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Weather Station Hardware => AcuRite Weather Stations => Topic started by: MJB on February 12, 2019, 01:51:18 PM
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Well, I just found out today -- two weeks before it happens -- that AcuRite is abandoning the SmartHub internet bridge. Clearly this is annoying, since I purchased my most recent unit (I have two) in late 2017. Like many, I have resolved never again to send a cent to Chaney Instruments, the AcuRite manufacturer. This is the second time an "upgrade" has screwed its customer base.
But I still have two 5-in-1 stations sending good data to the SmartHub. I just need to get it to WUnderground. Is there any work-around that allows me to get that data to WUnderground?
I am using a computer running Windows 10 on the same LAN as the two SmartHubs. Given that I am using Windows, weeWX is probably not an option. One of my installations is also not within range of an access point. (The SmartHub is connected to a switch which itself has a 300' connection via fiber to the router.) Whatever device I put between the SmartHub and computer or router has to be connected via Ethernet. So Meteobridge may not be an option.
I could potentially use a display with PC Connect and connect that to my PC with a USB cable. Would that work. I don't want to give any money to AcuRite but maybe I could find one used.
Thanks,
MJB
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It's too bad that the nice, very competent, WUHU PWS interface-logger program doesn't seem to list the AcuRite 5in1's as data sources on its' setup page (just checked).
Surprisingly, it does handle many other PWS makes and models (including some obscure ones), including the vaunted Davis Pro series, Vue, Envoy, even the old ones, etc.
Have any Davis PWS operators tried using WUHU?
It offers the capability of IPing WX data from PWSs out to most of the popular PWS internet sites, like WU, CWOP, WOW, PWS, others, etc.
WUHU has it's own subforum right here on WXForum: https://www.wxforum.net/index.php?board=106.0 (https://www.wxforum.net/index.php?board=106.0)
I use WUHU with the Heavy Weather app (which also has a WXForum subforum) for my old LaCrosse rig.
Last I read, the developer had stopped WUHU support, a dang shame (IMO).
Would be nice if somebody looked into 'hacking' it for use with other PWS systems; doesn't seem that that would be too difficult to work out such 'interfacing' ports.
WUHU is (IMO) a very good, basic program, mine has been bulletproof, just running along for years with hardly a glitch (the curse of LaCrosse has always been syncing the sensors and console, sometimes quick and easy, other times a major PITA).
PS: just had the thought that you might try installing WUHU, and trying out some of the various input data PWS source setup selections (from the menu list of other PWSs), and seeing if one might be similar enough to the 'old' Smarthub' data protocol to be useful. Worth a try, IMO.
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This doesn't help you now, but I was contacted by Chaney about upgrading to the Access late in 2017. They offered the unit at a significant discount. I wasn't happy about it, but technology changes and sometimes you have to deal with that. Once I got the access installed and running, it's been 100% reliable for me. I don't think I've had a single data loss since it's been installed - I can't say that for the older Smart Hub. I know there's a lengthy thread here about problems with the access, so not everyone is singing the same song. I'm surprised you weren't contacted about the hub going obsolete like I was.
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Thanks. The first notice I saw of this was today.
My fundamental problem is that I want to resolve this without ever contributing as much as one cent more to Chaney. This is the THIRD time they have wrecked things for customers:
1. A firmware "upgrade" for SmartHubs around 2014 or so bricked many of them -- they had to ship out replacement units
2. A software upgrade in 2017 or so made it impossible satellite internet users to use SmartHubs -- this was fixed only after many months
3. They have abandoned a product they continued to sell a year ago.
At some point you have to make a decision whether you want to have a relationship with a company or not. I've made mine.
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Seems to me like your options are to buy an Acurite Access or ditch the whole thing and get something else from a different manufacture. Unless you want to attempt the SDR approach.
Meteobridge wont work because it does't support your hardware but the Meteobridge works both via Ethernet or WiFi. Your console will work with Meteobridge if it supports USB Mode 3.
