Author Topic: WiFiLogger - Connect your Davis console directly to the Internet via WiFi  (Read 108851 times)

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Offline WiFiLogger

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Archive interval has to be 15 minutes.

Offline galfert

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SMTP server: what should go here?
SMTP user: defaults to my local network name
SMTP pass: what should go here?
SMTP port: what should go here?

Why is the WiFiLogger asking for this SMTP stuff? Because it doesn't have a way to send email unless it has an email account to use. The WiFiLogger isn't tied to a company that will send out these emails from the device for you. So you have to give it your email account for it to use to send email out with. Unfortunately this requires that your email account support a now somewhat less desirable protocol called SMTP. Don't get me wrong and try and teach me something I already know. Yes there are more secure ways to use SMTP with TLS... etc. That is beyond the scope of this matter. If you didn't understand that last bit good it wasn't intended for you.

SMTP stands for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. It is a method to send email from one system to another. This day people rely on webmail or corporate Exchange server email. With webmail you don't need to worry about SMTP.  Even if you use an email client software chances are it configures itself automatically by you just giving it your email address and password. So if you ask a typical person these days what SMTP server and port and authentication they are using chances are they won't know what you are talking about. There was a time before webmail became popular that everyone used an email client software with a POP3 email account and then they knew what these things meant as they had to get them from their email provider to enter into their software so that they could send email.

Where this leaves us today is that you need to find an email account that has SMTP enabled (or you spin up your own email server which is not the best solution for most people). Doing this and changing things with your normal trusted email account may not be the best solution. Since you just need an email account to send from it doesn't matter what it is. For this reason I recommend setting up an email account for this purpose. Or maybe you already have one of these extra email accounts that you use for giving out to people or companies that you don't want bothering you at your real email address with. That would be a perfect email account to use with SMTP enabled.

Trouble is that in the age of everyone using webmail some weaknesses have been discovered in SMTP and most web email (Gmail, Yahoo, iCloud, Hotmail (Outlook.com) and others, have removed SMTP from being available as a default. So if you want to use SMTP then you'll need to look into turning this on with your email provider and possibly opening yourself up to some added risk. That is why I suggest using that 2nd email address you have that doesn't matter or just set a new one up.

With each email service provider enabling this SMTP stuff is going to be different. So you'll need to look up how to enable SMTP and what server address to use and what port and what type of authentication...etc. I recommend Yahoo for this as to me it seemed like the simplest to support this.


« Last Edit: May 06, 2019, 11:33:17 AM by galfert »
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Offline Bushman

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Pretty much everyone I know uses secured SMTP for personal email clients on their desktop (Outlook, etc.)  Who runs an Exchange server at home? (You do know that Outlook Exchange uses SMTP, right?)  As for webmail, I only use that when I don't have a device  with email on it handy.
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Offline galfert

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Nope, Exchange uses MAPI.
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Offline 92merc

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Actually all the newest Exchange servers (2016) and Outlook 365 use HTTPS for everything.  MAPI was fully dropped as of Exchange 2016.

Most ISP's still use either POP/SMTP or IMAP.  Or both in my case.

GMail can use SMTP, but only with TLS encryption.
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Offline galfert

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Thank you for the update on Exchange.

Yes I mentioned that you could use SMTP with Gmail but it is not enabled by default for a reason. Same as with all other Webmail services. ISP companies are the slowest to adapt and they are the last to care as they are a monopoly. They do the bare minimum for you. Which is why you should run your own WiFi router etc.

My suggestion is to just use a spare Yahoo account. It is easier than Gmail to configure for SMTP. At least it was last I visited this some time ago. Things change.  YMMV.
« Last Edit: May 06, 2019, 01:05:07 PM by galfert »
Ecowitt GW1000 | Meteobridge on Raspberry Pi
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CWOP: FW3708  |  AWEKAS: 14814
Windy: pws-f075acbe
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Offline Bushman

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smtp.office365.com  Go figure.
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Offline PaulMy

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Mode: Enabled
School ID: I have that entered
SITE ID: I have that entered
Email from: using my existing
Email copy: have left blank
SMTP server: what should go here?
SMTP user: defaults to my local network name
SMTP pass: what should go here?
SMTP port: what should go here?

