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Materials

Within this page you can see all of the required materials for building the base unit, as well as the materials for adding sensors and other 'accessory' nodes. If you already have some of these pieces, for example, a 3d printer, you don't need to factor that into the cost. We have included every sensor that we currently support for the station within this list. If you have other sensors you wish to include, we would be thrilled for you to modify the codebase and send us a pull request or send a comment to us via our Contribution portal.

The station can be powered and connected via ethernet or independently. The materials needed will be different depending on which configuration you use. Pay attention to the headings on the table below to make sure the materials you purchase are appropriate for the configuration that meets your needs. If you need more information to decide which configuration is best for your specific circumstance, go to the Determining power & internet needs page.

Printing Gear

Only one roll of filament is required.

Area Component Price Per Unit Number of Units Total Price Source
Printing Ender 3 S1 $349.00 1 $349.00 (Amazon)
Printing PLA+ Filament $20.99 1 $20.99 (Amazon)
Printing Tough PLA $24.99 1 $24.99 (Amazon)

Base Station with Independent Comms and Power

Area Component Price Per Unit Number of Units Total Price Source
Microcontroller M5 atomlite $7.50 1 $7.50 (M5)
Cables qwiic to grove cable $1.60 1 $1.60 (sparkfun)
Cables qwiic adapter $1.60 1 $1.60 (sparkfun)
Cables qwiic multiport $2.10 1 $2.10 (sparkfun)
Cables qwiic cable 500mm $2.10 1 $2.10 (sparkfun)
Cables qwiic cable 200mm $1.60 2 $3.20 (sparkfun)
Cables qwiic cable 100mm $1.60 1 $1.60 (sparkfun)
Cables Grove to GPIO $3.50 1 $3.50 (Seeed studio)
Cables Qwiic to GPIO $1.50 1 $1.50 (sparkfun)
Cables usbC=>usbA adapter (2pk) $7.99 1 $7.99 (amazon)
Cables usbC=>usbA 10ft cable (5pk) $13.59 1 $13.59 (amazon)
Sensors adafruit bme680 $18.95 1 $18.95 (mouser)
Sensors RG-15 Rain Gauge $99.00 1 $99.00 (mouser)
Sensors adafruit pm2.5 $44.95 1 $44.95 (adafruit)
Sensors adafruit ltr390 $4.95 1 $4.95 (mouser)
Power voltaic v75 (20mah) $79.00 1 $79.00 (voltaic)
Power voltaic 20w solar panel $99.00 1 $99.00 (voltaic)
Power Junction Box $15.93 1 $15.93 Home Depot
Communications KuWfi 4G Hotspot $36.99 1 $36.99 (Amazon)
Communications Redpocket 1 yr SIM (TMOBILE ONLY) $30.00 1 $30.00 (ebay)

Base Station using PoE

Area Component Price Per Unit Number of Units Total Price Source
PoE PoE Converter $39.90 1 $39.90 (M5)
Cables qwiic to grove cable $1.60 1 $1.60 (sparkfun)
Cables qwiic adapter $1.60 1 $1.60 (sparkfun)
Cables qwiic multiport $2.10 1 $2.10 (sparkfun)
Cables qwiic cable 500mm $2.10 1 $2.10 (sparkfun)
Cables qwiic cable 200mm $1.60 2 $3.20 (sparkfun)
Cables qwiic cable 100mm $1.60 1 $1.60 (sparkfun)
Cables Grove to GPIO $3.50 1 $3.50 (Seeed studio)
Cables Qwiic to GPIO $1.50 1 $1.50 (sparkfun)
Cables usbC=>usbA adapter (2pk) $7.99 1 $7.99 (amazon)
Cables usbC=>usbA 10ft cable (5pk) $13.59 1 $13.59 (amazon)
Sensors adafruit bme680 $18.95 1 $18.95 (mouser)
Sensors RG-15 Rain Gauge $99.00 1 $99.00 (mouser)
Sensors adafruit pm2.5 $44.95 1 $44.95 (adafruit)
Sensors adafruit ltr390 $4.95 1 $4.95 (mouser)

Optional Materials

A note on optional materials. If you are hosting in a sunny place and running your station with a relatively low power configuration, you can use a smaller solar panel and battery (below). Additionally, for better print quality, a PEI plate can be quite nice, although not necessary by any means.

Area Component Price Per Unit Number of Units Total Price Source
Power voltaic 10w solar panel $65.00 1 $65.00 (voltaic)
Power voltaic v25 (6000mah) $39.00 1 $39.00 (voltaic)
Printing PEI Magnetic Flexible Heated Bed Plate $25.99 1 $25.99 Amazon