Topic: New Weather Station Advice

[thebrookster]

Good afternoon gents/ladies,

I have been hovering around the forum for a few days now, trying to collect my thoughts regarding a new (kinda replacement) weather station.

History: I used to have a very basic station purchased from Lidl many years ago, however a year or so ago it failed. I had been planning to replace it, however never quite gotten round to it. However, what with the current lockdown I will (fingers crossed) have a wee bitty spare time to finally take action. Gonna have to be quick, I go back to sea end of this month!

Basically, I have used WU for a while anyway, and want something that will upload to WU and as many other sites as practically feasible. Whilst I am looking for a "standard" station initially, SWMBO has a large garden so I already know that I will likely upgrade sensors to include ground temps, greenhouse temps etc etc, also longer term I wouldn't mind UV sensors etc.

So it looks like the Davis Vantage Pro 2 is the best fit.

I am not so fussed about a console tbh, however it is looking like this what I will need?

I have considered the WLL, however I am not so happy with its limitations regarding "secondary" site uploads, so was thinking that the WiFi Logger would be a better fit (I am not as bothered about using Weatherlink, I mean if it can be done I will do so, however until I was looking recently I had not even heard about it so my main priority was WU, WOW etc).

I would also like to maintain my own archives, for which I was thinking Raspberry Pi (or similar) to undertake that side of things. Most likely WeeWX or Cumulus I guess.

Does my thinking make sense to the more experienced members here? Have I missed anything or misunderstood anything? Or can anyone suggest better ideas/equipment/implementation? Better to find out now before I buy the wrong stuff 

Cheers,

Phil

P.S. - If it has any bearing, I am based in Scotland!!

[johnd]

Yes, broadly, your thinking makes good sense. A couple of points:

You will need a console with the WiFi logger (WFL) - it's really only the WLL amongst the common datalogger alternatives that receives direct from the sensor transmitters - other logger types need the console to act as the receiver. (And, yes, to avoid follow-up posts, Meteobridge Pro Red is another alternative to WLL, but is possibly a step beyond what you need.)

Second: don't forget that WLL data can be readily picked up by a local computer (eg a Pi) running suitable software such as CumulusMX or Meteobridge (for Pi), which makes for quite a powerful and flexible solution.

The final decision probably comes down to budget and detailed requirements, but either is a good solution. The one other thing that WLL offers is maximum flexibility in receiving different transmitter types across all 8 wireless channels, so in a sense it's a more future-proof solution.

[thebrookster]

Okay, well good to see I am going roughly in the right direction!

Regarding picking up data from WLL via CumulusMX/Meteobridge - this was in fact something I struggled to find info on. Does it collect raw data direct from the WLL, or is it interfacing with Weatherlink website and taking data from there?

Where possible I would prefer to use what I have seen referred to as "Rapidfire", or rather uploading closer to real time. I have full fibre, so bandwidth is not an issue, and if the station is taking readings then I would rather use them! Would this function with the WLL/Software link you mentioned?

To be honest, budget is not really a concern, I would prefer to keep costs lower but if I need to spend more then I will.

Phil

[johnd]

WLL effectively has two roles:

1. Uploads to weatherlink.com, with all the features that platform provides, especially if you take the Pro subscription too as well as using the free part of the service.

2. Provides a local interface for real-time and current data to any computer that requests it.

And WLL is quite happy performing both roles simultaneously.

So WLL can certainly provide a feed of realtime data to eg CumulusMX (but note not Cumulus v1) and to other compatible programs.

You'll see a debate on here about whether Weather Underground is fit for purpose any more and I won't rehearse that here. WLL will provide free updates to phone and browser apps every minute and, if you're on your local WiFi network (eg at home), wind and rain updates every 2.5 seconds. So the only extra feature that RapidFire brings to the party is putting updates on to websites more often than once a minute. This has a certain geek factor I suppose but it's debatable how useful that feature really is. But both WFL and CumulusMX do support Rapidfire if you wish to use that service.

[chief-david]

The best software is Weather display.

[thebrookster]

WLL effectively has two roles:

1. Uploads to weatherlink.com, with all the features that platform provides, especially if you take the Pro subscription too as well as using the free part of the service.

