Project No. 01

Rain
Remindr

A subtle glow by your front door that tells you when to grab your umbrella — or your sunscreen.

Rain Remindr device
Status Prototyping
Category IoT
Power 12V Plug
02 — What It Is

The Idea

Rain Remindr is an umbrella stand equipped with a LED ringlight that lives by your front door. It reads the forecast for your location and glows to tell you what's coming — rain or shine. Its brightness and colour scale with intensity: a soft blue for a light drizzle, a bright blue for a downpour, warm tones for UV. No screen. No app. Just plug it in and glance at it on your way out.

🌧️
Rain & UV Aware

Colour and brightness scale with precipitation chance and UV index. Customizable colour palette — make it yours.

⏰
Your Schedule

Set your sample window (default 8 hours) and a goodnight period. It only looks at weather that matters to you.

🔌
Plug In & Go

Powered by USB-C or 12V barrel jack. Connects to home WiFi. One-time setup through a web interface on the device itself.

03 — Development Log

Dev Log

Photo Soon
March 2026 — Entry 003
Custom PCB — Final Review

The Rain Remindr Prototype Board is in its final schematic review stage. ESP32-C3-MINI-1 driving WS2811 LEDs, AP63203WU buck converter stepping 12V down to 3.3V, USB-C with ESD protection. Four-layer stackup targeting JLCPCB.

Electronic Design
Photo Soon
February 2026 — Entry 002
Firmware Comes Alive

Embedded software is functional. Built from scratch in PlatformIO/Arduino on the ESP32-C3 using FastLED, ArduinoJson v7, and Open-Meteo for hourly forecasts. Resolved a string of hard-won bugs: a board destroyed by reversed LED strip polarity, watchdog crashes from interrupt misuse, WS2811 colour order discovery (it's RGB, not GRB), timezone/UTC matching, and a 330Ω data line resistor that finally killed the signal artifacts.

Firmware
Photo Soon
January 2026 — Entry 001
The Idea Clicks

It started with a wet jacket. The idea is stupid simple: a small LED device that lives by your door. If rain is likely, it glows blue. If the UV is high, it glows warm. No app to check. No notification to dismiss. Just a light — the way a lamp tells you it's dark outside. We're building it.

Origins
04 — Roadmap

Idea to Market

Stage 01 — Complete
Concept & Research
Problem identified, market research, initial feature scoping.
Stage 02 — Complete
Embedded Software
Firmware built and functional on ESP32-C3. Weather API integration, LED control logic, captive portal for setup — all working.
Stage 03 — Complete
Electronic Design
Dev board prototyping complete. Schematic validated through iterative breadboard builds.
Stage 04 — In Progress
PCB & Enclosure
Custom PCB in final review targeting JLCPCB fabrication. Mechanical enclosure is the active design challenge — current focus is on manufacturability at scale and keeping unit cost low.
Stage 05 — Upcoming
Prototype Validation
Assembled prototype testing, reliability validation, user feedback.
Stage 06 — Future
Manufacturing & Launch
Production tooling, first batch manufacturing, fulfillment.
05 — Common Questions

FAQs

The default sample window is 8 hours, but it's fully configurable through the setup interface. Set it to whatever matches your routine — 4 hours, 12 hours, whatever works for you.
Yes — it connects to your home WiFi to pull weather data. Setup is done through a simple web interface hosted by the device itself. No hub, no bridge, no account required.
Out of the box: a soft blue for a low chance of rain, scaling to a bright blue for a high chance. Warm tones for UV intensity. All colours are fully customizable — set whatever palette fits your space.
Yes — Rain Remindr is a plug-in device. It runs off USB-C or a 12V barrel jack. It's designed to sit by your door and stay on, so battery power didn't make sense for the use case.
No, and that's by design. Rain Remindr isn't here to compete with your weather app or take up space on your phone. It's a purely visual indicator — something that catches your eye as you walk out the door, nothing more.
Yes. During setup you can adjust the precipitation threshold, colour palette, sample window, and set a goodnight period so it goes dark while you sleep. All through the on-device web interface.

Interested?

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Rain Remindr // 2026
remind-r.ca
Project No. 01 //
Smart IoT