Those are same data when you have to setup OUTLOOK in your PC.
"SMTP server" is a server which is sending your email, but if you are using web page istead of Oulook, then you haven't use this parameter, but here you will have to know it.
"SMTP user" your email user. Sometimes is just user like "wifilogger", but now almost all SMTP servers wants full address as user eg. "wifilogger@qq.com"
"SMTP pass" passowd to your email account.
PORT this is much more interesting. General port for SMTP connection was 25. This was complete open port used for SPAM.
Port 465 this is not used here. This one is best, because encrypted, but I have lost full day to try it. No lack.
Port 587 is not encrypted, but needs user and password. Some server will block not encypted connection on this port. You have to use /debug windows of WiFiLogger to check printed info from server.
There is still many SMTP servers ready to work with WiFiLogger, but forget about GMAIL. probably YAHOO will also have encypted connection only.

After saving settings, you can click on "TEST" to send email immediately. First sending is 5 day archive in 5 email, then it will save last date in flash memory and send one email per day at 7:46 UTC.

Thanks Wojtek,

I use the email service provided by GoDaddy.  I have another program that sends notifications and have borrowed the settings from that program which works, and have entered that same information in Globe settings.  Using the Test didn't seem to send anything and it is too late to keep watching for it so will see in the morning, and then call GoDaddy if needed.


Will let you know if/when Globe data is actually received by them.


Enjoy,

Paul

 

Offline MatteoPV

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While waiting for VP2 to arrive, I opened a pro account on WL etc. Do you think a 10 minute data upload interval is valid? I have read that I can set the wifilogger in such a way that if it is not transmitting it goes to standby, for a loading interval of 10 minutes then as I set the standby?

Offline pfletch101

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I have now had another episode like the one I described in http://www.wxforum.net/index.php?topic=34312.msg377408#msg377408, with the WiFiLogger apparently 'dropping off the network'. This one occurred at a time when I was able to do a bit more investigation. It turned out that, notwithstanding my router having been set to assign the WiFiLogger to a specific fixed IP address, it had actually 'moved' to another address within the DHCP server's normal assignable range. After various manipulations, resetting the Logger, resetting the router, etc., I managed to get it back to its normal 'fixed' address, only to have it again switch to a different address a few hours later. I now have the Logger assigned to its correct address as a fixed address in its network settings, and it seems to be staying there, but I don't, in general, like doing things this way.

The obvious temptation would be to blame the router's DHCP server for this, but the WiFi logger is one of fifteen devices on my network which have specific IP addresses assigned  in the router's DHCP settings, and it is the only one which has ever behaved in this way (three times, now). I wonder if it is occasionally passing a 'bad' MAC address when it renews its network lease, which would cause the DHCP server to assign it a different address.

Does anyone have any useful thoughts?
Vantage Pro 2+ connected to Raspberry Pi running weewx by means of Meteo-Pi - data incorporated in domestic energy production (PV) and use monitoring system.

Offline galfert

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Test a few things...

Set router's DHCP lease time to only a few minutes. Then look at router DHCP log or DHCP lease status and see if the WiFiLogger is actually renewing the lease as it should at the half life of the lease time, or at least it should be renewing at lease expiration. This is only a temporary thing to facilitate learning the behavior or DHCP lease renewal. Then set the lease time back to your normal time frame (at least a day... I like 14 days on my home network as I don't need to recycle IP addresses.) If you find that the WiFiLogger is not properly renewing the DHCP lease it wouldn't be the first time I've seen that with some network devices. If so then I recommend a static IP....but not just yet... First test this next thing.

The second thing to try is to set the DHCP reservation to be within the normal DHCP scope range. Sometimes this can be a problem for some DHCP servers. See if you are affected by this.

The last thing you can do is just use a static IP but keep the DHCP reservation as a form of network documentation.
« Last Edit: May 08, 2019, 01:42:30 PM by galfert »
Ecowitt GW1000 | Meteobridge on Raspberry Pi
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CWOP: FW3708  |  AWEKAS: 14814
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Offline pfletch101

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Test a few things...

