Author Topic: Bloomsky - Appaling support and incorrect values  (Read 5282 times)

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Offline Jáchym

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Bloomsky - Appaling support and incorrect values
« on: May 20, 2017, 07:14:42 PM »
Hi guys,

just wanted to ask if anyone else is using the BloomSky station and sends data to WU.

About 2 months ago, me and John, owner of BS station, wanted to create a plugin which would upload data to Meteotemplate. Soon after I started creating the script I noticed some strange values for precipitation.

After further inspection I discovered the station actually reports not daily cumulative value, but 24h cumulative value. This obviously is a problem for me because Meteotemplate accepts daily cumulative value and it is not possible to reverse the calculation - if I have 24h I cannot calculate daily. We posted at the BS forum asking if they could maybe change it since thats how most APIs and SW work. We got an answer along the lines "yes of course, thank you for letting us know, we will look into it"

After urging it several times and always getting the same answer or no answer it became obvious nothing is going to happen - one of those supports where after you pay you are no longer interesting to them and they just ignore you.

Anyway so in the end I said, OK lets use data from WU, since BS sends data to WU automatically. Then I discovered that they actually send the very same value even to WU! But WU also expects daily cumulative value and so all the values there are incorrect.

Just look at the graph here for example:
https://www.wunderground.com/personal-weather-station/dashboard?ID=IENGLAND570#history/s20170518/e20170518/mdaily

You can see that daily "cumulative" value is actually going down!

When we contacted BS again saying this is unacceptable because if they really insist on using 24h cumulation, then fine, but they cannot send it to WU as daily cumulation, again, no answer.

It is really disappointing to see this and obviously a major problem and frustrating for the users...

Does anyone else have similar experience? I was thinking that maybe if there is more of us complaining they would at least try doing something about it.

Offline Aardvark

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Re: Bloomsky - Appaling support and incorrect values
« Reply #1 on: May 20, 2017, 07:50:10 PM »
Sadly it is a toy. I have it for the cameras.   IF Bloomsky went out of business the devices would be useless as there is no direct access to any of the data. it is sent over the internet  to their servers at amazon and then back to  us.     The wind speeds can be spot on or not existing and the rain , it does work.

Some folks have great results, some not.

I guess it is a case of you get what you pay for.  Stick with a professional unit.

Offline Jáchym

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Re: Bloomsky - Appaling support and incorrect values
« Reply #2 on: May 20, 2017, 07:57:09 PM »
Hi,
I personally also think it is a "toy", but in this case it is not really a problem with sensor accuracy or data quality. It is purely a SW problem and laziness of the developers to fix a major bug they created, we asked them several times already and they even admitted this is a serious issue - but admitting it was about all they did in order to fix it. This can easily be fixed, it is not a problem with the station as such.

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Re: Bloomsky - Appaling support and incorrect values
« Reply #3 on: May 29, 2017, 06:58:12 PM »
Sadly I have to say it is really disappointing to see how ignorant the support is:
https://bloomsky.desk.com/customer/en/portal/questions/17040817-incorrect-values?new=17040817

I dont have BS myself, but I feel sorry for John and the others who bought a device that measures correct values, but because of unwillingness of the developers to fix their SW, they see incorrect data...

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Re: Bloomsky - Appaling support and incorrect values
« Reply #4 on: May 29, 2017, 07:25:18 PM »
It is a toy of sorts. their intention is good, but  not really ready to fix.  Beingtold many times that they are working on it, is akin to asking Davis Instruments to work on their Mac software.  They refer it to the boy in the back and one would think that in the time frame they have been having quesitions and complaints, that they would be able to fix it .  I doubt more than one, if one, is working on the api.

You and I know that about anyone on this forum that generates software, templates gets the work done quickly and efficiently, no excuses or any of that.

I have the Bloomsky for the camera, however for the real deal, my Davis VP2+


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Re: Bloomsky - Appaling support and incorrect values
« Reply #5 on: May 29, 2017, 07:30:54 PM »
The problem is that either they are totally dumb or they pretend to be dumb so that they dont have to do anything.

Their argument is that it is a matter of choice if you use 24h cumulation or daily cumulation since midnight. Fair enough, the latter is used much more frequently but ok. But the problem is that they are sending the 24h cumulation to WU API as daily and you can see that on precipitation graphs of people with BS, the daily cumulation often decreases during the day and obviously the stats are wrong as well.

