+24] > 2) then
              TemperatureDec = TemperatureDec+2^(8-i)
         end
    end
    for i = 1, 8, 1 do
         if (bitStream[i+32] > 2) then
              Checksum = Checksum+2^(8-i)
         end
    end
    ChecksumTest=(Humidity+HumidityDec+Temperature+TemperatureDec) % 0xFF
    
    return  Temperature.."."..TemperatureDec..";"..Humidity.."."..HumidityDec

end

return dht11

-- Measure temperature, humidity and return the values as a combined string.

-- Based on DHT11 code from esp8266.com

local dht11 = {}

local pin = 4

local Humidity = 0

local HumidityDec=0

local Temperature = 0

local TemperatureDec=0

local Checksum = 0

local ChecksumTest=0

function dht11.getData()

Humidity = 0

HumidityDec = 0

Temperature = 0

TemperatureDec = 0

Checksum = 0

ChecksumTest = 0

--Data stream acquisition timing is critical. There's

--barely enough speed to work with to make this happen.

--Pre-allocate vars used in loop.

bitStream = {}

for j = 1, 40, 1 do

bitStream[j]=0

end

bitlength=0

gpio.mode(pin, gpio.OUTPUT)

gpio.write(pin, gpio.LOW)

tmr.delay(20000)

--Use Markus Gritsch trick to speed up read/write on GPIO

gpio_read=gpio.read

gpio_write=gpio.write

gpio.mode(pin, gpio.INPUT)

--bus will always let up eventually, don't bother with timeout

while (gpio_read(pin)==0 ) do end

c=0

while (gpio_read(pin)==1 and c<100) do c=c+1 end

--bus will always let up eventually, don't bother with timeout

while (gpio_read(pin)==0 ) do end

c=0

while (gpio_read(pin)==1 and c<100) do c=c+1 end

--acquisition loop

for j = 1, 40, 1 do

while (gpio_read(pin)==1 and bitlength<10 ) do

bitlength=bitlength+1

end

bitStream[j]=bitlength

bitlength=0

--bus will always let up eventually, don't bother with timeout

while (gpio_read(pin)==0) do end

end

--DHT data acquired, process.

for i = 1, 8, 1 do

if (bitStream[i+0] > 2) then

Humidity = Humidity+2^(8-i)

end

for i = 1, 8, 1 do

if (bitStream[i+8] > 2) then

HumidityDec = HumidityDec+2^(8-i)

end

for i = 1, 8, 1 do

if (bitStream[i+16] > 2) then

Temperature = Temperature+2^(8-i)

end

for i = 1, 8, 1 do

if (bitStream[i+24] > 2) then

TemperatureDec = TemperatureDec+2^(8-i)

end

for i = 1, 8, 1 do

if (bitStream[i+32] > 2) then

Checksum = Checksum+2^(8-i)

end

ChecksumTest=(Humidity+HumidityDec+Temperature+TemperatureDec) % 0xFF

return Temperature.."."..TemperatureDec..";"..Humidity.."."..HumidityDec

end

return dht11

Here is the main program, the important part here is to replace the following informations:

deviceID is the sensor identifier within Domoticz, you can find it in the Idx column, in the Devices page of your Domoticz web interface.
server_ip is the ip of the server hosting Domoticz
wifi.sta.config(“yourSSID”,”yourpassword”) needs to be replaced by the informations from your WiFi router
Thelocal cfg part needs to be set like this:
- ip needs to match your network mask, for me it is 192.168.0.X, but it might very well be 192.168.1.X or anything else.
- netmask should stay that way
- gateway is your WiFi router IP (generally)
Tip: if you are not sure about what to put in there, you can type “ifconfig” on Linux or “ipconfig” on Windows, you should get these informations (netmask, getaway, IP base) from there.

