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By Adrelien in Meshtastic —

How To Add Telemetry (Temperature etc) Sensor To DIY ESP32 Meshtastic Device With BME280

Learn how to add a BME280 sensor to your DIY ESP32 Meshtastic Node for real-time temperature, humidity, and air pressure monitoring. This guide covers hardware setup, wiring, and Meshtastic app settings—perfect for enhancing your LoRa mesh network with environmental data.

How To Add Telemetry (Temperature etc) Sensor To DIY ESP32 Meshtastic Device With BME280

In this guide, we'll walk you through adding a telemetry sensor (BME280) module to your existing DIY ESP32 Meshtastic Node to measure air pressure, temperature, and humidity.

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Hardware

Now let's get started with the hardware you need:

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BME280 sensor comes in two flavors 5V and 3.3V. Choose either 5V or 3.3V based on your system requirements
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While you can modify this hardware selection, we've chosen readily available components. Note that soldering is only required to attach headers to the ESP32 development board and the BME280 module. This step can be outsourced to a local electronics shop if you prefer to avoid soldering yourself.

Assembly

The hardware is all ready and set now to the wiring. For this, we will follow the following Schematics.

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Please keep in mind we are assuming here you already soldered the headers on the board so it will be a matter of connecting pins to the right place.
BME280-3.3V For The 3.3V Module
BME280-5V For The 5V Module

BME280 Telemetry Module → DIY ESP32 Meshtastic Node

  • VCC/VIN → 3.3V Pin
  • SCL → GPIO 22 (Default I2C Clock)
  • SDA → GPIO 21 (Default I2C Data)
  • GND → GND Pin
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If you have a display connected to the same I2C pins, you can connect the BME280 in parallel with the display.
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Adding decoupling capacitors is good practice to isolate different parts of the circuit from each other.
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Important Note: The exact pin layout may vary on your specific ESP32 board. Always follow the labels and pin designations on your components and the provided schematics to ensure accurate connections. Double-checking these details will help prevent potential issues or component damage.

After completing all connections, verify that they match the recommended configuration before proceeding to the next stage.

Meshtastic Settings

  1. Open Meshtastic App (IOS for this guide)
  2. Go to the Settings page
  3. In the module configuration section go to Telemetry (Sensor)
  4. Scroll down to the Sensor Options
  5. Toggle the switch Enable and other switches according to your preference

Conclusion

Adding a Telemetry module to your DIY ESP32 Meshtastic Node is a straightforward process that significantly enhances your device's capabilities. The BME280 module provides reliable environmental monitoring at an affordable price, and the ESP32's robust I2C implementation ensures stable communication. While some soldering may be required, this can be easily delegated to a local electronics shop if needed. By following this guide, you can successfully integrate environmental sensing functionality into your Meshtastic network, enabling the collection and sharing of temperature, humidity, and air pressure data across your mesh network. The ESP32 platform's flexibility also allows for future expansion with additional sensors on the same I2C bus.

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