Set router's DHCP lease time to only a few minutes. Then look at router DHCP log or DHCP lease status and see if the WiFiLogger is actually renewing the lease as it should at the half life of the lease time, or at least it should be renewing at lease expiration. This is only a temporary thing to facilitate learning the behavior or DHCP lease renewal. Then set the lease time back to your normal time frame (at least a day... I like 14 days on my home network as I don't need to recycle IP addresses.) If you find that the WiFiLogger is not properly renewing the DHCP lease it wouldn't be the first time I've seen that with some network devices. If so then I recommend a static IP....but not just yet... First test this next thing.
If I have set a fixed IP address for a device, its lease is shown as 'permanent' on the relevant table on my router's admin pages, whatever the default is set to. However, the last time the WiFiLogger jumped to a new address was almost exactly 2 hours (my router's regular lease time) after I had reset it to its normal address.

Quote
The second thing to try is to set the DHCP reservation to be within the normal DHCP scope range. Sometimes this can be a problem for some DHCP servers. See if you are affected by this.
Unlike many routers I have used in the past, my current one will not assign fixed addresses outside its set scope.

Quote
The last thing you can do is just use a static IP but keep the DHCP reservation as a form of network documentation.
Thats is what I am currently doing. I notice that the WiFiLogger does, in fact, have a second MAC address (differing from the normal one only by one bit in the second byte), which it uses when it is behaving as an access point. I just wonder whether it very occasionally uses the 'wrong' one in its normal mode.
Vantage Pro 2+ connected to Raspberry Pi running weewx by means of Meteo-Pi - data incorporated in domestic energy production (PV) and use monitoring system.

Offline galfert

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Well that is odd. Set two different DHCP reservations (with different IPs obviously) for each of the two MAC addresses of the WiFiLogger to test your theory. Then see which IP of the two sticks.

What kind of router are you using?
Ecowitt GW1000 | Meteobridge on Raspberry Pi
WU: KFLWINTE111  |  PWSweather: KFLWINTE111
CWOP: FW3708  |  AWEKAS: 14814
Windy: pws-f075acbe
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Offline pfletch101

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Well that is odd. Set two different DHCP reservations (with different IPs obviously) for each of the two MAC addresses of the WiFiLogger to test your theory. Then see which IP of the two sticks.
In all honesty, while it is working, as it is now, with its IP address fixed in hardware and in the router, I am inclined to let sleeping dogs lie.  :-)
Quote
What kind of router are you using?
TP-Link TL-R600VPN. It's not a wireless router - I have a separate Ubiquiti WiFi access point plugged into one of its Lan ports.
Vantage Pro 2+ connected to Raspberry Pi running weewx by means of Meteo-Pi - data incorporated in domestic energy production (PV) and use monitoring system.

Offline MatteoPV

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The VP2 and the wifi logger have arrived. In a short time I installed everything and set the wifi logger. I updated it to firmware 2.17. Having made the necessary adjustments, it is uploading the data to my WeatherLink Pro account every 10 minutes without problems.

I have questions:

At the next firmware update, will the wifi logger lose the configuration?

When it's not working in 10 minutes, is it a kind of standby?

Offline PaulMy

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I am on v2.17
I have not yet been able to get the Globe to upload. 
I am using the same School and Site IDs as used in Weatherlink which works. 
I have entered the same email, SMTP user, password, port and serverhost as I have for another program email notification.

Also, while all the other WiFiLogger uploads are working fine, the CWOP is not updating, using the same settings as for previous version.
Anyone successfully doing the GLOBE uploads?
Enjoy,Paul

Offline MatteoPV

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Sorry, I have the firmware 2.16 on the wifi logger ....... did an online update and that's it.

I am using ID and Password provided by WL and everything runs smoothly.

Offline PaulMy

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Thanks MatteoPV,

I have been uploading to Globe through Weatherlink.com but that only works while I have Weatherlink PC running, which I only do periodically.
I would like to change over to WiFiLogger upload which is in v2.17. 

Am I correct that WL is doing your update and not WiFiLogger, as thought that function was not in v2.16?

Enjoy,
Paul

Offline MatteoPV

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I don't have any PC running, it does all the wifi logger. I entered my Davis in WeatherLink web, I then opted for data transmission via datalogger, at which point the site provided me with ID and Password which I then inserted into the wifi logger

Offline twofus

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If you want to export data by WiFiLogger with Vantage PRO 2 console, you need to have minimum 1.90 console firmware.
Updates for consoles and Envoy are avaible on Davis website.

