Topic: ws-2902(d) setting up alerts

[golftango]

hello to the group! newbie here but longtime weather watcher via ham skywarn &c. i am replacing a netatmo system with the 2902 which arrived yesterday. i'm ashamed to admit i had to call them to make sure i wouldn't break the battery cover as i couldn't immediately figure out which way it was supposed to move but the tech support was excellent.

anyway, when setting everything up i set all my alarms/alerts using the console and since it was connected i expected those alerts to migrate to the awn website, but they didn't. so i set some up online and they did populate in the ios app. but now i'm  confused because i can't figure out which set of alerts will take priority or whether i'll get duplicates or not. it took some time to set them up on the console because there's literally no way to hold it without pressing the dammed 'buttons' and hopefully i won't have to interact with it much once i get things tweaked online.

thanks!

/guy (73 de kg5gt | wqpz784)

[Gyvate]

whatever you configure as alarm in the console, is for the console only.
You want to receive alarms from ambientweather.net, you will have to configure that there (assuming it is possible - I can't tell not being an Ambient user but a FineOffset/Ecowitt user and ecowitt.net).
Probably the Ambient support website has more information on that. 

[BoDuke]

The alerts that you set up in the app or on ambientweather.net are for text and email messages.  They will only trigger if weather station data matching the alert is received from the console, transmitted via wifi through the internet connection, received successfully by ambientweather.net servers, and alerts are successfully sent via SMS/internet/email.

Then there are alarms which can be set directly on the console (see section 13.6 in the manual).  The alarms on the console, which I have personally never tried, just show the alert on the console and perhaps beep.  They will trigger whenever weather station data matching the alert is received by the console and do not rely on wifi, internet, servers, SMS, etc.

I hope this helps clarify the difference.  If anyone can confirm the console alarms beep, I'll edit this post to reflect that.

[golftango]

thanks for this. that was about my conclusion but good to confirm it. i haven't heard any beeps from my console but afaik it hasn't hit any of my alert filters yet only being in service like 24 hours now. you'd think there might be a volume control if it does beep, but i guess we'll see. maybe it does since the horrid little too-sensitive buttons beep when pressed and you can't pick the thing up with it beeping angrily at you.

the confusing part is that it seems you have to enter some things like the relative pressure via the console. if there's an online input for that i've lost it or not yet found it.

i do have another question and i was going to post a new topic, but i'll float it here. for my netatmo system i put the outdoor module in a recess in my porch rail so it'd be protected from the weather and report open shade temps. this 2902 array is bare naked in direct west texas sunlight (like 3 weeks of 115º last summer) and i'm wondering if aw compensates for that or not. for example, right now the 2902 is reporting 79.0º and my netatmo is reporting 77.2º. that's not much difference, but i suspect it might grow when we get a 'normal' summer day. for now i'm keeping the netatmo online and just won't replace anything and i can go by the open shade or direct sun reading.

oh, and to confuse the issue, i have two more sensors outside feeding a couple of those little standalone devices. one is in the exact same placement as the netatmo and is reporting 82.6º and the other is in direct direct south sun and reports 84º so i doubt i'm ever going to be able to reconcile all 4 of them.

to be fair, the official stations around me report about the same spread, so i don't you're every going to focus it down to one ultimately correct temperature.


i'm loving this device so far--i should have abandoned that netatmo long ago but at the time it had the best internet infrastructure. the most annoying thing about the 2902 (besides the console!) is i can't find a way to edit the placement of the tiles or data on the web site or the ios app--i'd like to re-order them. i found the way to hide them, but not to rearrange them.

oh, and talk about baptism of fire, i had just gotten it mounted yesterday when a severe thunderstorm rolled in. i run a very tiny facebook weather group for the neighbors and i followed it on the radar and reported changes and possibilities and i saw a hook echo when it was about 15 miles out and while there were no reports at the time, this morning i saw reports of rotation and some images which confirmed my opinion. anyway, when the rain hit and my console bumped up from 0.00" to 0.01" i breathed a sign of relief to know that it was working.

thanks! /guy

[Gyvate]

the confusing part is that it seems you have to enter some things like the relative pressure via the console. if there's an online input for that i've lost it or not yet found it.

when you understand the logic behind, it becomes less confusing.
The FineOffset/Ecowitt (clone) consoles (and Ambient is a reseller clone brand) have two types of firmware
- one for configuration (offsets, gains etc. like relative pressure)
- one for sending/posting data via the internet
the device firmware and the so-called WiFi firmware

those consoles which possess the Ecowitt local gateway API (Ambient don't sell them with two exceptions, the Observer IP 2.0 and the WS-1965), the GW1x00, GW2000, WS19x0, WH2650 consoles/gateways, can be configured via the WS View Plus or awnet app, and, when they also have an inbuilt webserver (GW1100, GW2000, Ambient ObserverIP 2.0), via a Web User interface in a browser - the WS2320E, WH2910 (Ambient WS-2902), HP350x, HP2550 (Ambient WS-2000/WS-5000) consoles can only be configured via their display interface.

