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Weather Station Hardware => Remote Weather Monitoring => Topic started by: Gulfcoast on July 14, 2011, 08:42:17 PM

Title: Davis Vantage Connect
Post by: Gulfcoast on July 14, 2011, 08:42:17 PM
Has anyone tried out the new Davis Vantage Connect cellular connection?

In a remote location where there's no phone line and no internet connection (but a cell tower in range) this might be a good way to send weather data.

The unit is not cheap at all, plus an additional monthly cell bill is required.

Is there any cheaper way?  :-)
Title: Re: Davis Vantage Connect
Post by: Bushman on July 14, 2011, 08:46:12 PM
Cell modem and pay-as-you-go plan?
Title: Re: Davis Vantage Connect
Post by: kray1000 on July 14, 2011, 09:25:51 PM
Has anyone tried out the new Davis Vantage Connect cellular connection?

...

The unit is not cheap at all, plus an additional monthly cell bill is required.

According to the Davis web site (http://www.davisnet.com/weather/products/weather_product.asp?pnum=06620), the Vantage Connect is not yet available, nor is there a price listed.  Have you been told how much this will cost?
Title: Re: Davis Vantage Connect
Post by: Gulfcoast on July 14, 2011, 10:22:02 PM
I found it on a couple of the Davis dealer websites.
Title: Re: Davis Vantage Connect
Post by: johnd on July 15, 2011, 02:26:22 AM
I had heard that the Retrofit Connect product (6626) was now available (in the US) but that the main Connect product (6620) was still undergoing final testing and tuning. But I've seen no independent confirmation of this.
Title: Re: Davis Vantage Connect
Post by: Flag on July 15, 2011, 05:48:51 AM
.... In a remote location where there's no phone line and no internet connection (but a cell tower in range) this might be a good way to send weather data.

The unit is not cheap at all, plus an additional monthly cell bill is required.

Is there any cheaper way?  :-)

If there's a cell tower in range then check if there is wireless broadband, much cheaper option and more timely than other options.

The other unknown with the Vantage Connect is what exactly is the communication means? To be sold globally will it meet each and every mobile providor or will it be satellite?
Title: Re: Davis Vantage Connect
Post by: d_l on July 15, 2011, 09:55:32 AM
According to the Davis web site (http://www.davisnet.com/weather/products/weather_product.asp?pnum=06620), the Vantage Connect is not yet available, nor is there a price listed.  Have you been told how much this will cost?

Provantage is listing it for about $568.
Title: Re: Davis Vantage Connect
Post by: johnd on July 15, 2011, 10:14:26 AM
To be sold globally will it meet each and every mobile providor or will it be satellite?

It is cellular, not satellite. Isn't the cellular hardware pretty much universal nowadays? (Or at least the modem is multi-mode and just uses whichever mode is needed for compatibility with the local network/operator.)

The bit that isn't fully clear yet is how the cellular plans will be managed across different networks/countries. Difficult to see just one operator per country being authorised, but it's going to get messy if every network operator can be used. (I guess that may well be down to the local Davis distributor to organise.)
Title: Re: Davis Vantage Connect
Post by: Flag on July 15, 2011, 05:32:44 PM
To be sold globally will it meet each and every mobile providor or will it be satellite?

It is cellular, not satellite. Isn't the cellular hardware pretty much universal nowadays? (Or at least the modem is multi-mode and just uses whichever mode is needed for compatibility with the local network/operator.)

The bit that isn't fully clear yet is how the cellular plans will be managed across different networks/countries. Difficult to see just one operator per country being authorised, but it's going to get messy if every network operator can be used. (I guess that may well be down to the local Davis distributor to organise.)

Yes ist certainly could get messy with multiple providors in multiple countries and still all a bit vague on this one, no sure about world compatibility with regard mobile networks? It would sound like it would have to be wireless mobile broadband account and as far as Purchasing an annual service plan it is not clear if this is from a providor or Davis? Any clues on this one?

It does appear that a WeatherLink account is at least one thing that is required? Assume then the interface will be same as WLIP?
Title: Re: Davis Vantage Connect
Post by: Flag on July 15, 2011, 07:50:51 PM
So if the Annual Service plan for Vantage connect is provided by Davis does this imply there is no additional need for a network providor plan?

