WXforum.net
Weather Station Hardware => Ambient Weather and Ecowitt and other Fine Offset clones => Topic started by: TinkerTown on January 11, 2021, 10:19:29 PM
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So I got an Ambient Weather 2902C unit and an Ecowitt. I noticed the Ecowit uses a USB and a four-pin connector. Does the Ecowitt have to be plugged into the weather station and the Raspberry? I am still a little fuzzy on the communications method to get this working. I was reading, and I read many posts saying the OberverIP wasn't a perfect solution and to use the Ecowitt. Still, I am not finding a lot of information on how to get these set up, and with the variety of the stations, it seems steps might follow a few different stations.
I have read we have to use the PI to grab traffic from the unit talking to WUnderground, which I have setup. But capturing that traffic is just not clicking, especially with this Ecowitt in the mix. Should I get the ObserverIP?
Thanks all. I don't want to rehash the wheel, but I am drawing a blank on these steps, no matter how much reading I am doing.
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Sorry your post is a little confusing so apologies if i am wide of the mark.
Firstly, you dont actually say what your goal is with the assembled equipment you have. Are you planning to run software on the Pi to gather your weather data such as WeeWx or CumulusMX?
By Ecowitt I am presuming you really mean a Ecowitt GW1000 matchbox receiver device. If so this is powered by the USB connection. What looks like a connector on the end of wire is in fact the temp/humidity sensor.
To communicate with the GW1000 and extract the data it receives you need to query the GW1000 via WiFI and that means using the Pi and software (such as WeeWx etc). In order to setup the Pi and the said software you will need to follow guidance for whatever software you want to run
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So I got an Ambient Weather 2902C unit and an Ecowitt. I noticed the Ecowit uses a USB and a four-pin connector. Does the Ecowitt have to be plugged into the weather station and the Raspberry?
As Mandrake says, sounds like an Ecowitt GW1000. If so, plug it in any USB powered port. It is just power, no data. Since you have a Pi, plug it into the Pi.
I have read we have to use the PI to grab traffic from the unit talking to WUnderground
Not necessary to grab WU traffic. Actually that would be the least favorable solution. If you have a GW1000, it can directly provide data to various applications on your Pi. You can actually run any of four applications on the Pi. These are Cumulus MX, Meteobridge, Weather-Display, and WeeWX. Which of these are you interested in running?
Should I get the ObserverIP?
No, never!
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Hi Mandrake, yes, sorry, I got the weather station up and running with just it and its base station. It now reports to AmbientWeather.net and Wunderground.com. For some reason, I thought the station would talk to the Ecowitt GW1000, and then I could use the Weewx on the PI to pull that data to send it to a website or other location. But looking at the GW1000, I am not sure now. I will do some more reading; I was hoping for some links to informative posts that might describe this process in detail.
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Should I get the ObserverIP?
No, never!
[/quote]
That is what I heard. I am looking to run Weewx on the PI, at least for now.
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Have configured the GW1000 with the WS View mobile app? That is step 1. Then you should ensure that the GW1000 is uploading to Ecowitt.net which is similar to how you set the WS-2902C on Ambientweather.net.
After that you should then be ready to get your WeeWX installed. I recommend installing the GW1000 API driver for WeeWX.
https://github.com/gjr80/weewx-gw1000
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Have configured the GW1000 with the WS View mobile app? That is step 1. Then you should ensure that the GW1000 is uploading to Ecowitt.net which is similar to how you set the WS-2902C on Ambientweather.net.
After that you should then be ready to get your WeeWX installed. I recommend installing the GW1000 API driver for WeeWX.
https://github.com/gjr80/weewx-gw1000
I finally got the GW1000 registered, wow, impossible to use an iPhone, had to use an Android and that even took a while! I also got Weewx installed on my PI 4, so that step is done. Now I will work on getting the API driver for Weewx installed.
Thank you all, for the help. I can only read so much and then it just goes in one side and out the other without hands-on!
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Congratulations on getting this far.
I have times I have to step away and have a cup of coffee.
But the efforts are worth it, you will have a smooth running setup soon.
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I have read we have to use the PI to grab traffic from the unit
With weewx pay attention to the critical weewx.conf file, that’s where most of the magic is defined. Take a backup copy in case you screw it up. The GW1000 API interface is easy to use, basically just install it as per the instructions from @galfert link. If I remember correctly it will even scan and find a GW1000 on your home WiFi network, or you can tell it the GW1000’s IP address. With this approach you don’t need to tell the GW1000 a customer server, because the Pi will pull data from the GW1000, rather than the GW1000 push data to the Pi. There’s good info on the wiki here:
https://github.com/gjr80/weewx-gw1000/wiki/Available-config-options
I noticed the Ecowit uses a USB and a four-pin connector.
If you mean the black wire coming out of the GW1000 and small dangley square plastic “connector” on the end, I believe that’s the internal temperature/humidity sensor, just so you can position it somewhere you want. I thought it was some interface cable at first.
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I have read we have to use the PI to grab traffic from the unit
With weewx pay attention to the critical weewx.conf file, that’s where most of the magic is defined. Take a backup copy in case you screw it up. The GW1000 API interface is easy to use, basically just install it as per the instructions from @galfert link. If I remember correctly it will even scan and find a GW1000 on your home WiFi network, or you can tell it the GW1000’s IP address. With this approach you don’t need to tell the GW1000 a customer server, because the Pi will pull data from the GW1000, rather than the GW1000 push data to the Pi. There’s good info on the wiki here:
https://github.com/gjr80/weewx-gw1000/wiki/Available-config-options
I noticed the Ecowit uses a USB and a four-pin connector.
If you mean the black wire coming out of the GW1000 and small dangley square plastic “connector” on the end, I believe that’s the internal temperature/humidity sensor, just so you can position it somewhere you want. I thought it was some interface cable at first.
That's definitely the Temp/Hum sensor for indoors. :-) - It's not really a classical connector even though it might look that way.
see picture(s) in the https://www.wxforum.net/index.php?topic=40970.0 post
(of course, if you place it outdoors, your outdoor values will be shown as indoor temperature/humidity 8-) )