Autonomous bee scale which components should I choose?

Question

Arduino

I want to assemble autonomous scales for hives (with the ability to connect an unlimited number), also measuring the sounds of bees inside the hive, the temperature inside the hive and transmit data to the block station 2 times a day, which will already send information via SMS to me. And all this must be powered by a battery and, of course, a solar module.
What components are better and cheaper to use? If you have any ideas or developments I will be grateful for the help!

Answer 1

https://habr.com/en/post/444326/

Answer 2

Oh, nice puzzle. There you have already been advised a good article.
As a weight sensor, you can take Chinese strain gauges, which are in stock on that de aliexpress.
As a controller, I would take the ESP-8266. They come with a ready-made radio module, or you can make it based on Wi-Fi, then you can use a regular cheap router like the MR3020 with an inserted GSM whistle as a hub.
The question is how handicraft you want to solve the problem.
If some kind of production is planned, then you can look at energy-efficient Texas instrument controllers. If you quickly make a repeatable solution for yourself and your family, as well as for open source, from readily available components, then ESP8266 and a router with custom firmware.
Modern controllers are energy efficient enough to control the parameters at least once every 5 minutes. You can send accumulated packages once an hour.
By the way, in addition to those listed (weight and temperature), you can add sensors:

• temperature (inside/outside)
  
• humidity (inside/outside)
  
• noise level (inside/outside)
  
• weight
  
• lid opening
  
• illumination inside the hive (for an additional factor in controlling the destruction of the hive)
  

You can set up two levels of logging: critical - then the connection is initiated in an emergency and SMS about an emergency flies away immediately, and periodic - this is normally scheduled.
You can add security functions: by the threshold value of external noise, turn on the recording and send it in packets. In case of extreme temperature rise, sound the alarm.
In general, the project is very interesting. You can build a lot of all sorts of infographics: all sorts of daily-periodic diagrams to understand how the collection takes place and to identify problems and patterns of situations in the apiary in advance.
I heard, by the way, that by the behavior of bees, an experienced beekeeper can understand that a mouse has climbed into the hive or the family is starving, or will soon begin to swarm. If there are many sensors, then these patterns could be detected programmatically.
It’s great to offer a profile on a site with information aggregation for a hardware solution. It is much more convenient to view infographics on the website than in the smartphone application.
Profile on the site and in the mobile application is:

• inventory
  
• work log (planning and logging)
  
• collection statistics
  
• notes for each hive
  
• GEO-coordinates of the apiary (with roughening for safety)
  
• information about honey crops in the area
  
• emergency information about cases of spraying herbicides and any poison
  
• coverage area display
  
• wind rose with forecasts
  

Compressed information about the hive can be stored on the tereker itself inside. So due to standardization, it is possible to quickly and easily reattach the hives between apiaries. In order not to draw a plan of the apiary manually and not to build expensive and energy-intensive GPS into each tracker? you can use the bluetooth built into some ESP-8266 modules and geotag the hive by simply leaving the smartphone on the lid for a few minutes.
In general, there are many similar projects, but, IMHO, there is no elegant repeatable cheap solution.