M5 scales kit query



  • The instructions for the ‘M5Stack Scale Kit with Weight Unit’ state that no side of the cover plate should exceed 50cn (see https://docs.m5stack.com/en/app/scales_kit).

    Is there any technical reason why the cables couldn't be extended and the scales used to weigh a beehive?

    Many thanks.



  • It is possible but you may have issues with incorrect readings



  • Incorrect readings ??? I never use a sensor without calibrating it... We had a discussion on that using the RGB sensor unit 3 years ago .... As we have a proverb in Germany :
    Mist rein ---> Mist raus --- Garbage in --> garbage out.



  • Addendum:
    I will be testing different scale sensors monitoring the weight of bee hives and transmitting the data (MQTT, GPRS, LoRa, TTN, Helium, Sigfox?) and storing the data on a private server.
    As a M5Stack enthusiast I will use their Cores and Atoms ideally suited for quick prototyping and proof of design.
    You can look at and follow the progress of the project at
    https://experiment.com/projects/participatory-research-to-explore-fungal-biodiversity-and-its-importance-to-bees.



  • crami25, awesome. I’m planning to capture temperature, weight and humidity roughly hourly and send it back over lorawan and The Things Network.

    I’m also planning to capture 30secs of audio and save it to SD card. Then at the end of the season, compare with my hive records, mark up according to queen and swarming status and use to train a machine learning algorithm. Then I’ll redesign the Arduino to perform ML on the audio and just send back status over lorawan.

    At least that’s the plan! :o)