Davis plan part #'s 6632 (5 min), 6634 (15 min) & 6636 (60 mins) appear to be a US only plans?

They can not be available yet as there appears nothing on weatherlink.com to support or allow then to be registered?
Title: Re: Davis Vantage Connect
Post by: johnd on July 16, 2011, 03:05:40 AM
My understanding (which could be wrong, or at least inexact, given that we've yet to see an evaluation example of the product) is that the Connect product will upload exclusively to the wl.com network, at least in the short-to-medium term.

Personally I think this may be a bit short-sighted. Certainly, there will be quite a chunk of users who will be content to use the simplest possible way of getting their data online from remote locations and the wl.com approach will be fine for them, especially if Davis manage to expand the wl.com features to include eg charting historical data (which shouldn't really be a big deal with the data in SQL databases, provided there's enough server horsepower available).

But then there will be other users who will want more control or to do things more cheaply - I'm guessing that Davis see the Connect plans as providing a significant income stream for the future, hence pricing by frequency of upload, which isn't really justified by differences in the amount of data transferred.

As for 'Purchasing an annual service plan', no sorry no further definitive pointers on this at present. I was guessing that Davis were going to negotiate contracts with various networks and take payment themselves but then obviously passing on the payment for data transfer to the networks. But even within one country this could get tricky. I really don't know, but I wouldn't be surprised if sorting out how best to approach this conundrum isn't part of the reason for the present delay.
Title: Re: Davis Vantage Connect
Post by: Flag on July 16, 2011, 04:24:11 AM
Would certainly be a good thing if WLIP was also able to talk to other specific servers. Even if this required a Davis type server software package many would certainly be interested so they could have direct control over their own data.
Title: Re: Davis Vantage Connect
Post by: d_l on July 16, 2011, 10:10:17 AM
Personally I think this may be a bit short-sighted. Certainly, there will be quite a chunk of users who will be content to use the simplest possible way of getting their data online from remote locations and the wl.com approach will be fine for them, especially if Davis manage to expand the wl.com features to include eg charting historical data (which shouldn't really be a big deal with the data in SQL databases, provided there's enough server horsepower available).

I would think that the provided Weatherlink software would be enough to download and handle the charting of historical data for a VC account just as it does for a WLIP account.  People might not like the DOS look of the WL output, but it still does a decent job of charting and database handling of the data from a single station.
Title: Re: Davis Vantage Connect
Post by: d_l on July 16, 2011, 10:18:00 AM
Would certainly be a good thing if WLIP was also able to talk to other specific servers. Even if this required a Davis type server software package many would certainly be interested so they could have direct control over their own data.

With the limited, single thread capabilities of the WLIP, this could open quite a can of worms for Davis support. I guess if the WLIP was sending its data to an in-house server such as a university might operate for multiple weather stations, then this might be feasible.  There would certainly be fewer stations in such a situation reporting to the server than the total load Davis is handling.
Title: Re: Davis Vantage Connect
Post by: johnd on July 16, 2011, 11:00:36 AM
I would think that the provided Weatherlink software would be enough to download and handle the charting of historical data for a VC account just as it does for a WLIP account.  People might not like the DOS look of the WL output, but it still does a decent job of charting and database handling of the data from a single station.

Don't disagree with this but it's perception vs reality. I'm concerned that some potential Connect users might be put off the product when they discover that they have less control over the data handling than they might prefer, even though in practice the WL tools will do a perfectly adequate job.
Title: Re: Davis Vantage Connect
Post by: Flag on July 16, 2011, 07:01:14 PM
Would certainly be a good thing if WLIP was also able to talk to other specific servers. Even if this required a Davis type server software package many would certainly be interested so they could have direct control over their own data.

With the limited, single thread capabilities of the WLIP, this could open quite a can of worms for Davis support. I guess if the WLIP was sending its data to an in-house server such as a university might operate for multiple weather stations, then this might be feasible.  There would certainly be fewer stations in such a situation reporting to the server than the total load Davis is handling.

Yep in house server capability is probably more of a requirement for organisations which require direct control and ownership over the system and have multiple stations. The cost of the software would probably limit the one station user to staying with WLIP. As with any software the cost of support is generally directly related to the cost and complexities of the software but a cost many organisations would pay for direct control over what is sometimes very sensitive and highly relied upon data.