Introduction: Getting Started With La COOL Board

Introduction

"When we came up with the idea for La COOL Board, I imagined a mix between an Arduino with WiFi and a modular agronomic weather station. It had to consume very little energy for autonomous operation and I wanted to be able to control different variables like Pumps, Fans .. accelerating the process of monitoring and building controlled environments."
Simon, CTO La Cool Co

This Instructable shows you how to use La COOL Board.

La COOL Board is an Arduino board that features a ESP8266 micro-controller with on-board WiFi, a real time clock (RTC), a solar charger plug for LiPo Battery, and a sensor array that measures temperature, soil moisture, air humidity, atmospheric pressure, light (visible and IR radiation, UV index)

Step 1 is optional as your COOL Board comes already programmed. Steps 1 is applicable only if you wan't to go further.

Step 1 is useful if you want to re-program the board.

If you are more interested in what you are growing, go to Step 2 and learn how to get an account on Le COOL Menu ;)

Please refer to the installation guidelines behind the links for platform specific support.

This usually takes about an 15 minutes to download and install.

Step 1: Install PlatformIO and Clone Our Github

In our Github repositoy you find all steps necessary to reprogram your CoolBoard. Install PlatformIO and follow the steps in the readme.md . This repository was mainly programmed on Linux ond OS X but should also run on Windows 10 or higher.

Please don't forget to run the patch.sh to install our version of SDK and please note that you will need the certificates in the SPIFFS to communicate since all communication is secured since summer 2018. Please send a mail to team [at] lacool.co if you need them!

Step 2: Plug Your COOLBoard

  1. Take your Coolboard and break away the SensorBoard on the top. Don’t use violence, just firmly break the head off… (photo 2)
  2. Also brake the little bits of printed circuit board visible on the head (photo 3)
  3. Plug the SensorBoard like in photo 4
  4. Put a CR1220 Coin Cell for the clock (optional, but highly recommended)
  5. Be sure that the sliding switch is in the RUN position!
  6. Now just plug in a micro USB Cable between your computer and the COOLBoard.
    Congrats, you're ready to start using your COOL Board !

Step 3: Configuring the WiFi Connection

Plug a usb cable in the Coolboard and wait some seconds, you should see a bright blue Light on the top of the COOLBoard. If nothing happens verify that the sliding switch on the right is in RUN position and press the reset button (see images in last Step).

Check the avaliable WiFi Networks in your area, you should see a WiFi named COOLBoard-XXXXXXXXXXXX (photo 1 on the right) and connect to it

Now open your preferred Internet Browser and type : 192.168.4.1 in the Adresse bar.

  1. Wait until you see the "homepage" of your COOLBoard (photo 2)
  2. Click on Configure WiFi.
  3. In the next page you can see a list of available Networks (photo 3).
  4. Chose yours and type in the Password, these informations stay on the board and will never be transmitted.
  5. Don't forget to reconnect to your usual wifi network.

The COOLBoard will restart and is fully configured to monitor your plants !

If you feel like being on the go with your COOL Board, you can reconfigure the WiFi in the same manner, the COOLBoard can log up to 50 different networks and has in total 3 different communication models. But more on that in another Instructable..
Now go to preview.lacool.co and check out your data !

Step 4: Create an Account on the COOLMenu

Go to prod.lacool.co and click on “Create Account” or directly Create an Account here

  1. Type in your email and password
  2. Check your mail and type the confirmation code from it
  3. Log in to your Account
  4. Now claim your board (something like 1a:2b:3c:4d:5e:6f ) and give it a name
  5. Congratulations you can successfully get live data form your garden!

Now you just have to wait until some data arrives from your location to get a real idea on how it is going in the enviornment you have chosen for your plant.

Maybe one of the first things you want to do is build a nice case for Outdoors, take a look here: Outdoor Weather Station for La COOL Board

Thank you and till next time!