PyPortal IoT Plant Monitor with Microsoft Azure IoT and CircuitPython

Monitor your plant's vitals by combining CircuitPython with Microsoft Azure IoT

by Brent Rubell and jimbobbennett

published May 24, 2019, last edited April 09, 2025

posted in Sensors Internet of Things - IOT/ Wireless CircuitPython

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Intermediate

Project guide

Code Setup

This project's code utilizes the Azure IoT Library which currently does not work with AirLift hardware, such as the Adafruit PyPortal. As a result, this project does not currently work (but may in the future).

For a more updated guide using CircuitPython and Microsoft Azure IoT, visit https://learn.adafruit.com/getting-started-with-microsoft-azure-and-circuitpython

Add CircuitPython Code and Project Assets

In the embedded code element below, click on the Download Project Bundle button, and save the .zip archive file to your computer.

Then, uncompress the .zip file, it will unpack to a folder named PyPortal_Azure_Plant_Monitor.

Copy the contents of the PyPortal_Azure_Plant_Monitor directory to your PyPortal's CIRCUITPY drive.

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# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2019 Brent Rubell for Adafruit Industries
# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2020 Jim Bennett for Adafruit Industries
#
# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT

"""
PyPortal Azure IoT Plant Monitor
====================================================
Log plant vitals to Microsoft Azure IoT Central with
your PyPortal

Authors: Brent Rubell for Adafruit Industries, 2019
       : Jim Bennett for Microsoft, 2020
"""

from os import getenv
import time
import json
import board
import busio
from digitalio import DigitalInOut
from adafruit_esp32spi import adafruit_esp32spi, adafruit_esp32spi_wifimanager
import adafruit_esp32spi.adafruit_esp32spi_socket as socket
import neopixel
import rtc
from adafruit_azureiot import IoTCentralDevice
from adafruit_seesaw.seesaw import Seesaw

# gfx helper
import azure_gfx_helper

# init. graphics helper
gfx = azure_gfx_helper.Azure_GFX(is_celsius=True)

# Get WiFi details, ensure these are setup in settings.toml
ssid = getenv("CIRCUITPY_WIFI_SSID")
password = getenv("CIRCUITPY_WIFI_PASSWORD")

if None in [ssid, password]:
    raise RuntimeError(
        "WiFi settings are kept in settings.toml, "
        "please add them there. The settings file must contain "
        "'CIRCUITPY_WIFI_SSID', 'CIRCUITPY_WIFI_PASSWORD', "
        "at a minimum."
    )

# PyPortal ESP32 Setup
esp32_cs = DigitalInOut(board.ESP_CS)
esp32_ready = DigitalInOut(board.ESP_BUSY)
esp32_reset = DigitalInOut(board.ESP_RESET)
spi = busio.SPI(board.SCK, board.MOSI, board.MISO)
esp = adafruit_esp32spi.ESP_SPIcontrol(spi, esp32_cs, esp32_ready, esp32_reset)

# Set up the WiFi manager with a status light to show the WiFi connection status
status_pixel = neopixel.NeoPixel(board.NEOPIXEL, 1, brightness=0.2)
wifi = adafruit_esp32spi_wifimanager.WiFiManager(esp, ssid, password, status_pixel=status_pixel)
print("WiFi connecting...")
wifi.connect()
print("WiFi connected!")

# Time setup, needed to authenticate with Azure IoT Central
# get_time will raise ValueError if the time isn't available yet so loop until
# it works.
now_utc = None
while now_utc is None:
    try:
        now_utc = time.localtime(esp.get_time()[0])
    except ValueError:
        pass
rtc.RTC().datetime = now_utc

# Soil Sensor Setup
i2c_bus = busio.I2C(board.SCL, board.SDA)
ss = Seesaw(i2c_bus, addr=0x36)

# Create an instance of the Azure IoT Central device
device = IoTCentralDevice(
    socket, esp, getenv("id_scope"), getenv("device_id"), getenv("key")
)

# Connect to Azure IoT Central
device.connect()

# Hide the splash screen and show the telemetry values
gfx.show_text()

while True:
    try:
        # read moisture level
        moisture_level = ss.moisture_read()
        # read temperature
        temperature = ss.get_temp()
        # display soil sensor values on pyportal
        gfx.display_moisture(moisture_level)
        gfx.display_temp(temperature)

        print("Sending data to Azure")
        gfx.display_azure_status("Sending data...")

