Case study
Remote hive monitor
A field node for a hive: weight, temperature and humidity, GPS, and battery or solar voltage, reported to ThingsBoard. A cellular modem is part of the unit.
Weight, climate, GPS, solar → ESP32 → MQTT → ThingsBoard
- Record
- Private firmware. Described here without the client name.
- Stack
- ESP32, HX711, GPS, ThingsBoard, Cellular
- Hardware
- ESP32 and ESP32-S3 variants · HX711 · Temperature and humidity sensor · GPS · Cellular modem
The problem
A hive is not somewhere you visit for a serial log. The node has to report whether the colony is gaining weight, whether the box climate is sane, where the unit is, and whether the solar supply is still alive.
What I built
Two private firmware lines, one on ESP32 and one on ESP32-S3. The scale is an HX711. Temperature and humidity go out with the weight. A low-power GPS gives a location that can be placed on a map. Battery and solar voltage are part of the same telemetry. The cloud path is MQTT into ThingsBoard. A cellular modem carries that link where there is no site Wi-Fi.
Decisions
This is the same shape as the stock scale: a load cell and a climate reading on a timer, then a dashboard. The hive build adds power telemetry and GPS because the node is outdoors and easy to lose. I am not publishing yields, ranges, or a client name. The repositories are private.