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• The EnviroPi Temp Monitor Hackaday Project Is Complete

  Bret Bernhoft • 07/30/2026 at 06:20 • 0 comments

  After 18 months of development, assembly and troubleshooting, I am proud to officially mark the EnviroPi Temp Monitor as "complete." While the final hardware and software integration represent a significant milestone, the true value of this project is the evolution of my workflow. 

  This journey has served as a masterclass in building complex systems, specifically in the following areas:

  • Having a clear North Star for what the device should do is essential, but remaining agile enough to pivot allows a project to cross the finish line
  • Giving myself the space to struggle with complex problems enables me to transform challenges into accomplishments
  • Documenting my logic, setup and code changes from day one creates a paper trail, making troubleshooting and replication significantly easier
  • Engaging with the Hackaday community reinforces the importance of sharing knowledge to help the next project succeed

  I intend to carry these methodologies into all my future builds. By adopting a documentation-first approach and an iterative philosophy, I can streamline my development cycle. Thus shortening the time from concept to completion while increasing the professional quality and reliability of final products.

  This journey has replaced my initial hesitation and skepticism with confidence in making custom electronics. I am no longer just building a device; I am refining a process. I look forward to sharing my next adventure.

• Expanded Existing Project Setup Instructions With New Step

  Bret Bernhoft • 06/04/2026 at 01:29 • 0 comments

  Today I reviewed and expanded the setup instructions for this project, which combines a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 WH with an Adafruit MCP9808 temperature sensor. The main priority was identifying whether any important steps were missing from the project instructions.

  After reviewing the current sequence, I added a new instruction step for installing the required Python dependencies before running the temperature logging script. This new step explains how the project requires adafruit-blinka and adafruit-circuitpython-mcp9808, which allow the Raspberry Pi to communicate with the MCP9808 sensor through Python and the I2C interface.

  I also reviewed the app.py file used by the project and confirmed Python’s built-in modules do not need to be included in the dependency list. From there, I created the contents for a simple requirements.txt file and added the new instruction, which is titled "Install The Required Python Dependencies". 

  Finally, I considered how this new dependency step fits into the larger project flow, especially before running the logger inside a screen session. This makes the instructions more complete and should help future users avoid errors when reproducing the project.

• Project Documentation Is Taking Longer Than Originally Expected

  Bret Bernhoft • 03/23/2025 at 07:44 • 0 comments

  Given this is my first Hackaday project, I did not fully know what to expect regarding a time commitment from start to finish. With this said, what has surprised me the most is how much work goes into properly documenting all of the production details. From explaining the individual steps involved, to refactoring Python and JavaScript programs.

  Originally I had intended to take only two months in order to complete the EnviroPi Temp Monitor project. At the moment I am writing this log entry, it has already been two and a half months, with more documentation and assembly left to do. By the time this endeavor is finalized, I foresee a total of four months of effort going into wrapping it all up.
  

  Despite the coding, refactoring, documenting and publishing taking longer than assumed, I am grateful to be spending the correct amount of time needed in order to ensure a quality outcome. I would like for anyone to be able to follow this project's notes in pursuit of building their own version of an EnviroPi Temp Monitor. It is important to me that I do a high-quality job from the get-go.

• Ending Data Collection After Thirty Three Days

  Bret Bernhoft • 03/01/2025 at 01:47 • 0 comments

  After thirty three days of collecting temperature readings, I have turned off the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 WH computer. And I will no longer be gathering data for this experiment. As I feel I have enough information to work with towards completion.

  The final CSV file is 78 MB in size, which means the program collected 2.363 MB of data each day. The same CSV file contains 2.75 million measurements, or one for each second between January 27th, 2025 and February 28th, 2025. That is quite a lot from my perspective.

  Looking back on this self-quantification experiment, I am able to see how much I have learned since the beginning. I can also see where overcoming my trepidation about building electronics has now paid off. Documenting the process on Hackaday has been eye opening for me.

  But there are still more details to explore before I walk away from this project. I would like to add a couple more steps to the EnviroPi Temp Monitor page. As well as expand on the details section for other newcomers who may be interested in building this project for themselves.

• Results From Sixteen Days Of Temperature Readings

  Bret Bernhoft • 02/13/2025 at 02:44 • 0 comments

  After running this project for roughly sixteen days, the CSV file containing all of the temperature measurements (from the MCP9808 sensor) is roughly thirty nine megabytes in size. Which is almost two and a half megabytes of data gathered every day; a little less than originally estimated.
  

  What I have also noticed is every twenty four hour period has a distinct fingerprint or pattern, in terms of the temperature readings collected. This is validated with the visualizations provided for each calendar day using the HTML and JavaScript files available on GitHub. Further still, by referencing the same graphs, I am able to determine the exact minute when environmental services in my home are automatically turned on. All being rather interesting and revealing to me. 

  Please see the screenshot below for an example of what is stated in the above paragraph:
  

  This self-quantification project has been a lot of fun to build, document and maintain. I expect to be actively gathering temperature readings for a little less than two more weeks. Resulting in a total of four weeks worth of entries. When completed, I will be moving on to another similar project, to be documented via a Hackaday project page.
  

• Temperature Measurements Actively Being Recorded

  Bret Bernhoft • 01/28/2025 at 02:33 • 0 comments

  After a couple hours of work, to my great delight and relative astonishment, the Adafruit MCP9808 sensor has been successfully connected to the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 WH computer. The contraption is actively measuring ambient temperatures once per second, and storing said data in a common, local CSV file.
  

  I will run this experiment for roughly two or three weeks. Afterwards, I will export and visualize the information using D3; my favorite data graphing JavaScript library. In the meantime this "EnviroPi Temp Monitor" project needs to be clearly organized, including the addition of Python scripts and instructions on how to replicate.

  To keep things interesting, I am dreaming up my next Hackaday.io project. But that is fun for another time. Let's stay (mostly) focused on what is already in front of us. There is still a bit more to do here.
  

• My First Attempt At Soldering Was A Success

  Bret Bernhoft • 01/16/2025 at 02:44 • 0 comments

  Tonight I soldered header pins to the Adafruit sensor I am using for this project. I noticed the temperature on my Weller soldering iron varied quite a bit during the soldering process. But after cleaning the iron's tip, everything stabilized as expected.

  What makes this soldering especially interesting and notable to me, is the fact tonight is my first time ever trying. And it was a success. The joints are solid, there are no solder bridges and I didn't use excessive material.
  
  The next step is to test the sensor component's connectivity with my Raspberry Pi computer. If I am able to verify the two are communicating, I can write the software for collecting temperature readings. And get this project on its way in earnest.
  

• Purchased Soldering Equipment Today

  Bret Bernhoft • 01/11/2025 at 03:00 • 0 comments

  As this is my first Hackaday.io project, it is also my first attempt at soldering. While I have already been using Raspberry Pi computers and the Python programming language for self-quantification, my experience with assembling electronics is relatively limited. I have built numerous desktop PCs, but only a few devices weighing less than a pound or two.
  

  Today I purchased the equipment needed to solder. Once the hardware arrives, I will begin this journey by connecting header pins to the Adafruit MCP9808 temperature sensor. From there, I will be using jumper cables to connect said sensor to a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 WH. At which point I will write a program to have this apparatus collect temperature data every few seconds, adding those measurements to a growing CSV file. Which will later be visualized using the D3 JavaScript library.

  I will update this project again in the near future when there is more to share.
  

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