2. Provides a local interface for real-time and current data to any computer that requests it.

And WLL is quite happy performing both roles simultaneously.

So WLL can certainly provide a feed of realtime data to eg CumulusMX (but note not Cumulus v1) and to other compatible programs.

You'll see a debate on here about whether Weather Underground is fit for purpose any more and I won't rehearse that here. WLL will provide free updates to phone and browser apps every minute and, if you're on your local WiFi network (eg at home), wind and rain updates every 2.5 seconds. So the only extra feature that RapidFire brings to the party is putting updates on to websites more often than once a minute. This has a certain geek factor I suppose but it's debatable how useful that feature really is. But both WFL and CumulusMX do support Rapidfire if you wish to use that service.

And this is exactly why I asked before buying anything, you have just confirmed functionality of the WLL that I hadn't managed to find! Thank You!!!!

The best software is Weather display.

Ahah, and I see that it works with Linux as well, a key point for me as that's all I have currently! Cheers!! Just need to sort out the hardware side of that.

Cheers,

Phil

[johnd]

The best software is Weather display.

Not taking sides, but I suspect that many users might disagree with that. Someone else might like to comment on how fully comprehensive the Linux version of WD is.

AFAIK, all the main Linux- and WLL-compatible programs (eg CumulusMX, WD (for Linux or Pi), Meteobridge for Pi, weewx) are free or have trial versions. Best advice is perhaps to try all of them and see how you get on.

[galfert]

I don't like to take sides on weather software either. There are several choices like johnd has mentioned. They each are great in their own regard. Everyone that evaluates a software is going to get something different out of it because there are so many aspects and features to take advantage of, and everyone needs and values different things. I enjoy staying up to date will all of these software so I run them all, and I get little different thing from each. But there is certainly nothing wrong with expressing one's view of their favorite, so for that chief-david is totally right that for his use WD is the best. What would really elevate that statement though would be to learn what he values and what it is in his review that makes it so.

I can put together my list of perceived benefits of what I feel makes a strong case for each of these. Your list will be different. Add I may also be wrongly attributing some of these things...but that is just one person's view and I'm not saying that if I didn't add a qualifier that a given software is lacking that particular attribute.

• Cumulus MX - free-donation-ware*, cross platform Windows, Linux, macOS. Open source. Great for management from several systems on the network. Great visuals in web interface, not available for commercial use. Donation may have ended with Steve's retirement?
• Meteobridge - closed source - paid software, very simple web interface yet powerful features if you decide to dig in, most extensive preset list upload services supported, simple automatic updates with just a reboot, reliability from running as an appliance with nothing else on the system, supports multiple stations.
• Weather-Display - closed source - paid software, Most extensive types of weather stations supported, cross platform Windows, Linux, macOS. Tons of features with complex menu options.
• WeeWX - free Open source, predominately a Linux application (although it can be ported with some effort), extremely modifiable with little or no programing knowledge just by editing configuration files and templates, can support data from different stations (with some reservations).

That is just a cursory look at these. And as I said these attributes are loosely placed and you could easily say that for example any of these are reliable if you put it on the right system and the same goes for some of the other attribute depending on how any particular person feels. WD for example may be complex at first glance but you can easily get quickly familiarized with what you need out of it, and so then it becomes easy.

The great thing about the WLL is that you get to test them all, or continue to run them all also.

[Garth Bock]

Everyone has their favorite software and every software has things some don't like. That's why demos and forums like this one are helpful.

I started out long ago with Weatherlink, moved on to WeatherView32, then Virtual Weather Station and then Weather Display, Cumulus, AddInWx, and Weather Tracker. Thanks to Virtual Vantage Pro I can run them all.

[thebrookster]

Well, I have bitten the bullet and ordered!

So hopefully at some point this week (assuming all available everything will be with me Tues/Weds) I have now bought the following:

Davis VP2 ISS suite with 6100 WLL from Pro Data
Raspberry Pi 4B + Power Supply + Case from Pihut
64GB SD Card from Amazon (and yes, I am aware of the reformatting required )

So, if we have a section for homebuilds, I shall soon be starting another thread following my "build"!!

Cheers all for the advice,

Phil

[Bushman]

A word of advice on the SD card for the Pi:  make a backup!  Some SD cards are better than others.  Or run the OS from USB.