WXforum.net
Weather Software => WeatherLink/weatherlink.com by Davis Instruments => Topic started by: martyj on April 26, 2020, 12:34:48 AM
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Greetings from Australia.
I've had my Davis Vantage Pro2 for a few years and gone from the serial adaptor to Weatherlink IP which I've been running for a few years. I recently upgraded my computer from PC to a Mac as I was using the PC version of Weatherlink for historical data and Weatherlink IP for around the past 16 months for data on our phones. I have an existing Pro+ subscription on weatherlink.com
I have been doing a bit of reading on the Weatherlink Live setup. I understand in theory you can update all your years of historical data to the cloud as well. The weatherlink IP setup seems to be working fine, other than 2 years worth of data which is saved on the PC.
Would there be any advantage in moving to the Weatherlink Live setup instead?
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1. Main advantage of WLL is that it will accept data from ANY combination of up to 8 transmitters. So you can have multiple ISS units, anemometers, rain gauges, solar/UV on a different transmitter from ISS etc. But if you weren't planning on expanding your station then this probably isn't relevant.
2. WLL is a separate unit from console so more flexibility in locating console and WLL (eg they don't need to be in the same place at all).
3. WLL obviously allows WiFi connection to your network rather than cabled-only.
4. WLL will broadcast live weather on your local network so at home you can view live data on phone or tablet via the smartphone app.
5. [Edit - I forgot one!]: WLL does provide some enhanced features on the weatherlink.com browser app like Health Data (wireless reception data, battery voltages etc) which are not otherwise available. It does look like future feature additions to weatherlink.com will be prioritised for current Davis upload devices (ie WLL and EM) and may not appear at all for older devices like WLIP.
6. [Edit2]: WLL allows programmatic access to data on weatherlink.com via the v2 API; older loggers like WLIP don't have this option. For any programmers this might be a critical difference, but less so for ordinary users.
Bottom line is that if you're happy with your current WLIP setup then probably no massive reason to move to WLL, but makes much more sense for new station buyers.
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Thanks JohnND.
I'm not planning on adding any more stations so I guess I'll stay with IP until its made obsolete.
[tup]
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I have both the original Davis VP2 system console (IP) and now a WLL. Besides noting a difference in the Barometer reading between the two, (like .07") the WLL reads .07" higher than the console), I have a MAJOR issue with the inability of WLL to recognize that a wind speed monitor that is NOT physically connected to the ISS, will simply NOT display in the hand held Weather Link app on my phone as the WIND rose item. It ONLY shows up as the separate "Roof Top Wind Sensor" we called it in the "extra sensor" section. But I find this utter nonsense that there is no way to set a PRIMARY WIND sensor in Weather Link Live. (STILL).
So alas, I am using BOTH the console and the Live because I have a WLL, but don't really want to omit the features of the console.
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I also have both running and uploading.
I have two stations, plus the leaf/wetness sensor. Both console report to the primary station and the extra sensors. One console has a WeatherLink IP (WLIP) and the other a USB, however the USB had not been used for a little while.
The WeatherLink Live (WLL) is configured to report both stations and the extra sensors.
So the original has a data going back some 6 or so years and I asked Davis at the point that they released the WLL if they had plans to port data or would enable users to migrate and it was an absolutely not, so the WLIP was retained.
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So the original has a data going back some 6 or so years and I asked Davis at the point that they released the WLL if they had plans to port data or would enable users to migrate and it was an absolutely not, so the WLIP was retained.
It would take more detail to understand exactly what configuration you are/have been running, but for example if you have a WLL Pro account at weatherlink.com and have been running Weatherlink for Windows locally with either the WLIP or USB loggers then yes you can upload past data derived from your wlk files to your WLL account at weatherlink.com. But certainly at present you cannot transfer data from one existing account at weatherlink.com to another, so it does depend exactly which question you're asking.
For import/upload details to weatherlink.com see: https://www.weatherlink.com/static/docs/import_instructions.pdf
Worth commenting also that you do need to be slightly careful about information from front-line support. The Davis ecosystem is getting ever more complicated, especially on the data-handling side with different answers for different upload devices, plan levels etc. Just occasionally there may be someone new on frontline support and - I don't know whether it's a modern trait or not - rather than say 'I'm not sure, I'll get back to you' it seems more important to give a confident-sounding answer even if it's sometimes not fully accurate.