Offline Beaudog

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Re: Bloomsky - Appaling support and incorrect values
« Reply #6 on: May 30, 2017, 09:40:02 AM »
Mine is at a remote site. The router went bad and I have had no motivation to fix it.

I got mine for free.   I would not buy one.

Offline ggsteve

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Re: Bloomsky - Appaling support and incorrect values
« Reply #7 on: July 07, 2017, 09:35:55 PM »
I enjoy the Bloomsky for the camera and I'm not sorry that I bought the storm, but the data is suspect.  We had a nice soaking rain today and I got these values from my instruments:

Rainwise Mk III - .41"
Rainwise Rainew - .45"
Cocorahs - .45"
Bloomsky Storm - .75"

I should point out that the temp sensor on the BS tracks very closely to my Rainwise.

As far as BS support goes, I think they are overwhelmed.  They were attentive when I was having connection problems with my Sky2, even though they couldn't fix my problem and even sent out a second Sky2 to try.  Virtually all connection problems went away when I demanded that Comcast replace my modem, so that wasn't Bloomsky's problem anyway.
« Last Edit: July 07, 2017, 10:05:38 PM by ggsteve »

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Re: Bloomsky - Appaling support and incorrect values
« Reply #8 on: July 08, 2017, 01:02:58 AM »
Im not sure what you are seeing on that graph example you posted but thats rain rate not Accu.
Same station, but the day before, it looks right to me? am i missing something?

https://www.wunderground.com/personal-weather-station/dashboard?ID=IENGLAND570#history/s20170517/e20170517/mdaily

Daily is a set time eg 9-9am like some are, or 12-12am like many are (and me)
whats the difference between 24h cumulative value, is that not a daily too?

ha ha, i just google "24h cumulative" to see exactly what it is/means and your post on BS
was 3rd down :D :D

Having read it, you did get an answer that Nick was going to forward it on, but you have
not followed it up since May?

Normally, as a rule, template builders build around the data they have coming in.

You have made it hard work for yourself by adding multiple sources of data, i know you are trying to
accommodate a wide range of station users, but there has to be a stopping point, i.e, there comes
a time when you cannot for what ever reason, it looks like BS is one of those reasons.
« Last Edit: July 08, 2017, 01:31:24 AM by Bashy »
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Re: Bloomsky - Appaling support and incorrect values
« Reply #9 on: July 08, 2017, 07:44:17 AM »
Hi,

Quote
Normally, as a rule, template builders build around the data they have coming in.

Yes, exactly - and so BS should have built their api the way WU was built if they want to send data to them. I think they actually fixed it now, but originally they were sending 24h cumulation instead of daily and that is fundamentally different. Daily is reset at a particular point in time. If it rains at 11PM, then at midnight the daily will be 0 again, while 24h cumulation will be registered for another 23 hours. So the problem was on BS side.

Quote
you have not followed it up since May?
No because everytime I contacted them (not just in that post), their answer was the favorite phrase "we will look into it / we will consider it" and of course nothing happened

Quote
You have made it hard work for yourself by adding multiple sources of data, i know you are trying to
accommodate a wide range of station users, but there has to be a stopping point, i.e, there comes
a time when you cannot for what ever reason, it looks like BS is one of those reasons.
You would probably talk differently if it was you who would be using the service that is not supported by MT. You are in a sense saying "for me this is not an issue so develop something that I can use as well and dont waste time with APIs that not many people use"
But this is something that totally prevents those people from using MT and as mentioned above, I am sure your opinion would be different if you were in that minority group. Last time when you asked for UK Warnings block a few months ago, I could have just said that the number of people from the U.K. using Meteotemplate is about 5% so why should I bother - Im sure you would love that answer...

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Re: Bloomsky - Appaling support and incorrect values
« Reply #10 on: July 08, 2017, 08:45:09 AM »
Actually, each time I suggested something you pretty much didn't want to do it and one of the suggestions you did shout out percentages, I. E. WD Users, but after you pretty much said no,  after some time you went ahead and did it anyway and no credit was given for the suggestions, see where I'm coming from?
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Offline Jáchym

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Re: Bloomsky - Appaling support and incorrect values
« Reply #11 on: July 08, 2017, 09:23:31 AM »
You know what, you were banned from the WD forum and your relationship with Brian there was not the best. Maybe you should think a bit more about how you actually express yourself and what you post. I think everyone here will confirm that I always try to help people. I get literally dozens of suggestions on a daily basis, I cannot do everything and I do not remember who said what months ago.

