Author Topic: Ambien Weather clone, internet updates after service down  (Read 980 times)

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Offline fedeviper

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Ambien Weather clone, internet updates after service down
« on: February 22, 2019, 09:27:20 AM »
Hi, greating from Argentina, im in the procces to buy a new WS, because im using a AcuRite with SmartHub and the service will be ended by 28 feb, im thinking to buy a Ambient Weather WS-2902A clone,  my doubt ist how this station deal with internet service downs, beacause im in a rural area ant the internet or power supply going down constantly. The console store data for upload until the internet service its up again?? its very annoing wait to see rainfall after a storm whit the power or internet down and not see any data from that period.

Thanks (sorry for my english)
« Last Edit: February 22, 2019, 10:53:37 AM by fedeviper »

Offline galfert

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Re: Ambien Weather clone, internet updates after service down
« Reply #1 on: February 22, 2019, 11:11:13 AM »
No the WS-2902A console does not store data. All it stores are daily Max - High and Low temperatures and Rain Totals (daily, weekly, monthly and Total), Wind Max,, pressure max ..etc.

You should consider instead the WS-2000 that does store data to SD memory card. But it still will not upload this saved data to any service. You have to review on the console with built in graphs and you can also copy files to PC for analysis in Excel or import to other weather software.

The other option to consider with the WS-2902A is to add ObserverIP and Meteobridge for local data logging to SQL or Weather-Display software. Or you can also instead use WeeWx and store data locally.
« Last Edit: February 22, 2019, 11:12:49 AM by galfert »
Ecowitt GW1000 | Meteobridge on Raspberry Pi
WU: KFLWINTE111  |  PWSweather: KFLWINTE111
CWOP: FW3708  |  AWEKAS: 14814
Windy: pws-f075acbe
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Offline Mandrake

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Re: Ambien Weather clone, internet updates after service down
« Reply #2 on: February 22, 2019, 11:59:14 AM »
Another option you could consider is this station from Ecowitt if you have reasonable cell coverage with GPRS data.
http://www.ecowitt.com/weather_station/6.html

Its a headless weather station so that means you will need to look at your weather data via a phone app or PC, but the upside is that its solar panel should keep the data flowing to the internet permanently without power issues. It might be possible to add a console as well but you would need to ask Ecowitt and this would be independent and not impact data being sent to the internet sites.

This kit comes from the same ultimate factory as Ambient so the quality is equal.
G1ZFO

Ecowitt HP2551A + WH65 Tri-Wing (Wunderground: IGUILDFO67)
Ecowitt GW1000 (Wunderground: IGUILDFO68)
Ecowitt GW1000 (Mk2) test environment driving CumulusMX on a RPi 3b
Ecowitt GW2000 (Test)
Ecowitt WS90 Wittboy - Test
Ecowitt WH51 (x6) Soil Moisture Sensor
Ecowitt WH41 PM2.5 AQM Sensor
Ecowitt WH31 (x8) Thermo/Hygro Sensor
Ecowitt WS80 Ultrasonic Anemometer (pre-prod test)
Ecowitt WH57 Lightning Sensor -test
Ecowitt WH32-EP (SHT35) + Davis 7714 Screen
Ecowitt WH45 CO2/PM2.5/PM10 -Test
Ecowitt WN34 Soil Temp Sensor -Test
Ecowitt WN34 Water Temp Sensor -Test
Ecowitt WN35 Leaf Moisture

Offline galfert

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Re: Ambien Weather clone, internet updates after service down
« Reply #3 on: February 22, 2019, 01:44:02 PM »
One word of caution regarding the Meteobridge. It needs the Internet when it boots up. Once it finishes booting though if you lose internet I believe it keeps running. This is because Meteobridge software doesn't really reside on the device. It downloads from the Internet every time it boots up. Only the settings are stored locally. The Meteobridge runs on top of OpenWrt which is really the only thing installed on the device.

So to be better protected against the Internet outage and power outage I would recommend WeeWx (on a Raspberry Pi with battery backup)....or the 3G cellular console Mandrake pointed out that is solar powered. I'm willing to bet though that this 3G cellular console from Ecowitt can be added to an Ambient station. Ask Ecowitt. The 3G cellular console looks like it can also be used without cellular service as it has a USB connection and they have PC software available. This seems to be the only current console that seems to still have USB PC connectivity and will talk to the new outdoor sensor arrays. Looks like a pricey console though to just gain USB connectivity.





« Last Edit: December 06, 2019, 01:58:09 PM by galfert »
Ecowitt GW1000 | Meteobridge on Raspberry Pi
WU: KFLWINTE111  |  PWSweather: KFLWINTE111
CWOP: FW3708  |  AWEKAS: 14814
Windy: pws-f075acbe
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Offline bchwdlks

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Re: Ambien Weather clone, internet updates after service down
« Reply #4 on: February 22, 2019, 02:13:18 PM »
One word of caution regarding the Meteobridge. It needs the Internet when it boots up. Once it finishes booting though if you loose internet I believe it keeps running. This is because Meteobridge software doesn't really reside on the device. It downloads from the Internet every time it boots up. Only the settings are stored locally. The Meteobridge runs on top of OpenWrt which is really the only thing installed on the device.