-- Starts the module and connect to server. 
print("DHT11 Domoticz v0.1")

-- variables
local dht11 = require("dht11")
local deviceID = "20"
local server_ip = "192.168.0.148"
local server_port = 8080
local deep_sleep_time = 180 --seconds

-- wifi connection config
wifi.setmode(wifi.STATION)
wifi.sta.config("yourSSID","yourpassword")
local cfg =
{
    ip="192.168.0.1"..deviceID, --static ip based on id
    netmask="255.255.255.0",
    gateway="192.168.0.1"
}    



-- check every 0.5seconds if we can get an ip, once we get it start the TCP client
tmr.alarm(0, 500, 1, function()
    gotIP = wifi.sta.setip(cfg)
    if ( wifi.sta.status() == 5 ) then
        print("connected to WiFi")
        tmr.stop(0)

        -- restart the module after 30seconds if it's still ON:
        -- it probably means it's stalled
        tmr.alarm(1, 30000, 1, function()
            node.restart()
        end)
        initSocketAndTransmitData()
    end
end)

-- initializes the connection with the DOmoticz server and sends the current data.
-- Once data is sent and an answer is recieved, either restart the node or go into deep sleep
-- (depends on what's the answer from Domoticz)
function initSocketAndTransmitData()
    local socket = net.createConnection(net.TCP, 0)
    socket:connect(server_port, server_ip)
    
    --once we're connected, send the data
    socket:on("connection", function(conn)
        print("Connected to Domoticz")
        sendStatus(socket)
    end)

    -- once we get an answer from Domoticz, either:
    -- go into deep sleep if the command succeeded
    -- restart the node (and send another packet immediatly) if there was an error
    socket:on("receive", function(conn, message)
        if string.match(message, "\"status\" : \"OK\",") then
            print ("Got OK, going to sleep for a while now")
            node.dsleep(deep_sleep_time * 1000000)
        else
            print ("Got something else: "..message)
            node.restart()
        end
    end)


end

-- sends the sensor data (temperature and humidity) to the Domoticz server.
function sendStatus(socket)
    local temperatureAndHumidity = dht11.getData()
    print("got "..temperatureAndHumidity)
    local json = "GET /json.htm?type=command&param=udevice&idx="..deviceID..
                "&nvalue=0&svalue="..temperatureAndHumidity..
                ";0 HTTP/1.1\r\nHost: www.local.lan\r\n"
                .."Connection: keep-alive\r\nAccept: */*\r\n\r\n"
    socket:send(json)
end

-- Starts the module and connect to server.

print("DHT11 Domoticz v0.1")

-- variables

local dht11 = require("dht11")

local deviceID = "20"

local server_ip = "192.168.0.148"

local server_port = 8080

local deep_sleep_time = 180 --seconds

-- wifi connection config

wifi.setmode(wifi.STATION)

wifi.sta.config("yourSSID","yourpassword")

local cfg =

{

ip="192.168.0.1"..deviceID, --static ip based on id

netmask="255.255.255.0",

gateway="192.168.0.1"

}

-- check every 0.5seconds if we can get an ip, once we get it start the TCP client

tmr.alarm(0, 500, 1, function()

gotIP = wifi.sta.setip(cfg)

if ( wifi.sta.status() == 5 ) then

print("connected to WiFi")

tmr.stop(0)

-- restart the module after 30seconds if it's still ON:

-- it probably means it's stalled

tmr.alarm(1, 30000, 1, function()

node.restart()

end)

initSocketAndTransmitData()

end

end)

-- initializes the connection with the DOmoticz server and sends the current data.

-- Once data is sent and an answer is recieved, either restart the node or go into deep sleep

-- (depends on what's the answer from Domoticz)

function initSocketAndTransmitData()

local socket = net.createConnection(net.TCP, 0)

socket:connect(server_port, server_ip)

--once we're connected, send the data

socket:on("connection", function(conn)

print("Connected to Domoticz")

sendStatus(socket)

end)

-- once we get an answer from Domoticz, either:

-- go into deep sleep if the command succeeded

-- restart the node (and send another packet immediatly) if there was an error

socket:on("receive", function(conn, message)

if string.match(message, "\"status\" : \"OK\",") then

print ("Got OK, going to sleep for a while now")

node.dsleep(deep_sleep_time * 1000000)

else

print ("Got something else: "..message)

node.restart()

end

end)

end

-- sends the sensor data (temperature and humidity) to the Domoticz server.

function sendStatus(socket)

local temperatureAndHumidity = dht11.getData()

print("got "..temperatureAndHumidity)

local json = "GET /json.htm?type=command&param=udevice&idx="..deviceID..

"&nvalue=0&svalue="..temperatureAndHumidity..

";0 HTTP/1.1\r\nHost: www.local.lan\r\n"

.."Connection: keep-alive\r\nAccept: */*\r\n\r\n"

socket:send(json)

end

require("main")

1	require("main")

Let’s program the esp8266 modules!

