Acurite 5in1 and rtl_sdr

[seano...@gmail.com]

Hi,

My station has been running weewx + rt_sdr for a year and all is working well. Weewx receives the station data and broadcasts it to windguru. However, there is an occasional problem that happens and i can't figure out what the cause is. All of a sudden, rtl_433 stops receiving from the sensor for hours at a time.

During those periods, when i run:
sudo tail -f /var/log/weewx.log

All i see is:

user.sdr: lines=[]

If you leave it, it eventually comes back online itself. I can confirm that during that time there was no loss of power or internet - because i can still connect to the pi and manage it. Also, weather station has new batteries, so that is not the problem. I have a feeling that the problem is happening with the realtek SDR dongle. Because a power reset sometimes fixes the problem - and a physical removal of the USB dongle into a different USB port seems to fix the problem immedaitely.

I've even tried a python script to eject the USB device which also seems to help. But in order to do this i first need to disable rtl_433 in the weewx.conf, then reboot, then run rtl_433 on its own until it sees the sensor, then re-enable rtl_433 in weewx.conf and reboot. That is usually the process to fix it immediately, so it definitely feels to me like a software issue.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Sean

[Peter Whisker]

I find the same occurs on my FineOffset HP1000 clone - it happens to the device receiver.

My (unproven) theory is that the signals from the external and internal sensors which come every 16 seconds drift with respect with each other until they end up being transmitted at exactly the same time and the receiver can not discriminate them. After half a day or so the situation recovers and is fine for a month or more.

Peter

[RobbH]

My suspicion is that this happens because of unusual propagation conditions such as "tropospheric ducting," which may be associated with unusual weather or sunspot activity, among other factors. There are occasions when distant radio or TV signals can be received briefly, sometimes stronger than local stations. The same conditions might affect the frequencies used by weather sensors.

I have a rooftop 5in1 for wind and rain measurements and a temperature/humidity sensor in the back yard, both connected through an Acurite bridge. Sometimes Weewx stops receiving data from one sensor, while the other continues to work for a time. Then the other sensor will go silent, as well, and shortly afterward the first sensor will reappear. Eventually, the second sensor also reconnects.

The time difference suggests to me that the outages are caused by something in motion, which could be an atmospheric condition. I can't rule out the possibility that there's some sort of local source of interference, though.

I'm sure there are people reading this forum who know more about RF than I do, so it would be great to hear their opinions about this.

[seano...@gmail.com]

Thanks for the replies. I'm still scratching my head about this issue. A few weeks ago i installed a wifi plug onto the power line of the Raspberry Pi and i have been experimenting... whenever i see the station losing signal and having a breakup in the reporting (ie. user.sdr: lines=[]) then i power off the Raspberry Pi using the wifi switch which gives it a hard power off. I leave it off for 1 minute then power it back on and so far, every single time i do that, the raspberry pi starts receiving a signal from the Acurite5-in-1 again.

Currently, i am led to believe the RTL-SDR dongle i think i've installed (this one) is actually faulty. Because a software reset doesn't bring it back online, but a hard reset always does. Would be curious to know if anyone else has experienced anything like this? My next step is to purchase a new RTL-SDR dongle and see if it solves the problem.

Thanks,

Sean.

[seano...@gmail.com]

Hi,

Just a quick nudge about this. The Acurite 5-in-1 and the SDR are working, but there are still times when minutes or hours can pass where the SDR is not receiving any packets from the sensor, and therefore no broadcasts to wind guru. Has anyone got any good ideas on troubleshooting this? Here is a lot of the last few hours https://u.pcloud.link/publink/show?code=XZiEH8XZD0glneQHykh8633IJuS6Xbc3fyzk

It's just so strange that sometimes the sensor will send a packet every 20-seconds, and other times a few minutes will pass without a packet being received. One would think that the packets should be consistent and regular.

Does anyone have any insight into how the Acurite 5-in-1 sensor sends packets - should it be at a set time every x seconds, or is erratic normal?

I don't understand SDR much, could there be another device nearby that is interfering with the receiving of packets?

Pulling my hair out trying to troubleshoot this problem!!

Thanks,

Sean.

[cl...@n7qnm.net]

Hi, Sean – I have a 5-in-1, and it normally sends every 20-30 seconds.  However,  I had to buy one of the Acurite repeaters to get a reliable connection to my base, I have lots of metal between the sensor and my receiver, AND I’m a ham radio operator with LOTS of RF devices, so I’m in an “RF-Rich” environment.    I’d recommend looking at the signal strength bars on your base; and making sure your base is receiving correctly.

 

Good luck!