...

Has this changed in current releases? I am on "Meteobridge 3.2 (May 29 2017, build 11222), FW 1.4" and it definitely has the option to boot without the internet. It uses a USB stick to save everything needed to boot without internet connectivity. On the version control setting there is an option to "try USB first". If that has been removed, I will have to move before I can ever upgrade again  :-(

In an area with poor internet service, a device that will not reboot without internet service is usually not a good choice for any automated task.

Offline galfert

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Re: Ambien Weather clone, internet updates after service down
« Reply #5 on: February 22, 2019, 03:03:36 PM »
I'm running Meteobridge with latest version 3.9 and I do see try USB first option. Cool! You taught me one. I have not seen problems with using the option to download latest version as even when Internet and Power goes when it boots up it just sits there at the black screen waiting for the Internet to come back. It keeps trying forever. When the Internet comes back (usually router finishes booting) then the Meteobridge starts.

How do I take advantage of this? Just plug in a formatted USB stick and select that option? Or do I need to first manually put a version of Meteobridge on this USB stick?
« Last Edit: February 22, 2019, 03:05:57 PM by galfert »
Ecowitt GW1000 | Meteobridge on Raspberry Pi
WU: KFLWINTE111  |  PWSweather: KFLWINTE111
CWOP: FW3708  |  AWEKAS: 14814
Windy: pws-f075acbe
Weather Underground Issue Tracking
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Offline bchwdlks

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Re: Ambien Weather clone, internet updates after service down
« Reply #6 on: February 22, 2019, 06:25:39 PM »
I'm running Meteobridge with latest version 3.9 and I do see try USB first option. Cool! You taught me one. I have not seen problems with using the option to download latest version as even when Internet and Power goes when it boots up it just sits there at the black screen waiting for the Internet to come back. It keeps trying forever. When the Internet comes back (usually router finishes booting) then the Meteobridge starts.

How do I take advantage of this? Just plug in a formatted USB stick and select that option? Or do I need to first manually put a version of Meteobridge on this USB stick?

Plug a UBS hub into the Meteobridge and a USB stick into the hub. I believe that the hub MUST be a version 1 or 2, not 3. WRONG this was to connect to a Davis console via USB. Just attach the USB stick & Meteobridge does the rest when you select 'try USB 1st'.  I had a 2.0 GB stick that I had used as a backup that I am using. It still has all the old files on it & it still works.

In my case where I have monthly power flickers with 1-2 hour internet outages, it is nice to be sure that Meteoridge will come back and keep writing to the database even before the internet is restored.   
« Last Edit: February 22, 2019, 07:25:37 PM by bchwdlks »

Offline galfert

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Re: Ambien Weather clone, internet updates after service down
« Reply #7 on: February 22, 2019, 09:07:28 PM »
I used an old USB 2.0 flash drive with 2GB storage. I take it the Meteobridge saw the flash drive because after selecting try USB first and Rebooting the USB drive lit up and blinked the LED a few times during boot up and then stayed on solid. Then when it was all up and running I looked and my Meteobridge's System tab and it still said try USB first but it showed that is was running version 3.2. I selected the drop down for version control and it only listed to choose between versions 2.0 and 3.2. This is not going to work for me. I need at least version 3.7. Version 3.2 is from way back in May 2017. Too many good fixes to pass up on. Especially the CWOP location bug that I discovered and helped Boris with the source code to fix in Oct 2018.

Only when I select get newest on boot do I see versions 3.2 to 3.8 with 3.9 being newest in the drop down. It appears try USB first limits you to version 3.2 as highest to select. If you want any version greater then it requires booting from the Internet. It doesn't matter if the Internet is not fully up when it boots up. I simulated booting up with my modem powered off (simulates Internet down). I had previously selected and successfully booted to version 3.8 (one down from latest). Then it just gets stuck on the Meteobridge's Black Landing Page. It will sit there forever. I waited over 5 minutes. Then still leaving it alone I powered up my modem...moments later the Meteobridge pulled in its code from the Internet. The Meteobridge's Black Landing Page (happens at boot) clearly indicates that it needs the Internet to pull down the Meteobridge software.

 [ You are not allowed to view attachments ]

So I would say it does seem as though since version 3.2 you need the Internet to boot up the Meteobridge. I've had Internet outages and as long as power stays up the Meteobridge keeps logging data to my SQL server, and if i had Weather-Display running I suspect it would be happy too. Although it seems that these newest versions require the Internet I'm okay with that rather than running an older version. I'm planning on setting up WeeWx anyway and having both Meteobridge and WeeWx at the same time. So perhaps WeeWx can become my SQL backup.

