Close

Software and Remote Data Logging

A project log for Bee hive health monitor

This project will monitor the weight changes in the hive along with some environmental items to provide real time indicators of hive health

sparksronsparks.ron 04/16/2021 at 22:100 Comments

Completely rewrote the software to make it more modular based on the process flow. This took a major effort, but will allow for future modifications and customizations. It will also increase reusability for my other projects, like the weather station. There is still a long to-do list of things the software needs like OTA updating, moving of data and credentials to the data section of the ESP8266, etc. But it is currently useable and has been working without a problem for the last few months with a temperature sensor only. Work still needs to be done to better understand the non-linearities of the scale and what is causing them.

Last month the data logging software I am using, InfluxDB, had a breaking version upgrade from 1.x to 2.0. Unfortunately I had the automatic update feature working on Docker and it messed up the system. I am now creating two instances, one 1.x and one 2.0, in order to try to recover the data fully as it seems that is what is recommended for a manual upgrade as well.

The bees survived the winter and the arctic blast without a problem. It dropped to -12F (-24C) here for at least a day and was below freezing for a week. That may be normal for some places, but the animals and plants in Southeast Texas are not in any way prepared for that. Never mind that the power went out for days. Here at our place it was out for 2 1/2 days. However, here in the Houston area we get a LOT of unexpected weather surprises (hurricanes, tornados, ice storms, hail, high heat and humidity, etc.) so you learn to be prepared and resourceful. I put sugar water feeders on the hives the first day I could so that they would have the extra food to keep moving and heat the hive enough. I guess Texas bees are as hardy as most Texans.

This project will continue to be down the priority list for a while to ensure I have time to prepare for hurricane season before the summer heat starts up in mid to late May.

Discussions