Newbie looking for hardware suggestions.

[John Russell]

Hi All,

I'm a newbie looking for hardware suggestions and I don't seem to be finding exactly what I want.  But that's probably because I'm a newbie!  

I've done some searching and found some questions that are frequently asked newbies such as myself:

• do you want an integrated sensor cluster, or separate rain, wind, and temperature/humidity sensors?
• Separate would be ideal.  I would like at least 4 temp sensors (exterior, garage, upstairs/downstairs) and later a rain sensor.  Others are not so interesting to me now, but who knows!
• do you require a physical console to display the data?
• No, if there's an option to add one, I might, but definitely not at first.
• is there power available where the sensors will be located?  where the console/basestation will be located?  what kind of power?
• I could get PoE power to any exterior sensor, the others need to be on battery power.  My initial Google searches are not coming up with many PoE thermometers, and I have no idea if they are compatible with weeWX (which is why I'm here).
• is a hardware data logger required?  preferred?
• Not required, not preferred.
• is there a preferred communication mechanism, e.g., wifi, bluetooth, wired (serial, usb, tcp/ip)?
• WiFi or ethernet (if a PoE is sensor is available)
• how much tinkering do you want to do for installation/configuration?
• Some, I'm seasoned with Linux (Ubuntu mostly) but am not a sysadmin...
• how much tinkering are you willing to do for maintenance/operation?
• Very little, once it's working it should stay working.
• is remote access a requirement or a nice-to-have?
• Not a requirement.
• where do you want the data to end up?
  
• Doesn't need to leave my weeWX instance, I see a lot of people send data to wunderground, but I'm in a populated area, I'm sure there's already 50 data points within 5 miles of me (hell I live 4 miles from a major airport).

It seems that Oregon Scientific's LW301 fits a lot of my requirements, but Amazon's reviews are pretty atrocious. I also didn't know if weeWX needs their servers to be up.  It seems it does if packet sniffing is the method of data retrieval.  I assume if the external server is not up then there's no packet to sniff!  Then I looked at Netatmo, seems neat, but limited to only 2 thermometers? And it's kinda pricey.

Thanks for any help!

[vince]

add a few more:

• how much do you want to spend ?
• what price point is your max ?
• how hard do you want to work to make it happen ?

example:

• a Davis Vantage Vue is rock solid-reliable and sensors are solar powered
• however, it doesn't have multiple external sensor capability
• but you could do 'that' with a pi-zero-W  or ESP8266 cheaply and easily if you can get minimal power to them
• and integrating multiple data sources into a weewx system is pretty easily if a multi-box solution is ok with you

But you need to start with your max price I think.....

[John Russell]

Cost is a good question. I wouldn't want to spend more than ~$150 on 4 temp sensors and the controller. If that includes a rain sensor then good, if not I'd spend extra money on it. Ideally I'd like a more modular approach, buy a couple temp sensors and the controller, then expand as time goes on.

I like to tinker, but I'm not a software developer either. I have time, that's not a problem.

[vince]

On Monday, December 11, 2017 at 3:50:33 PM UTC-8, John Russell wrote:

Cost is a good question. I wouldn't want to spend more than ~$150 on 4 temp sensors and the controller.  If that includes a rain sensor then good, if not I'd spend extra money on it.  Ideally I'd like a more modular approach, buy a couple temp sensors and the controller, then expand as time goes on.

I like to tinker, but I'm not a software developer either.  I have time, that's not a problem.

Hard to get much that isn't an inaccurate semi-toy for $150 total including computer, but you could probably do an AcuRite 5-in-1 from Costco plus a raspi + SD + power supply for that, although the AcuRite stations sound like they might be a bit unstable.

I'm sure others will chime in with alternatives....

Weatherproofing and powering everything will likely be your main issue I'd guess.  You're gonna need to power the multiple sensors.

Here's a totally random link just to give you some examples of cheap alternatives if you're willing to build stuff yourself - https://github.com/squix78/esp8266-weather-station - you could do something similar with a pi zeroW and DS18B20 sensors for just a few bucks, but once again powering the zeroW(s) is likely the biggest issue.

[John Russell]

Apologies, I already have a computer. I would prefer to setup weeWX on a Proxmox container of my home server. That's why the systems needs to connect via WiFi or an Ethernet connection. The controller box I mentioned was whatever box the sensors connect to *if* the senors need that sort of thing. Ideally they wouldn't, which would save some $$.

[mwall]

john,

acurite might be in your budget.

a bridge plus 3 t/h sensors goes for about 100$US, a 5-in-1 sensor cluster goes for about $80.  those are retail prices - you can often get package deals that bring those prices lower.  acurite also has standalone rain gauges, refrigerator/freezer sensors, water probes, and lightning sensors.

don't bother with their consoles for data collection - it is much more reliable to get data from the bridge, and the bridge can talk to any number of sensors.  get a console only if you want a standalone display.

install weewx with the weewx-interceptor driver, make the bridge send data to weewx, and bob's your uncle!

m

[John Russell]

Thanks m,  This appears to be exactly what I was looking for.  The "smartHUB" is the bridge you're referring to, correct? Do you have any hand-on experience with their equipment, especially with regards to integration with weeWX? I'll do some searches to see what I can find, but it's definitely a modular approach and their range of sensors looks to be good!

