Build guide
Building the WetterCubePlus
The WetterCubePlus has a 3.5-inch touch display with DWD warnings, pollen, rain radar and bio-weather. The display module is wired to an ESP32-S3; the touch has its own SPI bus.
Important: WetterCube is a software project. I provide the software (firmware); you do the building yourself: you buy the matching board (for WetterCube and WetterCubePlus also the display), flash the firmware and design a case to your own taste. I try to offer matching cases for the individual cubes, but the focus is on the software. Finished devices are not offered. You find short build guides under Build guide.
Note on assembly: The WetterCubePlus is aimed at people with some knowledge of electronics: during assembly, cables have to be crimped and parts soldered. If you do not want that, the WetterCube Fusion is the better choice. That is why, for the newer devices (Fusion and Next), I rely on complete boards with an integrated display: building is easy even for people who know nothing about wiring up an ESP32 and the like.
What you need
| Part | Type |
|---|---|
| Microcontroller | ESP32-S3 N16R8 (16 MB flash, 8 MB OPI PSRAM) |
| Display | ILI9488, 3.5", 480×320 pixels, SPI (module “3.5“ TFT SPI 480×320”) |
| Touch | XPT2046, resistive, own SPI bus (on the display module) |
| Power | power supply of at least 5 V / 2 A and a short, thick USB cable |
| Case | optional, see below |
Assembly
Display (ILI9488, SPI2):
| Display pin | ESP32-S3 |
|---|---|
| VCC | 3.3 V (nicht 5 V) |
| GND | GND |
| CS | GPIO 15 |
| RST | GPIO 16 |
| DC / RS | GPIO 2 |
| MOSI / SDI | GPIO 13 |
| SCK / CLK | GPIO 14 |
| LED / BL | GPIO 17 |
| MISO / SDO | GPIO 12 (optional) |
Touch (XPT2046) with its own bus SPI3. T_CLK, T_DIN and T_DO are not connected to SCK, SDI and SDO of the display:
| Touch pin | ESP32-S3 |
|---|---|
| T_CLK | GPIO 6 |
| T_DIN | GPIO 7 |
| T_DO | GPIO 8 |
| T_CS | GPIO 21 |
| T_IRQ | GPIO 18 (nicht genutzt) |
- Do not use GPIO 33–37: on the N16R8 they are reserved internally for the OPI PSRAM.
- Apply only 3.3 V to the display’s VCC, not 5 V.
- A weak power supply or cable can cause Wi-Fi failures or a brownout reset on cold start.
The wiring is also in the repository: WIRING.md.
Flash the firmware
- Open the web installer (Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge only, because of WebSerial).
- Connect the board to the computer via USB-C, choose “Install” and follow the instructions.
Careful with the “Erase device” dialog: if it is ticked, the installer erases the entire flash and with it all settings and the Wi-Fi password. To simply flash again without data loss, do not tick it.
First setup
- The device starts with the touch calibration: tap the 4 crosses one after the other. Afterwards the cube opens its own Wi-Fi “WetterCubePlus-Setup”.
- On your phone (or PC) open the Wi-Fi settings, look for “WetterCubePlus-Setup” in the list of available networks and connect to it. If the phone says that the network has no internet access, stay connected anyway.
- The browser now opens the cube’s setup portal by itself. If that does not happen, open
http://192.168.4.1in the browser. - In the portal enter the credentials of your home Wi-Fi (choose the network, enter the password).
- Enter the location without umlauts (
Muncheninstead ofMünchen). - Choose the DWD region / federal state (also used for the radar map).
- Save. The cube restarts and connects to your home Wi-Fi. Afterwards connect your phone to your normal Wi-Fi again (this usually happens by itself).
Afterwards the cube is reachable at http://wettercubeplus.local or the IP address shown on the display. To recalibrate the touch, hold a finger on the display when switching on until “Neukalibrierung” appears.
Case
The case from the photos (lower part and lid, version 2) is available for free as 3MF files. Download here: lower part · lid, or on GitHub. Outer size according to the file: lower part 108 × 91.4 × 75.8 mm, lid 108 × 66.1 × 66.3 mm (width × depth × height). Recommendation: print in PLA or PETG with a 0.4 mm nozzle. A ready-made print profile on Bambu MakerWorld will follow shortly.
What next
Language and region: The WetterCube project is currently only available in German. Because the weather data for warnings, pollen forecast and bio-weather comes from the German Weather Service (DWD), it currently only works completely in Germany. A translation into English and weather information usable worldwide are planned, but there is no fixed date yet.