The posting to Weather services and a user chosen server ("customized") handled by the WiFi firmware can be configured for all consoles/gateways via the WS View Plus app (the awnet app Ambient consoles only).

Have a look at our MUST READ thread e.g. at the matrix and the respective footnotes. https://www.wxforum.net/index.php?topic=40730.0

i do have another question and i was going to post a new topic, but i'll float it here. for my netatmo system i put the outdoor module in a recess in my porch rail so it'd be protected from the weather and report open shade temps. this 2902 array is bare naked in direct west texas sunlight (like 3 weeks of 115º last summer) and i'm wondering if aw compensates for that or not. for example, right now the 2902 is reporting 79.0º and my netatmo is reporting 77.2º. that's not much difference, but i suspect it might grow when we get a 'normal' summer day. for now i'm keeping the netatmo online and just won't replace anything and i can go by the open shade or direct sun reading.

It's all a matter of sensor positioning. And a sensor array alone is always a compromise - for wind it should be high (10 m / 30 ft above ground), for rain 1 m / 3 ft above ground, for outdoor temperature 2 m / 6 ft above ground (WMO recommendation).
That's why those among us who want their observations to be more in line with these recommendations, go for stations with separate sensors - e.g. a HP2553 plus a WH32 outdoor T/RH sensor (an Ambient WS-5000 plus a WH32E sensor, which (the WH32E) for no rational explanation Ambient don't sell anymore). Then you can put the sensors much better at their optimal height. The highly sophisticated solution puts the outdoor T/RH sensor either in permanent shade (e.g. Northern exposition) or inside a (semi-) professional radiation shield.

The Ambient WS-2000/WS-5000 consoles have an inbuilt option for solar radiation impact compensation to be used with the WH65/WS-5000 ARRAY sensor arrays.

On the other hand, temperature, wind and rainfall are typical microclimate values and not homogeneous - one of the reasons for scattering (another maybe the positioning of the sensor and resulting impact e.g. by global irradiation). The strict WMO recommended setup does not alwways represent your microclimate but an in a way artificial standard climate.

It depends on you what is important for you and what you want to report - your real microclimate or standardized values (which may be good for comparisons but maybe not so good for knowing the real local situation).
If e.g. you have a garden and do gardening, the microclimate may be more interesting for you.

[golftango]

wow! can't thank you enough for taking the time and effort to put together that post. that is a war&peace length post at the link you sent with an astounding level of detail! luckily i don't need anywhere near the level of accuracy described in that link because my primary usage is to know when dangerous cells are in the area so i can pull up my radar product and keep my little group updated. i'm retired and live on the computer so this is not that difficult. i have dozens of alarms and alerts set up with a dozen different weather sites and my scanner has a SAME weather alert system so i can get alerts by county so it's rare that an event catches me by surprise unless i'm deep asleep.

but, by having a personal weather station i can fine tune the alerts on selected parameters and be aware even before the 'on my godz it's coming towards us' alerts kick in from those other outlets. and for that not much accuracy is needed but reaction to change or rate of change is, for example a falling barometer and that just utilizes relative comparison, not an ultra-precise reading. but it's nice to be able to tell those in my weather group that my station provides enough accuracy to depend on.

the netatmo system (which i still  have online for now) wasn't too far off when compared with surrounding stations but this awn station seems an order of magnitude better and includes 8-10 items netatmo doesn't such as uv and lux which helps me as a longtime photographer. and, as a bonus, it only cost as much as the netatmo rain and wind gauge which have to be bought separately and only last a season or two at most and have to have the batteries changed out 2-4 times a year.

the only major thing i have left to do is find a mounting for the array. right now it's lashed to the cinderblocks which hold my mailbox and it's up about 5'. and your description of why the experts go for separate sensors makes perfect sense. in order to compare my wind readings with surrounding official stations i'd have to put it up about 10m and that just isn't possible. here in west texas the rain measurement is more of a priority and right now it's in a good place for that and to tell the truth i'd rather know the wind speed at 2m than 10m.

but just today i think i've found a solution. in my backyard is a 3" diameter pipe which once was part of a fence. it's hollow and about 6' long with 1' in the ground. rock solid. i can get a 1.5-2.0" pipe of about 6-12' and just slide it into that pipe and that will get me up above the roof where the wind measurement will be more accurate. that will be ideal because i can just slide it up and out for maintenance.

i went through the manual much more slowly and deliberately today and found the answer to me 'direct sunlight compensation' question on page 41:

"4. Mount the sensor array in direct sunlight for accurate temperature readings."

so that seems pretty definitive they have compensated it. i also found that for a 'generalized' or 'all-purpose' mounting you can put it up 6-8' and about 30-50' away from a building. that means all i need is about a 6-10' pipe (allowing for sinking it in ground) and i can use my cinderblock mailbox as a support for it. only problem i foresee is that would put it next to the road and a drunk redneck in a pickup truck might use it for baseball practice!   but to solve my mounting issue it would be well worth the risk.

/guy