        # send the temperature and moisture level to Azure
        message = {"Temperature": temperature, "MoistureLevel": moisture_level}
        device.send_telemetry(json.dumps(message))
        device.loop()

        gfx.display_azure_status("Data sent!")
        print("Data sent!")
    except (ValueError, RuntimeError, ConnectionError, OSError) as e:
        print("Failed to get data, retrying\n", e)
        wifi.reset()
        wifi.connect()
        device.reconnect()
        continue

    # Sleep for 10 minutes before getting the next value
    time.sleep(600)

# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2019 Brent Rubell for Adafruit Industries
# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2020 Jim Bennett for Adafruit Industries
#
# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT

"""
PyPortal Azure IoT Plant Monitor
====================================================
Log plant vitals to Microsoft Azure IoT Central with
your PyPortal

Authors: Brent Rubell for Adafruit Industries, 2019
       : Jim Bennett for Microsoft, 2020
"""

from os import getenv
import time
import json
import board
import busio
from digitalio import DigitalInOut
from adafruit_esp32spi import adafruit_esp32spi, adafruit_esp32spi_wifimanager
import adafruit_esp32spi.adafruit_esp32spi_socket as socket
import neopixel
import rtc
from adafruit_azureiot import IoTCentralDevice
from adafruit_seesaw.seesaw import Seesaw

# gfx helper
import azure_gfx_helper

# init. graphics helper
gfx = azure_gfx_helper.Azure_GFX(is_celsius=True)

# Get WiFi details, ensure these are setup in settings.toml
ssid = getenv("CIRCUITPY_WIFI_SSID")
password = getenv("CIRCUITPY_WIFI_PASSWORD")

if None in [ssid, password]:
    raise RuntimeError(
        "WiFi settings are kept in settings.toml, "
        "please add them there. The settings file must contain "
        "'CIRCUITPY_WIFI_SSID', 'CIRCUITPY_WIFI_PASSWORD', "
        "at a minimum."
    )

# PyPortal ESP32 Setup
esp32_cs = DigitalInOut(board.ESP_CS)
esp32_ready = DigitalInOut(board.ESP_BUSY)
esp32_reset = DigitalInOut(board.ESP_RESET)
spi = busio.SPI(board.SCK, board.MOSI, board.MISO)
esp = adafruit_esp32spi.ESP_SPIcontrol(spi, esp32_cs, esp32_ready, esp32_reset)

# Set up the WiFi manager with a status light to show the WiFi connection status
status_pixel = neopixel.NeoPixel(board.NEOPIXEL, 1, brightness=0.2)
wifi = adafruit_esp32spi_wifimanager.WiFiManager(esp, ssid, password, status_pixel=status_pixel)
print("WiFi connecting...")
wifi.connect()
print("WiFi connected!")

# Time setup, needed to authenticate with Azure IoT Central
# get_time will raise ValueError if the time isn't available yet so loop until
# it works.
now_utc = None
while now_utc is None:
    try:
        now_utc = time.localtime(esp.get_time()[0])
    except ValueError:
        pass
rtc.RTC().datetime = now_utc

# Soil Sensor Setup
i2c_bus = busio.I2C(board.SCL, board.SDA)
ss = Seesaw(i2c_bus, addr=0x36)

# Create an instance of the Azure IoT Central device
device = IoTCentralDevice(
    socket, esp, getenv("id_scope"), getenv("device_id"), getenv("key")
)

# Connect to Azure IoT Central
device.connect()

# Hide the splash screen and show the telemetry values
gfx.show_text()

while True:
    try:
        # read moisture level
        moisture_level = ss.moisture_read()
        # read temperature
        temperature = ss.get_temp()
        # display soil sensor values on pyportal
        gfx.display_moisture(moisture_level)
        gfx.display_temp(temperature)

        print("Sending data to Azure")
        gfx.display_azure_status("Sending data...")

