Using a ProData WiFi Logger?

[cfor...@gmail.com]

Hello weewx-ers!

Perhaps this is a naive question, but searching isn't turning up any answers. Can I use weewx with this logger:

https://www.weatherstations.co.uk/wifi-logger.htm

It claims that it offers TCP/IP access to LOOP packets, so I presume weewx would work with it, but has anyone tried it yet?

Charlie

--

Earth, USA, GA, Atlanta

[Philip Kutzenco]

I don't have one of these. But it should work fine with the weeWX Vantage driver. It appears to emulate the Davis WeatherLinkIP interface (without having a Davis registered "DID", preventing free uploads to Davis own weatherlink.com website. FWIW, the Davis DID is the MAC address of the device.

In weewx.conf (in the [Vantage] stanza) you would set the "Connection type" to ethernet. You also need to set the "host" in that stanza to the IP address of the wifi-logger. One thing you need though is to set the IPaddress in the wifi-logger device to be the same every time it is rebooted. You can do that by specifying a static IP address for the device in your router. The device itself, may have a way to set a static IP address rather than pick up a new one via DHCP, I'm not sure.

phil

[cfor...@gmail.com]

Phil,

That was an information-packed message. Thanks!  I ordered the logger and hope to have it by the end of the week. I'll report back with my experience.

Charlie

[Devonian]

There's a pretty big thread over on wxforum regarding the WFL, here...

https://www.wxforum.net/index.php?topic=34312.0

I have my own flavour of wireless logging using xbee wireless units, one in my VP2 much like the WFL and one hanging off my weewx box/computer.

Weewx 'sees' it as a normal serial connection.

Hope the WFL works out for you.

Nigel.

[Sébastien Bouillon]

Hello Charlie,

I want to buy a data-logger.

This shop sells data-logger. 

I hesitate between meteo-pi (https://shop.weatherstations.co.uk/meteo-pi-1832-p.asp) and wifi logger (https://shop.weatherstations.co.uk/wifi-logger-v2-1752-p.asp)

Can you tell me if the wifi logger works with weewx and raspberry

Tank you 

Regards

[Manfred Maier]

Hi Sébastien,

I don't know either data-logger.

Personally I'm using this one:

https://www.smartbedded.com/wiki/index.php/Meteostick

It works perfectly with my Vantage Pro 2 and two transmitters.

Manfred 

[Sébastien Bouillon]

Hi Manfred,

tank you for your answer

Do you connect the logger stick directly in a USB plug of the raspberry, ?

Sébastien

[Manfred Maier]

I'm using the USB hub/extension that was delivered with the Meteostick (for free).

On the photo you can see the stick and the hub. In the background there's my RPi. 

[Brent Geery]

Last week I installed a brand new Davis VP2+.  I'm using it with a Pi Zero-W and the Meteo-Pi hat.  If you are planning on using a Raspberry Pi (especially the zero) with a Davis station, I can't think of a slicker solution on the market today.  I'm combining it with a Mini USB UPS/Power supply that I'm wait to arrive from China.

[Sébastien Bouillon]

Hello,

Thank you for your answers.The "Meteo-pi hat" is the product sell by prodata system (https://www.weatherstations.co.uk/meteo-pi.htm) ?

This shop proposes an other device which seem very fine: the meteobridge nano (https://shop.weatherstations.co.uk/meteobridge-nano-1771-p.asp), It seem to use wifi,  so you don't need cable between the Davis console and your box And it can upload the information directly in Intert. Do you confirm, or I do a mistake ?

But can we also receive the data in a rasberry with wifi to create our own internet page (like this for example (http://meteovouzon.hopto.org/weewx/belchertown)

Regards

[Sébastien Bouillon]

Hello, 

I have found a document which present the meteobridge nano http://download.meteobridge.com/files/meteobridge-nano-sd-datasheet.pdf

It is written thas : Personal Weather Pages – The NANO SD can feed the popular personal weather templates WD-Live, Leuven Template, Saratoga Template, Meteo Template and Home Weather Station with default scripts. This makes it very easy to setup your personal weather page by using one of the mentioned solutions. Many user prefer to have their data presented in the most efficient and versatile way instead of relying on the standard visualization the main Internet weather networks provide as a give-back for uploading weather data. All mentioned solutions actively support NANO SD and the other Meteobridge platforms.

Perhaps, this information can help to know if this device can speak with weewx

[Manfred Maier]

I don't want to promote the meteostick and the other devices are certainly equally good.

