Pico Thermostat Display

This project is a mini thermostat using a Raspberry Pi Pico 2W, a DHT11 sensor, and an SSD1306 OLED display. It reads the current temperature and humidity and displays them in real-time. It’s a great intro to environmental sensing and IoT projects.

Materials List

1. Raspberry Pi Pico 2W
2. DHT11 Temperature & Humidity Sensor
3. SSD1306 OLED Display (128x64, I2C)
4. Jumper wires
5. MicroUSB dongle
6. Breadboard (for prototyping)
7. Custom 3D-printed enclosure (STL included)
8. Soldering tools (for final build)
9. Hot Glue

Step 1: Design the Circuit (WOKWI)

1. Open the WOKWI project: Click Here
2. Review the pin connections:
3. DHT11 to GPIO 15
4. SSD1306 (SCL to GPIO 1, SDA to GPIO 0)
5. Power and ground appropriately wired

Step 2: Flash the Code to Pico

1. Install Thonny IDE
2. Connect your Pico via USB
3. Upload the MicroPython code (see code section below)
4. Verify temperature and humidity readings appear on the display

I am unable to upload the font files with current extention (.pf) So I have renamed them to (.txt)

You will need to rename them back for it to work properly

Test everything on the breadboard first

Step 3: Print the Enclosure

1. Print the custom STL file provided
2. Snap-fit the Pico, sensor, and display into the case
3. I used the soldering Iron to melt the mounts for the OLED so they were a snug fit
4. The Pico fits loosely...once I had wiring figured out I dropped a drop of Hot Glue behind teh pico when fitting it into teh case
5. You can do either with the sensor, I made the mount long enough to melt, but I opted to put hot glue under mine.

Step 4: Final Assembly

1. Solder connections for a more permanent build
2. Mount components securely in the case
3. Power using USB and test the display

Reflection

1. Challenges: Sizing the STL properly to allow wires to pass through and accommodate the display.
2. Lessons Learned: How to read from a sensor, display data, and prototype before printing.
3. Improvements: Could add buttons to set a temperature threshold and trigger an alert.
4. Future Plans:
5. Building a few of these that will then use teh wireless function to communicate with a MASTER Pi who will then control the valves to allow heating to each room that requires it
6. Including a waterproof one for the Hot Tub and Pool
7. Monitoring a Chest Freezer temperature