Skip to content

About

Real-time 10-sensor air quality dashboard on Raspberry Pi with Pimoroni Enviro+ — ST7735 display, MQTT to Adafruit IO, SQLite logging, hot-reloadable config

Topics

Resources

Stars

0 stars

Watchers

0 watching

Forks

Latest commit

 

History

124 Commits

Folders and files

NameName
Last commit message
Last commit date
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Repository files navigation

🌡️ Enviro+ Dashboard

A high-density, real-time air quality and environment monitor running on a Raspberry Pi with a Pimoroni Enviro+ HAT. Five pages on the 160×80 ST7735 screen (indoor air, particulates, outdoor weather, gas, CO₂), changed by a wave over the proximity sensor, with persistent SQLite logging.


🖥️ Display Pages

enviro_screens.py draws each page; a hand over the LTR559 proximity sensor moves to the next one. Corner dots show which page is on.

Page Shows
1 · Glance EPA AQI gauge (2024 PM2.5 table); indoor °F, humidity, pressure; outdoor °F and humidity from the Ambient station with trend
2 · Air PM1, PM2.5, PM10 in µg/m³ with trend lines on one shared scale
3 · Outside Wind direction, speed and gust; UV; daily rain (Ambient station)
4 · Gas Oxidising, reducing, NH3 sensor resistance in kΩ with trends
5 · CO₂ SCD41 CO₂ in ppm, colored by the UBA guide-value bands, with a trend

A missing or failed reading shows -- and leaves a gap in its trend; it is never drawn as zero. Outdoor values older than display.outdoor_stale_s show --.

Color coding: the AQI gauge and PM2.5 value use the EPA category colors (Good green, Moderate yellow, Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups orange, Unhealthy red, Very Unhealthy purple, Hazardous maroon). Indoor temperature, humidity and gas values use the green/yellow/orange (gas: red) bands in thresholds.


🔬 Sensors

Sensor Chip Measures Notes
Temperature BME280 °F (self-heat compensated) Constant offset calibration.self_heat_offset_c in the CONFIG_PATH document
Humidity BME280 % RH
Pressure BME280 hPa
Light LTR559 Lux Also used as proximity sensor
Oxidising gas MICS6814 kΩ (NO₂, O₃) Higher resistance = cleaner air
Reducing gas MICS6814 kΩ (CO, VOCs) Lower resistance = more pollution
Ammonia MICS6814 kΩ (NH₃) Lower resistance = more pollution
PM1.0 PMS5003 µg/m³ External particulate sensor
PM2.5 PMS5003 µg/m³ Fine particles — primary AQI metric
PM10 PMS5003 µg/m³ Coarse particles
CO₂ SCD41 ppm Adafruit breakout, I2C 0x62; photoacoustic NDIR, one sample per 5 s, BME280 pressure compensation
Temperature, humidity SCD41 °C, % RH Stored as the sensor reports them (factory 4 °C offset); the indoor temperature and humidity on screen and in Grafana

🏗️ Architecture

flowchart LR
    subgraph Hardware
        BME280 -->|I2C| PI
        LTR559 -->|I2C| PI
        MICS6814 -->|I2C/ADC| PI
        PMS5003 -->|UART| PI
        SCD41 -->|I2C| PI
    end

    subgraph PI["Raspberry Pi"]
        enviro_dash3.py
        ambient_wx.py
        nws_wx.py
        provider_collector.py
        dynamic_config.pi5.json
    end

    subgraph Canonical["Canonical tier"]
        RAW[("📥 raw-capture/\nprovider responses as received")]
    end

    subgraph Derived["Derived tier"]
        SQLITE[("🗄️ SQLite\nenviro.db")]
    end

    subgraph Outputs
        DISPLAY["🖥️ ST7735\n160×80 Display"]
        GRAFANA["📈 Grafana\n(container, reads enviro.db)"]
        OFFSITE[("☁️ Offsite backup\nverified by remote hash")]
    end

    dynamic_config.pi5.json -->|hot-reload| enviro_dash3.py
    enviro_dash3.py --> DISPLAY
    enviro_dash3.py -->|every 60s| SQLITE
    ambient_wx.py & nws_wx.py & provider_collector.py -->|response bytes| RAW
    ambient_wx.py & nws_wx.py & provider_collector.py -->|projected rows| SQLITE
    RAW -->|replay| SQLITE
    SQLITE --> GRAFANA
    RAW & SQLITE -->|daily| OFFSITE
Loading

