Meteohub Weather Server with Battery Backup

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Meteohub weather server installed on a ALIX-1d motherboard and mounted in a Mini ITX case.

A 12A hour sealed lead acid battery can be fitted internally or a larger external sealed lead acid battery can be connected for battery backup.

 

 
 Weather Server Front P1000826-01

Front panel showing status LEDs for Flash Card activity, DC volts amd AC power.

Also a DVM to monitor batt charge/discharge and weather station power.

  P1000839-01

Front panel flaps hide USB port and batt charge voltage adjuster (bottom) and (top)

hides the batt fuse and DVM controls.
Weather Server Front Right P1000831-02

Side view with case cover removed. Batt tray for a 12AH battery is at the front.

  Weather Server Left P1000828-01

Left side with ALIX-1d board mounted and PSUs on top.
 Weather Server Top P1000830-01

Top view showing PSUs and wiring. The PSU on the left is a prebuilt switched mode type.

This supplies power for charging and the ALIX-1d. The weather station PSU supplies 11volts

through a Low voltage dropout regulator to my Oregon WMR928 weather station.

  Weather Server Top Board P1000830-02

Top view showing the regulator and charging circuit board mounted inside the

old mini ITX PSU case.
 Weather Server Back P1000827_01

Rear view showing batt terminals for external backup batteries. Weather station power take off

and ALIX-1d board connections.

  board layout

Battery charging and 11volt PSU circuit board.

Weather Server schematic

Battery charging and 11volt PSU circuit layout.

The ALIX-1d motherboard power is fed from the switched mode PSU at max 13.5 volts. The preset VR2 is adjusted to give 13.5 volts on the fuse side of the diode. The diode will drop around 0.6v so the PSU will output approx 14.1 volt.

The diode isolates the PSU when mains power fails. The 12v sealed lead acid battery is charged at 13.5 volts and can be continuously charged at this rate without damage. Fuse F1 protects the the circuit from possible hi currents from the 12v

battery and should be fitted as close as possible to the battery terminal. F2 protects the ALIX-1d board and 11volt PSU.  If mains power fails the battery takes over and provides backup until mains power is restored when it will be auto charged.

D1 indicates mains power is on. The DVM via SW2 can be set to monitor the Charge voltage if mains power is on or battery discharge voltage if mains power is off. In position 2 the Weather Station voltage (11 volts) is monitored.