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https://www.instructables.com/id/Acurite-5-in-1-Weather-Station-Using-a-Raspberry-P/
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Hopefully we can figure a way to continue to use the smarthub as an antenna to pass on data, even though it will not be on Acurite's cloud. I think the smarthub is programmed in a way that requires talking to an acurite server. This has to be eliminated.
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Hopefully we can figure a way to continue to use the smarthub as an antenna to pass on data, even though it will not be on Acurite's cloud. I think the smarthub is programmed in a way that requires talking to an acurite server. This has to be eliminated.
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Seems quite complicated to me.
Maybe someone could make a video of step by step programming for dummies like me.
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Seems quite complicated to me.
Maybe someone could make a video of step by step programming for dummies like me.
I'm not sure a video would help much... you'd just be seeing someone typing in those lines. What's really needed is a "english" translation of what each of those lines are doing, and perhaps drawing a diagram of how the different programs interact with each other.
Max (I can't remember what his user name is on this forum) has what looks like a fairly decent "recipe" for setting up a Pi here: https://github.com/acuparse/acuparse/wiki/Installation-on-Raspberry-Pi
If you're not familiar with Linux or Unix, the command line can be pretty jarring. If you're a beginner you have to take things on faith, and if you get some error, ask on-line for some guidance.
On the Facebook forums there are a number of people who have already done this over the past year ready to help out.
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That doesn't seem too bad. I've run the command prompt on my windows 10 PC like is shown there. It seems to be the same idea. I guess you just plug the pi into the USB of a computer screen to see what you are doing... ?
I may give it a go... I first need to get a Pi kit etc. It's better than buying another station to replace this broken WH2310 console... The Atlas is much better built than the Chinese station.
Too bad someone doens't just program and sell those loaded ready to go.
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Hopefully we can figure a way to continue to use the smarthub as an antenna to pass on data, even though it will not be on Acurite's cloud. I think the smarthub is programmed in a way that requires talking to an acurite server. This has to be eliminated.
The Smarthub, like all (common today) network devices speaks/listens to data in IP/TCP format (on the "network" side, not the sensor/console side), using some type of (agreed upon) protocol.
All that is necessary to do is to have another device, or program, on the network that can utilize the specific Acurite protocol that Smarthub uses.
The actual data can flow between these devices/program using Ethernet, USB, serial port, or WiFi transmission interfaces.
The example of the widely available "WUHU" protocol handling program that I gave above is probably the best, simplest way to make a start at handling Smarthub's 'protocol/language' (which is probably, but not necessarily, unique to itself).
WUHU already is capable of handling inputs from many different PWS brands and models, and translating and communicating their (usually 'proprietary') protocols into a format used by many of the online websites presenting WX data online.
Those web PWS presenters each have their own set/protocol expectations of how the incoming WX data should be formatted. WUHU knows all this for many different PWS vendors (listed in WUHU's 'setup menu'), and many of the popular WX websites (each with it's own setup menu tab);. Then, once setup, it does all of the data conversions and manages the data streams (w/multiple website outputs), once set up.
I suspect that WUHU may actually be the most comprehensive WX data handler available. Most others all seem to be fairly restrictive in what they 'talk' to: some work with just one PWS brand, or a couple, some 'talk' only to the PWS vendor servers, or maybe WU. Some are more flexible, but a comparison would be a good project.
Which is why I think that WUHU would be a good program to expand, modify as necessary, in order to handle the various data protocol formats needed to 'salvage' those Smarthubs (which, BTW, I know almost nothing about; I have a new Acurite 5in1 + Access, that I haven't set up yet).
I think that a skilled programmer (there seem to be some around here) could work out a Smarthub 'hack' of WUHU rather easily. The same for other PWS systems, like some are doing with Linux and SDR's.
