Gravity: Tipping Bucket Rainfall Sensor - I2C & UART

The Gravity Tipping Bucket Rainfall Sensor is a reliable precipitation gauge designed for weather stations, smart agriculture, and environmental research projects. It features dual I2C and UART digital outputs, making it straightforward to connect to platforms like Arduino, micro:bit, ESP32, and Raspberry Pi. It is ideal for students, educators, and makers building automated environmental monitoring systems.

Mechanical tipping bucket design

Rainwater enters the top funnel and directs into an internal tipping bucket, which tips over and generates a pulse signal for every 0.28 mm of accumulated precipitation. Because the bucket housing contains no internal electronics and has a hollow bottom for automatic drainage, it provides stable and sensitive outdoor measurement.

Dual I2C and UART connectivity

The sensor measures rainfall values in millimetres along with system operating time, sending data via either I2C or UART communication. It operates efficiently on 3.3V to 5.5V DC supply power with an operating current draw below 3 mA.

Plug and play microcontroller integration

Equipped with a Gravity 4-pin interface and supported by ready-to-use libraries, the sensor interfaces seamlessly with Arduino, micro:bit, ESP32, and Raspberry Pi boards. This enables quick deployment for live weather stations and smart farming systems.

Outdoor weatherproofing guidelines

The tipping bucket mechanism operates across a wide temperature range of -40 to 85 degrees Celsius. However, the separate signal adapter board is not waterproof and must be housed in a weather-sealed enclosure away from rain.

Compact footprint and mounting

The assembly features a 118 by 59 by 80 mm tipping bucket weighing 119 g, accompanied by a 32 by 37 mm signal PCB and 3.1 mm mounting holes. The kit includes the tipping bucket sensor, signal adapter, and Gravity 4-pin I2C/UART connector cable.

Downloads & documentation

• Product wiki (DFRobot)