Topic: Path to CWOP

[Platokidd]

This is easy
https://www.amazon.com/Ambient-Weather-WEATHERBRIDGE-Universal-Compatible/dp/B00FPPYM7M

[slybarman]

This is easy
https://www.amazon.com/Ambient-Weather-WEATHERBRIDGE-Universal-Compatible/dp/B00FPPYM7M

so i was just sitting here reading about loading meteobridge onto a tplink router which is cheaper than this, but this included the $100 license for uploading to ambients network.

the question is, why do i want to upload to ambients network? if i do, this is ultimately cheaper.

[Gyvate]

if I'm going to run either meteobridge, weewx or foshkplugin only (whichever is more noob friendly), how much RAM do i need?

For Meteobridge (MB) it depends on how many stations you run, what your backup concept is, and what reports you want to display ...
For one station MB on a RPi3B or 3B+ will be sufficient - not more than 2 GB RAM needed.
For more stations you will need a RPi4B for reasonable performance. The 2 GB model is enough.
I'm running MB on RPi with 3 stations on a RPi4B with 2GB RAM - MB is not very RAM hungry.
And a proper performance is available.

For only one weewx instance and FOSHKplugin a small RPi should be sufficient - I'm running 3 weewx instances with quite some report load (reports ["web pages"] are the highest load weewx produces) and CMX + CUtils plus FOSHKplugin on a RPi4B 8 GB (I had to replace the 4 GB RAM model by a 8 GB model to cope with the load and not running into weewx report interruptions as the old report hadn't completed in time - of course depending on my archiving interval: 5, 2 1/2, 1 minutes).

[Gyvate]

so i was just sitting here reading about loading meteobridge onto a tplink router which is cheaper than this, but this included the $100 license for uploading to ambients network.

the question is, why do i want to upload to ambients network? if i do, this is ultimately cheaper.

Meteobridge on a tplink router won't give you proper performance, especially when you have many sensors; plus you won't have data logging. That's only possible with a Meteobridge Pro, NanoSD or on RPi.
I'm talking from experience .... also owning Meteobridge Pro.
The new Pro2 is top, much better than the slow MB Pro, but a MB on a proper RPi is faster ... - and no storage limitations.

[Platokidd]

This is easy
https://www.amazon.com/Ambient-Weather-WEATHERBRIDGE-Universal-Compatible/dp/B00FPPYM7M

so i was just sitting here reading about loading meteobridge onto a tplink router which is cheaper than this, but this included the $100 license for uploading to ambients network.

the question is, why do i want to upload to ambients network? if i do, this is ultimately cheaper.

Noob friendly simple and easy!. You can also send your weather data many places. Ambient weather net is also nicer than ecowitt net  in my opinion.

I'm sure other options discussed may be better or give you more. Depends on what you want to achieve. 
$100 license included.

[slybarman]

so i was just sitting here reading about loading meteobridge onto a tplink router which is cheaper than this, but this included the $100 license for uploading to ambients network.

the question is, why do i want to upload to ambients network? if i do, this is ultimately cheaper.

Meteobridge on a tplink router won't give you proper performance, especially when you have many sensors; plus you won't have data logging. That's only possible with a Meteobridge Pro, NanoSD or on RPi.
I'm talking from experience .... also owning Meteobridge Pro.
The new Pro2 is top, much better than the slow MB Pro, but a MB on a proper RPi is faster ... - and no storage limitations.

my 2550 saves data to an sd card which I have been doing, but in truth i haven't used the data for anything. i have used WU to see graphs of my own data. I'm not sure datalogging is really important to me.

[Gyvate]

my 2550 saves data to an sd card which I have been doing, but in truth i haven't used the data for anything. i have used WU to see graphs of my own data. I'm not sure datalogging is really important to me.

As said before - it all depends on your scenario - your needs, plans ...
the Meteobridge, FOSHKplugin solutions make you also independent from the internet and let you own your data ... - whatever suits you will define your solution 

[slybarman]

The raspberry pi3 kits appear to be sold out everywhere as well (except for those price gouging). That sounds like it would give me the most flexibility to change things up later, but seems like it won't be a today kind of thing. Guess I'll watch and wait for them to come back into stock.

I think I'm leaning towards Meteobridge as the most user friendly for the non-techy type.

Thanks all for the replies, this is definitely a rabbit hole.

[Gyvate]

I think I'm leaning towards Meteobridge as the most user friendly for the non-techy type.

Meteobridge, once installed (and even this is not witchcraft) on a RPi, doesn't normally need any knowledge of the underlying Linux (openWRT) and is easily managed via its WebUI.
Weewx etc. need more knowledge than an average user would have.
CumulusMX comes (imo) next after MB regarding user knowledge needed to install and run
(and is even more flexible regarding platforms to run on).