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I see it a little different - mainly because I am in the electronic industry where components and people change a a rapid pace. While I understand the frustration that you have, I don't share your desire to punish Chaney. We were warned in late 2017, raised hell and they gave us another year. Then they sold me an Access for $30. With those two events I believe that they handled the obsolescence process fairly.
Today I see that they are offering an Access with a 20% discount. Maybe a nice call to their customer service will get you an even better deal.
The 2 Access/Atlas sets that I have are solid so far. I have 3 SmartHubs (3rd one was the charm) if anyone want to buys them :grin:
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That doesn't seem too bad. I've run the command prompt on my windows 10 PC like is shown there. It seems to be the same idea. I guess you just plug the pi into the USB of a computer screen to see what you are doing... ?
I may give it a go... I first need to get a Pi kit etc. It's better than buying another station to replace this broken WH2310 console... The Atlas is much better built than the Chinese station.
You can put a monitor, keyboard, and mouse on the Pi, but you don't have to, and sometimes it easier if you don't.
Unix and Linux boxes are often run "headless" without anything other that a network connection. That's what Max is building in his "recipe".
Hardware set up description
The SmartHub or Access will be connected directly to the RPi3 via an ethernet cable to the RPI3's built in ethernet port. The RPi3 will then connect to your local LAN either via the built in WiFi, or via a wired ethernet cable to your router using a USB Ethernet adapter. The RPi3 will be "headless" (i.e. no monitor, keyboard, or mouse attached) in this setup.
You'll communicate with the Pi through a terminal emulation program. "PuTTY" is a popular choice. https://www.putty.org/ It's not fancy, but it gets the job done.
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Today I see that they are offering an Access with a 20% discount. Maybe a nice call to their customer service will get you an even better deal.
Also, I'd watch the different sensor bundle prices on both Acurite and Amazon. For example, an Access through Amazon is about $130. However, if you decide to upgrade to an Atlas sensor, you can get both an Access and an Atlas for only $20 more.
A couple of weeks ago this combo dipped down to about $132.
https://www.amazon.com/AcuRite-01008M-Weather-Station-Monitoring/dp/B074XK4BSN
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If you prefer full GUI remote control of your Pi you can use VNC or Microsoft RDP client.
Both methods listed here in one page ....just keep scrolling to see the RDP steps.
http://www.circuitbasics.com/access-raspberry-pi-desktop-remote-connection/
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I suggest you stick to Max's recipe.
Max is assuming you are using Raspbian Stretch Lite and puTTY. Stretch Lite doesn't have a lot of extra code like the VNC server. You can install such things later if you want, but things will likely go easier if you stick to his recipe.
FYI, the different versions of Raspbian and Debian (from which Raspian is derived) are named after "Toy Story" characters. The current "stable" version is named "Stretch" (the purple stretchable octopus). "Jessie" (the cowgirl) is an obsolete stable version. "Buster" (the "live" non-toy dachshund) is the next stable version to be released, but a date has not been set.
If a version is named "Sid" (the evil kid from next door), it is an "unstable" version undergoing tested.
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I have two weather web pages that uses meteobridge. Access does me no good. (i bought it, but it sits on my shelf unused.
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Does the SmartHub send directly to WU in addition to AcuRite in its final rendition? (Mine died a long time ago.) If so, will the upload to WU continue without AcuRite's server in the mix?
It should be possible to plug the SmartHub into the ethernet port on a Raspberry Pi, with a DHCP server, spoofed DNS, and fake web server to trick the SmartHub into thinking it is connected to the Lake Geneva mothership. That can feed the weewx-interceptor driver, and weewx can take it from there via the Pi's wifi interface. Has anyone written the directions for this type of setup yet?
I've had good luck using the weewx-SDR driver and an i2c BMP-280 barometer module to grab my 5-in-1's signal straight off the air and feed weewx:
(https://images.hvtraffic.com/images/2017/07/09/20170709141029-4c412702.jpg)
Personally, I'd rather see the volunteer developer effort directed at adding support for the Atlas sensors into rtl_433 (used by weewx-SDR driver), since there is a huge void in getting local access to Atlas data right now.....