📦 Hardware

Component Where to buy
Pimoroni Enviro+ Pimoroni
PMS5003 Particulate Sensor Pimoroni
Raspberry Pi (3 B+, 4, 5, or Zero 2 W) Various
Adafruit SCD-41 CO₂ Sensor Adafruit

🚀 Setup

1. Install Pimoroni libraries

git clone https://github.com/pimoroni/enviroplus-python
cd enviroplus-python
./install.sh

2. Clone this repo

git clone https://github.com/strommy76/enviroplus.git ~/projects/enviroplus
cd ~/projects/enviroplus

3. Install Python dependencies

pip install -r requirements.txt

4. Configure

cp .env.example .env   # add credentials — secrets only, no tuning values here
Variable Description
SQLITE_PATH Path to SQLite database
CONFIG_PATH Path to the dashboard config document (dynamic_config.pi5.json)
NWS_API_BASE_URL NWS API base URL
NWS_STATIONS Ordered NWS station identifiers; first fresh observation wins
NWS_USER_AGENT NWS-required caller identification
NWS_POLL_S NWS poll interval in seconds
NWS_SHUTDOWN_CHECK_S NWS service shutdown check cadence in seconds
NWS_MAX_OBSERVATION_AGE_S Maximum accepted NWS latest-observation age in seconds
NWS_COLLECTION_LOOKBACK_S Bounded NWS observations query window in seconds

All tuning values (calibration, thresholds, intervals, display) live in the CONFIG_PATH document — see below.

5. Run as a systemd service

sudo systemctl link "$PWD/enviro_dash.service"
sudo systemctl enable --now enviro_dash

Check status:

sudo systemctl status enviro_dash
journalctl -u enviro_dash -f        # or tail -f enviro_dash.log; each service has its own <service>.log

Before using this deployment example, reconcile the unit's device bindings and operations-alert template with the target host. Repository content does not select the active hardware unit; prove that binding from the running service manager as required by PROJECT-CONFIG.md. Preserve and compare an existing copied unit as described in the repair plan. For the repaired display, GPIO9 is DC; pi-config owns the spi0-2cs,no_miso firmware binding that frees it.


⚙️ Dashboard config (CONFIG_PATH)

All tunable runtime values live here. The running script watches this file and hot-reloads within 2 seconds of any change — no restart needed.

{
  "calibration": {
    "self_heat_offset_c": 6.35,  ← measured BME280 self-heat (see its provenance key)
    "bme_samples":  3             ← BME280 readings averaged per loop (reduces noise)
  },
  "intervals": {
    "publish_s":        60,  ← length of the interval each readings row covers
    "display_refresh_s": 2   ← display update rate
  },
  "thresholds": { ... },     ← color bands for temperature, humidity, gas and CO₂
  "display":    { ... }      ← proximity tap level, outdoor staleness
}

To recalibrate temperature: re-measure the offset against a reference over 5-minute means and update self_heat_offset_c; its self_heat_offset_provenance records how the current value was measured. Then rebuild the affected days with python local_sensors.py --replay DAY....


🌡️ Temperature Compensation

The BME280 sits close to the Pi's CPU and reads high. On this Pi 5 with M.2 spacing the error is a near-constant pedestal, so the derived temp_f subtracts a measured constant, calibration.self_heat_offset_c, and humidity is corrected for the same self-heating with the Magnus formula. The SCD41, mounted clear of the Pi, supplies the indoor temperature and humidity on screen; both sensors are recorded.


🗃️ Data tiers

Store Tier Contents
raw-capture/local_sensors/<day>.ndjson 1, canonical Every loop's reads, each as its driver returned it; a failed read is recorded as that lane's error
readings (SQLite) 2, derived One row per publish interval, projected by local_sensors.derive_row with the config's calibration

Live and local_sensors.py --replay DAY... use the same projection, so a calibration change is applied to past days by replaying them. A row is keyed by its interval's start (rows from before Tier 1 are keyed by their write time), and replaying a day rewrites that day's rows, on the current publish_s grid. Replay a day once it has ended. Rows from before the first local_sensors record have no Tier 1 reads: they are kept as written and never rebuilt, dropped or overwritten. Live and replay differ only around a process restart: live never writes the interval open at shutdown and writes the one open at restart from its post-restart reads; replay writes both from all their reads.


