Topic: Will be away from home for 9+ weeks - How to I keep my VP2 running unattended?

[Reg1992]

I have had my Davis Instruments Vantage Pro 2 weather station running continuously since December 2014 at my current location. I have been using the Weather Link 6.0.2 software and manually download the data from my console/station to my PC every day. I do not have the station connected to the internet.

Later this year I will be away from home for roughly 9 weeks. Now I could just plug the USB from the VP2 console to my computer and have it auto-download the data in set intervals, but for 9 weeks? Obviously I can't leave my computer on 24/7 during that time. So essentially what I'm asking is where to begin with automating my weather station downloads since I will not be present to do it myself for a while (nor do I know anyone who could do it for me). I suppose I could just shut down my station for the time I'm gone but I'd very much rather not do that, the data is valuable to me. I've heard of devices such as the Raspberry Pi and Weather Display software, both of which I know very little about. I don't know if I'm even posting in the correct subforum.

I have no idea where to begin on this. Ideas or suggestions? Or am I out of luck?

[dalecoy]

Obviously I can't leave my computer on 24/7 during that time.

Why not?

[Reg1992]

Obviously I can't leave my computer on 24/7 during that time.

Why not?

From past experience, doing this seems to significantly reduce the overall life of the computer's hard drive. I've had two hard drives fail in said fashion after running them 24/7 for months.

[Mattk]

What is your current archive interval? You could change your archive interval to 60 minutes which would give you 106 days, no real data would be lost and you could turn your PC off, just make sure you have an adequate primary and backup power plan in place.

[gwwilk]

Obviously I can't leave my computer on 24/7 during that time.

Why not?

From past experience, doing this seems to significantly reduce the overall life of the computer's hard drive. I've had two hard drives fail in said fashion after running them 24/7 for months.

Modern desktop hard drives are quite robust when run 24/7, whereas laptop hard drives not quite so much.  I've run multiple desktops 24/7 for many years, and the failures occur with many different components such as power supplies, HDD's, and motherboards.  I ALWAYS maintain redundant backups to multiple external USB drives or NAS's.  Powering desktops off and then back on can actually be harder on them due to cooling and heating of components and power surges through them.

On the other hand, expecting a computer and its software to run unattended and trouble-free for 9 weeks is pushing the envelope a bit.  If you have a tablet or laptop with you and internet access where you plan to be you could always use TeamViewer to check on and if needed reboot the home computer every so often.  And whoever is watching your residence could be shown how to power the computer off and back on if it crashes.

[Reg1992]

What is your current archive interval? You could change your archive interval to 60 minutes which would give you 106 days, no real data would be lost and you could turn your PC off, just make sure you have an adequate primary and backup power plan in place.

My current archive interval is 1 minute. I may end up going with your suggestion. I'll replace the station batteries before I leave, already replaced the console's batteries last week (found one was severely corroded).

[Reg1992]

Obviously I can't leave my computer on 24/7 during that time.

Why not?

From past experience, doing this seems to significantly reduce the overall life of the computer's hard drive. I've had two hard drives fail in said fashion after running them 24/7 for months.

Modern desktop hard drives are quite robust when run 24/7, whereas laptop hard drives not quite so much.  I've run multiple desktops 24/7 for many years, and the failures occur with many different components such as power supplies, HDD's, and motherboards.  I ALWAYS maintain redundant backups to multiple external USB drives or NAS's.  Powering desktops off and then back on can actually be harder on them due to cooling and heating of components and power surges through them.

On the other hand, expecting a computer and its software to run unattended and trouble-free for 9 weeks is pushing the envelope a bit.  If you have a tablet or laptop with you and internet access where you plan to be you could always use TeamViewer to check on and if needed reboot the home computer every so often.  And whoever is watching your residence could be shown how to power the computer off and back on if it crashes.

My PC is indeed a laptop. Would it be possible to use a Raspberry Pi (or other device) to store data from the console's datalogger?

