Topic: Meteo-Pi - connecting device for Raspberry Pi™ and Davis® consoles

[WiFiLogger]

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Meteo-Pi is a data logger to provide robust connection between Davis® consoles and Raspberry Pi™ miniature computers.
Meteo-Pi has two components: the Logger fitting inside the console and the ‘HAT’, which plugs into the Raspberry Pi. Both are connected by RJ11/RJ12 cable.
Using cost effective Raspberry Pi™ Zero product, Meteo-Pi and Davis® VP2/Vue, you can build economic and powerful weather system.

- Connection is secured by special voltage isolation chip. It can protect data transfer up to 2500 V.
- High accuracy RTC with battery backup was mounted on Meteo-Pi HAT. Raspberry Pi™ devices have no RTC built-in.
- Set of two leds are to indicate data transfer.
- Raspberry Pi™ has two serials(UARTs) ports. Both can be setup to work with Meteo-Pi.
- 4 wire cable provides isolated data transfer
- 6 wire cable provides data transfer, but also allows to power up console from Raspberry Pi™, no 2 AC adapters are required.
- Telephone cable 4 and 6 wire is very close to Davis® standards, but it is also very easy to customise it's lenght. Cable between MP Logger and MP HAT can be 2 inches(5 cm), but also 30ft(10 m).

Set of Meteo-Pi contains:
- Meteo-Pi Logger
- Meteo-Pi HAT
- 1 m of 4 wire cable
- 1 m of 6 wire cable

[mcrossley]

I have one of these devices with a Pi Zero on my second test console and it works really well. I am using the 6 wire connector and the Pi is powering the console so only one PSU is required. The Pi is running Cumulus MX for processing/storing the data from the console.

[davidmc36]

Where would you buy it?

[WiFiLogger]

Where would you buy it?

He didn't. I was asking a few people to be volunteer to test it here.
I forgot to send candy to volunteers

Meteo-Pi will be available very soon in ProData and Scaled Instruments shops.

[WiFiLogger]

I have one of these devices with a Pi Zero on my second test console and it works really well. I am using the 6 wire connector and the Pi is powering the console so only one PSU is required. The Pi is running Cumulus MX for processing/storing the data from the console.

Console back powering was my own idea. I do believe it is very good idea.
I wanted do believe I am not the only one who has lack of spare electric outlet socket.
Many thanks @mcrossley for nice words.

[davidmc36]

Excellent. A good rainy day project. I have an unused Pi.

[DA270]

Very nice! Does it configure in Cumulus MX as a serial connection?

[the beteljuice]

Just a thought ...
... What about powering a "battery bank" that then powers everything else ?

[WiFiLogger]

Just a thought ...
... What about powering a "battery bank" that then powers everything else ?

I have problem to translate this sentence so I will answer two scenario.
1 - Power bank will not work ok as backup. It should be DC UPS. I am testing now 2 devices like this. I will write test results on WXF.
2 - Battery from console will not power Raspberry Pi. There is a diode to protect against that. Also power line is protected with 0.1A fuse.

[WiFiLogger]

Very nice! Does it configure in Cumulus MX as a serial connection?

Yes it use /dev/serial0.
Serial in Raspberry Pi has to be release from system usage first.

I don't have any manual yet, but I have screenshots for this purpose.
https://wifilogger.net/files/RPManual2.zip

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[johnd]

For anyone interested, there's a more extended description of Meteo-Pi on our website at:

https://www.weatherstations.co.uk/meteo-pi.htm

NB This will be updated with some more images in the near future.

[iccb]

Does this work with weewx also or cumulusmx only?
Looks pretty interesting!!
Is there yet any price range?

[johnd]

Does this work with weewx also or cumulusmx only?

There is no reason why it should not work with any Pi-compatible software able to accept an input from Davis stations. The data input is a simple serial input in standard Davis format. But CumulusMX is, to my knowledge, all that has been tested and validated as yet. (Sorry, that is my fault. I'm in contact with a weewx user who will test the unit, but shipping a Meteo-Pi unit to them has been overlooked.)

[WiFiLogger]

Does this work with weewx also or cumulusmx only?
Looks pretty interesting!!
Is there yet any price range?

It will work with any software.

USA + Kanada Scaled Instruments here- $89
Worldwide - ProData - I will wait for product in theirs shop, but price will be higher because of 20% VAT.

[davidmc36]

Ordered. Can't wait.

[pfletch101]

Does this work with weewx also or cumulusmx only?
Looks pretty interesting!!
Is there yet any price range?

I was one of the beta-testers and have had it working without problems with weewx on various Pis (3B, 3B+, and 4B) since i received it. It is a nice piece of kit, and the 'back-powering' feature for the console makes everything look neater.