One of the reasons for choosing the meteostick was that it works absolutely independent of the Davis console. 

My console is placed in the living room (ground floor), the RPi is in my office (2nd floor). That brings a lot of flexibility.

For the meteostick there's a weewx-driver available, which allows you to create your own webpage. Here's mine (in German unfortunately): www.wetter-zorneding.de

[vince]

Thank you for your answers.The "Meteo-pi hat" is the product sell by prodata system (https://www.weatherstations.co.uk/meteo-pi.htm) ?

Does anybody currently running weewx have one of these integrated successfully ?

That looks like a nice product for $89 US if you go through the usual sellers like scaledinstruments.com

(sorry about the VAT to non-US folks)

[Brent Geery]

Mine is working without a hitch the last week. I'm new to the Davis VP2+, the PI Zero, and the Meteo-pi hat.  It's only just reporting to WU right now, and I haven't customized weewx reports yet, but everything worked the first time following the instructions online (but they are scattered a bit throughout several sites).  I can give you my compiled step by step instructions if you want a quick-start guide to a basic install that you can then further customize. 

[vince]

On Friday, May 29, 2020 at 2:14:52 PM UTC-7, Brent Geery wrote:

Mine is working without a hitch the last week. I'm new to the Davis VP2+, the PI Zero, and the Meteo-pi hat.  It's only just reporting to WU right now, and I haven't customized weewx reports yet, but everything worked the first time following the instructions online (but they are scattered a bit throughout several sites).  I can give you my compiled step by step instructions if you want a quick-start guide to a basic install that you can then further customize. 

Not for me personally, but I know others always look for cheaper alternatives to the Davis loggers.

Some questions:

 - does weeex gracefully catch up (read the stored logger data) when you shut down the weewx box for a while ?

 - has it ever gone stupid on you so far ?   Sometimes the Davis loggers get confused and require a brain clearing...

(just curious if it acts just like the Davis logger)

 

[Brent Geery]

Haven't had any issues so far, but it's only been a week.  I am still trying to confirm that the Meteo-pi hardware clock is actually doing its thing, as there was no setup instructions for it, and I don't know enough linux to really diagnose the hardware clock feature properly.  Still researching that rabbit hole, but it's running fine nonetheless.

[Sébastien Bouillon]

Hello,

I am a new owner of a vantage 2 station and future user of weewx. I discovered that there are lots of different data loggers. Not easy to find your way around at the start. I’m trying a summary that might interest other new weewx users.

I haven't made up my mind yet. perhaps the "meteostick"

The meteo-pi
Farbicated by https://wifilogger.net/where.html 

Advantage 1: equipped with a RTCmodule
disadvantage 1: depends on a Davis console
disadvantage 2: request to connect to the Davis station with the raspberry by a cable, (but allows to supply the Davis console with electricity, therefore replaces the power cable of the Davis console)

English seller = £ 89 (https://shop.weatherstations.co.uk/meteo-pi-1832-p.asp)
USA seller = 89 € ( https://www.scaledinstruments.com/shop/davis-instruments/hardware-data-loggers-software/hardware-software-bundles/meteo-pi)


WiFi Logger v2
Farbicated by https://wifilogger.net/where.html 

Advantage: in wifi so no cable between the Davis console and the raspberry
disadvantage 1: depends on a Davis console
disadvantage 2: I am not sure that communication with weewx is possible (no user seen having tested and validated the feasibility)

English seller = £ 149 (https://shop.weatherstations.co.uk/wifi-logger-v2-1752-p.asp)
USA seller = 139 € (https://www.scaledinstruments.com/shop/davis-instruments/hardware-data-loggers-software/hardware-software-bundles/wifilogger2/)

 
Meteostick
Made by https://www.smartbedded.com/wiki/index.php/Meteostick 

Manual: https://www.smartbedded.com/files/manual-en.pdf

Advantage 1: independent of a Davis console

Advantage 2: driver validated by weewx
disadvantage 1: not autonomous to put information independently on the Internet (if the raspberry crashes for example)

Dutch seller = 159 € (https://weerhuisje.nl/en/meteobridge/wh-meteostick-usb-stick-receiver-for-davis-iss/a-11572-90)
Swiss seller = 209 CHF (https://meteobridge.shop/meteostick_1)

The meteobrige
made by https://wiki.meteobridge.com/wiki/index.php/Home

Advantage: autonomous to update a large number of weather site and offers interesting features
disadvantage 1: depends on a Davis console
disadvantage 2: I am not sure that communication with weewx is possible (no user seen having tested and validated the feasibility)
disadvantage 3: I understand there is a license to pay