You can now plug all the sensors on the modules and install the batteries. You should see the result in Domoticz:

I hope that was helpful to you, I’ll be happy to help you out if you need help with your project!

The sensors are working great for em now, and the battery life is over a week. My next step is to put each sensor in a plastic case (because it looks less bomb-ish than the bare batteries with some circuits on them) and remove the LEDs from the modules to save even more power. I’ll make another post once I’m done with that.

Published inUncategorized

31 Comments

Battery powered, wireless temperature and humidity sensors

[…] How-to: battery powered temperature and humidity sensors […]
Quindor

Awesome write up! I’ve been working on the same thing but had not yet gotten this far, It looks very well done! Thank you for the write up. 😀

August 12, 2015 Reply
- Benoit Dumas
  
  Hello Quindor,
  
  Thanks for the kind words! I’ve been using your posts a lot to get inspiration on the Domoticz code, and I’m planning on making a dimmable led strip using your tutorials.
  
  September 10, 2015 Reply
Steve

Hey, been having some trouble with the sensor, it seems to always return the temperature and humidity both as 255.255;

I have everything running off two double-a batteries, and the connection to the wifi is successful. Using the code from this site to read the DHT11… did I miss something?

Cheers!
Steve

August 25, 2015 Reply
Henk

Hmmm….build it , flashed and programmed it, but Always all values are 0.0;0.0
I am watching the signal on my scope and it seems to be ok, but still a no go.

Any help would be welcome

September 1, 2015 Reply
- Steve
  
  Ok, got mine working, two issues: 1, the blue bit with the 4 pins connects to a black bit with 3 pins, but the black bit changes the wire positions. Two different fixes, A, look at what the blue bit is mounted on and figure out how to change the wires (left and middle switch position), B, cut the blue bit away from the black bit. Second issue, with two AA batteries at full charge there’s a 10% fail rate. At half charge it fail 70%. Last 1/4 of the battery life are zero correct reads. Sensor wants 5 volt, two AA is only 3v. Separate power source for sensor corrects issue.
  
  September 10, 2015 Reply
  - Benoit Dumas
    
    Hello Steve,
    glad to see that you fixed the issue you had before – indeed the problem with 255;255 values is due to an incorrect polarity on the sensor (been having the same issue).
    Concerning the power supply, the sensor is rated 3-5.5V for input power, so using the same 3.3V input as the esp8266 should works fine – but I can see how it might be an issue with non AA batteries.
    
    September 10, 2015 Reply
- Benoit Dumas
  
  Hello Henk,
  I would try to connect a serial connection to the esp8266, you should get some debug output on the sensor.
  If the value measured is 0 in the debug console, maybe the issue is on the pin you used to connect the sensor on the esp8266?
  Tell me how it goes!
  
  September 10, 2015 Reply
Henk

Hey guys 🙂 Thanks for the support. I’ll check all my connections again ( although I am pretty sure I made no mistake). And I’ll let you guys know what the result is.

@ Steve: Thanks for thinking with me, but I was aware of the 2 versions of the sensor. I use the blue casing with 4 leads, so i need to connect a resistor between + and data line. When I monitor the signal line on my scope, I can clearly see a data train every time the 8266 asks for data. And that’s the strange thing…..data is presented, but the 8266 comes up with 00.00 :00.00.

Ok….back to fiddeling with electronics and I’ll keep you posted.

ps. One more thing: Could it be the code is somewhat critical about reading the data? Maybe another version of sensor would help? I could order the DHT12….

TTYL guys!

September 10, 2015 Reply
- Steve
  
  I’m going to try using an ESP-12 and an analogue temperature only sensor, esp12 had an analog pin I believe. perhaps better to do analog read of a 2 pin sensor that doesn’t connect to battery instead of digital off a 3-pin that does
  
  September 10, 2015 Reply
  - Henk
    
    Sorry, my bad….it is a DHT22, and the pinout is the same as the 11, so no analog output, but much better resolution on the temp and humidity 🙂 Please let us know how it goes.
    
    Again a ps : It’s an amazing project you made, mr Dumas! I love working on it!
    
