Weather Software > What Weather Software should I use/buy?
Need to update weather station - not much money available!
Ian:
I manage the village weather station. I used to upload data to village web site but thr need to have a permanently on dedicated PC created some electricity cost issues, especially as number of hits was almost restricted to a handful of hang gliders using sea cliffs by village, so not an economic activity. I am ow looking to see what I can do for the future.
Hardware is a Davis Vantage Pro 2 with data module. Data downloads via Weather Link 5.6.
Recently I have started having a problem with not all the data being displayed for each month and as I wish to change to more up to date display software, there is little point spending time - yours or mine - trying to sort out this display problem. Suffice to say tat I am sure it is a software issue. Hardware all functioning correctly and I see no need to update it.
I would welcome suggestions regarding software which will download data from Vantage Pro, process it and display it on managing PC, and upload it to a web site a few times a day - not every few minutes as in the past.
As I said finance could be an issue - I would need to persuade local village council to cough up!
Thanks for the help.
PaulMy:
Hi Ian,
It sounds that you feel the issue is the Weatherlink for PC software and your PC, and not the console or datalogger. One option is to use a different program so replace Weatherlink for PC with say CumulusMX. For this you would need to make sure your datalogger is set as serial mode, and I read that that has been discussed in the past. CumulusMX is modern and fully supported, and can update data to your webserver/website. No new cost involved.
Another option is to replace the datalogger with a Weatherlink Live device. This is a WiFi/Internet device and uploads all your Davis station's data to Weatherlink.com which is the Davis "Cloud" platform. The current data is viewable by anyone through the Weatherlink phone App, as well as from the Weatherlink.com website at no charge. Weatherlink.com also offers a "paid subscription" option and that gives you, in addition to current data view, access to past data and charts. The cost is the price of the Weatherlink Live device.
In addition to the "cloud" platform and Weatherlink Live this also allows software like CumulusMX to access the near-live data and CumulusMX can then upload data to your webserver/website. No additional cost.
Enjoy,
Paul
johnd:
Cost of electricity is not really a software issue! I can't make out the question you want answering.
If the data is dropping out for some reason then that's probably not a software issue and probably needs addressing first.
If you're still willing to run the PC then Weatherlink v6.0.5 is available for free and could upload current data to weatherlink.com.
If you want to cut electricity costs then perhaps acquiring a Raspberry Pi and running say (free) CumuluxMX software on that could be a solution. Maybe a learning curve if you've never used a Pi before but not too bad.
Another alternative but higher cost would be an enhanced logger like a WiFi Logger that could do away with the PC altogether. But it wouldn't keep long-term records (at least not without a subscription to weatherlink.com)
Ian:
I mentioned cost not as a software issue but as a reason for the need for changes. The funding body for the weather station is a local council so new hardware and software is not an option. So I am looking, and asking suggestions for alternatives or updates.
Incidentally the hardware and software was originally bought from you, way back in 2006 going by the dates on the wlk files.
I looked for your suggestion re Weatherlink v6.0.5 but couldn't find that.
johnd:
--- Quote from: Ian on April 03, 2024, 07:58:00 AM ---I looked for your suggestion re Weatherlink v6.0.5 but couldn't find that.
--- End quote ---
https://www.manula.com/manuals/pws/davis-kb/1/en/topic/download-weatherlink-program
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