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So the original has a data going back some 6 or so years and I asked Davis at the point that they released the WLL if they had plans to port data or would enable users to migrate and it was an absolutely not, so the WLIP was retained.
It would take more detail to understand exactly what configuration you are/have been running, but for example if you have a WLL Pro account at weatherlink.com and have been running Weatherlink for Windows locally with either the WLIP or USB loggers then yes you can upload past data derived from your wlk files to your WLL account at weatherlink.com. But certainly at present you cannot transfer data from one existing account at weatherlink.com to another, so it does depend exactly which question you're asking.
Worth commenting also that you do need to be slightly careful about information from front-line support. The Davis ecosystem is getting ever more complicated, especially on the data-handling side with different answers for different upload devices, plan levels etc. Just occasionally there may be someone new on frontline support and - I don't know whether it's a modern trait or not - rather than say 'I'm not sure, I'll get back to you' it seems more important to give a confident-sounding answer even if it's sometimes not fully accurate.
It was a question posed at a specific time directly to Davis support and I got the answer I expected. They later wrote back stating they would consider what I stated and they would introduce the ability through uploading historic data via WeatherLink.
There are some fundamental design decisions they made early with the new WeatherLink which I considered not the best we had some very good discussions.
It is what it is and it works and they have introduced improvements with more user controls, improved the API, so I am not complaining and they did acknowledged what I stated would have made transformation, implementation and support easier in some ways.
I was one of the very early ports from WL1 to WL2 and it took a number of attempts/reruns and as they were account errors encountered. Such as life and they never lost data. But did create three stations for the single WLIP and as a user couldn’t initially delete them.
They were very good to deal with at all times and it wasn’t the frontline service desk. More recently, start of the year, I tested the new console firmware to address the wetness sensor data discrepancy between the WLL and console reporting and they were always professional. It took a while for them to acknowledge but it was having both the WLIP and WLL uploading independently that enabled me to identify, report and prove it existed and they have fixed it in the firmware I have on both consoles.
I have WL Pro account and never used WeatherLink locally and just left well enough alone. I manage very complex systems integration in my day job so I appreciate that that this isn’t always easy. Hence mine is only one opinion against all their customers. I am the Small fish in a very big oceans!
I also say to the people I manage better to acknowledge you don’t know the answer and take it on notice rather than give poor advice. Common support practice it is about open and close customers requests so yes more modern service support practices but I never really encountered that at all.
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I have a MAJOR issue with the inability of WLL to recognize that a wind speed monitor that is NOT physically connected to the ISS, will simply NOT display in the hand held Weather Link app on my phone as the WIND rose item. It ONLY shows up as the separate "Roof Top Wind Sensor" we called it in the "extra sensor" section. But I find this utter nonsense that there is no way to set a PRIMARY WIND sensor in Weather Link Live. (STILL).
You need to go into roof top transmitter - Advanced Settings, and select "Anemometer" = THIS DEVICE
Then into your ISS transmitter - Advanced settings, and "Select anemometer" = ROOF (or whatever you have called it)
That will also enable the THW index calculation to be performed.
NOW, if only I could get the realtime app updates working on my local LAN, they have been busted for months!
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Mark,
thanks hugely! That works! Why in the world didn't the fine folks at Davis know how to do that? The ISS was set to NOT having a wind unit at all, which was obviously creating the logical omission. Once I enabled WIND, it defaulted to "THIS DEVICE" which of course it wasn't .. but i selected my "roof top sensor" and voila!
Very very nice.
I'm in your debt.
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Mark,
one other subtle thing I notice, though, about the Extra Sensors - Live section in the android/iphone app. The rooftop wind sensor I have appears to not have a very frequent update.. not that it matters, now that the primary wind view (titled "Wind - Live") is now showing up and remains very current at my selected interval (i have a basic subscription). I'm Toying with upgrading to pro+ but I wasn't interested in that previously with the way things were running. Now that this is resolved though (the wind bit with the ISS), i'm wondering if i might once again try to configure the WLL as my uploading instrument for the WU data feeds, etc. Previously, too much of the data was missing as a result of this ISS misconfiguration.
john
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When my app was working with live updates, the wind would update every 2.5 seconds, the WLL broadcasts the wind (and rain) data every 2.5 seconds when requested. Why it no longer works I have no idea. I run Cumulus MX and that is receiving the WLL data broadcasts every 2.5 seconds, but not the Davis app :( The app now defaults to the one update per minute from the wl.com cloud.