Meteobridge is rather an appliance only meant to serve as a weather server.

And if you think you can afford waiting for another 6-9 months until more RaspberryPis become available  again to a reasonable price, then do so.   

[slybarman]

I purchased an Ambient Weathebridge off e-bay for $15 delivered. I will tinker with that for a while until the Raspberry Pi come back down to earth.

[slybarman]

Mission success (I think):

I received my e-bay purchased Weatherbridge and got it on my network, purchased a new 2 year license update, and connected to my station. I believe I am uploading data to CWOP and to PWS weather via the Weatherbridge. A couple questions if I may:

1) Should I continue to upload to WU via the Ecowitt console or should I upload via the Weatherbridge instead?
2) Weatherbridge doesn't seem to want to upload to Ambient. Doesn't really say why. Maybe I need the GW1100 for that.
3) PWSWeather is pulling the pressure reading circled in green versus the one circled in red. Ecowitt is reporting the one in red. Any idea why? I am at 46' MSL and I believe the one circled in red is correct.

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[gszlag]

Mission success (I think):

3) PWSWeather is pulling the pressure reading circled in green versus the one circled in red. Ecowitt is reporting the one in red. Any idea why? I am at 46' MSL and I believe the one circled in red is correct.

I think pwsweather.com is still not correct and they might have mixed up Altimeter and SLP. To display SLP, I have to set pwsweather to Altimeter.

Since you are < 50 ' elevation(almost at sea level elevation) a fixed offset for Altimeter  or SLP should be about identical.

Technically, CWOP expects to receive only Altimeter - not SLP. Although in your case it won't matter.

For an elevation of only 46' your Altimeter reading ishould be about  1.68 hPa (0.05 inHg) higher than your station pressure (ABS).

[slybarman]

Mission success (I think):

3) PWSWeather is pulling the pressure reading circled in green versus the one circled in red. Ecowitt is reporting the one in red. Any idea why? I am at 46' MSL and I believe the one circled in red is correct.

I think pwsweather.com is still not correct and they might have mixed up Altimeter and SLP. To display SLP, I have to set pwsweather to Altimeter.

Since you are < 50 ' elevation(almost at sea level elevation) a fixed offset for Altimeter  or SLP should be about identical.

Technically, CWOP expects to receive only Altimeter - not SLP. Although in your case it won't matter.

For an elevation of only 46' your Altimeter reading ishould be about  1.68 hPa (0.05 inHg) higher than your station pressure (ABS).

OK. Thank you. I have updated mine to altimeter as well.

[Gyvate]

Mission success (I think):

I received my e-bay purchased Weatherbridge and got it on my network, purchased a new 2 year license update, and connected to my station. I believe I am uploading data to CWOP and to PWS weather via the Weatherbridge. A couple questions if I may:

1) Should I continue to upload to WU via the Ecowitt console or should I upload via the Weatherbridge instead?
2) Weatherbridge doesn't seem to want to upload to Ambient. Doesn't really say why. Maybe I need the GW1100 for that.

1) who can tell ... - that's your choice
2) did you activate your license with Ambient Weather when/where you will probably have to provide some license number combined with the MAC address of your MB device ?
If the license that you received from Ambient doesn't work, contact Ambient support

[slybarman]

1) who can tell ... - that's your choice
2) did you activate your license with Ambient Weather when/where you will probably have to provide some license number combined with the MAC address of your MB device ?
If the license that you received from Ambient doesn't work, contact Ambient support

No, I didn't do anything with Ambient. I thought (maybe incorrectly) it would just work since it's an Ambient Weatherbridge. The license appears valid.

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[Gyvate]

one more reason to contact Ambient support and ask what's wrong with the license.
I had happened before - there is a related thread in our forum - the issue is probably at their end

[kheller2]

I’m assuming you added the MAC address to your account at ambient weather.net. 

[slybarman]

I’m assuming you added the MAC address to your account at ambient weather.net.

nope on both counts. I didn't add it and didn't make an account, but I'll try that.

thx

ETA:  That worked! I guess I had made an account a while back and forgot about it. I just had to add the device MAC.

[Platokidd]

one more reason to contact Ambient support and ask what's wrong with the license.
I had happened before - there is a related thread in our forum - the issue is probably at their end

I had to do the same thing with my license. Contacted Ambient and they did something on their end and it started working.
The license is only for updates to the meteobridge.
With a GWxxxx it's simple to upload.
And you will need an AW account to send to AW.
Also make sure your meteobridge location is exactly the same as your cwop. If not there will be issues.