[chief-david]

I have a computer that runs 24/7 at school. I go on summer vacation and rarely go in and attend to it. June-August. I have Teamviewer to get to it if I need it. Otherwise I can get to school fast.  Let the computer do its thing. Let the station do its thing.

It will be fine.

[tshattuck]

I have a Dell PC that I have been running for 11 years non-stop to support my Davis Vantage Pro2 and my website. The only time the PC is off line is for software updates. I still have the original hard drive in the PC.
I do have a APC UPS battery backup for the PC which I believe helps with the longevity of the PC. The UPS protects the PC from power fluctuations, interruptions and filters the power.
You should not have a problem leaving the PC unless you have a power outage. This is where the UPS helps but only for about 45-60 minutes after that your PC will be offline.
No power no data.

Regards,

 

[Bashy]

I use an old Acer i5 laptop, been great for the last 3 years, prior to that it was an old Sony touch screen laptop, it just wasnt powerful enough to run WD, it would lagg for around 20 - 30 seconds every minute whilst wd did it thang, this one about about 8 -15 seconds

[galfert]

You can also add a smart outlet or smart outlet adapter. You'll need a device that can control the smart outlet like a Alexa or Samsung Smartthings or a Wink hub. Some of these remote power devices don't need a hub, but if you already have a smart hub then you have more options. If the PC is locked up and unresponsive where you can't log in then you can do a power reset remotely. Of course turning off and on a computer like this is a last resort. But it would be no different than when you hold down the power button for 10 seconds to force a power off.

[galfert]

I too feel a running computer 24/7 is better than one that turns off and on regularly.

Also speaking about hard drives.... If you still have a spinning hard drive you don't know what you are missing. Upgrading to a solid state hard drive (no moving parts) is probably the single most performance boost you can give your computer. Yes they can still be expensive if you have terabytes of data. But most people don't. Besides you can keep data on on a spinning drive and then put your data on a NAS separate from your computer and back it up.

[SnowHiker]

My PC is indeed a laptop. Would it be possible to use a Raspberry Pi (or other device) to store data from the console's datalogger?

You could use a Raspberry Pi and software like weeWX (http://www.weewx.com/).  One problem I see is that you would end up having a gap in your Weatherlink records, as weeWX, and I presume other RPi compatible software, uses its own database, and I don't know if there is any easy or reliable way to convert data back to Weatherlink.

If you were to decide to switch either temporarily or permanently to something like weeWX, you might consider swapping at such a time to ensure that you will have a full month's record in the software so that at least you will have complete monthly NOAA reports in one or the other software.  (weeWX will download whatever time period is archived in the datalogger.)

If you want to continue to use Weatherlink with no gaps, I think Mattk's suggestion to change your archive interval to one hour is the safest to avoid chance of lost.

[ValentineWeather]

I managed my Nebraska computer from a laptop for almost 2 years while still living in Arizona using Teamviewer. Occasionally I would do a reboot.
Teamviewer is free, they even have a phone app now I've never tried. Make sure you have everything setup and do some trial connections before you leave on the trip.
I did have someone that could get inside to restart the computer in the event of power outage.

[klschmidt]

I have not had very good luck leaving my Weatherlink computer run while I'm away. It seems that invariably there will be a power blink or Windows will install an update that restarts the computer.

Is an internet connection for the station something you would consider? I switched to Weatherlink IP last year, and I like the reliability. A Weatherlink Pro account ($4/mo) has four times as much capacity as the datalogger, so at one minute archive interval one could wait about six days to download the data before it is overwritten. The fact that downloads could then be done from anywhere means that the computer could be left with a friend located in another area or taken with you if that is an option.

Would the Wifi datalogger pioneers be interested in making a SD card version as well? A nine dollar SD card would hold about 700 years of data at one minute archive interval. I think those who monitor remote locations would like the ability to swap cards whenever convenient rather than take a computer to the remote location every day.