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When my app was working with live updates, the wind would update every 2.5 seconds, the WLL broadcasts the wind (and rain) data every 2.5 seconds when requested. Why it no longer works I have no idea. I run Cumulus MX and that is receiving the WLL data broadcasts every 2.5 seconds, but not the Davis app :( The app now defaults to the one update per minute from the wl.com cloud.
Mine has been like that for months. Hit and miss when it works. Davis has no clue on the issue.
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I have a MAJOR issue with the inability of WLL to recognize that a wind speed monitor that is NOT physically connected to the ISS, will simply NOT display in the hand held Weather Link app on my phone as the WIND rose item. It ONLY shows up as the separate "Roof Top Wind Sensor" we called it in the "extra sensor" section. But I find this utter nonsense that there is no way to set a PRIMARY WIND sensor in Weather Link Live. (STILL).
You need to go into roof top transmitter - Advanced Settings, and select "Anemometer" = THIS DEVICE
Then into your ISS transmitter - Advanced settings, and "Select anemometer" = ROOF (or whatever you have called it)
That will also enable the THW index calculation to be performed.
Thank You!
I have been trying to get that to work for a long time.
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@mark Live wind does not anymore for me either
With my WLL and the official app...been like that
For ages
But my own app I made it works
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Thanks, so it looks like a widespread issue with the Davis app - good to know in a way, at least I can stop wondering what is wrong with my environment!
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Is this the iOS app or Android or both that have stopped reporting LIVE reliably?
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Android for me.
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Android for me.
OK, so I guess the question is whether it's just the Android version or iOS too? (I'm not in the office at present so cannot check iOS myself )
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Android for me.
OK, so I guess the question is whether it's just the Android version or iOS too? (I'm not in the office at present so cannot check iOS myself )
Android for me also.
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android for me
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My Davis app for Android seems to be giving me what appears to be live updates on wind speeds and direction. Changes right now every few seconds...
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So, from this tiny sample and subject to further posts, does it look like only the Android app is affected and not iOS and even then not everyone using Android sees the issue (eg perhaps different Android OS versions or different phone hardware)?
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for me it used to work, the fast wind speed updating via the UDP data, but then it stopped being updated by the live data
and instead is only updated via the cloud data (api data from weatherlink.com)
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Well, mine used to work fine with live updates, then it stopped and has never worked since. I don't recall it coincided with an update.
I did report an issue to Davis about the WLL not responding to discovery queries when running on WiFi, if the query ID was greater than 4 (the allowed range is 8192 iirc), apparently they cannot fix this because it is an bug in the firmware of the WiFi module they use. So maybe that is coming into play. At some point I'll try moving the WLL back to LAN (it was wired originally) and see if the live updates start working again.
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Well, mine used to work fine with live updates, then it stopped and has never worked since. I don't recall it coincided with an update.
I did report an issue to Davis about the WLL not responding to discovery queries when running on WiFi, if the query ID was greater than 4 (the allowed range is 8192 iirc), apparently they cannot fix this because it is an bug in the firmware of the WiFi module they use. So maybe that is coming into play. At some point I'll try moving the WLL back to LAN (it was wired originally) and see if the live updates start working again.
Never thought to use the LAN to see if it made a difference. When I get time I will have to try that,
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i have always had mine connected via LAN cable
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I shifted my WLL bridge to closer to my ISS and set to wireless network connection and now its updating the wind udp rapid
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So, no consistency on which connection method is failing then. That rules out one hypothesis.
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I do know where I had it , it was not picking up the data very well (even though my VP2 does...a model with a long external aerial)
but having said that I do know my own app was picking up changes in the wind when the davis one was not
that was with it connected to my router via LAN
changing to wifi and its OK now (but now with a different IP ...before I had it as a fixed IP)