ATMOCOM hardware deviceThe cost of the ATMOCOM device was 39 euro and including shipping from Europe by registered mail (courier is an option if you want it faster) the cost was about $76 CAD. It arrived in 2 weeks.
This discussion is specific to the Ambient WS-2000 weather station from a newbie perspective.
The WS-2000 has a display console that sends via WIFI a constant stream of data to your home router which in turn uploads weather data to Weather Underground and the Ambient Weather network.
I recently purchased a ATMOCOM hardware device after struggling unsuccessfully with interceptor drivers, linux networking issues, etc. I eventually and most reluctantly, gave up in despair. My computer skills could be charitably described as basic. Bottom line, I wanted to have my own weather web site and I also wanted more control over my own weather data. There had to be a better way. As it turns out – there is.
What is a ATMOCOM?In a nutshell, the ATMOCOM is a miniature WIFI router that intercepts and captures weather data from the Ambient WS-2000 console and then uploads a text file and a SQLite database to your web host. If desired, the ATMOCOM can also simultaneously save intercepted/captured data to your local computer as a SQLite database file.
To make the ATMOCOM work its magic you have to connect it(via WIFI) to your WS-2000 display console.
How to set up/configure the ATMOCOMOnce you turn on the ATMOCOM for the very first time, it boots into configuration mode where you can enter or change your home router connection details, the capture passkey that is required for the atmolog.php script, the capture path i.e.
http://mydomain.com/atmocom/atmolog.php and you will also need to change the default SSID password (AP password) for the ATMOCOM device.
The ATMOCOM device can be configured by telnet or by using your web browser. Since I have never used telnet and was not familiar with its use, I chose to configure it by the web browser method by entering the IP address (192.168.4.1) of the ATMOCOM device into a web browser. Some browsers just didn’t work for me and having several browser extensions running just wouldn’t allow me to connect. Your experience might be different but after trying a few different browsers, I found one that worked every time. Just remember that you can only access the configuration web page on your web browser when the device is in configuration mode. Make sure you are in configuration mode by holding down the multi-function button on the device and wait for the four LED flashes then release the button. Read the manual for instructions on how the multi-function button works. I should mention that the manual is excellent and email support was very good.
Initial setup issuesAh yes, the famous WS-2000 WIFI configuration screen. Having invisible SSIDs made it difficult to see what access point you are configuring. Depending on what screen you were on the WS-2000 display console, it would tell you were connected and not connected at the same time. It seems that the WS-2000 had a tenacious grip on the connection to my home router and would not easily stay connected to the ATMOCOM. As there is no way to “forget a connection” like in a Windows computer, I ended up putting in a false password in the WS-2000 console for my home router SSID. A kludge to be sure but easier than doing a factory reset of the WS-2000 console and starting over from scratch. Hopefully a future WS-2000 firmware release may help to improve WIFI usability.
In setting up the ATMOCOM for the first time, I did not understand that the capture passkey on the ATMOCOM device configuration web page must be the same as the passkey in the atmolog_cfg.php file. Once I did this, everything just worked.
What type of data is generated by the ATMOCOM?In normal operating mode called “capture mode”, the ATMOCOM uploads a Weather Underground format file: named stationid_data.txt. Stationid is your Weather Underground station ID. It also creates a folder called wxdb where you will find a SQLite format database file. A separate database file is created for every month so the ATMOCOM will automatically archive all of your weather data independently of any third-party weather service. You can easily browse or edit your database. ATMOCOM recommends using DB Browser software package for this purpose.
If you wish to create a weather website using your new ATMOCOM, I would highly recommend using Ken True’s weather34 CU-HMS template as your first project. There is no need to set up/configure complicated SQL databases. Just download the zip file and unzip all the files onto your local computer and upload these same files/folders to your web host using your favourite ftp software. The CU-HWS template was originally meant to be used with the weather software CUMULUS but the developer of the ATMOCOM has thoughtfully provided a patch available on github that enables the ATMOCOM device to work with this template.
Just remember that in order to install weather templates on a web host, you will need to initially upload (one time only) some ATMOCOM PHP scripts. For more info refer to the manual. Download these php scripts from the github.com/atmocom web site. I uploaded all of these to a folder on my web host called atmocom.
Here is what my ATMOCOM powered weather34 CU-HWS web site looks like:
http://www.weather.glenns.caWhat else can you do with the ATMOCOM?The ATMOCOM also works with weewx. If you have a computer that you are willing to run 24/7 and are familiar with Linux, you can install weewx, install the udp driver that was independently developed to work with the ATMOCOM and you are good to go.
NOTE: It took days for me to figure out why the weewx ATMOCOM udp driver did not appear to be working. I reinstalled weewx and played around with the settings for way too long. It was being blocked all along by the linux firewall!
Once you have solved any linux firewall issues and have weewx working, you can play around with different “skins” and install other weewx extensions. Do you need a CUMULUS type realtime.txt file so you can try a different template? No problem, weewx has an extension for that. Many other extensions are available.
I have just retired my ancient power hungry laptop and am currently running a Raspberry Pi weewx web site using the ATMOCOM udp driver. Note: there were no firewall issues with the raspberry pi.
Here is my ATMOCOM powered weewx site:
http://www.weewx.glenns.caMy overall experience with the ATMOCOM device has been very positive.
Must read. Fellow forum member kbellis has an excellent “”first look” review of the ATMOCOM with pictures no less!
https://www.wxforum.net/index.php?topic=36842.0
