New Belchertown v2.0

[uajqq]

New Belchertown (the updated fork of the original Belchertown) v2.0 is now out with a refreshed card-based layout and tons of new features. Let me know what you think!

https://github.com/uajqq/weewx-belchertown-new

Example site: https://www.uajqq.com/new-belchertown

[uajqq]

[Pablo Sanchez]

On 2026-06-02 17:13, uajqq wrote:

New Belchertown (the updated fork of the original Belchertown) v2.0 is now out with a refreshed card-based layout and tons of new features. Let me know what you think!

I am a bit biased as I am a very minor contributor and a user of New Belchertown: this skin is absolutely fantastic. The support is awesome too. 

If anyone is interested, they can go to my weather website to see v2.0 live: https://weather.hillsandlakes.com

This is a screen scrape. I scaled down the image so it looks a bit fuzzy. The new card layout is very cool. Resizing the web page, as expected, dynamically adjusts the cards. I am excited to try kiosk-mode on an old table. On Mobile, it works great too!



-pablo

[Vince Skahan]

Can you explain how the new one differs from the original ?

i like the new records format a lot but the headings on https://weather.hillsandlakes.com/records/ are not aligned with the data items (cards?)

Also one of the nice features of original belchertown is that the installer wrote out a full stanza with all the many configurable elements in the right place, just commented out. This helped reduce user errors a lot (disclaimer - I provided that code and the install.py to Pat years ago now). Does the new fork still do that ?

[Anton Diedericks]

I've just installed v2.0

Checked weewx.conf, restarted weewx.service, weectl report run, even renamed to /etc/weewx/skins/Belchertow.old.

Nothing changed :-(  What am I missing?

[Vince Skahan]

I tried it on the simulator and it went well so I went for smoke as we used to say and switched my production system over.  Wow.  Very slick.

Answering my own question - I do see that it wrote out a full stanza with my previous entries in there ok.  Excellent.

More info....

• one installation bug - I was using aeris for my forecast provider and had to manually rename it to xweather
• docs - your wiki says to install using sudo - not really required any more in weewx v5 and certainly not for pip installations.  You might just point to the authoritative weewx docs for installing extensions
• note - after fiddling with belchertown in general it is 'usually' required to restart weewx to make it take effect
• your day/night setting default is 'auto' where Pat's was 'light'. I had to edit weewx.conf to set it to use light always which worked fine.  Not a big deal.
• your 'weather records snapshot' card has a needlessly verbose 'view all records here'.  I'd suggest perhaps truncating that to '(see all) or (more)'
• your 'Homepage.' card really should be called 'Charts' (no . on the word) and again the 'view more here' is too verbose.  Again perhaps ('see all') or ('more') there.
• the records labels not being centered bug I mentioned earlier appears in portrait mode only on my iphone.  Landscape mode looks ok.
• I did get bitten by the old aqiChart being deprecated out in new versions but figured it out from the nice docs

Super nice major update !!!!   The cards look just great.  So great looking.  So great.

[Pablo Sanchez]

On 2026-06-02 23:01, Vince Skahan wrote:

i like the new records format a lot but the headings on https://weather.hillsandlakes.com/records/ are not aligned with the data items (cards?)

Hi Vince,

I created an issue on your behalf:

https://github.com/uajqq/weewx-belchertown-new/issues/197

Cheers!

---
pablo

[Pablo Sanchez]

On 2026-06-03 00:09, Anton Diedericks wrote:

I've just installed v2.0

Checked weewx.conf, restarted weewx.service, weectl report run, even renamed to /etc/weewx/skins/Belchertow.old.

Nothing changed :-(  What am I missing?

At the top of the  [[new-belchertown]] stanza, what are the settings for:

skin = new-belchertown
HTML_ROOT = public_html
enable = true

Cheers!

---
pablo

[Anton Diedericks]

My issue was that nginx was still redirecting to belchetown and not to new-belchertown.

[[new-belchertown]]
        # See wiki for configuration help: https://github.com/uajqq/weewx-belchertown-new/wiki
        skin = new-belchertown
        HTML_ROOT = /var/www/html/weewx/new-belchertown

        enable = true

Another issue now, is that the live data is updating with mqtt, but the graphs only updates when I run "weectl report run" manually.
Apologies, but I'm still learning.

https://www.woodlands-weather.co.za/weewx/new-belchertown/  

[Pablo Sanchez]

On 2026-06-03 09:01, Anton Diedericks wrote:

My issue was that nginx was still redirecting to belchetown and not to new-belchertown.

I am glad that you got it sorted.

[[new-belchertown]]
        # See wiki for configuration help: https://github.com/uajqq/weewx-belchertown-new/wiki
        skin = new-belchertown
        HTML_ROOT = /var/www/html/weewx/new-belchertown

        enable = true

Another issue now, is that the live data is updating with mqtt, but the graphs only updates when I run "weectl report run" manually.
Apologies, but I'm still learning.

https://www.woodlands-weather.co.za/weewx/new-belchertown/  

Have you tried removing all the contents of /var/www/html/weewx/new-belchertown and running weectl report run once?