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Does the SmartHub send directly to WU in addition to AcuRite in its final rendition? (Mine died a long time ago.) If so, will the upload to WU continue without AcuRite's server in the mix?
It should be possible to plug the SmartHub into the ethernet port on a Raspberry Pi, with a DHCP server, spoofed DNS, and fake web server to trick the SmartHub into thinking it is connected to the Lake Geneva mothership. That can feed the weewx-interceptor driver, and weewx can take it from there via the Pi's wifi interface. Has anyone written the directions for this type of setup yet?
I've had good luck using the weewx-SDR driver and an i2c BMP-280 barometer module to grab my 5-in-1's signal straight off the air and feed weewx:
Personally, I'd rather see the volunteer developer effort directed at adding support for the Atlas sensors into rtl_433 (used by weewx-SDR driver), since there is a huge void in getting local access to Atlas data right now.....
The SmartHUB does send data directly to wunderground, but eventually it will stop. Without responses from Acurite's servers, the SmartHUB resets itself in an attempt to re-establish communications. The SmartHUB also gets its time setting from the Acurite servers. It's not a typical NTP client, though... a timestamp used to be sent with each server response. I don't know why they chose that method. Maybe they didn't have room for a traditional NTP client.
Your ideas on what to be done are correct. Several have home-brewed some solutions, but Acuparse is the only solid write-up that I know about.
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It should be possible to plug the SmartHub into the ethernet port on a Raspberry Pi, with a DHCP server, spoofed DNS, and fake web server to trick the SmartHub into thinking it is connected to the Lake Geneva mothership. That can feed the weewx-interceptor driver, and weewx can take it from there via the Pi's wifi interface. Has anyone written the directions for this type of setup yet?
i have been running that configuration for a few years now at multiple sites, and many others have as well. in fact, you do not need a web server - the weewx-interceptor will do the proper response. all you need to do is make the smarthub think that the rpi is the acurite mothership.
these are the general strategies:
https://github.com/weewx/weewx/wiki/acuritebridge
and the weewx-interceptor readme has the details:
https://github.com/matthewwall/weewx-interceptor
but that is more of a reference, not a recipe.
also, you *can* run weewx on windows. we just don't advertise it, because no one has volunteered to support it yet.
https://github.com/weewx/weewx/wiki/weewx-on-windows
the usb-based drivers are fairly untested on windows, but the tcpip and modbus work great. (we are working on full usb compatibility as part of the migration to python3)
m
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I'm going to attempt to put Ubuntu on an old XP laptop I have and dual boot. This will be a slow process since I am having to do this with no experience... The laptop has plenty of space. If I ruin it I haven't lost anything, since this laptop was not working, but I managed to revive it and have defraged it. Later today, I will start on this project hopefully.
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I've got my laptop hard drive partitioned, and I have the Ubuntu ISO file opened, but how do I read the file? Do I need Virtualbox? Also how do I set it up to load at the same time Windows loads?
So far everything has gone OK. I am kind of just winging it now though as I am not sure how to load Ubuntu.
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I've got my laptop hard drive partitioned, and I have the Ubuntu ISO file opened, but how do I read the file? Do I need Virtualbox? Also how do I set it up to load at the same time Windows loads?
So far everything has gone OK. I am kind of just winging it now though as I am not sure how to load Ubuntu.
I haven't messed with Ubuntu for several years, but usually you burn the ISO image to CD/DVD or perhaps a Flash drive you can boot from (depending on the boot abilities of your system).
The last time I used Ubuntu I burned the ISO file to a Flash drive, then booted from the flash drive to do the actual system installation. The main reason I went that way was because I had no CD/DVD burner or media, but had flash drives easily at hand.