By the way I inspected my USB flash drive after I got back to running version 3.9 and I found just two files in the root.
persist.db.tar      10 KB
image.tgz      4,173 KB
« Last Edit: February 22, 2019, 09:58:08 PM by galfert »
Ecowitt GW1000 | Meteobridge on Raspberry Pi
WU: KFLWINTE111  |  PWSweather: KFLWINTE111
CWOP: FW3708  |  AWEKAS: 14814
Windy: pws-f075acbe
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Offline galfert

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Re: Ambien Weather clone, internet updates after service down
« Reply #8 on: February 22, 2019, 10:02:14 PM »
Here are those two modes in the Meteobridge with version limitations of both methods.

try USB first option
 [ You are not allowed to view attachments ]

newest on boot  option
 [ You are not allowed to view attachments ]
Ecowitt GW1000 | Meteobridge on Raspberry Pi
WU: KFLWINTE111  |  PWSweather: KFLWINTE111
CWOP: FW3708  |  AWEKAS: 14814
Windy: pws-f075acbe
Weather Underground Issue Tracking
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Offline kbellis

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Re: Ambien Weather clone, internet updates after service down
« Reply #9 on: February 23, 2019, 11:08:52 AM »
By the way I inspected my USB flash drive after I got back to running version 3.9 and I found just two files in the root.
persist.db.tar      10 KB
image.tgz      4,173 KB

Was the image of 3.2; if yes, could it potentially be coerced to 3.9?

Offline galfert

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Re: Ambien Weather clone, internet updates after service down
« Reply #10 on: February 23, 2019, 12:09:37 PM »
By the way I inspected my USB flash drive after I got back to running version 3.9 and I found just two files in the root.
persist.db.tar      10 KB
image.tgz      4,173 KB

Was the image of 3.2; if yes, could it potentially be coerced to 3.9?

Yes the image appears to be 3.2. The first file is just a database of your weather data as it records locally. The other file image.tgz contains what looks like an entire build of Meteobridge software with several folders and lots of files. I see the .png and .gif  files used and all the javascript files and .cgi files and more. It would be easy to take this a make some modifications. But as for coercing it to be 3.9 the problem there is how would you get 3.9 files? They aren't available for download. I suppose one could get creative and inspect the OpenWRT install and find out how the Meteobridge image gets downloaded automatically every time it boots and then copy those files to local storage. But maybe there is something in the newest Meteobridge that prevents copies from running that were not downloaded on boot. Meaning that there might be something in the 3.9 code that prevents it from running from flash storage location in one thought. There might be several road blocks. Or maybe not and it will just work. Either way it isn't something I care to pursue further. I don't want to monkey around with my Meteobridge and have downtime while I try and figure it out. I think a better solution to this issue if it is a concern is to use something else like WeeWx. Perhaps in the future once I get WeeWx up and running I could switch over publishing to WeeWx and then free up the Meteobridge to monkey around with. I've just not been under any urgency to set up WeeWx because I really like what the Meteobridge has to offer.
Ecowitt GW1000 | Meteobridge on Raspberry Pi
WU: KFLWINTE111  |  PWSweather: KFLWINTE111
CWOP: FW3708  |  AWEKAS: 14814
Windy: pws-f075acbe
Weather Underground Issue Tracking
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Offline Mandrake

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Re: Ambien Weather clone, internet updates after service down
« Reply #11 on: February 23, 2019, 12:36:14 PM »
I have been looking at the Shell script written by Bill Belfield for the HP1000/WS1001 and I understand how it works so I intend to see if I can adapt this for the HP2550/WS2000 console or the Gw-1000.
https://github.com/wrbelfield/ws1001wxdata

I believe this and AussieSusan work resulted in it being adapted into the Weewx interceptor package, though it not clear if anyone has done any further consoles. AussieSusan believes not. I think the primary difference for each console is that they talk on different ports. I would be very surprised if they changed the protocol for each console, rather just adding data to the  datagram answer as more sensors became available. This should be evident by sniffing the traffic to/from the phone app and console. I am expecting if we work out the correct ports for the newer consoles we should be able to get the basic data back that the WS-1001 supported. Perhaps someone has already tried this and I am talking guff I don't know.

Unfortunately I am still sitting on my hands as Ecowitt are still sorting out my collective order so I cannot test this theory yet.

My goal will be to get a script running that captures the data from the console or gateway and its logged to Cumulus MX on a PI. If this fails then I might start looking at Weewx. But this really ought to be doable in my mind.
G1ZFO

Ecowitt HP2551A + WH65 Tri-Wing (Wunderground: IGUILDFO67)
Ecowitt GW1000 (Wunderground: IGUILDFO68)
Ecowitt GW1000 (Mk2) test environment driving CumulusMX on a RPi 3b
Ecowitt GW2000 (Test)
Ecowitt WS90 Wittboy - Test
Ecowitt WH51 (x6) Soil Moisture Sensor
Ecowitt WH41 PM2.5 AQM Sensor
Ecowitt WH31 (x8) Thermo/Hygro Sensor
Ecowitt WS80 Ultrasonic Anemometer (pre-prod test)
Ecowitt WH57 Lightning Sensor -test
Ecowitt WH32-EP (SHT35) + Davis 7714 Screen
Ecowitt WH45 CO2/PM2.5/PM10 -Test
Ecowitt WN34 Soil Temp Sensor -Test
Ecowitt WN34 Water Temp Sensor -Test
Ecowitt WN35 Leaf Moisture

 

anything