 

Clay

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[seano...@gmail.com]

Hi Clay,

Thanks a lot for the suggestion. Funny enough that same day you replied I decided to move the raspberry pi across the room and I'm amazed to see that the problem appears to be solved immediately.

I have been watching the weewx.log for months and now after moving the pi I can see more regular and consistent logging of the packets than before.. it used to be all over the place. But now, it receives a packet every 18 seconds without fail. So yes, I think you are right, the pi was in an area that had some kind of electronic or magnetic interference.

Thanks again!

[seano...@gmail.com]

UPDATE:

After 3 days of working perfectly, the pi stopped receiving from the weather sensor and has not received a single transmission in 48 hours. When I close weewx and run rtf_433 directly, no sensors are seen either. Today I collected the devices and brought them home and then plugged them in, they work perfectly. Back to the drawing board.

My latest theory is that somewhere nearby, someone has powered on a device that transmits at the same 433mhz frequency and it is blocking the Acurite sensor transmissions from reaching the Raspberry Pi. Now I just need to prove it. I feel like the answer lies in using the Pi + SDR dongle and running gnuradio companion to a) prove my theory is true or false and b) help me to locate the device causing this trouble.

Does anyone know if the Acurite 5-in-1 devices can be modified to transmit at a different frequency?

[Greg Troxel]

"seano...@gmail.com" <seano...@gmail.com> writes:

> My latest theory is that somewhere nearby, someone has powered on a device
> that transmits at the same 433mhz frequency and it is blocking the Acurite
> sensor transmissions from reaching the Raspberry Pi. Now I just need to
> prove it. I feel like the answer lies in using the Pi + SDR dongle and
> running gnuradio companion to a) prove my theory is true or false and b)
> help me to locate the device causing this trouble.

Yes, and also look at gqrx, which may be an easier path.

Another theory is that the power connection to the weather sensor
(internal batteries?) is getting flaky and moving it made it better.

> Does anyone know if the Acurite 5-in-1 devices can be modified to transmit
> at a different frequency?

Almost anything can be done with enough effort, but I am pretty sure the
basic answer is no.

[Mks Mk]

dear

I hade the same problem with my station (Acurite 5in1 + SDR +Pi4) and I solved it this way

*Make sure the 5 in 1 batteries are healthy

*Make sure the Pi is updated

1-use USB cable to connect SDR to Pi

2-Adjust Antena length (about 31 cm)

3-Location does matter of Antena or (SDR if antena is attached to it).so move it around each time the problem happen untill you find the perefct spot.

[Ξ]

Maybe I'm missing something but why's the R-Pi receiving the data via SDR RTL instead of directly from the Acurite console?

[Mks Mk]

I wish I can help you but in my case the SDR is receiving from 5in1 unit located out side my house and I do have Acurite display but it is not connected to the R-Pi.

[seano...@gmail.com]

Hi All,

Thanks for the feedback, very much appreciated.

@mksm... thanks, I will try your suggestions. Funny because I was originally told to use a 17cm antenna, I'm surprised to hear you mention 31cm ??

Regarding the SDR, it is a solution to capture the broadcasts from the Acurite 5n1 sensor directly, ie. no need for the weather display. You can read more here: https://github.com/weewx/weewx/wiki/sdr-rpi-recipe Actually, I have build 3 weather stations and the first one is using the acurite display which then connects to the pi via USB cable, and I found it to have a lot of challenges to keep it online. Even with a USB hub for continuous power, it goes offline often and needs a certain procedure to get things online again. When I learnt about the SDR solution I was really hopeful that it would be a 100% reliable solution but I'm disappointed to find that there are still challenges, although less than with the display option.

Thanks,

Sean.

[p q]

I use the Acurite display console with a USB connection to a Raspberry Pi and it's solid for me. I have the pi and the console on UPS which might help plus the sensor unit is less than 20 ft (6m) away. 

Keep at it I'm sure you'll get it sorted out. 

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[Mks Mk]

I suggest to bring the 5in1 unit indoor in the same location of R-Pi and observe the operation of the system for some days, to make sure it is not signal strength issue and if it happen again it could be hardware or power issue.

I do believe you have signal strength issue

[Sean Jahnig]

@ p q thanks for the support!

@ mksm thanks for the suggestions. I have tried many things, including taking the batteries out and then in again, and putting the station right next to the pi. I've tried changing USB ports for the dongle... i have had many theories but currently i think it is either a) the SDR dongle is not working properly or b) there is a device nearby which sometimes powers on and then jams the signal so that the pi cannot see the weather station. It is a bit difficult to test this exactly because it is 50km from my house. FYI, this is the station which wasn't working a few days ago. I brought all the pieces home, tested them, found them to be working and then put it all back exactly how it was before and you can see it's online now for the past 30 hours without missing any transmissions.