Close

Proper parts list

A project log for Internet-of-Things Power Meter

Simple, cheap, easy to build and deploy, the IoT Power Meter provides accurate statistics on household power consumption.

solenoidSolenoid 03/25/2016 at 08:050 Comments

The HAD.io parts list section in a project is a great feature, but not very useful for other than a vague idea of what constitutes the project.

I think the parts list would benefit a lot from pictures next to the parts, a reference code, link, price, quantity... The form factor of the parts I chose for the IPM is rather important, as others types might not fit on the perfboard just as well.

I like sourcing my parts from eBay, partly because it's absurdly cheap and also because during the 1-month delivery period I forget what I ordered, then when something arrives I'm happily surprised to find something in my mailbox (thus my sail mail notifier).

Here's proper parts list with pictures, references, the lowest listing price and links to them in no particular order, every part is only needed once:

PictureReferenceLinkPrice
AMS1117-3.3 LDO
This lowers the 5V input to 3.3V for the ESP8266
eBay$1
Button (through hole)
To put the ESP into programming mode
eBay$1
ESP8266-12E with breakout board
The heart of the system
eBay$3
Right angle, male pin headers (single row)
For programming and attaching the light sensor
eBay$1.5
Female pin headers (single row)
To connect the light sensor to the board
eBay$1
Light sensor
To read the LED blinks on the power meter
eBay$1
0.96" OLED display (I2C)
To display stuff
eBay$6
Perfboard/prototype board
To connect everything together
eBay$2
FTDI programmer (5V/3.3V, settable via a jumper)
To program the ESP
eBay$2
Mini SD card reader module for micro SD card (SPI)
To save data on the SD card
eBay$1
Micro SD memory card
To hold the data, anything above 16MB is good
eBay$1
Jumper cables
To connect the programmer to the ESP
eBay$1
10kOhm through-hole resistor
To pull-up the button signal
eBay$1
USB cable
Doesn't matter which type, it's going to be broken anyway
eBay$1

14 partsTotal$23.5

Some bits and pieces like wire and solder are also needed, I expect any self respecting tinkerer/hacker to have them or break the nearest appliance to get some.

If you don't like eBay then there are other places you can buy cheap electronics from, such as DealExtreme, AliExpress, Elecrow to name a few.

Discussions