Here's the tutorial for creating a bootable flash drive with an Ubuntu image: https://tutorials.ubuntu.com/tutorial/tutorial-create-a-usb-stick-on-windows?_ga=2.25240766.248381949.1550276408-1321287240.1550164636#0
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I tried to do the DVD burning way, but it won't read the discs I have. I may have to get some different discs if I can't load it thru the hard drive. It shouldn't be an issue once I get the Virtualbox on my system I'm thinking... Right now the laptop isn't wanting to go because of the old webbrowser...
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DoctorKnow,
Try the LinuxLive USB Creator (http://www.linuxliveusb.com/en/download). It will allow you to create a bootable USB or DVD from your ISO file. Before you put anything on a hard drive use the bootable device that you create to boot your laptop using your selected Ubuntu version.
This will allow you to check all the laptop hardware on the Ubuntu OS. You do not want to find out after you have loaded it on the drive, that video drivers, USB drivers or something else for an older laptop requires a whole lot of effort to get them to work. I have been there, trying to use XP hardware on current Ubuntu releases. Yes, it can be done but current Ubuntu releases expect pretty recent hardware.
Good luck!
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I'll give it a try, Thanks.
I tried to load just the ISO file, from a USB thumb drive, but it would not boot and would show on the screen "No operating system found". Hopefully your method will make it work.
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TIP - If you still have a spinning drive on an old computer the single most performance improvement you can make is to swap out the hard drive for an SSD (Solid State Drive). No moving parts. Less energy. No concerns about crashed heads or worn bearings, completely silent operation, but best of all a ten fold in performance. Almost eliminates the hour glass or spinning circle. Things just happen instantaneously. The excuse years ago was that it was too costly for an SSD. But today everyone should have a computer with an SSD. Once you try a computer with an SSD you'll wonder how you lived with a spinning drive for so long.
My personal favorite for an old computer upgrade:
Samsung 860 EVO 256 GB ~$65
And to pull data from the old drive all you need is a SATA to USB adapter to read the old drive. And please don't use cloning software. The best thing you can do is a fresh install of the operating system on the new drive.
* As great as an SSD is, you still need backup.
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I'll give it a try, Thanks.
I tried to load just the ISO file, from a USB thumb drive, but it would not boot and would show on the screen "No operating system found". Hopefully your method will make it work.
Excuse my ignorance on this but I though you burn an ISO image to a disk or USB drive, not copy it. In Windows 10 you can do it by right clicking on the .ISO file and select “Burn Disk Image”. Then you just boot to which ever device you burned the ISO image on.
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I'll give it a try, Thanks.
I tried to load just the ISO file, from a USB thumb drive, but it would not boot and would show on the screen "No operating system found". Hopefully your method will make it work.
Excuse my ignorance on this but I though you burn an ISO image to a disk or USB drive, not copy it. In Windows 10 you can do it by right clicking on the .ISO file and select “Burn Disk Image”. Then you just boot to which ever device you burned the ISO image on.
That's correct. The information has to be laid down on the media in a particular way, not merely copied as a file.
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Missing PAE kernel on this laptop. So this method did not work either. Yes I "burned it."
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I think Ubuntu is trying to tell you that your old XP vintage processor doesn't have the addressing range to cope with modern Ubuntu and no Physical Address Extender patch is included in current releases.
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FWIW, I am running Ubuntu 16 on a 12 year old HP laptop.
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DoctorKnow,
This might help:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/PAE
Note that this focuses on Lubuntu, the light version of Ubuntu.
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Trying to run a 64-bit processor version of Linux on a 32-bit computer?????
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I ran the 32 bit version. Said no PAE Kernel and would not boot. I tried to turn on PAE in windows, made no difference. I cannot turn on PAE in virtualbox because it does not load either. The PC is an IBM Thinkpad.
The best way to go now is Raspberry Pi. Maybe I will have better luck...
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DoctorKnow,
This might help:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/PAE
Note that this focuses on Lubuntu, the light version of Ubuntu.