    September 10, 2015 Reply
Henk

After a busy week i started again, and still a no go 🙁
I have uploaded some pics of the DHT11 outgoing signal so maybe you guys have a clue why it is not working. Please have a look at them.

http://s772.photobucket.com/user/henkhulshof/library

September 22, 2015 Reply
Henk

Ok…update ☺
Last Night I flashed the latest floating point firmware.
I was amazed tot see the readings where correct ar last! Domoticz displayed temp and humity as is should. My happiness was short, howrever. After 1 reading the 8266 stopped running the code? I had to upload the code again tot get it working. After that I flashed the .95 floating firmware. This gave me an out of memory error when running the code.

Now is my question obvious: WHAT version of firmware are you guys using with a working module?

Tia. Henk

September 24, 2015 Reply
- Steve
  
  Henk: try compiling the script and delete the code file
  
  September 24, 2015 Reply
  - Henk
    
    Steve, you’re my hero 🙂
    Compiling did the trick!
    Temp sensor is up and running now.
    I want to thank you all for the input and help.
    I am so happy now, and probably sleep better!
    
    THANKS.
    
    Henk
    
    September 24, 2015 Reply
    - Steve Moses
      
      Have a good one!
      
      September 25, 2015 Reply
Andrey

Thank you for manual. I want use Domoticz with esp-12 and arduino DIY sensors 433mhz with gate 433 to ethernet for my home.

October 30, 2015 Reply
Andrey

Why you use LUA for this project? Maybe Arduino IDE for ESP more better?

October 30, 2015 Reply
Bo

Which esp8266 version would you recommend using for your project now?

There are version from ESP-01 to ESP-13.

You mentioned something about deep sleep mode and IO pins on newer versions of the esp8266.

January 14, 2016 Reply
- Bo
  
  Or the ESP-201 with antenna?
  
  January 14, 2016 Reply
Co

Just wondering: why add the deviceID in ‘ip=”192.168.0.1″..deviceID, –static ip based on id’

February 3, 2016 Reply
Thierry

Bonjour,

merci pour votre travail. J’ai essayé mais voici ce que j’ai en retour dans esplorer :

21808
> dofile(‘main.lua’)
DHT11 Domoticz v0.1
> connected to WiFi
192.168.0.192
Connected to Domoticz
got 8.191;2.192
Got something else: HTTP/1.1 401 Unauthorized
Content-Length: 91
Content-Type: text/html

Unauthorized401 Unauthorized
c_ÇÏRSöâFjSöâFj›vêè

NodeMCU 0.9.6 build 20150704 powered by Lua 5.1.4
DHT11 Domoticz v0.1
>

et rien n’est mis à jour dans domoticz.

Merci par avance si vous pouvez m’indiquer quoi faire.
best regards.
Thierry.

February 3, 2016 Reply
- Benoit Dumas
  
  Hello Thierry,
  
  It looks like you are not allowed to send stuff to Domoticz.
  
  you can try sending a JSON command directly to see what you get:
  – Go in your browser from a computer, and type something like this:
  http://:8080/json.htm?type=command&param=udevice&idx=&nvalue=0&svalue=TEMP
  change and with values for your system.
  This should write something like :
  {
  “status” : “ERR”
  }
  This step is to check if you are allowed to post things to Domoticz. If it doesn’t work check out this page, that talks about authentication for Domoticz JSON:
  https://www.domoticz.com/wiki/Domoticz_API/JSON_URL's#Authorization
  
  Tell me how it goes!
  Cheers,
  Benoit
  
  February 28, 2016 Reply
Juan Manuel Dominguez

Hi Benoit and everybody,
Congratulations on this project. Its simple and very powerfull. Nevertheless, I have been experiencing some trouble with it. I will expose the symptoms and I hope you can help me troubleshooting it.
I am developing the project with the ESP8266 -12Q. This should not be a problem since it is the same as the ESP8266 – 01 but with more exposed ports.
I am using a DTH22 sensor. I asume this also should not be a problem since is the same as DTH11 but with more accuracy.
I had uploaded the three files described above. (init.lua, main.lua, dht11.lua)
When I run the ESP8266, and I track over the serial port the stages of the main loop, I only get to “WIFI CONECTED” and then the module reset. Obviously this is the tmr.alarm. I had added some text into the main.lua file in order to track the failure but it seems the module cannot conect to the DOMOTICZ server. Here I have started to doubt about the configuration of the DOMOTICZ. I have never use it. I downloaded it. When I run it, the server seems to be 127.0.0.1 and the port is 8080. Since I cannot connecto to domoticz server I am asuming that I am doing something wrong with the following data:
deviceID is the sensor identifier within Domoticz, (This is OK, I’ve got it)
server_ip is the ip of the server hosting Domoticz (Which is the server hosting domoticz??? where do I need to look?? could it be 127.0.0.1 )
wifi.sta.config(“yourSSID”,”yourpassword”) (This is OK, I’ve got it)
Thelocal cfg part needs to be set like this:
ip needs to match your network mask, for me it is 192.168.0.X, but it might very well be 192.168.1.X or anything else.
netmask should stay that way
gateway is your WiFi router IP (generally)( with the IPCONFIG I get also an IPv4 could it be right? or should I put something else here?)

