Author Topic: 433MHz RF to USB anyone?  (Read 7224 times)

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Offline uwemundry

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433MHz RF to USB anyone?
« on: August 17, 2019, 05:16:57 PM »
Hello,

Not sure if this would be the proper forum. If not, please let me know where it should go. Thank you!

I am looking for an end-to-end solution to receive/decode the 433MHz RF coming off an AcuRite Atlas 5 in 1, and feed the stream into a PC USB port. Like a black box with an antenna and a USB cable attached to it. Then potentially write the stream to a file on the PC.  Is any hobbyist out there willing to sell one? Like many others I really don't want to spend the time to work on this myself.

Thank you!

Offline vreihen

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Re: 433MHz RF to USB anyone?
« Reply #1 on: August 17, 2019, 05:36:25 PM »
Find out why rtl_433 doesn't support the Atlas, and then assist in adding support for it.  All of the heavy lifting has already been done in rtl_433 for practically every other weather station...including Acurite's other stuff.....
WU Gold Stars for everyone! :lol:

Offline uwemundry

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Re: 433MHz RF to USB anyone?
« Reply #2 on: August 27, 2019, 09:13:35 AM »
Thank you, vreihen. If I had the time I would. Is why I was inquiring about a blackbox solution. Any takers?

Offline uwemundry

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Re: 433MHz RF to USB anyone?
« Reply #3 on: February 04, 2021, 07:52:10 PM »
1-1/2 years have passed since my last inquiry. Does anyone have this by now?

Thank you!

Offline cbad536

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Re: 433MHz RF to USB anyone?
« Reply #4 on: February 08, 2021, 08:50:47 AM »
YES!!

RTL_433 supports the Atlas.

I'm using with RTL-SDR for the radio.  First I installed on MacBook.  Now it's running on a RaspPI
took about 2 hrs total, and a few youtube tutorials.

If you're building you system from the beginning, can't go wrong with MQTT to get the 433 data to your endpoint.  RTL_433 has MQTT function built in.  MQTT has a lot of support.

I'm quite an amateur when it comes to RaspPi, so happy to talk and help
CB
Acurite Atlas, RaspPi, IOTstack, InfluxDB, NodeRed, RFLink, RTL_433, ESP32, ESP-NOW.

Offline uwemundry

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Re: 433MHz RF to USB anyone?
« Reply #5 on: February 08, 2021, 08:58:12 PM »
That is grand!!! What a great step for mankind  :-)

I ordered the sdr. Will keep you posted.

Thank you so much for your response and info!

UM

Offline uwemundry

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Re: 433MHz RF to USB anyone?
« Reply #6 on: February 20, 2021, 12:16:53 PM »
I have the SDR (based on Rafael Micro R820T tuner) and running rtl_433 v20.11-55. The output I get from my Atlas can be seen in attached screenshot. There is no air pressure in the output. Is there a version of rtl_433 which decodes that as well?

Thank you!

Offline Storm017

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Re: 433MHz RF to USB anyone?
« Reply #7 on: February 20, 2021, 01:49:12 PM »
The sensor for the pressure is located in the console, so RTL_433 will not decode the pressure. It will only decode what is being sent from the outside sensors. If your console has an micro-USB connector you can interface the console to the RPI to capture all the data.

Offline uwemundry

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Re: 433MHz RF to USB anyone?
« Reply #8 on: February 20, 2021, 07:07:51 PM »
Mmhhh, I have the Indoor Display for the Atlas (model 06061). It has a micro USB connector, but nothing happens when I plug that into the PC. I guess it needs a special driver. Or has anyone figured out how to use that port?

What is RPI?

Thank you!

Offline Storm017

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Re: 433MHz RF to USB anyone?
« Reply #9 on: February 20, 2021, 07:19:49 PM »

Offline worachj

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Re: 433MHz RF to USB anyone?
« Reply #10 on: February 20, 2021, 07:23:20 PM »
Mmhhh, I have the Indoor Display for the Atlas (model 06061). It has a micro USB connector, but nothing happens when I plug that into the PC. I guess it needs a special driver. Or has anyone figured out how to use that port?

What is RPI?

Thank you!


You're not going to be able to get the pressure off of that display. No one knows the purpose of that USB connector on that model's display. 

Barometric pressure is sent to your online AcuRite / WU account(s) from the AcuRite Access or the Direct to Wi-Fi display which you don't have.


AcuRite Atlas
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Offline uwemundry

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Re: 433MHz RF to USB anyone?
« Reply #11 on: February 20, 2021, 07:50:37 PM »
Thank you guys!

Doooh re RPI, now I know what you are talking about there..