John

[mwall]

On Tuesday, December 12, 2017 at 1:27:14 PM UTC-5, John Russell wrote:

Thanks m,  This appears to be exactly what I was looking for.  The "smartHUB" is the bridge you're referring to, correct? Do you have any hand-on experience with their equipment, especially with regards to integration with weeWX? I'll do some searches to see what I can find, but it's definitely a modular approach and their range of sensors looks to be good!

i've been using acurite hardware at 3 different locations since 2013 (i think the first acurite usb driver was released dec 2013, and i think the bridge/smarthub driver came out summer of 2014)

the acurite consoles are horrible wrt comms - there are firmware bugs, they revert to usb mode 2 (no comms) after power cycle, and we had to do a lot of hacking to ensure that we could get good data from them.  but they are quite nice from a display point of view - the ticker is lame, but the rest of the display is better than most low-end weather stations.

(te923 have the most readable display, imho.  but i would avoid all consoles and just use an android tablet - that way you get not just easy-to-read, but also information display that beats *any* weather station)

the bridge performs flawlessly.  if you are loath to give away your data, you can prevent it from sending data to acurite by using your own dns on your lan.  you can run weewx-interceptor in either sniff or listen mode, depending on your network configuration and skills.

the sensors seem to be pretty solid - they track pretty closely with those from other vendors.

the lightning sensors were pretty flaky in the first batches, but they seem to be better now.  but you'll need an sdr dongle to capture lightning data (the bridge does not understand output from the lightning sensors).

i would avoid netatmo - they actively prevent you from getting your own data unless you go through their servers.

weatherflow is a much better option if you want to go with a netatmo equivalent.

m

[Andrew Milner]

Matthew

Do you have a weatherflow driver for weewx??

Andrew

[vince]

On Tuesday, December 12, 2017 at 10:38:59 AM UTC-8, mwall wrote:

the acurite consoles are horrible wrt comms - there are firmware bugs, they revert to usb mode 2 (no comms) after power cycle, and we had to do a lot of hacking to ensure that we could get good data from them.  but they are quite nice from a display point of view - the ticker is lame, but the rest of the display is better than most low-end weather stations.

the bridge performs flawlessly.  if you are loath to give away your data, you can prevent it from sending data to acurite by using your own dns on your lan.  you can run weewx-interceptor in either sniff or listen mode, depending on your network configuration and skills.

Matthew do you have a Amazon link for the precise model for a bridge ?   Their model listings are a little confusing and use different terminology....

•  https://www.amazon.com/AcuRite-09150-smartHUB-Remote-Monitoring/dp/B00T5U1JRE - is this the bridge (aka smartHUB) ?
•  https://www.amazon.com/AcuRite-01166M-3-Sensor-Temperature-Monitoring/dp/B00WXIR2TE - is this the same, just with 3 temp/humidity sensors ?
  

I currently have a https://www.amazon.com/AcuRite-00418-Wireless-Thermometer-Clock/dp/B004V1XK6A which indeed seems to last a year+ on a couple batteries, mainly to get a quickie display into the house and 'semi-close' temperature, but if the sensors are the same and a bridge could let me and easily integrate several easily with weewx, that would be pretty cool to fiddle with. 

[John Russell]

Thanks for the reply, I think I'll give the acurite stuff a try.  Maybe I'll tell my wife that I'll buy if for my own Christmas gift this year... :)

John

[John Russell]

Hi Vince,

Those are the same exact links I've found on Amazon for the "bridge".  They are also the same exact prices on the acurite website (with free shipping there too).

Here is the sensor itself on the accurite website and there it has compatible hardware on the receiving end.  Perhaps check your hardware for a match and maybe you can use your same sensor with a newly purchased bridge.

John

[mwall]

On Tuesday, December 12, 2017 at 2:29:59 PM UTC-5, vince wrote:

Matthew do you have a Amazon link for the precise model for a bridge ?

afaik, there is only one device - the bridge.  it recognizes RF signals from the acurite sensors then emits them over wired tcp/ip as http GET requests to wu and/or the acurite web servers.

acurite did a forced update of the firmware in 2016, and around that time they changed the branding from 'acurite bridge' to 'smarthub'

https://github.com/weewx/weewx/wiki/acuritebridge

a year or two ago i picked up some t/h sensors at walmart once for $5 each - they work fine with the bridge.  (don't recall the model number, but they look exactly like the ones in the 01059RM amazon link you posted)

you can also sniff the RF traffic using an SDR USB device.  but the bridge is nice because it has a pressure sensor on it - if you go the SDR route then you'll have to build your own pressure sensor.

the t/h sensors have a dip switch inside with 3 positions - channels A, B, and C.  but each sensor also has a serial number, so there should be no limit to the number of sensors you can monitor (the weewx-interceptor and weewx-sdr drivers use the serial number, not the channel, to identify sensors).

batteries in the t/h units have lasted 2 years, but we often just replace once each year as part of a regular maintenance schedule.

m