English seller = £ 205 (https://shop.weatherstations.co.uk/meteobridge-nano-1771-p.asp)
There is also the Meteobridge Nano SD = £ 279 (https://shop.weatherstations.co.uk/meteobridge-nano-sd-1776-p.asp)


and many other solutions:

• Davis WeatherLink = £ 225 (https://shop.weatherstations.co.uk/data-loggers-software-9-c.asp) 
• Davis data-logger in USB or serial = £ 169 or £ 69 (https://shop.weatherstations.co.uk/6510-unboxed-usb-logger-1814-p.asp)
• Meteobridge pro = £ 359 (https://shop.weatherstations.co.uk/sb-04-meteobridge-pro-1041-p.asp)
• airbridge-receiver wifi =  $ 290 (https://www.ambientweather.com/amairbridgereceiver.html)

[Greg Troxel]

Sébastien Bouillon <sebastien...@gmail.com> writes:

> I am a new owner of a vantage 2 station and future user of weewx. I
> discovered that there are lots of different data loggers. Not easy to find
> your way around at the start. I’m trying a summary that might interest
> other new weewx users.

Thanks for the summary.

I got the official Davis serial logger, perhaps $110 at the time. As
you noted it has the feature of recording data when the computer is
down, including during power failures using the console batteries. Over
about 2.5 years, this has happened multiple times and I have much better
historical data than I would have had with live data being recorded
only.

So if you care about not having gaps in your data, this offline logging
is very important. If you want to be able to look at current conditions
when your computer is up, and recent history is nice but not a big deal,
maybe you don't care.

I will say that the amount of time the offline logging has helped has
been more than I expected, when you add up all the reasons the computer
was not ok (no power, crashes due to power glitches, SD card problems,
reboots for maintenance, changing to a new computer). So I'm really
glad to have this feature. Others of course will have different goals
and judgements.

[Sébastien Bouillon]

Hi,

This is an important criterion that I hadn't thought of taking into account. Meteostick does not fit this criterion

I ask myself 2 questions :

- When the raspberry is turned off and on, does the data-logger automatically return any missing data? I read that it was interesting to put an RTC module on the raspberry. Is it to avoid problem in this type of situation?

- Is it necessary to regularly update the Davis data-logger firmware: https://support.davisinstruments.com/article/o3dfmlmgsp-weather-link-ip-data-logger-firmware-1-1 -5-windows

Regards

[Greg Troxel]

Sébastien Bouillon <sebastien...@gmail.com> writes:

> This is an important criterion that I hadn't thought of taking into
> account. Meteostick does not fit this criterion
>
> I ask myself 2 questions :
> - When the raspberry is turned off and on, does the data-logger
> automatically return any missing data? I read that it was interesting to
> put an RTC module on the raspberry. Is it to avoid problem in this type of
> situation?

When you have a Davis in-console logger, and you turn off the weewx
computer, and wait a few hours:

The logger continues to record archive records (typically the interval
is set to 5 minutes).

When the weewx computer starts, it obtains from the datalogger the
archive records that are in the datalogger and not in the weewx
database, and puts them in the database.

It is true that a computer running with the wrong time and running the
weewx code to extract archive records causes a lot of trouble. So the
real requirement is that the computer have the right time before it runs
weewx. On normal computers, there is a "RTC" which is a clock with a
battery and it is read at boot, so the time is close. On a RPI, or
similar low-end single-board devices, these are often not present.
Depending on OS and configuration, time at boot can be in 1970, around
the time the computer was last shut down, or probably something else.

The two approaches discussed on the list are:

Get a RTC device for the RPI. They don't cost much, and then the time
is correct (close enough) at boot. This is the standard approach and
the most frequent recommmendation.

Set up NTP, and write a script that makes sure that the computer is
synchronized before starting weewx. (This is what I'm doing.)

(It's not clear to me that the lack of clock has to be a problem, as the
archive records have timestamps, but that's a separate discussion that
needs a patch to make it work anyway, not ungrounded discussion.)

> - Is it necessary to regularly update the Davis data-logger firmware:
> https://support.davisinstruments.com/article/o3dfmlmgsp-weather-link-ip-data-logger-firmware-1-1
> -5-windows

I have never updated firmware on my serial logger. The logger is
plugged into the console and has a serial attached to my weewx computer.
Therefore my logger does not talk to the Internet at all (which I think
is a feature!). The Weatherlink IP is a more complicated device that
talks to the internet, so there being firmware updates makes sense.