That USB port is a connection that obviously AcuRite is using for their i/o needs. So no one has managed to tap into that, too bad.

And yes I know that the pressure goes to WU and my account. My whole purpose for investigating all this is to feed realtime data to my own PC graphing app. I hate the graphs showing in the AcuRite web browser, and on the console display they are worse. They put no heart into that whatsoever. I am likely not alone with that opinion.

Anyway, now I have to find some way to get barometric pressure data as a live stream, somehow. Maybe I have to look at some cheapo weather station that feeds the pressure info to its display, decodable by rts_433, even if I need a 2nd SDR for it. Any ideas which weatherstation would fit that category?

Thank you again!

Offline vreihen

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Re: 433MHz RF to USB anyone?
« Reply #12 on: February 20, 2021, 07:58:36 PM »
There should be multiple web sites telling how others have wired a Bosch BMP-280 to a Raspberry Pi specifically for feeding barometer data into WeeWX for stations using an SDR with no barometer data.....
WU Gold Stars for everyone! :lol:

Offline uwemundry

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Re: 433MHz RF to USB anyone?
« Reply #13 on: February 20, 2021, 08:03:54 PM »
I really would like to use an SDR to tap into the 433MHz transmissions of a weather station transmitter, feeding a stream straight to my PC, just like what I am doing with the Atlas. RPI is for hobbyists, I don't have the time to tinker at that level :-(

Thank you!

Offline galfert

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Re: 433MHz RF to USB anyone?
« Reply #14 on: February 21, 2021, 12:03:34 AM »
That's funny. I'm in the compete opposite viewpoint. I have a bunch of Raspberry Pi computers that do a bunch of different things (weather and non-weather related). I dont have time for SDR. I don't really see using a Pi as requiring tinkering. You can if you want, but you can also just copy a pre-built image, boot, and just use it without tinkering. I prefer to get data from weather stations that use APIs so that 3rd party software can easily get the live data from the local network.
« Last Edit: February 21, 2021, 12:12:09 AM by galfert »
Ecowitt GW1000 | Meteobridge on Raspberry Pi
WU: KFLWINTE111  |  PWSweather: KFLWINTE111
CWOP: FW3708  |  AWEKAS: 14814
Windy: pws-f075acbe
Weather Underground Issue Tracking
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Offline cbad536

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Re: 433MHz RF to USB anyone?
« Reply #15 on: February 21, 2021, 12:32:09 AM »
@galfert:  If you're able to install an OS on RPi, you'll be able to use RTL_433 with the RTL-SDR.    The SDR is seriously plug and play.  All the work is installing RTL_433.  The SDR needed no special configuration. 
Make sure your SDR includes an antenna and coax, to further simplify.

@uwemundy  You mentioned you don't want to learn RPi, but you want to stream the data to your PC for graphing.... So, are you more facile with that data manipulation on the PC?    The output of RTL_433 does require parsing.    If you're comfortable doing that on the PC, I'd suggest run RTL_433 on the PC, do all your processing there.
Then find a cheapo barometric pressure device that is supported by RTL_433.  All you have to do is parse that data too.  But no extra radio.  The documentation of supported devices for RTL_433 is excellent.
Acurite Atlas, RaspPi, IOTstack, InfluxDB, NodeRed, RFLink, RTL_433, ESP32, ESP-NOW.

Offline uwemundry

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Re: 433MHz RF to USB anyone?
« Reply #16 on: February 21, 2021, 08:14:32 AM »
Once I have the stream on the Windows PC, I can handle the rest. I am doing that now. Using SDR straight into USB port, that's all I have for hardware. SDR is https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GDN1T4S?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

I parse and remap the data and store them in a SQL server table. A visualization program does the rest. Only one problem, no baro pressure info. I'll find a solution for that. Will let you know. If you have a non-RPI or Arduino solution, please let me know.

Thank you!

Offline galfert

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Re: 433MHz RF to USB anyone?
« Reply #17 on: February 21, 2021, 09:05:42 AM »
@galfert:  If you're able to install an OS on RPi, you'll be able to use RTL_433 with the RTL-SDR.    The SDR is seriously plug and play.  All the work is installing RTL_433.  The SDR needed no special configuration. 
Make sure your SDR includes an antenna and coax, to further simplify.

Thank you. But I'm far from being technically challenged, being that I am an IT person. I just see SDR as a needlessly more complex solution (not complicated and difficult, just overly engineered because of lack of available API) with more moving parts compared to simply installing Cumulus MX, Meteobridge, Weather-Display, or WeeWX on an RPi and done. It's the means to the end where with SDR you are basically reinventing the wheel (creating your own receiver, having to use a separate barometer, and then parsing and sending the data to a more limited set of software) when I already have a perfectly good device on the network (a console) that instantly provides live data simultaneously via API to more applications.

