WXforum.net
Weather Software => What Weather Software should I use/buy? => Topic started by: stefanbagnato on June 01, 2022, 02:09:37 PM
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I am trying to see if there is any software that can support running two anemometers at once. Use case: my anemometer is located with my station about 3m off the ground. However, due to the topography, the wind speeds are hardly an accurate representation. I was thinking about adding another anemometer located 10m up.
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if you have a Davis station and a Davis WLL
then a second anenometer reading can be display as a custom tag in the weather display software
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if you have a Davis station and a Davis WLL
then a second anenometer reading can be display as a custom tag in the weather display software
Hm okay. I have a Davis VP2, but I don't have WLL. I have an Envoy and have been using Cumulus for six years now. However, I am seriously considering the second anemometer and, unfortunately, CMX does not support that. For WD, is WLL required?
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If your current VP2 wind speed is not an accurate representation at 3m then is there an issue with simply mounting the existing one higher? The anemometer should have a 40 foot cable.
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For WD, is WLL required?
to get a second windspeed reading ,yes,sorry
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Any Davis station that uses the traditional console/logger approach as receiver/logger for data handling is stuck with using the legacy or v1 API (ie the one described in the Davis Serial Tech Ref document) . This has only a single slot for wind data (ie accommodates just a single anemometer) and there's no way of changing this.
The introduction of WLL, which in theory allows an anemometer on all 8 of the wireless channels, changed all of this, but uses a completely different and far more flexible v2 API.
Most of the familiar third-party software (Weatherlink for Windows/Mac, Weather Display, Cumulus/MX etc etc) will have been designed around using the legacy API and so its whole data handling and dashboard only accommodates a single anemometer. None of the well-known software (other than weatherlink.com of course) has caught up fully with the v2 API yet and, to be fair, it would be a huge task to provide full compatibility with the v2 API, eg allowing for multiple anemometers rather than just a single unit, and which is indeed all that most users will have. The one I'm not sure about is weewx, but I suspect that will have similar constraints.
The only solution I can think of right now for more than one anemometer is to use WLL and weatherlink.com on a Pro plan. This provides a multi-anemometer dashboard and then a data store also. If you want to do more with the data then you can download it into supplementary software like the Prowlar program that we run for detailed reporting.
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If your current VP2 wind speed is not an accurate representation at 3m then is there an issue with simply mounting the existing one higher? The anemometer should have a 40 foot cable.
Lol I cannot argue with your logic. However, since I've had it at 10ft for 6 years, I think I'd probably rather keep it there and then add another one at 35ft on the roof.
For WD, is WLL required?
to get a second windspeed reading ,yes,sorry
No problem, just wanted to make sure I understood.
Any Davis station that uses the traditional console/logger approach as receiver/logger for data handling is stuck with using the legacy or v1 API (ie the one described in the Davis Serial Tech Ref document) . This has only a single slot for wind data (ie accommodates just a single anemometer) and there's no way of changing this.
The introduction of WLL, which in theory allows an anemometer on all 8 of the wireless channels, changed all of this, but uses a completely different and far more flexible v2 API.
Most of the familiar third-party software (Weatherlink for Windows/Mac, Weather Display, Cumulus/MX etc etc) will have been designed around using the legacy API and so its whole data handling and dashboard only accommodates a single anemometer. None of the well-known software (other than weatherlink.com of course) has caught up fully with the v2 API yet and, to be fair, it would be a huge task to provide full compatibility with the v2 API, eg allowing for multiple anemometers rather than just a single unit, and which is indeed all that most users will have. The one I'm not sure about is weewx, but I suspect that will have similar constraints.
The only solution I can think of right now for more than one anemometer is to use WLL and weatherlink.com on a Pro plan. This provides a multi-anemometer dashboard and then a data store also. If you want to do more with the data then you can download it into supplementary software like the Prowlar program that we run for detailed reporting.
This is a great explanation, thank you. I was vaguely aware of the v2 API, but I did not put two and two together regarding the compatibility with the existing softwares. I really like my CMX setup as I've done a lot of customization over the years and have a completely customized dashboard. However, the lack of support for a second anemometer (all other sensors have multiple options) is what is making me seriously consider switching it up. I've never used WLL (had the basic WL with my first VP2 back in high school (20 years ago)) so I am going to read into that more. If I did go that route, then I may need to reconsider a bunch of steps as I was getting ready to build my new server as the existing one holding the CMX MySQL DB and my IIS server is starting to fail.
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I'll let Mark comment on possible extensions to CMX (if he sees this post) but I suspect that he has his hands (and spare time) full with more routine regular maintenance of CMX.
I presume also that it's not impossible that CMX could extended incrementally to add more v2 API features (like a second anemometer for WLL users - the JSON for a second anemometer is there in the WLL local data feed) but I'm guessing it would be a big task and not sure how this would rank alongside other planned major feature extensions to CMX. TBH two anemometers is probably very much a minority interest and I guess Mark is likely to prioritise whatever new features are likely to be most in demand or most popular.
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I'll let Mark comment on possible extensions to CMX (if he sees this post) but I suspect that he has his hands (and spare time) full with more routine regular maintenance of CMX.
I presume also that it's not impossible that CMX could extended incrementally to add more v2 API features (like a second anemometer for WLL users - the JSON for a second anemometer is there in the WLL local data feed) but I'm guessing it would be a big task and not sure how this would rank alongside other planned major feature extensions to CMX. TBH two anemometers is probably very much a minority interest and I guess Mark is likely to prioritise whatever new features are likely to be most in demand or most popular.
110% agree. I have weird ideas haha. I'll research the WLL route and have the internal debate with myself as to how much I want to change things up or not.
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not sure why Johnd has missed that weather display supports a second windspeed via the Davis WLL..he is replying to that information but somehow just ignores that in his posts and then instead goes on to put his support in behind having cumulus add that support instead
what is going on here?
disappointing
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not sure why Johnd has missed that weather display supports a second windspeed via the Davis WLL..he is replying to that information but somehow just ignores that in his posts and then instead goes on to put his support in behind having cumulus add that support instead
what is going on here?
disappointing
OK, sorry about that. Simple ignorance rather than anything else! It is a genuine problem keeping up to date with multiple programs with tweaks and new features being added all the time. I've just never seen it mentioned hereabouts at all. But good work. When was it introduced?
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I can see two options:
1. use weewx, run two instances and display both anemometers (applies in principle to all sensors) in one web page (skin) reading from the two databases
2. use Meteobridge (e.g. on RPi) [imho worth the small license fee]; it allows
a) for running up to five stations in parallel - and you can combine your output from several stations and can create output for web pages or create combined charts inside Meteobridge
b) if the sensors (here two anemometers) are supported from one station, it may show them both - to be verified