WifiLogger - any plans to add Windy.com to the export?

Offline MatteoPV

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Quote
I have other questions, sorry but, I read everything using the search button but I have doubts. I will get vp2 with wifi logger bought by ryan. I would then put the vp2 online to be able to consult it with a smartphone app, be able to insert it in other weather networks and then maybe build my own website. I wanted to subscribe premix to wl, is it a good solution or are there alternatives?
Your Davis station and WiFiLogger will allow you to directly upload to Davis weatherlink.com, Weather Underground, PWS Weather, WeatherCloud, AWEKAS, WOW (MetOffice UK),  and CWOP after you have signed up for them and have the necessary ID/Passwords from those sites.

WiFiLogger can also upload a realtime.txt and a wflexp.json file which can be used to update a website.  i.e. I use the realtime.txt to update http://www.komokaweather.com/pws-wfl/ for the current conditions.  There are some other things that I have not yet tried.

If instead of the above uploads you want to access the logger for third-party program like Cumulus that will work fine.
 
If you want to do those uploads and also third-party software running then WiFiLogger needs to share the access between the logger uploads and the program.  WiFiLogger has an AutoPause function to allow that joint access.  However while uploads are being done the third-party program will not have access and that will cause some data to be missed by the program and/or uploads missed.


Enjoy,
Paul

Your weather website is fantastic, how do I get such a result? I have already bought a domain of my own and would like to build a similar site

Offline txweather.org

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Quote
I have other questions, sorry but, I read everything using the search button but I have doubts. I will get vp2 with wifi logger bought by ryan. I would then put the vp2 online to be able to consult it with a smartphone app, be able to insert it in other weather networks and then maybe build my own website. I wanted to subscribe premix to wl, is it a good solution or are there alternatives?
Your Davis station and WiFiLogger will allow you to directly upload to Davis weatherlink.com, Weather Underground, PWS Weather, WeatherCloud, AWEKAS, WOW (MetOffice UK),  and CWOP after you have signed up for them and have the necessary ID/Passwords from those sites.

WiFiLogger can also upload a realtime.txt and a wflexp.json file which can be used to update a website.  i.e. I use the realtime.txt to update http://www.komokaweather.com/pws-wfl/ for the current conditions.  There are some other things that I have not yet tried.

If instead of the above uploads you want to access the logger for third-party program like Cumulus that will work fine.
 
If you want to do those uploads and also third-party software running then WiFiLogger needs to share the access between the logger uploads and the program.  WiFiLogger has an AutoPause function to allow that joint access.  However while uploads are being done the third-party program will not have access and that will cause some data to be missed by the program and/or uploads missed.


Enjoy,
Paul

Your weather website is fantastic, how do I get such a result? I have already bought a domain of my own and would like to build a similar site

You can get the template from here:
https://www.weather-watch.com/smf/index.php?topic=67468.0

If I am not mistaken when using the WiFiLogger you have to use the WD template.

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Offline MatteoPV

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Fantastic!!!! But then is the wifi logger that supplies the data directly to the template or does the template take it from weathelink.com?

Offline PaulMy

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Quote
If I am not mistaken when using the WiFiLogger you have to use the WD template.
You can also use the Cumulus version of the template www.komokaweather.com/pws-wfl

Quote
But then is the wifi logger that supplies the data directly to the template or does the template take it from weathelink.com?
It comes from the WiFiLogger realtime.txt that is updated by WiFiLogger www.komokaweather.com/wifi-console/realtime.txt at 1-min interval


Enjoy,
Paul

Offline nathanxollier

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Quote
If I am not mistaken when using the WiFiLogger you have to use the WD template.
You can also use the Cumulus version of the template www.komokaweather.com/pws-wfl

Quote
But then is the wifi logger that supplies the data directly to the template or does the template take it from weathelink.com?
It comes from the WiFiLogger realtime.txt that is updated by WiFiLogger www.komokaweather.com/wifi-console/realtime.txt at 1-min interval


Enjoy,
Paul

PaulMy i to would like to know how you are showing Cumulus Console, pretty cool site you have there.