For some stations, I understand the need for SDR as a solution, when an API is not available. But that could have been a consideration when deciding on what to invest in. And of course I'm not saying those that decided to go with SDR got caught with their pants down. I'm just saying that at least for me this was a deciding factor that weighed heavily. It is the reason I became so involved with Ecowitt to ensure that all the popular applications had access to their newest API when I became one of the first few to beta test the GW1000.

This has gotten a bit off topic. I simply commented that I thought it was funny that someone would pass up on using a Raspberry Pi for fear of complexity, when I saw it as the exact opposite compared to SDR on a PC. But ultimately there is plenty of help in the community for anyone to utilize any method.
« Last Edit: February 21, 2021, 07:18:14 PM by galfert »
Ecowitt GW1000 | Meteobridge on Raspberry Pi
WU: KFLWINTE111  |  PWSweather: KFLWINTE111
CWOP: FW3708  |  AWEKAS: 14814
Windy: pws-f075acbe
Weather Underground Issue Tracking
Tele-Pole

Offline uwemundry

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Re: 433MHz RF to USB anyone?
« Reply #18 on: February 21, 2021, 09:29:45 AM »
I am using the SDR as I see no other way of getting the data out of an Atlas 5 in 1. I can't tap into the Access nor the indoor display (06061). So what else can I do other than using an SDR. I want plug and play, not dealing with RPI nor Arduino, my soldering iron was last touched 20 years ago :-) AcuRite doesn't make it easy to live stream it's data and I am not sure what their strategy on that is. And their graphing is substandard, half-baked, through the web portal and on the indoor display, just horrible. Not mentioning the sampling rates.

Offline Storm017

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Re: 433MHz RF to USB anyone?
« Reply #19 on: February 21, 2021, 01:33:21 PM »
Look into the program Acuparse: https://www.acuparse.com/ and does not require the use of a SDR.  But needs to run on a Linux OS or a VM.  As for a Weather Station console that transmits information (433MHz), don't know of any. If you still want to use your SDR, you would need a BME280 or BMP280 for your pressure.


Offline uwemundry

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Re: 433MHz RF to USB anyone?
« Reply #20 on: February 21, 2021, 01:39:10 PM »
I just ordered the EcoWitt GW1000, see if I can get the baro pressure out of it. Looks like that's possible.

Then of course I'll have to remap from 2 different sources but I can live with that.

Offline galfert

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Re: 433MHz RF to USB anyone?
« Reply #21 on: February 21, 2021, 01:52:02 PM »
The Ecowitt GW1000 does not send barometric pressure via RF. You can though get the pressure from the GW1000 via API (with supported application) or via HTTP GET (WU) and POST (Ecowitt) protocols.

There is an Ecowitt device that does send barometric pressure via RF and that is the WH32B as that is what the HP2551 display console uses because it does not have built in barometric sensor. But the WH32B is not sold separately. It is usually bundled with the HP2551 or stations that come with that display console. I suppose it is possible to perhaps make special order request to Ecowitt and see if they can send you just the WH32B.

But the norm for SDR users is to use the BME280 or BMP280 or similar.



« Last Edit: February 21, 2021, 01:56:28 PM by galfert »
Ecowitt GW1000 | Meteobridge on Raspberry Pi
WU: KFLWINTE111  |  PWSweather: KFLWINTE111
CWOP: FW3708  |  AWEKAS: 14814
Windy: pws-f075acbe
Weather Underground Issue Tracking
Tele-Pole

Offline uwemundry

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Re: 433MHz RF to USB anyone?
« Reply #22 on: February 21, 2021, 02:26:17 PM »
Ahhhhhh, I'll cancel the order 😃 and first check on that RF pressure sensor. I looked for something like that yesterday but couldn't find one, except for a Finnish Bluetooth product. But that only streams to iOS and Android, for now.

Thanks for the hint!!

Offline Storm017

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Re: 433MHz RF to USB anyone?
« Reply #23 on: February 21, 2021, 02:33:13 PM »
Here is one from Ambient: https://www.amazon.com/Ambient-Weather-WH32B-Indoor-Thermometer-Barometer-Hygrometer/dp/B07GX5VMHC

It is 915MHz.  I have not checked lately, but I think RTL_443 decodes that sensor.

Offline uwemundry

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Re: 433MHz RF to USB anyone?
« Reply #24 on: February 22, 2021, 08:48:29 AM »
Thank you! I ordered it. Will see if that works.