Tag: zero

Reading 14bit from an SI7021 temperature and humidity sensor

The Si7021-A20 is capable of providing up to 14bit resolution for temperature and up to 12bit for relative humidity, over an I2C connection. However, many examples on the internet only use 8bit. I tried to get the full resolution on a Raspberry Pi using Python, version 3.

I2C is a simple, serial protocol for interconnecting devices. It allows the transfer of small amounts of data between a master device and various slaved devices.

Prerequisites

You need to configure the I2C interface using raspi-config first. Then install some related tools:

sudo apt-get install python3-smbus
# at the time writing, i2c-tools are not available for python3 by default
sudo apt-get install -y i2c-tools

You can test, whether I2C is available and whethere a device is connected using the following command in the terminal:

sudo i2cdetect -y 1

You should get something like

     0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  a  b  c  d  e  f
00:          -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 
10: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 
20: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 
30: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 
40: 40 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 
50: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 
60: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 
70: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

This shows a single device connected at hardware address 0x40.

Getting data

Now here it gets tricky. Most of the examples on the internet did not work for me. Either they read the same data bytes twice or they produced an error, like in this raspberry forum thread.

I had success getting a single byte (8 bit) of information using the SMBus, but not more. I have asked a question on the Raspberry Pi Stackexchange. Look it up to find the corresponding script.

The solution

Joan at abyz.me.uk provides a complete Si7021.py python module with a class and a main function that allows to fully interface with the Si7021 sensor.

To use it, just download the ZIP and place the contained Si7021.py in a folder of your choice. Since the script requires pigpio as a daemon, you must install and start that first. The script runs for 10 seconds, takes repeated measurements and prints them out. 

# installing pigpio first
sudo apt-get install pigpio python-pigpio python3-pigpio

# get the Si7021.py script
wget http://abyz.me.uk/rpi/pigpio/code/Si7021_py.zip
unzip Si7021_py.zip

# start the pigpiod daemon; -l disables the remote socket interface, it's not needed to read a local sensor
sudo pigpiod -l	
# start the main function in the module
python3 Si7021.py

# stop the daemon, if no longer used
sudo killall pigpiod

I have used the module in a simple script that just reads one value at maximum resolution, with a formatted output:

https://github.com/suterma/WeatherPress/blob/master/Si7021-singleread.py

import time
import Si7021
import pigpio

pi = pigpio.pi()

if not pi.connected:
   exit(0)
s = Si7021.sensor(pi)

# set the resolution
# 0 denotes the maxium available: Humidity 12 bits, Temperature 14 bits
# See the documentation for more details
s.set_resolution(0)

print("{:.3f} °C".format(s.temperature()))
print("{:.3f} %rH".format(s.humidity()))

s.cancel()
pi.stop()

This gives:

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ python3 Si7021-singleread.py 
27.303 °C
40.574 %rH

Now, these values actually represent a resolution of 12 and 14 bit, respectively.

Setting up a Raspberry Pi Zero W/WH, the headless way, with Wifi and VNC enabled

Many have covered this (at least partially), but here’s my ultimate, minimal, quick guide to all the necessary parts, using a Linux box.

Use the given commands in a Linux bash terminal.

Get the image

Download the latest Raspbian image. (Choose the “with desktop and recommended software” version, when e.g. you need the IDLE Python IDE. VNC is included in all versions)

In the terminal (with optional, manual hash comparison):

# get the latest full image
wget --output-document=raspbian_full_latest.zip 
https://downloads.raspberrypi.org/raspbian_full_latest
# optionally check the sha256 hash
sha256sum raspbian_full_latest.zip

Burn

Burn the image from the ZIP to the SD Card. Use the lsblk command to find out the device name.

In the terminal (assuming dev/sdb is the device name)

# get the device name
lsblk
# unzip and write, use proper device name for output
unzip -p raspbian_full_latest.zip | sudo dd of=/dev/sdb status=progress conv=fsync
# flush the write cache
sync

Reference: For Linux specifically, here’s the full guide for writing the image to the SD card.

ssh

Enable ssh by placing an empty file named ssh (without extension or dot) in the boot folder of the boot partition.

In the terminal

# change to the boot partition
cd /media/$USER/boot

# ssh marker file
touch ssh

Wifi

Pre-configure your Wifi by placing a file named wpa_supplicant.conf in the root folder of the root partition, with the following content (Replace country and placeholders as needed)

country=CH   
ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=netdev
update_config=1

network={
   ssid="NETWORK-NAME"
   psk="NETWORK-PASSWORD"
}

In the terminal

# wifi config file (Adapt country and placeholders)
touch wpa_supplicant.conf
echo 'country=CH   
ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=netdev
update_config=1

network={
   ssid="NETWORK-NAME"
   psk="NETWORK-PASSWORD"
}' > wpa_supplicant.conf
# flush the write cache
sync

Startup…

Now insert the SD card into you Raspberry Pi and connect power.

# see if it's there...  (use your name or ip)
ping raspberrypi-zero-wh
# ssh into the raspberry
ssh pi@raspberrypi-zero-wh

Housekeeping

On the Raspberry Pi, do a proper setup:

# change the password
passwd
# type your old and new password
# do housekeeping
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
sudo apt-get clean

Enabling the remote VNC server

There are 3 Ways to Run a Remote Desktop on Raspberry Pi, but I like the to do it with RealVNC.

If you chose to burn the “with desktop and recommended software” version of the image, everything on the Raspberry Pi should already be in place to run the VNC server. Otherwise, follow the VNC Guide in the official documentation to enable the VNC server.

To run the VNC server, in an ssh session to the Raspberry Pi:

vncserver :1

This should print a message like
New desktop is raspberrypi:1 (192.168.77.3:1)

Connecting

On your client device, download the VNC viewer, then connect using the IP address and Desktop id.

Go to File/New Connection, then use e.g. 192.168.77.3:1

Connecting to the Raspberry Pi desktop using VNC