Building a Weather Stationfor a Near-Space Payload

AEM 1905: Spaceflight with BallooningUniversity of Minnesota

Weather Station kit and instructions

Parts in Weather Station kit

Printed Circuit Board (PCB)

Wires for sensor cabling

Pressure sensor

Relative humidity sensor

Temperature sensor

Capacitor (unpolarized)

Resistor (unpolarized)

3 x 3 pin male header for sensor cable

Heat-shrink tubing (AKA shrink-wrap)

Solder resistor in place; snip all excess leads

Solder the capacitor in place

Insert relative humidity sensor, makingsure that the open part faces capacitor

Avoid solder bridges on closely-spacedpins of the relative humidity sensor

Insert the temp sensor, watching polarity

Insert pressure sensor, right way around

Strip both ends of each wire, exposing¼ inch length of the bare metal

Insert one wire through large hole thenbend it over and solder – for strain relief

Repeat with other 4 wires – use black forground and red for +5 volts (at least)

Insert 3 x 3 header into a female receptacle,like that in a BalloonSat Easy computer

Orient 3 x 3 pin header next to the figureto identify which pins to solder wires to

“Tin” the 5 pins – add a bit of solder quickly

Twist exposed ends of wires then tin them

Slide on shrink-wrap before proceeding.Use blue shrink-wrap, not stuff in kit.

Use Helping Hands to hold wire up to pin

Solder 5 wires to pins, minimizing diameter

Slide shrink-wrap over solder jointsonce all wires have been soldered

Shrink with heat gun while still pluggedin, then remove cable from receptacle

Completed Weather Station; readyto be plugged into a flight computer