I'll give it another try, Thanks John.
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It works!
Now the fun really begins. :D
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That's great! The old Thinkpads were wonderful machines. They deserve to be kept productive as long as possible! Good luck, DoctorKnow.
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Funny story - I had a 2000 or 2001 vintage ThinkPad open on my bench yesterday, to swap out the CMOS battery for a relative who still uses the thing for word processing.....
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I'm new to the Pi world, but use command line windows all the time for support.
I've tried both the Acuparse setup and the weewx, and no luck on either one of them.
I may have to redo the install and start over again. Too many different tries to install software may not be a good thing.
It would be great if there was a little more explanation at some of the steps for the installations since not everyone is terribly familiar with the Pi way of doing things. I didn't see any requirements on the Acuparse pages and at the very end, it said some error about Apache. Before that, I wasn't really sure what to enter for the FQDN, as I don't have any idea what it is in reference to. It'd be great if there was a sentence about what each setting was looking for. I searched all the different pages I found and nothing mentions FQDN for the setup.
I'll have to take the advice above and post some better questions once I get that far.
Unfortunately, last year when Acurite offered the greatly discounted updated device, I wasn't in a position to purchase one of them and am now for sure not going to purchase anything from Chaney/Acurite. So I'll have to some up with a different method for presenting the data that my hardware is still delivering from the SmartHub.
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Here's another short piece of code you can use to get the values from the bridge.
Looks like Acurite stopped sending the normal response message from their service on March 1st. I updated my code to send the normal response that the bridge expects to get from acurite. Hopefully that will keep it working....
https://github.com/billfor/acurite-bridge
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Fantastic, I'll give that a try tonight and see how it goes.
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My first post here. Also posted to a similar thread. I found a simple solution to the rain reset issue. As you know, the end of service for the smarthub on Feb 28th was only for the communication link to the MyAcuRite servers. The smarthub will however still upload current readings to weather underground. For some strange reason Acurite did not include an internal clock with the smarthub, so it relied on MyAcuRite’s time server to reset the smarthub every day at midnight. Without this reset signal the rain gauge readings stored in the smarthub keeps accumulating. Temperature, humidity, wind, and barometric readings do not require this clock reset as they are dynamic readings and not cumulative. The simple solution is the add a $10 digital timer to the power adapter for the smarthub. Set it to power off at 11:59 PM then power on at 12:01 AM. Problem solved. Remember, only weather underground will get updates, just like before. MyAcuRite is gone forever, and good riddance.
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My Vote is for Acuparse - I have experimented with the more expensive Meteobridge (https://www.meteobridge.com/wiki/index.php/Home) which worked well but did run into some hiccups due to the limited router processing power also for the updates there is a cost. Unfortunately with the recent SmartHub changes Meteobridge is no longer a solution as may date was no longer being published to WUnderground.
I have a few RaspberryPi's and have some Unix experience so when I found Acuparse i jumped in and while I did have an issue initializing the database once it was up and running. It has been rock solid. Instruction for the Pi can be found here. (https://github.com/acuparse/acuparse/wiki/Installation-on-Raspberry-Pi)
Acuparse seems to be updating on a fairly regular steady schedule with a recent version 2.9 just last week.
Yes eventually I would like to dump my 5-1 setup for a more sophisticated setup but I found myself enjoying the tinkering to keep it alive.
My setup is a Acurite 5-1, separate Tower for Temp/Humidity, SmartHub, RaspberryPi 2 B+ with Acuparse 2.9, and a 8 GB SD Card.
I could see about uploading a Virgin Image almost ready to use but there would still need top be some tweaking for:
Individual Network (192.168.x.1; or 10.x.x.x)
WiFi Passwords
Database setup username and password.
I have mine setup on a special port number so I can view the settings from work, but the overall goal was just to keep the Wunderground data flowing.
Happy to help if I can.