Cheers,
-pablo

[Pablo Sanchez]

Hi Anton,

As you are new (I am relatively new too! :p), I thought I would provide you with some background information as I understand it.

weewx writes web data to HTML_ROOT. This includes HTML, JavaScript, etc. As you know, you point your web server (or proxy) to this location and serve the contents. This directory can be configured to be replicated to another, publicly available server. Residential Internet service usually does not allow one to host servers. This architecture solves this problem. 

All to say, that one can safely remove the contents of HTML_ROOT as it will be regenerated.

Cheers!

---
pablo

[uajqq]

- The new installer not only writes out all the available options, it automatically re-organizes with each installation. If you set an option and then want to return it to default, you can simply delete it, and the installer will put it back commented as the default on the next go-around. 

- Installation bug -- "aeris" should still be accepted automatically as a legacy term. Did that not happen?

- Docs -- I'll change that to take out sudo, you're right it's usually not required. 

- Yes, it's always necessary to restart weewx to see changes after you change settings.

- Day/night setting is indeed now auto. That's just kind of a modern expectation with websites these days. 

- "View all records here" and "Charts. View more here" is a deliberate legacy holdover from the original Belchertown. I just like the wording and look, it's a distinct personality from Pat's original site. 

- Records label is centered to the page itself, not only the cards underneath it. I can try to tinker with it for clarity but I think it might look like a mistake if it's "centered" off to the right. 

[Anton Diedericks]

Even after deleting  all files and folders in /var/www/html/weewx/new-belchertown and then running weectl report run, the last graph updates are at at the time I updated the reports. (about an hour old). They should update every 5 minutes.

[Vince Skahan]

Thanks for the reply.

Can we perhaps get options to let us specify the strings we use in the various sections for their titles and 'view more' wording or alternately supersede the defaults with a something.conf file so we'd be upgrade-safe ?

Here's what the centering bug looks like on my iphone in chrome (attached).

[Pablo Sanchez]

On 2026-06-03 11:10, Anton Diedericks wrote:

Even after deleting  all files and folders in /var/www/html/weewx/new-belchertown and then running weectl report run, the last graph updates are at at the time I updated the reports. (about an hour old). They should update every 5 minutes.

Hi Anton,

As this may be related to the skin, please create an Issue - https://github.com/uajqq/weewx-belchertown-new/issues.

Thx!
-pablo

[Pablo Sanchez]

Hi Vince,

Can we perhaps get options to let us specify the strings we use in the various sections for their titles and 'view more' wording or alternately supersede the defaults with a something.conf file so we'd be upgrade-safe ?

Please see the Wiki for the available skin options where one can override many labels. Anything missing? I would suggest opening up an Issue - https://github.com/uajqq/weewx-belchertown-new/wiki/Skin-options

Here's what the centering bug looks like on my iphone in chrome (attached).

A change has been pushed out. Please add any comments to the issue I opened on your behalf - https://github.com/uajqq/weewx-belchertown-new/issues/197

I am going to test it out shortly.

Thx!

---
pablo

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[Vince Skahan]

Thanks.  Yes I found the labels in skin.conf and have been fiddling with them a bit.

One question though - how do I suppress the trailing '.' after the four major section headers on the toplevel page ?  (Example - 'Charts.' rather than 'Charts') - I'd expect the page to have literally what I have in the definitions in skin.conf with nothing added.   Bug ?

I'll give the centering tweak a test today and reply in the github issue.  Thanks !

[uajqq]

Not a bug, just the deliberate style/personality of the skin!

[blu...@gmail.com]

Outstanding!  Manually copied my variables from the old Belchertown skin.conf to weewx.conf and all works great.

On Tuesday, June 2, 2026 at 5:13:44 PM UTC-4 uajqq wrote:

[Anton Diedericks]

I have uninstalled v.2.0. Deleted /var/www/html/weewx/new-belchertown and /etc/weewx/skins/new-belchertown/

Reinstalled v2.0. Restated weewx.service. And then, went for the magic smoke-break. I did not manually run reports.

All working like it should now. Thanks for all the suggestions.

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Kind regards
Anton Diedericks

[Vince Skahan]

Confused.  If we can set our desired wording/punctuation in skin.conf why would you possibly choose to not honor what the user modifies that to be ?   Seems like a bug to me.   How do I get it to use the headings *I* specify - no more and no less ?

[uajqq]

The code is open-source and can be infinitely customized by any user to their exact preferences, as the vibrant WeeWX user community can attest. The fork that I maintain does not support that specific feature, however. My apologies. 

[Vince Skahan]

Can you at least identify where in the code the trailing dots are coming from so I can try to look into whether I can provide a PR ?

[Vince Skahan]

Apologies for all the followups - I found where the 'dot' was being appended in the cheetah directives in index.html.tmpl - I'll open a PR to you tomorrow....

