new to this....HELP!

[dhageremtp]

Ok so I have read more posts on this site than anything else.  I have a old LaCrosse station that finally went out on me.   I am ready to upgrade to a Davis.  I am looking at the Scientificsales website at the units there.  I think I have selected a Vantage Pro2.  Can someone help me sort out the 6555 Davis WeatherLink IP.  The website says it can upload to third party software: Automatically upload data to third-party weather sites including CWOP, the GLOBE Program.   

So here is the deal, where I would place my station is in the backyard of my home.  My home office is in the front of the house.  With the old LaCrosse we had to the monitor in the kitchen (also in the back of the house).  My ideal plan would be to have the monitor in the kitchen and then have a way to wirelessly upload to the internet?  Or is there  abetter way?  If I attached 6316 Davis Wireless Weather Envoy to my computer I would pull data wirelessly to the computer plus have the view monitor in the kitchen, correct?  The goal is to post to the internet and start my own weather site, nearest weather is 15 miles from us.

Thanks for the help, its very confusing to get the process started.

[Garth Bock]

I am not up on the WLIP but I think I can help you out on what you want to do. The Davis ISS station has a range of 1000 feet. So you can put the station out back and have the console anywhere you want it. The range compared to all the other stations is phenomenal. (One thing I must warn you....the Davis is wireless but it is not WiFi. Its protocols and frequency are different). To put data onto the Davis WeatherLink IP website you would have to have the console connected to one of the network ports on your router through the WeatherLinkIP. That means the console is tied down to one location. One plus is the fact you do not need a computer running weather software to update a website. To free up the console get an Envoy. That way the console can float around your house where ever you want it. If you don't mind running a computer 24/7 with weather software you can accomplish the same thing by using the WeatherLink Serial or USB Datalogger. You said you want to develop your own weather site and there are 2 ways...use the WeatherLinkIP and the web page is already to go.....or .... set up a computer with one of the weather programs on it, have it upload to a web page you create or the program provides.

[Stevea]

That is the way I do it.  Console in the living area and an Envoy with WLIP in the home office with the router.  The Console (monitor) and Envoy are completely independant as they each receive signals directly from the outdoor station (ISS) - unless you want to set one up as a repeater, which would not normally be required.

Steve

[Garth Bock]

The range of the Davis units are far better so you won't have to worry about placement.

[archae86]

I also wanted to have a console in the kitchen and so it just sits there without any connections including no wall wart.  I drag out the wall wart once every two months and recharge the three C cells for which I'm using nickel metal hydride batteries (could go quite a lot longer).  As others have noted, this configuration has the added advantage that you can move the console around anywhere else in the house at which you temporarily would like to see the weather.

In my case I have more than one computer that I run 24 hours a day, so for me the natural configuration seemed to be to buy an Envoy and attach it to my main study computer.  In most respects this has worked quite well for me.

When I purchased the configuration I imagined that I could post through Cumulus the indoor temperature data logged by the console using the rebroadcast feature to get the console indoor temperature (and humidity) over to the Envoy.  That turns out not to be the case--rebroadcast only applies to data the console collects from remote sensors--not to data it senses itself.  If you are using an envoy as the immediate supplier of data to the weather program that is posting to someplace like Weather Underground, the indoor data is going to come from the envoy and not from anything else.  This is a little worse than it sounds, as your envoy might not be in your preferred location in the house, and also because the envoy self heats a bit-considerably more than the console in particular.  (I think it may be about 2 degrees F approximately, but have not done careful tests).  You'll want to think the tradeoffs between the WLIP and Envoy configurations through carefully for your situation.

I prefer the flexibility of having my computer in the chain, and as I am committed to using it for distributed computing (mostly for Einstein at home) it is already up 24 hours a day.

[Garth Bock]

I also wanted to have a console in the kitchen and so it just sits there without any connections including no wall wart.  I drag out the wall wart once every two months and recharge the three C cells for which I'm using nickel metal hydride batteries (could go quite a lot longer).  As others have noted, this configuration has the added advantage that you can move the console around anywhere else in the house at which you temporarily would like to see the weather.

I don't recall seeing anywhere that the wall transformer can or will recharge batteries in the console. Also you recharge every 2 months ????? I run about a year on the 3 coppertops.

