Author Topic: Davis Vantage Pro 2 + WLL + Cumulus MX (RPi4)  (Read 1458 times)

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Offline thebrookster

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Davis Vantage Pro 2 + WLL + Cumulus MX (RPi4)
« on: January 16, 2021, 02:39:40 PM »
Well, following my quest for advice a week back, I bit the bullet and spent some cash.

Needless to say, nothing went well from the start lol. The Pi etc arrived within a couple of days, however the actual sensor suite and WLL, lets just say UPS did not come out of that one covered in any kind of glory!

I ordered the bits I needed from Prodata, whom I can only praise!! I ordered on Sunday, and received an email on Monday informing me that everything had been dispatched. UPS tracking showed the parcel arrived in Glasgow Tuesday am. UPS then proceeded to send me a message every day around 6pm informing me that delivery was to be delayed by another day. I informed Prodata, who then proceeded to monitor from their end and were in touch with me daily. By Thursday, when I received a message stating delivery was to be put back to Monday, I had had enough and left the poor customer service rep in doubt about how I felt about UPS. Between that, and Peter at Prodata (whom I suspect may very well have had some choice words with UPS as well) it finally arrived yesterday completely out of the blue.
So I do here wish to make my appreciation for the beyond excellent customer service provided by Prodata! I like to recognise when companies go that extra mile, and they certainly did so. Thanks guys!!

Anyway, the build. Being in the middle of lockdown, and an imminent return to sea beckoning (my "day" job) meant I didn't really have time to fabricate a "proper" stand for the station. So some stout wooden posts will do for the time being.

Location chosen:
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And everything installed:
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I am a wee bitty constrained by location, as my house is essentially in a hollow in the hillside, so it is not easy to find a location within the garden that was not overshadowed by trees etc, however this is probably the best I am going to come up with. Also, In the future I would prefer to have the wind speed/direct gubbins mounted a bit higher at 10 metres height. This will be doable with a decent pole, hinged at the bottom to make access easier and some wire bracing to stop too much wobble (I am an engineer by trade, which goes some way to making this more doable lol). But that's for the future, along with some additional sensors (I would quite like to fit the UV/Solar sensors, and SWMBO would appreciate some stuff for her garden).

But I have this setup now, and communicating with the WLL unit (and thus the weatherlink site). However I drew a blank trying to get Cumulus MX (running on the Raspberry Pi) to communicate with the WLL. Some troubleshooting today on a different section of this forum however has sorted that. Essentially I hadn't realised that Cumulus does NOT need the API gubbins to speak to WLL, and therefore when I entered the API details in Cumulus was hanging up due to not having a Pro account (I'm cheapskate, and am happy to keep my own historical data lol). API stuff removed, and all is good  :grin:
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And on top of that, I have data reaching WU, just got to try and sort out where else I want to send it.

If anyone has any criticisms or suggestions fire them at me!! This is the first time I have setup a weather station, so no doubt have made plenty of mistakes along the way!

Cheers,

Phil

Online mcrossley

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Re: Davis Vantage Pro 2 + WLL + Cumulus MX (RPi4)
« Reply #1 on: January 16, 2021, 04:04:00 PM »
It's a good start :)

From what I can see the ideal set-up may require a bit of extra kit! :(

The gable ends of your house look like a much better place from your wind sensors - atop a suitably long 50 mm pole. But that may require a separate wind transmitter. Got a birthday coming up?  ;)

Your rain bucket is a bit compromised by the pole. Ideally it needs to be at the top so it isn't sheltered, but not at the same height as the anny!
Mark

Offline thebrookster

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Re: Davis Vantage Pro 2 + WLL + Cumulus MX (RPi4)
« Reply #2 on: January 16, 2021, 04:27:51 PM »
It's a good start :)

From what I can see the ideal set-up may require a bit of extra kit! :(

The gable ends of your house look like a much better place from your wind sensors - atop a suitably long 50 mm pole. But that may require a separate wind transmitter. Got a birthday coming up?  ;)

I agree, a friend has also suggested the gable end. Unfortunately I have sticking point, the house is a listed building and under National Park restrictions, I had to get permission just to install a sky dish! So I am erring away from that option if I can.

Your rain bucket is a bit compromised by the pole. Ideally it needs to be at the top so it isn't sheltered, but not at the same height as the anny!

Interesting, I hadn't thought of that! I guess moving to a metal pole will improve that as well.

Cheers for the feedback  :-)

Phil

Offline SteveFitz1

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Re: Davis Vantage Pro 2 + WLL + Cumulus MX (RPi4)
« Reply #3 on: January 16, 2021, 04:40:33 PM »

Your rain bucket is a bit compromised by the pole. Ideally it needs to be at the top so it isn't sheltered, but not at the same height as the anny!

Interesting, I hadn't thought of that! I guess moving to a metal pole will improve that as well.


Have you considered something like you would use for mounting a satellite dish? https://www.amazon.com/Vansky-Adjustable-Attic-Antenna-Mount/dp/B0744DCJVW/

I have this mount attached right near the top of a 6x6 with my VP2 attached to the pole. This allows the top of the rain bucket to be unobstructed.

Steve
« Last Edit: January 16, 2021, 06:33:52 PM by SteveFitz1 »

Online mcrossley

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Re: Davis Vantage Pro 2 + WLL + Cumulus MX (RPi4)
« Reply #4 on: January 16, 2021, 06:04:03 PM »
A beautiful part of the world btw.  [tup]
Mark

Offline Marty

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Re: Davis Vantage Pro 2 + WLL + Cumulus MX (RPi4)
« Reply #5 on: January 18, 2021, 11:21:51 PM »
Looking Good i like it ,    there is no perfect siting by any means,  do best you can and what data matters to you !

Offline WI1SKY

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Re: Davis Vantage Pro 2 + WLL + Cumulus MX (RPi4)
« Reply #6 on: June 17, 2021, 01:15:03 PM »
No comments on the WX Station but what an amazing location and home.  You mentioned that it is listed on the National Register.  I wonder if you might share it's significance and age.