        # send the temperature and moisture level to Azure
        message = {"Temperature": temperature, "MoistureLevel": moisture_level}
        device.send_telemetry(json.dumps(message))
        device.loop()

        gfx.display_azure_status("Data sent!")
        print("Data sent!")
    except (ValueError, RuntimeError, ConnectionError, OSError) as e:
        print("Failed to get data, retrying\n", e)
        wifi.reset()
        wifi.connect()
        device.reconnect()
        continue

    # Sleep for 10 minutes before getting the next value
    time.sleep(600)

This is what the final contents of the CIRCUITPY drive will look like:

First make sure you are running the latest version of Adafruit CircuitPython for your board.

Before continuing make sure your board's lib folder has the following files and folders copied over.

adafruit_azureiot
adafruit_binascii
adafruit_bitmap_font
adafruit_bus_device
adafruit_display_text
adafruit_esp32spi
adafruit_logging
adafruit_minimqtt
adafruit_ntp
adafruit_requests
adafruit_seesaw
neopixel

Install an editor

This guide requires you to edit and interact with CircuitPython code. While you can use any text editor of your choosing, two recommended editors are Visual Studio Code and Mu.

Visual Studio Code is a free, open source code editor with a huge range of extensions to support multiple languages and technologies. It runs on Windows, MacOS, and Linux.

After installing Visual Studio Code, you will need to install the Python extension if you want intellisense and code completion. You can read about this in the the Python in Visual Studio Code documentation.

Install Visual Studio Code

Mu is a simple code editor that works with the Adafruit CircuitPython boards. It's written in Python and works on Windows, MacOS, Linux and Raspberry Pi. The serial console is built right in, so you get immediate feedback from your board's serial output!

Install Mu Editor

Settings File Setup

First, use Visual Studio Code or Mu to open up a settings.toml file on your CIRCUITPY drive. Next, you're going to edit the file to enter your local WiFi credentials along with data about your Azure IoT Central Device.

Make the following changes to the code below in the settings.toml file:

Replace your-wifi-ssid with the name of your WiFi SSID
Replace your-wifi-password with your WiFi's password
Replace MY_AZURE_IOT_CENTRAL_ID_SCOPE with the ID Scope of your Azure IoT Central device from the connection dialog.
Replace MY_AZURE_IOT_CENTRAL_DECVICE_IDwith the Device ID of your Azure IoT Central device from the connection dialog.
Replace MY_AZURE_IOT_CENTRAL_PRIMAEY_KEY with the Primary Key of your Azure IoT Central device from the connection dialog.

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# This file is where you keep secret settings, passwords, and tokens!
# If you put them in the code you risk committing that info or sharing it

CIRCUITPY_WIFI_SSID="your-wifi-ssid"
CIRCUITPY_WIFI_PASSWORD="your-wifi-password"
id_scope="MY_AZURE_IOT_CENTRAL_ID_SCOPE"
device_id="MY_AZURE_IOT_CENTRAL_DEVICE_ID"
key="MY_AZURE_IOT_CENTRAL_PRIMARY_KEY"

# This file is where you keep secret settings, passwords, and tokens!
# If you put them in the code you risk committing that info or sharing it

CIRCUITPY_WIFI_SSID="your-wifi-ssid"
CIRCUITPY_WIFI_PASSWORD="your-wifi-password"
id_scope="MY_AZURE_IOT_CENTRAL_ID_SCOPE"
device_id="MY_AZURE_IOT_CENTRAL_DEVICE_ID"
key="MY_AZURE_IOT_CENTRAL_PRIMARY_KEY"

You can then close settings.toml, saving the updated file onto the device.

Done

Setting up the PyPortal with the Azure IoT Central is finished! You do not need to repeat this process again unless you change your IoT Central device.

Page last edited April 09, 2025