When I purchased the configuration I imagined that I could post through Cumulus the indoor temperature data logged by the console using the rebroadcast feature to get the console indoor temperature (and humidity) over to the Envoy.  That turns out not to be the case--rebroadcast only applies to data the console collects from remote sensors--not to data it senses itself.  If you are using an envoy as the immediate supplier of data to the weather program that is posting to someplace like Weather Underground, the indoor data is going to come from the envoy and not from anything else.

Rebroadcast is only for extending the range of the signal or replicating the data from a specific source...but it is all data from the ISS. You cannot push data or pick and choose data from one of the secondary receivers.

This is a little worse than it sounds, as your envoy might not be in your preferred location in the house, and also because the envoy self heats a bit-considerably more than the console in particular.  (I think it may be about 2 degrees F approximately, but have not done careful tests).  You'll want to think the tradeoffs between the WLIP and Envoy configurations through carefully for your situation.

I prefer the flexibility of having my computer in the chain, and as I am committed to using it for distributed computing (mostly for Einstein at home) it is already up 24 hours a day.

Depending on the use of the light, the console heats more from what I have seen. If the Envoy is mounted with proper ventilation there should be no problem. That's if you need to post on the web you indoor temp and humidity. If you don't want to add a separate temp/humidity sensor in the area of home that you need to monitor, some of the weather software allows you to add offsets to correct for any differences. That is IF you really need to post your indoor temp/humidity and monitor it to the very decimal. If so then you will need to mount the sensor (Envoy) away from heating and cooling ducts, away from sunny windows, in a room with no ceiling fan, away from any bathroom showers....in otherwords...it ain't going to be perfect. It is like siting your ISS....not every location is perfect, you just try to get as close as possible. 

[dalecoy]

Also, if the logger is WeatherLinkIP, that logger apparently creates additional warmth in the console/envoy.

[d_l]

Also, if the logger is WeatherLinkIP, that logger apparently creates additional warmth in the console/envoy.

Davis tried to compensate for the increased temperatures caused by the WLIP in one of the firmware revisions.  So there is already a built in adjustment that you don't see in the WL software.

Dale is right. You will have to use WL to insert additional temp/hum calibration adjustments into the console or Envoy if you use a WLIP.  This isn't a big deal and is only a set-and-forget type of factor.

[Garth Bock]

I think what he wanted to do was put an Envoy with the computer but place the console where he wanted to measure temp/humidity Indoors and have the console "rebroadcast" that measurement only to the Envoy to override what it was reading. The only way to do this is with a separate temp/humidity sensor placed in say the basement or area where he wanted to have an exact reading. I don't see where with WLIP you can just grab a specific value like that from the console only when the Envoy is the primary receiver from the ISS. 

[dalecoy]

I think what he wanted to do was put an Envoy with the computer but place the console where he wanted to measure temp/humidity Indoors and have the console "rebroadcast" that measurement only to the Envoy to override what it was reading. The only way to do this is with a separate temp/humidity sensor placed in say the basement or area where he wanted to have an exact reading. I don't see where with WLIP you can just grab a specific value like that from the console only when the Envoy is the primary receiver from the ISS. 

Who?  dhageremtp (the person who asked the question starting this topic) didn't mention indoor readings, and didn't say anything about retransmitting.

archae86 already mentioned that retransmit doesn't do indoor readings.  And it has nothing to do with WLIP.

[archae86]

I don't recall seeing anywhere that the wall transformer can or will recharge batteries in the console. Also you recharge every 2 months ????? I run about a year on the 3 coppertops.

  The purpose of the wall wart in this case is to tide the console over while the batteries are out in a proper NiMH charger.  As we used to say at work, you and I are in "violent agreement" that the 2 month interval I use is conservative.

Rebroadcast is only for extending the range of the signal or replicating the data from a specific source...but it is all data from the ISS. You cannot push data or pick and choose data from one of the secondary receivers.

More violent agreement.

Depending on the use of the light, the console heats more from what I have seen. If the Envoy is mounted with proper ventilation there should be no problem.

My comparison is to a console for which the light is turned on something between zero and twenty seconds a day, with a Envoy that is adequately ventilated.  My console reads right at ambient, the envoy clearly reads above.  So I'd score this case as a disagreement in observation between the two of us.