[vreihen]

Would the Wifi datalogger pioneers be interested in making a SD card version as well? A nine dollar SD card would hold about 700 years of data at one minute archive interval.

You mean like the Meteobridge NANO SD?????

https://www.meteobridge.com/wiki/index.php/Meteobridge_NANO_SD

[klschmidt]

Would the Wifi datalogger pioneers be interested in making a SD card version as well? A nine dollar SD card would hold about 700 years of data at one minute archive interval.

You mean like the Meteobridge NANO SD?????

https://www.meteobridge.com/wiki/index.php/Meteobridge_NANO_SD

Interesting. I know nothing about Meteobridge. I would understand the OP has a lot of historical data in Weatherlink (I do too); can the data be merged? Sorry if this is too basic of a question.

[CW2274]

I have not had very good luck leaving my Weatherlink computer run while I'm away. It seems that invariably there will be a power blink or Windows will install an update that restarts the computer.

I did have someone that could get inside to restart the computer in the event of power outage.

Even though I use a UPS for my laptop and online connection, if the UPS runs out of power after an extended outage, I have the laptop programmed to auto start after the power returns, then it auto starts WL too. Both work like a charm. Data saved.

[galfert]

Would the Wifi datalogger pioneers be interested in making a SD card version as well? A nine dollar SD card would hold about 700 years of data at one minute archive interval.

You mean like the Meteobridge NANO SD?????

https://www.meteobridge.com/wiki/index.php/Meteobridge_NANO_SD

Interesting. I know nothing about Meteobridge. I would understand the OP has a lot of historical data in Weatherlink (I do too); can the data be merged? Sorry if this is too basic of a question.

Data is data and it can always be exported and imported and merged. But it won't be a walk in the park if you don't know how to do it as often the process requires manually manipulating and editing field labels and sometimes even programming formulas in Excel (or Access) to convert data to match formats and units. Often date codes need converting too. Its not like you have to manually change every single piece of data, as you do it globally once for every different datum type.

[Bushman]

I would caution you about cheap SD cards - they are unreliable.  Which is why the Nano SD has a strict list of industrial-strength cards it will accept.

[Mattk]

Cheap SD cards simply don't cut it for this type of mini server application, good SLC cards will cost around $25/Gb

[Mattk]

....Is an internet connection for the station something you would consider? I switched to Weatherlink IP last year, and I like the reliability. A Weatherlink Pro account ($4/mo) has four times as much capacity as the datalogger, so at one minute archive interval one could wait about six days to download the data before it is overwritten. The fact that downloads could then be done from anywhere means that the computer could be left with a friend located in another area or taken with you if that is an option.....

Internet connection and WLIP then there's really no requirement to manual download anything, happens automatically every hour and yes can then be further downloaded from WL.com from anywhere. One thing I do question is the need for 1 minute archives for general weather observations, I think 1 minute is a bit of an overkill

[jcookjr82]

Turning your computer on and off frequently is worse for all aspects of the computer than leaving it on all the time.

[klschmidt]

Cheap SD cards simply don't cut it for this type of mini server application, good SLC cards will cost around $25/Gb

I would caution you about cheap SD cards - they are unreliable.  Which is why the Nano SD has a strict list of industrial-strength cards it will accept.

Sorry, my mentioning the availability of ultra cheap data storage was not intended as advice. No argument with the advice to stay away from cheap SD cards. It would still seem that expandable memory could be an option, given the fact that data storage is available for less than $.30/Gb reliable data storage is available for $25/Gb, but I have a problem with overwritten data after my datalogger has accumulated about 200kb.

Even though I use a UPS for my laptop and online connection, if the UPS runs out of power after an extended outage, I have the laptop programmed to auto start after the power returns, then it auto starts WL too. Both work like a charm. Data saved.

I didn't know such was possible!

[Bushman]

Depends on the laptop.  Some will not restart after power drop.  Your BIOS needs to be checked.