[jovo...@googlemail.com]

new Belchertown 2.0 congratulation look nice - will take some things for my skin there is few day's older 😉 https://www.vorrath-net.de/weewx/

It's good to know that people work on it. I like not all the new feature - but a few .... Any idea for the chart site ... means button in a second row for year's🤗

So all the best and "happy coding"

regards Jochen

[jovo...@googlemail.com]

will not work on Safari - schade.

uajqq schrieb am Dienstag, 2. Juni 2026 um 23:13:44 UTC+2:

[Anton Diedericks]

On v1.7 of Belchertown, I added more graphs, one of which is "Rain Totals"
https://www.woodlands-weather.co.za/weewx/belchertown/graphs/?graph=raintotals

I cannot get the "Rain Totals" graphs or rather charts, to display in new-belchertown v2.0

I started a process of elimination.
I only added [raintotals] to the original charts.conf AND THEN adding individual charts below raintotals one by one.
The below works:
[raintotals]
    title = Rain Totals by Period
    show_button = true
    button_text = Rain Totals
    type = column
    time_length = all
    aggregate_type = sum
    aggregate_interval = 86400
 
    [[raintoday]]
        title = "Rain Today"
        subtitle = "5-minute intervals + cumulative total"
        type = column
        time_length = today
        gapsize = 300
        aggregate_type = sum
        aggregate_interval = 300
        tooltip_date_format = "HH:mm"
        [[[rain]]]
            name = "Rain per 5 min (mm)"
            color = "#438bd6"
            yAxis_min = 0
        [[[rainTotal]]]
            name = "Cumulative Rain Today (mm)"
            type = line
            color = "#ff0000"
            zIndex = 3
            yAxis = 1

The below does not work:
    [[rainthisweek]]
        title = "Rain This Week"
        subtitle = "Hourly bars + cumulative total (Mon–Sun)"
        type = column
        time_length = week
    #    time_length = 604800 (I tried this too)
        gapsize = 3600
        aggregate_type = sum
        aggregate_interval = 3600
        tooltip_date_format = "dddd HH:mm"
        [[[rain]]]
            name = "Rain per hour (mm)"
            color = "#438bd6"
            yAxis_min = 0
        [[[rainTotal]]]
            name = "Cumulative Rain This Week (mm)"
            type = line
            color = "#ff0000"
            zIndex = 3
            lineWidth = 3

Could this be a bug?

[uajqq]

I think some of your custom files are breaking the new code. Can you re-do your .INC files from the updated templates?

[uajqq]

(Sorry -- last message was for Jochen.)

Anton -- can you comment out both time_length and aggregate_interval and see if that works? When you say it doesn't work, does the line just not appear or does the entire graph not render?

    [[rainthisweek]]
        title = "Rain This Week"
        subtitle = "Hourly bars + cumulative total (Mon–Sun)"
        type = column
        time_length = week
        # time_length = 604800 (I tried this too)
        gapsize = 3600
        aggregate_type = sum

        # aggregate_interval = 3600

        tooltip_date_format = "dddd HH:mm"
        [[[rain]]]
            name = "Rain per hour (mm)"
            color = "#438bd6"
            yAxis_min = 0
        [[[rainTotal]]]
            name = "Cumulative Rain This Week (mm)"
            type = line
            color = "#ff0000"
            zIndex = 3
            lineWidth = 3

[jovo...@googlemail.com]

(Sorry -- last message was for Jochen.)

""I think some of your custom files are breaking the new code. Can you re-do your .INC files from the updated templates?""

If you point to me:

snapshot is from your "Demo" site .....

for test I set up a naked system with 2.0 - what came first and will not work with safari 

VG

Jochen

[uajqq]

Now it looks like the skin is working (rendering correctly), but just not showing values. Can you post any logs? If you can, please do so at GitHub.com/uajqq/weewx-belchertown-new, it's hard to debug on Google Groups. 

[Anton Diedericks]

Thanks.
Previously, nothing was rendered. I have it like below now and the graph renders, but with wrong rain intervals.:

    [[rainthisweek]]
        title = "Rain This Week"
        subtitle = "Hourly bars + cumulative total (Mon–Sun)"
        type = column
        time_length = week

        gapsize = 3600
        aggregate_type = sum
        # aggregate_interval = 3600
        tooltip_date_format = "dddd HH:mm"

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[Anton Diedericks]

I can close my thread with success.

All my graphs that worked in the old Belchertown skin, also works as Charts in new-belchertown. I found it very confusing that the charts did not render, but the next morning they were all there.. Looks like they simply took quite a bit of time to do the first render.

Apologies for any confusion this might have caused. Thanks for the inputs and suggestions to try and help.

Regards
Anton

[Anton Diedericks]

Good day,
Another issue I picked up:
As per attachment, this was not the case with the older Belchertown skin.
This only affects sub-pages (Records, Charts, Reports, About) but not the Homepage.

Regards
Anton

[uajqq]

There is a fix for this in the new v2.1 beta.