The Veltoc Model 01 Elevates DIY Environmental Monitoring

If you own a soldering iron and a drawer full of development boards, there is a good chance you’ve already built an environmental monitor. This is an incredibly popular project, not only because these devices are fairly easy to build, but also because they are quite useful. Let’s be honest — most of our creations wind up back in the spare parts drawer before long. An environmental monitor, on the other hand, will be used for years to come.

The majority of these DIY projects look like DIY projects, with bare circuit boards and tangles of wires on display. But with just a little more effort, these builds can be turned into something that looks like a polished commercial device. If you need a little inspiration to upgrade your own monitor, then Dan King’s latest build is worth a look. Called the Veltoc Model 01, King’s environmental monitor can measure the usual metrics. But the best part is the finishing touches — the Veltoc Model 01 would look fantastic displayed in your home.

The device is built around a Seeed Studio XIAO ESP32C6 development board paired with a 2.9-inch monochrome E Ink display and a BME280 environmental sensor. Together, they provide temperature, humidity, and air pressure readings while keeping power consumption exceptionally low. When connected to Wi-Fi, the device can also retrieve and display the current time so that the monitor can double as a clock.

Rather than relying on a modern touchscreen interface, King opted for a simple rotary encoder for a retro aesthetic. Rotating the knob cycles through different display views, and pressing it wakes the device from sleep or allows access to configuration settings. The combination of the monochrome E Ink screen and physical controls gives the monitor the appearance of a piece of vintage instrumentation rather than a typical hobbyist project.

Power comes from a 1,400 mAh lithium-polymer battery tucked inside the custom 3D-printed enclosure. Thanks to the low-power nature of the E Ink display and the device’s sleep modes, King reports a battery life of roughly three to six months between charges. A battery monitoring circuit built from a pair of 100 kΩ resistors allows the system to keep track of remaining charge, and a custom USB-C extension brings charging access to the rear of the enclosure for a cleaner appearance.

The hardware list is straightforward, the firmware is built using the Arduino ecosystem, and the design can be adapted to different ESP32 boards through configurable pin assignments. This is a very approachable project, and King has made it even easier by releasing the firmware and 3D models in this GitHub repository.