Topic: Acurite Access-Reporting Interval

[moon1234]

I was hoping that those who already have the Access could answer the following questions:

- Does the Access report to My Acurite sooner than every 5 minutes. 
The smart hub reported much faster and still does.  Years ago we had several days worth of data for each sensor that had 16 second granularity on My Acurite along with the monthly CSV download having 16 second granularity.  This was a selling point for me.  Now the data is all averaged to 5 minute intervals.  I use the Acurite system for monitoring greenhouse and refrigeration/cooler temps.  Being able to see the 16 second intervals lets me know how often heaters/fans/cooling compressors are cycling.  It also allows me to respond sooner to someone leaving a door open, a faulty heater, etc. 

As of today, if I manually refresh the My Acurite website on a PC or via the App I see updates much faster than every 5 minutes.  I am pretty sure that this is due to the smart hub sending the data immediately upon receiving.  Which would be every 16-18 seconds.  If someone who has the Access can test this process and verify that the updates are still every 16-18 seconds to My Acurite (by manually refreshing the website or app) that would help me know if I need to snag on older Smarthub from Amazon now. 

Why is this important?  If I put these in my freezer/fridge and someone (the kids) leaves the door wide open in summer, I want to know about it BEFORE five minutes passes.  If the Access is buffering this data and only transmitting it once every five minutes, then I think the My Acurite website will become useless for monitoring weather data in real time.

The quick way to test is to take a room temp sensor and put it in/take it out of the fridge/freezer.  Once in then do a refresh every 16-18 seconds (four per minute).  If you have a local display, then when the local display shows a temp change, document how long it takes for My Acurite site to reflect the same change.  Do you notice each change or is there an artificial gap in data (like only receiving one update in My Acurite for every four data points sent). 

From my testing with the smart hub and Weather Underground rapid fire, there is a noticeable lag in reporting between My Acurite and WU.  With WU I get updates every 16-30 seconds from the temp humidity sensors.  If I refresh the My Acurite App I will not see these changes until a minute to three minutes later.  I also notice that some data points are missed that were reported on WU.  Since WU is not designed for tracking room temp/humidity, nor for providing alerts, I have been a little disappointed with My Acurite.  I want the faster reporting that went with the Smart Hub sales literature.  If this truly has changed to 5 minute reporting intervals with the Access then the value of near realtime alerts has really been lost.

- Number of Sensors
Has Acurite actually artificially limited the number of sensors to 7?  The Smart Hub can handle 10.  If so, this would seem to be solely for revenue generation purposes.  Someone who already had 10 sensors (Acurite sold bundles of a smart hub with 10 sensors) would be forced to buy more.

I really wish Acurite would have made their Access into a small web server with local storage.  They could have then allowed direct access to local data for those who have the need.  I would personally have really LOVED to have the App on my phone or a web browser connect directly to the Access and get the data locally.  I don't understand why companies like Acurite can't make a product like this?

[nincehelser]

Sensors reporting to myAcurite have their data bundled together and sent at 5-minute intervals.  It is also encrypted.

I've seen no delay in sending rapid-fire to wunderground.  That happens in "real-time".  Wunderground data is not currently encrypted.

[vreihen]

I really wish Acurite would have made their Access into a small web server with local storage.  They could have then allowed direct access to local data for those who have the need.  I would personally have really LOVED to have the App on my phone or a web browser connect directly to the Access and get the data locally.  I don't understand why companies like Acurite can't make a product like this?

FWIW, you can do it yourself for under $100 with a USB SDR dongle, Raspberry Pi, and weewx if you roll up your sleeves.  I tossed my old Acu-Rite hub/bridge/whatever long ago.....

[moon1234]

Sensors reporting to myAcurite have their data bundled together and sent at 5-minute intervals.  It is also encrypted.

I've seen no delay in sending rapid-fire to wunderground.  That happens in "real-time".  Wunderground data is not currently encrypted.

Have you actually tested this or is this just being repeated from what Acurite published on their website?  They say they only report in five minute intervals on My Acurite now, but that is not true.  Updates are reflected much faster if the webpage/app is manually refreshed.  The "5 minute" interval is only for automated refresh of the page/app and for charting/storing data.  At least that is how it works with the smart hub.

I am trying to find our from someone who has tested this if the data is sent more often.

[nincehelser]

Sensors reporting to myAcurite have their data bundled together and sent at 5-minute intervals.  It is also encrypted.

I've seen no delay in sending rapid-fire to wunderground.  That happens in "real-time".  Wunderground data is not currently encrypted.

Have you actually tested this or is this just being repeated from what Acurite published on their website?  They say they only report in five minute intervals on My Acurite now, but that is not true.  Updates are reflected much faster if the webpage/app is manually refreshed.  The "5 minute" interval is only for automated refresh of the page/app and for charting/storing data.  At least that is how it works with the smart hub.

I am trying to find our from someone who has tested this if the data is sent more often.

Wow.  Rude much?

Yes.  I've looked at the network traffic and have tested this.