📝 Data notes

Known-bad spans in the authoritative readings table. Rows are kept as written; these notes are how a reader knows to discount them.

Span (UTC) Columns Issue
2026-07-30 → 2026-08-05 pm1, pm25, pm10 ~85,000 PMS5003 read timeouts; the code of the time re-stored the last good values as fresh, so PM in this span is largely repeats. Fixed 2026-10-11 (failed reads now store NULL).
2026-09-17 00:26 → 2026-10-11 12:48 all No rows: the dashboard could not start after kernel 6.18.50 claimed GPIO9 (fixed by pi-config spi0-2cs,no_miso).

🗄️ SQLite Schema

CREATE TABLE readings (
    ts          TEXT PRIMARY KEY,   -- UTC: "2026-03-15 21:30:00"; interval start (write time before Tier 1)
    temp_f      REAL,
    humidity    REAL,
    pressure    REAL,
    lux         REAL,
    oxidising   REAL,
    reducing    REAL,
    ammonia     REAL,
    pm1         REAL,
    pm25        REAL,
    pm10        REAL,
    cpu_temp_c  REAL,               -- Pi CPU temperature (°C)
    cpu_load    REAL,               -- 1-minute load average
    mem_free_mb REAL,               -- available memory (MB)
    uptime_s    INTEGER,            -- system uptime (seconds)
    co2_ppm     REAL,               -- SCD41 CO2 (ppm); NULL when no sample that interval
    scd41_temp_c REAL,              -- SCD41 temperature (°C), as reported
    scd41_rh    REAL                -- SCD41 relative humidity (%), as reported
);

Query example — correlate CPU temp with sensor drift:

SELECT ts, temp_f, cpu_temp_c, cpu_load
FROM readings
WHERE ts >= '2026-03-15 22:00:00'
ORDER BY ts;


🔗 Upstream Sources

Resource Link
Pimoroni Enviro+ Python library https://github.com/pimoroni/enviroplus-python
PMS5003 Python library https://github.com/pimoroni/pms5003-python
LTR559 Python library https://github.com/pimoroni/ltr559-python
Pimoroni Enviro+ product page https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/enviro-plus
Pimoroni learning: Enviro+ https://learn.pimoroni.com/article/getting-started-with-enviro-plus
MICS6814 datasheet https://www.sgxsensortech.com/content/uploads/2015/02/1143_Datasheet-MiCS-6814-rev-8.pdf
PMS5003 datasheet https://www.aqmd.gov/docs/default-source/aq-spec/resources-page/plantower-pms5003-manual_v2-3.pdf
Adafruit SCD-41 guide https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-scd-40-and-scd-41
Sensirion SCD4x Python driver https://github.com/Sensirion/python-i2c-scd4x
UBA indoor CO₂ guide values (CO₂ display bands) Bundesgesundheitsblatt 2008, 51:1358–1369

📋 Roadmap

  • 10-sensor dashboard on ST7735 display
  • CPU temperature compensation (constant self-heat offset since 2026-07-30)
  • SQLite logging with UTC timestamps + Pi telemetry
  • Rotating log file
  • systemd service with auto-restart
  • Hot-reloadable dashboard config, single source of truth
  • BME280 averaging for noise reduction
  • Every local sensor read retained in Tier 1; readings derived and replayable
  • Ruff linting with pre-commit hook (referee not installed)
  • Adafruit SCD-41 CO₂ sensor integration
  • Grafana dashboard on AI host via Tailscale
  • Migrate to Raspberry Pi 5

About

Real-time 10-sensor air quality dashboard on Raspberry Pi with Pimoroni Enviro+ — ST7735 display, MQTT to Adafruit IO, SQLite logging, hot-reloadable config

Topics

Resources

Stars

0 stars

Watchers

0 watching

Forks

Releases

Packages

Used by

Contributors

Languages