Simple WeeWX Weather Station Display for the Cheap Yellow Display (CYD).
The cydWeeWX is designed for the ESP32-Cheap-Yellow-Display (CYD) which provides a 320 x 240 2.8" LCD display with a touch screen and embedded ESP32. The CYD can usually be found for $10 to $20 from AliExpress.
Functionality is fairly simple with a single main display screen and no touch capability implemented. All information except for the WMO Icon and description are pulled from your WeeWX server. The WMO code used for the WMO Icon and Description is pulled from Open-Meteo using the latitude and longitude from WeeWX.
The main display shows current weather data including:
- A header with the location, latitude, longitude and last WeeWX weather update date and time.
- WMO icon and weather description from Open-Meteo. Open-Meteo updates this every 15 minutes with the free API service.
- Outdoor and indoor temperature with a trend indicator for the outdoor temperature.
- Outdoor and indoor humidity with a trend indicator for the outdoor humidity.
- Barometric pressure with trend indicator.
- Rain rate with trend indicator.
- Wind speed with trend indicator and wind direction indicator.
- Wind gusts with trend indicator and wind direction indicator.
- Sunrise and Sunset.
- Moonrise and Moonset.
- Moon phase.
All units shown are based on the units provided by the WeeWX data query. Similarly the time is shown assuming the WeeWX query provides local time. The WeeWX data query relies on the installation of the weewx-json extension modified to also generate a custom JSON report with a new report template, cyd_weewx.json.tmpl.
WMO icon and icon colors will change based in whether it is currently night or day. The animated GIF above shows the day version while the night version is below.
The cydWeeWX device makes use of Arduino WiFi Manager library to implement a Configuration Portal. The Configuration Portal allows you to set up the WiFi configuration as well as input the URL for your WeeWX server.
Build and install the cydWeeWX firmware on you CYD as outlined in the build instructions. Also install and configure the weewx-json extension on your WeeWX server. When the cydWeeWX is booted for the first time the WiFI access and the WeeWX server URL will need to be configured. The cydWeeWX display should look as shown:
With a phone, tablet or PC, connect to the cydWeeWX access point at the indicated SSID with the indicated Password. Then use a browser to go to 194.168.4.1 to see the Configuration Portal main screen.
- Click on the Setup button to go to a page where you can enter your WeeWX URL. The URL must start with "HTTP://" and end with a slash, "/".
- Click Save to save the WeeWX URL and hit the browser back button to return to the Configuration Portal main page.
- Now click Configure WiFi to go to the WiFi configuration page.
- Enter the SSID and Password for you WiFI network then click Save.
- At this point the cydWeeWX will attempt to connect to your WiFi network and then display your current weather data.
If there is a problem with the WiFi connection, access to the WeeWX server or access to Open-Meteo the cydWeeWX will enter an error state and display an error message.
The cydWeeWX can be forced to re-enter Configuration Portal mode by holding down the configuration trigger button. cydWeeWX uses the BOOT button on the CYD as the trigger button. Its on the back of the CYD next to the RESET button
The BOOT button needs to be held down for at least 2 seconds to enter Configuration Mode. The cydWeeWX display will show the following:
Follow the Configuration Steps above to fix either the WiFI configuration or WeeWX URL. If the error is with access to Open-Meteo then you may have an internet access issue.
The Configuration Portal will timeout after 5 minutes. If WiFi connectivity has not been established after the timeout then the cydWeeWX will reboot. If there is a WiFi connection established then the cydWeeWX will enter weather data display mode. Either clicking on the EXIT button in the portal or holding down the BOOT button will force the cydWeeWX to exit configuration mode.
The display images shown above were generated using a WOKWi simulation of the cydWeeWX. The firmware is too large to use directly on the WOKWi web site but it will run using the VS Code plugin. How to set up the VS Code plugin can be found on the WOKWi site. Information about how to build cydWeeWX firmware for simulation can be found here.
- Brian Lough's ESP32-Cheap-Yellow-Display site. A great place to go for information on the CYD.
- WeeWX open source software for your weather station.
- Erik Flowers' Weather Icons site. The icons used in the cydWeeWX are LVGL fonts derived from the Weather Icons TTF font created by Erik Flowers. The weatherIcons_22c.h and wmoIcons_64c.h font files we're produced from the Weather Icons TTF font using the LVGL Font Converter.
- DejaVu Fonts used to produce the dejaVuSansCondensed_18c.h font file with the LVGL Font Converter.