[moon1234]

I didn't mean to be rude.  Just been on so many forums where manufacturer data is just repeated instead of actual testing.

[nincehelser]

I really wish Acurite would have made their Access into a small web server with local storage.  They could have then allowed direct access to local data for those who have the need.  I would personally have really LOVED to have the App on my phone or a web browser connect directly to the Access and get the data locally.  I don't understand why companies like Acurite can't make a product like this?

FWIW, you can do it yourself for under $100 with a USB SDR dongle, Raspberry Pi, and weewx if you roll up your sleeves.  I tossed my old Acu-Rite hub/bridge/whatever long ago.....

Yep.  That really is the way to go if you need the ultimate in getting and controlling your own data... just read the sensors directly from the air!

[moon1234]

FWIW, you can do it yourself for under $100 with a USB SDR dongle, Raspberry Pi, and weewx if you roll up your sleeves.  I tossed my old Acu-Rite hub/bridge/whatever long ago.....

Can you provide a parts list you used and how well it works?  Is your reception better than the Smart Hub?  I am using this for greenhouses and my produce coolers mostly.  Keeping the proper set points is very important to me.  I also don't live where some of the greenhouses are located so I don't sleep well in late Winter or early spring where a power/heater outage could me thousands in killed plants.  In the summer it could mean ruined produce if a cooler goes out or someone doesn't close the door.  So being able to see how long the heater is running or how often the compressor is cycling is very beneficial to me. 

[nincehelser]

FWIW, you can do it yourself for under $100 with a USB SDR dongle, Raspberry Pi, and weewx if you roll up your sleeves.  I tossed my old Acu-Rite hub/bridge/whatever long ago.....

Can you provide a parts list you used and how well it works?  Is your reception better than the Smart Hub?  I am using this for greenhouses and my produce coolers mostly.  Keeping the proper set points is very important to me.  I also don't live where some of the greenhouses are located so I don't sleep well in late Winter or early spring where a power/heater outage could me thousands in killed plants.  In the summer it could mean ruined produce if a cooler goes out or someone doesn't close the door.  So being able to see how long the heater is running or how often the compressor is cycling is very beneficial to me.

Some info on installing RTL_433 on a Pi and some hardware options are scattered in this thread:

https://www.wxforum.net/index.php?topic=30139.msg301649#msg301649

[moon1234]

Thank you.  With the changes to 5 minute reporting, I think Acurite is losing a customer base like me who needs to have more frequent reporting.  I will try and roll my own, but I think there is now a market for someone to provide a ready to go device for "Remote Monitoring" with actual data from individual measurements and not 5 minute averaged data.  Even for weather buffs, who wants to see data every five minutes.  If a storm comes through you might have three data points on the My Acurite site.  What point is there to that?

[BeaverMeadow]

Plus all the missed wind gusts!

[nincehelser]

Thank you.  With the changes to 5 minute reporting, I think Acurite is losing a customer base like me who needs to have more frequent reporting.  I will try and roll my own, but I think there is now a market for someone to provide a ready to go device for "Remote Monitoring" with actual data from individual measurements and not 5 minute averaged data.  Even for weather buffs, who wants to see data every five minutes.  If a storm comes through you might have three data points on the My Acurite site.  What point is there to that?

5-minutes is pretty much the norm in weather reporting.  Just take a look at the historical wunderground tabular data (if they are still up, that is).

The preferred update interval for CWOP is something like 10 minutes if I recall, but that can vary.

[tim273]

I too can vouch for using a Raspberry Pi and a NooElec RTL_SDR, it's been flawless for me once I set it up.  I went a little overboard on the antenna, but that's ok, it works and hasn't had any issues.  I also have one of those Adafruit BMP280 for pressure and indoor temperature.

[wcndave]

Could you explain how you got the BMP280 working and writing to weewx?  There's no driver anywhere I can see.

Craig Thom wrote one I think, however it was never merged from what I can tell, and I can't find it now

[tim273]

Sure, I will post it here later tonight, I don't have access to it right now, but I will when I get home.

[tim273]

Ok, here it is, I put it into /usr/share/weewx/user and it worked for me to get the pressure and indoor temperature.

Code: [Select]

#!/usr/bin/env python

import syslog
import weewx

from weewx.wxengine import StdService
from Adafruit_BME280 import *

class PressureService(StdService):
    def __init__(self, engine, config_dict):
        super(PressureService, self).__init__(engine, config_dict)
        self.bind(weewx.NEW_ARCHIVE_RECORD, self.read_sensors)

    def read_sensors(self, event):
        sensor = BME280(t_mode=BME280_OSAMPLE_8, p_mode=BME280_OSAMPLE_8, h_mode=BME280_OSAMPLE_8)
        degrees = sensor.read_temperature()
        pascals = sensor.read_pressure()
        event.record['inTemp'] = float((degrees*9/5)+32)
        event.record['pressure'] = float(pascals * 0.00029530)
        #syslog.syslog(syslog.LOG_DEBUG, "pressure: reading pressure of %s, temp of %s", hectopascals, de$


[wcndave]

Many thanks!