December 16, 2024
In the last couple of months a new ESP32 module with LCD touch screen display and other associated hardware came upon the scene. It has been termed the Cheap, Yellow Display or CYD and I bought a couple for about $12 each. It turns out this is a very capable module which can be used for many purposes. I have written code previously to make the CYD into a weather station and now into a GPS. Speaking of GPS, I am amazed at how the cost of these devices has plummeted recently. I purchased two NEO-6M GPS modules with external antennas for $10 on Amazon. Quite the deal.
In the last couple of months a new ESP32 module with LCD touch screen display and other associated hardware came upon the scene. It has been termed the Cheap, Yellow Display or CYD and I bought a couple for about $12 each. It turns out this is a very capable module which can be used for many purposes. I have written code previously to make the CYD into a weather station and now into a GPS. Speaking of GPS, I am amazed at how the cost of these devices has plummeted recently. I purchased two NEO-6M GPS modules with external antennas for $10 on Amazon. Quite the deal.
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I wrote the code which tied all of the pieces parts together. And as is true for most of my recent projects, I designed and laser cut an enclosure to hold the CYD and the GPS module. The CYD is screwed to the top of the enclosure with 4 screws and the GPS module and antenna is hot glued to the back. If I come up with another project for this CYD, I can just laser cut a new back of the enclosure and attach any necessary hardware there and this device can become something else like a music player for example. I designed a hole in the front for the light sensor (see top right) but it is unused in the GPS application. This device is powered by a USB power module with the USB cable plugging in on the left side as can be seen in the image at left. |
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When the GPS is powered up it shows the screen in
the above image. Once satellites are found, the screen
changes to the image at left which displays the
location data and time and date. The GPS data is then
updated every minute. The code converts the UTC time and date provided by the satellites into local time for display. This conversions is aware of time zones, leap years and daylight standard and savings time. You can see the location and altitude of my house in Colorado Springs. |
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This side view show how compact the enclosure
really is. The enclosure is made from Baltic Birch. |
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Nothing special about the back of the enclosure
other than showing how beautiful laser cut enclosures
can be. |
Questions and comments to me Craig at: calhjh@gmail.com