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Re: Bloomsky - Appaling support and incorrect values
« Reply #12 on: July 08, 2017, 09:33:32 AM »
My relationship with Brian has nothing to do with anything on here, and I believe it was you that called me a name on the MT thread and I believe that I got banned from the other forum because I questioned something and how I felt about Brian and I believe it was on your thread with a very similar issue as you have on this thread.

You asked  me a question and I replied, there was no malintent in my reply, it was a reply in kind. I also believe that since I sponsored mt your rapport with me changed. Pretty much hit with blocks on everything I have suggested or queiered. For you to mention the Brian incident, I must have hit a nerve, my bad..... 
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Re: Bloomsky - Appaling support and incorrect values
« Reply #13 on: July 08, 2017, 09:38:05 AM »
It is just like reading the post on WD addressed to Brian...

I only mentioned it because it was the exact same problem. Maybe you should think a bit more about how you express yourself or how people interpret your posts. This all started only because you didnt like the idea of me developing something for a minority. Not to mention that there is a fundamental difference between a block and the update script. If I dont make a block, there is 200+ other ones. If I didnt develop the BS script, those people would not be able to use a single block because MT would be useless to them without any means of updating it. Thats a fundamentally different thing.

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Re: Bloomsky - Appaling support and incorrect values
« Reply #14 on: July 08, 2017, 09:43:36 AM »
I think you took that reply of my the wrong way,
Quote
. This all started only because you didnt like the idea of me developing something for a minority.


How could you even think that was the meaning fron my reply?

 I just said that you made hard work for yourself trying to accommodate many stations, it was sort of a compliment and now it's turned into you did this and you did that
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Re: Bloomsky - Appaling support and incorrect values
« Reply #15 on: July 08, 2017, 09:47:19 AM »
It's very easy to take the written word  the wrong, happens all the time on forums etc and people end up getting banned because they loose their wrag over it, seen it time and time again and been their myself, but even you said in your pm to me that you didn't think it deserved a ban....
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Offline Jáchym

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Re: Bloomsky - Appaling support and incorrect values
« Reply #16 on: July 08, 2017, 09:55:33 AM »
Yes and Im not saying you should be banned from this forum by any means. Im just saying that some of your posts annoy people without you maybe even realizing it. I was only responding to the fact you didnt like me doing something that not so many people will use, but which is fundamentally different from block/plugin.
Just yesterday I received suggestions for 14 blocks/plugins, just counted it... so you can imagine it is impossible to do this, given all the other things I also have to do. But if someone asks for a script to be able to use MT as such, thats always something I do as a priority.

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Re: Bloomsky - Appaling support and incorrect values
« Reply #17 on: July 08, 2017, 09:57:01 AM »
That's just it,, what part of any of my posts has said that I don't like you doing something?
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Re: Bloomsky - Appaling support and incorrect values
« Reply #18 on: July 08, 2017, 10:01:08 AM »
I have just reread my posts just in case I did say something that you feel I don't like, and I haven't said any thing of the sort, this is my last reply on the matter, I feel nothing more can be said, I cannot apologise for something I have not done
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Re: Bloomsky - Appaling support and incorrect values
« Reply #19 on: July 08, 2017, 10:01:56 AM »
Quote
there has to be a stopping point, i.e, there comes
a time when you cannot for what ever reason, it looks like BS is one of those reasons.

and I suggest we leave it there

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Re: Bloomsky - Appaling support and incorrect values
« Reply #20 on: July 08, 2017, 10:04:43 AM »
Woah, are you taking that as the issue in point???

No way on this earth did that mean something I do not like,

That was in YOUR favour, you have misread it
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Re: Bloomsky - Appaling support and incorrect values
« Reply #21 on: July 08, 2017, 10:05:51 AM »
I was just saying that you cannot please everyone

That's all, nothing more, nothing less,

Hey, does that sound familiar?
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