Should I do some setting configuration on Domoticz applications settings?

Other strange thing that happens to the module is that sometimes it seems to loose the firmware configuration, and in order to use the module I have to flash the firmware again. Any clues?

If somebody can help me with this questions I will be very gratefull.
Thanks again and greetings from Argentina!! (sorry for my english)

Juan Manuel

February 17, 2016 Reply
- Benoit Dumas
  
  Hello Juan Manuel,
  
  – server_ip is the ip of the server hosting Domoticz (Which is the server hosting domoticz???
  Alright, so Domoticz is running on a computer, that’s your server. So the server is reachable via your computer IP.
  127.0.0.1 is a special IP that basically means “myself”, so you can not connect to another computer using 127.0.0.1 as it will always refer to the computer itself.
  What you want is the IP address of your computer (the ones that runs domoticz) on the network.
  To do that you can either:
  – On windows:
  Click on the Start menu and type cmd.
  When you see the cmd applications in Start menu panel, click it or just press enter.
  A command line window will open. Type ipconfig and press enter.
  You’ll see a bunch of information, but the line you want to look for is “IPv4 Address.”
  – On linux:
  Start a terminal and type “ifconfig”.
  
  Once you get the IP; (Often looks like 192.168.0.XX or 192.168.1.XX° you can enter it in the lua file under “local server_ip”.
  
  That should work, hopefully 🙂
  
  Tell me how it goes,
  Benoit
  
  February 28, 2016 Reply
  - Juan Manuel Dominguez
    
    Hello Benoit,
    
    It works like a charm now!! I thank you for the time you take to answer not only my questions but everyone’s questions!! I had many of the troubles the other guys had too. I also thanks Henk and Steve. Their little chat about the firmware version and the compiling trick help me troubleshooting the sensor reading and the out of memory issue.
    Now I am encouraging con keep developing my home automation system!
    
    Thanks again! and cheers from Argentina!
    
    Juan Manuel Dominguez
    
    March 4, 2016 Reply
Kai

Great projects, thanks a lot for sharing! What I wondered is: how do you know when to change the batteries? Is there some way to get a “battery level” measurement? Or do you go around each week and replace them?

February 19, 2016 Reply
- Benoit Dumas
  
  When the battery are dead, Domoticz highlights the sensor in red, saying it didn’t get any data for more than X hours. That’s how I know I need to change the batteries.
  
  February 28, 2016 Reply
jossie67

Benoit

What if I don’t want to use deep sleep mode.
So I don connect the two pins of the esp8266 chip togetherRST and XPD_DCDC

Do I need to change the code ?

April 3, 2016 Reply
michele

congratulations for the project ..
I tried to load it on my system and I wanted to ask you a couple of things
I loaded nodemcu_float_0.9.6 – dev_20150704 , then I will explore loaded main.lua order, init.lua , dht11.lua .
did I do something wrong?? does not work..
You have also tried to use the BMP180 Barometric Digital Pressure Sensor
thanks for your attention

April 10, 2016 Reply
- Benoit Dumas
  
  Hello Michele,
  
  Can you tell me a bit more about what you tried? Do you get any errors in the console?
  
  I never tried the BMP180, but I recently ordered a couple of BME280, they do temperature, humidity and pressure – I’m planning on trying them out with the ESP as soon as I get them. Check out some info on them here: https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-bme280-humidity-barometric-pressure-temperature-sensor-breakout/overview
  
  Cheers,
  Benoit
  
  July 15, 2016 Reply

How-to: battery powered temperature and humidity sensors

esp8266 and deep-sleep

Creating the circuit

Setting up Domoticz

Some programming

The code

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