[nwks]

This is a very nice piece of hardware and probably the best way to connect your Davis console to a raspberry pi. It should work with almost any weather program that can read Davis data and run on a raspberry pi. If you enjoy doing projects with raspberry pi or want to be able to customize how your weather data is output then this is a great solution. I have been using it on a headless ssh access only pi with weewx for the last couple of months and the serial connection of the meteo-pi has worked flawless. Along with the serial connection you also get the ability to power your Davis console from the raspberry pi and a real time clock for the raspberry pi.

[the beteljuice]

Just a thought ...
... What about powering a "battery bank" that then powers everything else ?

I have problem to translate this sentence so I will answer two scenario.
1 - Power bank will not work ok as backup. It should be DC UPS. I am testing now 2 devices like this. I will write test results on WXF.
2 - Battery from console will not power Raspberry Pi. There is a diode to protect against that. Also power line is protected with 0.1A fuse.

Sorry about not being clear ...
What I meant was if the (mains adapter) power supply feeds one of the easily available mobile devices battery back-up / charger units which in turn the Pi is connected to.

Would this not give several hours UPS ?

[docbee]

While it is a nice project from a tech view, I still don't get the benefit compared to the more generic cabled data logger solutions like the original Davis USB logger or the well-known logger clone manufactured and sold by one of the forum users. All relevant PIs have a USB socket that can handle these loggers. And as the PIs can also do WiFi, they can connect by that to your WiFi-Logger. I really don't get the point... what do I overlook?

[johnd]

Low cost (relatively). Plus various other features like the LEDs showing constant live data transfer, the RTC, back-powering console from MP (so using just one mains adapter), freedom from any USB issues (which are less common these days certainly but haven't disappeared altogether), signal isolation. And I think it might also encourage some users to consider using a Pi, which they might not otherwise. But overall it just adds to the ecosystem of data handling options for Davis stations - more choice cannot be a bad thing?

[pfletch101]

While it is a nice project from a tech view, I still don't get the benefit compared to the more generic cabled data logger solutions like the original Davis USB logger or the well-known logger clone manufactured and sold by one of the forum users. All relevant PIs have a USB socket that can handle these loggers. And as the PIs can also do WiFi, they can connect by that to your WiFi-Logger. I really don't get the point... what do I overlook?

I have previously used (with PCs and Pis) the original USB logger, belfryboys' clone, and Wojtek's Wifilogger. All of them work (very well, most of the time), but none of them have been totally trouble-free. The weak points seem to have been in the interfacing of the Davis device's native serial protocol to the secondary communication protocols used by the other devices. Under edge conditions, or when there are communication problems on the secondary side, things can break down, typically requiring a restart of one or both ends of the 'conversation'. In my experience, the Meteo-Pi 'just works', recovering immediately from resets/reboots of either 'end'.

EDIT: One more thing: I haven't done formal tests, but it is my very strong impression that the Meteo-Pi causes much less of a temperature offset (as a result of heat generation by the device itself) in the measured/displayed inside temperature than any of the other devices. The Davis USB logger is notorious for this, but belfryboy's device, while better, still causes significant heating, and any internally mounted WiFi device inevitably also does so.

[docbee]

So you get a claimed better signal isolation (which I never found a problem as we speak about an indoor solution) plus powering the console via the PI and providing the PI a RTC (which is not too much needed in times of Internet connectivity imho) as a plus.

On the minus side I see the high price (compared to the solution from forum member BelfryBoy  http://belfryboyweatherbits.blogspot.com/p/the-belfryboy-clone-usb-logger.html) and that it can only be used with a PI while the USB solution does work with any PC or embedded solution I can think of. Current Davis and USB clone loggers don't have any USB issues to my knowledge.

Leaving that "is it something for me" discussion... Does the Meteo-PI establish a serial port on Linux level? I ask as the Meteohub software does run on many PIs (up to the RPI3+) and expects a serial port to connect to a cabled Davis logger. Are any drivers needed on Linux side or does it directly come in as /dev/ttySx?

[pfletch101]

Leaving that "is it something for me" discussion... Does the Meteo-PI establish a serial port on Linux level? I ask as the Meteohub software does run on many PIs (up to the RPI3+) and expects a serial port to connect to a cabled Davis logger. Are any drivers needed on Linux side or does it directly come in as /dev/ttySx?

No special drivers needed. Linux sees it as a standard serial device.

[docbee]

Fine, then Meteohubs on RPI should be able to use it. The User just has to type in "/dev/ttyS1" (is it enumerated that way?) on the device entry field on station tab and it should work.

[pfletch101]

Fine, then Meteohubs on RPI should be able to use it. The User just has to type in "/dev/ttyS1" (is it enumerated that way?) on the device entry field on station tab and it should work.

There are a number of potential synonyms. Mine is declared (under Raspbian Buster) as "/dev/serial0", but the enumeration and possible names depend on what (if any) other serial ports you have and (on recent Pis) how Bluetooth (which, if enabled, uses a serial port) is configured.