It seems there is now "Weatherlink Live":
https://github.com/weewx/weewx/issues/412
and I am unclear if one can use it without the cloud (meaning if you
firewall it from Davis's systems, will it still work locally).

[Les Niles]

Another data point: I’ve been running an RPi-based weewx with a Davis IP datalogger for several years. The RPi is sometimes down for over a week; when it restarts, all the data is recovered without loss, duplication, or manual intervention. This ability to spool the data while the host computer is down is how the datalogger earns its price — it’s not just a communication interface. Despite power outages, system maintenance, SD card failures, etc., the only data loss was one incident when the RPi was down for several weeks and the data overran the logger’s storage. BTW, the RPi does have a $4 RTC module.

I’ve heard of problems with the IP datalogger locking up in some way, but have never had that problem in my setup. Maybe it’s because I have it on an isolated network, consisting of just a cable from the datalogger to the RPi’s RJ45 jack. Communication with the outside world is through a wifi interface on the RPi.

-Les


> On May 31, 2020, at 3:22 AM, Greg Troxel <g...@lexort.com> wrote:

> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "weewx-user" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to weewx-user+...@googlegroups.com.
> To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/weewx-user/rmilfl8jted.fsf%40s1.lexort.com.
>

[Graham Eddy]

similar here. bushfire disaster destroyed my region in 2009, taking all reticulation with it (power, phone, water, ..). they ran new power and phone lines down the highway to here in only a week or so, i flicked the computer on, it sync’ed with data logger and no data lost! luckily the AA backup batteries in the davis console were fairly new at the time (and i still had a house). it was wview then, weewx just being conceived, but it is the same davis sensors and data logger in place now (with most of the individual bits replaced over the years…)

____________

Graham Eddy

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/weewx-user/09FD59F2-4056-40BA-8A05-8EEEAE4E5B28%40gmail.com.

[Sébastien Bouillon]

hi,

It’s always interesting to interact with other people. I just ordered the Davis data logger. There will be a cable between the console and the raspberry, less practical than wifi or the USB key, but easier and more robust in case of power failure.

Do you know the battery life of the Davis station in the event of a power failure?

When there is no power failure, you still change them regularly (every 2 years for example)

Have a good day

[Greg Troxel]

Sébastien Bouillon <sebastien...@gmail.com> writes:

> Do you know the battery life of the Davis station in the event of a power
> failure?

I don't. My experience has been that a power failure of a day or so has
not resulted in appreciable battery drain, in terms of lowered voltage
once the power is back.

> When there is no power failure, you still change them regularly (every 2
> years for example)

I don't change them on a schedule. The console reports voltage, and
when it drops below 4.50V (meaning 1.50V each, assuming even discharge),
I will replace them. Mine are currently at 4.59V, which is probably
1.53V x 3. (To make this happen, I have set an alarm in Home Assistant
which gets the battery voltage via mqtt.)

[Tom Mitchell]

I just ordered one. If this works, I will be one happy person. I will report back.

[vince]

On Monday, June 1, 2020 at 6:44:48 AM UTC-7, Sébastien Bouillon wrote:

Do you know the battery life of the Davis station in the event of a power failure?

If you use their data logger, literally months.....

https://support.davisinstruments.com/article/z0qaefik7c-how-long-do-the-batteries-last-on-my-vantage-pro-2-console-faq

 

[Tom Mitchell]

Report: works great. Acts exactly like a Davis logger, except untethered. Easy setup.

It does collect archive records - same capacity as Davis logger (2560 records) and allows weewx to catch up on records not retrieved.

Also allows for interactive download of archive records to CSV which could help troubleshooting. Interactive setting of station parameters like lat/long, date/time/tz/dst, units, etc. Also a nice dropdown of several interactive commands to clear memory, check versions, etc (similar to wee_device except web-based).

Many built-in integrations to enable direct upload to WU, etc. plus custom exports via FTP and MQTT.

Not enough time to determine whether it is more stable than Davis logger.

I am very happy with it so far. Note: it requires 1.9 or later FW, which now means I want to understand FW upgrade options for VP2 if I do not have a Windows machine..

I am happy to post screenshots or answer any questions.

I hope this helps.

--
Tom Mitchell
t...@tom.org
Real Time Beverly, MA Weather
http://weather.tom.org

"The whole problem with the world
  is that fools and fanatics are
  always so certain of themselves,
  and wiser people so full of doubts."
  - Bertrand Russell