By Consentium IoT — 19 Jun 2025

Collecting Environmental Sensor Data with Consentium IoT Cloud and ESP32

In today’s world of connected devices, environmental monitoring is more accessible and powerful than ever. Whether you're measuring air quality indoors or monitoring light levels in a greenhouse, the Internet of Things (IoT) makes it possible to build smart, connected systems quickly.

In this tutorial, you'll learn how to use an ESP32, a BME680 multi-sensor, and a BH1750 light sensor to collect environmental data and send it to the Consentium IoT Cloud. We’ll use the ConsentiumThings SDK to make integration seamless and also support OTA firmware updates remotely.

🧰 What You’ll Need

ESP32 Dev Board
BME680 Sensor – for temperature, humidity, pressure, gas, and altitude
BH1750 Light Sensor – for measuring light intensity in lux
Jumper wires, breadboard
Arduino IDE or PlatformIO
A Consentium IoT Cloud account (get your API keys from the dashboard)

⚡ Wiring the Sensors

Connect both sensors using I2C:

BME680

VIN → 3.3V
GND → GND
SDA → GPIO21
SCL → GPIO22

BH1750

VCC → 3.3V
GND → GND
SDA → GPIO21
SCL → GPIO22

🧑‍💻 About the ConsentiumThings SDK

The ConsentiumThings SDK handles:

Connecting to WiFi
Sending sensor data to the cloud using REST
Managing firmware versioning
OTA updates from the Consentium Cloud

Just plug in your API keys and go!

🔁 What the Device Does

Every 7 seconds, the device:

Reads sensor values (temperature, humidity, pressure, gas resistance, light intensity, and calculated altitude)
Sends this data to the Consentium IoT Cloud
Every 10 loops, it checks if a firmware update is available

📦 The Complete Code

#include <ConsentiumThingsExp.h>
#include <BH1750.h>
#include <Adafruit_Sensor.h>
#include "Adafruit_BME680.h"

#define SEALEVELPRESSURE_HPA (1013.25)

Adafruit_BME680 bme(&Wire); // I2C
BH1750 lightMeter;

// Define firmware version
#define FIRMWARE_VERSION "0.3"

// Create ConsentiumThings object with firmware version
ConsentiumThingsDalton board(FIRMWARE_VERSION);

// Define WiFi credentials
const char *ssid = "YOUR_WIFI_SSID";      // WiFi SSID
const char *pass = "YOUR_WIFI_PASSWORD";  // WiFi password

// Define API keys
const char *SendApiKey = "YOUR_API_KEY";      // API key for sending data
const char *BoardApiKey = "YOUR_BOARD_API_KEY"; // API key for the board

// Define the interval for data sending
constexpr int interval = 7000;  // 7 seconds
const int updateInterval = 10;  // Check for OTA updates every 10 cycles

// Loop cycle counter
int loopCounter = 0;

void setup() {
  Serial.begin(115200);
  Serial.println("Consentium IoT - Edge Board Library");
  Serial.println("------------------------------------");
  Serial.println("Initializing ConsentiumThings Board...");

  // Begin WiFi connection
  board.initWiFi(ssid, pass);

  // Initialize the board for sending data
  board.beginSend(SendApiKey, BoardApiKey);

  // Enable OTA updates
  board.beginOTA(ReceiveApiKey, BoardApiKey);

  Serial.println("ConsentiumThings Board Initialized!");
  Serial.println("------------------------------------");
  Serial.println();

  // Initialize I2C and sensors
  Wire.begin();
  lightMeter.begin();
  bme.begin();

  // BME680 configuration
  bme.setTemperatureOversampling(BME680_OS_8X);
  bme.setHumidityOversampling(BME680_OS_2X);
  bme.setPressureOversampling(BME680_OS_4X);
  bme.setIIRFilterSize(BME680_FILTER_SIZE_3);
  bme.setGasHeater(320, 150); // 320°C for 150 ms
}

void loop() {
  if (!bme.performReading()) {
    Serial.println("Failed to perform BME680 reading :(");
    return;
  }

  // Read sensor values
  float lux = lightMeter.readLightLevel();
  float temp = bme.temperature;
  float press = bme.pressure / 100.0;
  float humi = bme.humidity;
  float gas = bme.gas_resistance / 1000.0; // in kΩ
  float alt = bme.readAltitude(SEALEVELPRESSURE_HPA);

  // Pack sensor data
  vector<double> sensorValues = {temp, humi, press, lux, alt, gas};
  const char* sensorInfo[] = {"Temperature", "Humidity", "Pressure", "Light", "Altitude", "Vooc"};

  // Send to Consentium Cloud
  board.sendData(sensorValues, sensorInfo, LOW_PRE);

  // Increment loop counter
  loopCounter++;

  // Periodic OTA check
  if (loopCounter >= updateInterval) {
    Serial.println("[Consentium IoT] Checking for OTA updates...");
    board.checkAndPerformUpdate();
    loopCounter = 0;
  }

  // Wait before next reading
  delay(interval);
}

🌐 Cloud Dashboard

Once your device is online, the Consentium IoT dashboard allows you to:

Visualise data trends in real time
Trigger OTA updates with new firmware
Export or integrate the data into apps or analytics platforms

📌 Sign up or log in at: consentiumiot.com

📝 Final Thoughts

With just an ESP32 and a couple of I2C sensors, you can build a powerful environmental monitor that:

Streams real-time data to the cloud
Receives remote updates
Runs unattended for months

This is ideal for smart agriculture, indoor air quality monitoring, classroom management, and more.