Data loggers can help to record data from a sensor over time -- often over days or weeks, or even months. There are a variety of data loggers available, both commercial and open source. Each entry from a logger -- stored on, for example, a memory card -- may have a timestamp and some data loggers can record location from a GPS as well. Data loggers can be [paired with specific sensors](/wiki/water-sensors), and an [enclosure](/wiki/sensor-enclosures), as part of a test. ## Design constraints What are we trying to do that existing commercial data loggers don't do, or don't do well enough? We're looking for designs that optimize: * low cost (i.e. <$100) * easy to use * easy to build or buy * weatherproof (possibly) * waterproof (possibly) * Arduino-compatible (so that they're compatible with the huge [Arduino](http://arduino.cc) ecosystem) ## Options Most of the below options are #arduino based, and all are open source: [wikis:datalogger] [notes:datalogger-option] Edit the [full spreadsheet here](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1zBcLpN4PZIATLh6aDR7mwCoejWryLYYm6cJD38MqT58/edit) (by @cfastie) **** ## Questions [questions:data-logging] ## Activities We're hoping to collect a set of activities you could do with several different data loggers here, such as an example "field test," so please add help us by adding activities which can be performed with different data loggers: [activities:data-logging] **** ## Power How do you keep a data logger going in the field? Solar, big batteries, even run an extension cable out? We're developing resources on powering your data-loggers here. ## Power Questions [questions:data-logging-power] ## Activities [activities:data-logging-power] **** ## Waterproof enclosures The #riffle project -- and others -- have explored a lot of ways to make cheap waterproof enclosures for data loggers, but where wires and sensors can still stick out. Here are a some notes and prototypes under the tag #data-logger-enclosures. You can also visit the page on [sensor enclosures here](https://publiclab.org/wiki/sensor-enclosures) [notes:data-logger-enclosures] ...
Author | Comment | Last activity | Moderation | ||
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sarasage | "Thank you so much for this detailed response! " | Read more » | over 4 years ago | |||
keshavgarg234156 | "Whenever we have such large numbers of columns then we first perform correlation analysis before plotting the graphs. In correlation analysis, we c..." | Read more » | almost 5 years ago | |||
cfastie | "I have not heard of anyone using a microcontroller (Arduino or ESP board) to read data from an SD card. But maybe it is possible. A more common str..." | Read more » | almost 5 years ago | |||
amir_hudsonconsulting | "My goal is to log data to an SD card, and store the data locally on the SD card. Is it possible to connect a mobile device via Bluetooth and read t..." | Read more » | almost 5 years ago | |||
yp1080030 | "CLICK HERE " | Read more » | almost 5 years ago | |||
cfastie | "I haven't tried that Feather combination. I have also never seen a list of Feather-Featherwing combinations that are incompatible. So I assume it w..." | Read more » | almost 5 years ago | |||
amir_hudsonconsulting | "Hi I'm wondering does anyone know if you can stack the Adafruit Feather M0 Bluefruit LE with the Adalogger featherwing? My reason for wanting to do..." | Read more » | almost 5 years ago | |||
imvec | "Thanks Jeff. The question was not correct. The wiki page exists but has not cover o the methods page.If going to methods you need to click on purpl..." | Read more » | almost 5 years ago | |||
warren | "yay! Awesome! https://publiclab.org/wiki/simple-air-sensor " | Read more » | almost 5 years ago | |||
imvec | "Here some variations to the original code incorporating Openlog data logger, an arrangement of the CSV format of the values and a third one with rt..." | Read more » | almost 5 years ago | |||
cfastie | "It looks like the PIC12LF will do what you need. There is also a low power 555 timer (TLC555) but it is not as low power as the PIC12LF. " | Read more » | almost 5 years ago | |||
tcpipchip | "cfastie First of all, many thanks about your answer! And time to answer! You said "But if the microcontroller can send a DONE signal as soon as the..." | Read more » | almost 5 years ago | |||
cfastie | "The TPL5110 depends on getting a signal to the DONE pin, so I am not sure it can just send a pulse every eight seconds. The TPL5111 sets an enable ..." | Read more » | almost 5 years ago | |||
tcpipchip | "Hi, excelent post! Is there some config without use of DONE gpio, that make the DRV make a pulse each 8 seconds ? I want to send a pulse to a gpi..." | Read more » | almost 5 years ago | |||
guolivar | "Normalising is your friend when you have things with very different ranges. Depending on what you're looking for you can divide each column by its ..." | Read more » | about 5 years ago | |||
eustatic | "Pivot tables? Lookup or index command? Conditional formatting? all of these things can help. i had to have 10 years and 14 plant plot growth s..." | Read more » | about 5 years ago | |||
warren | "I also noticed that some very high values make others basically unreadable. So having 2 y-axis scales can sometimes help, i guess, although that's ..." | Read more » | about 5 years ago | |||
warren | "Thanks! Yes, i started by removing things like firmware #, for sure. It's interesting to see how some values track each other roughly, while others..." | Read more » | about 5 years ago | |||
guolivar | "This is very much dataset, project and software dependent. Sometimes I remove columns, other times I combine them (averaging, adding, etc), other ..." | Read more » | about 5 years ago | |||
warren | "Hi @stevie, @Aleah, @Cbarnes9, and @crispinpierce, I posted this in follow up after the purple air datalogs ended up so dense and tough to read! Th..." | Read more » | about 5 years ago | |||
warren | "The links are in the Arduino code - but I'll copy them here too! https://github.com/greiman/SdFat/ https://github.com/adafruit/RTClib https://gi..." | Read more » | about 5 years ago | |||
warren | "Hi @mimiss, in case this is helpful! Hoping to add more docs here as time goes on, like photos with different types of plugs, etc! " | Read more » | about 5 years ago | |||
warren | "Ran some additional quick calculations on this: ~320 total 3-byte recordings 10s interval = ~30 minutes 1m intervals = ~3 hours 5m intervals = ~1..." | Read more » | about 5 years ago | |||
dominictoretto1831997 | "I wrong or this could be considered as "method"? Its own particularities made the KnowFlow a different one than Coqui, Riffle or Mae d'aigua. I'm b..." | Read more » | over 5 years ago |