Just got a Vantage Vue last week, set it up at work and everything communicates fine. I've searched here and tried to do research but sometimes that leads to confusion and more questions.
So... I know Davis offers 3 dataloggers. USB, serial and IP. Can't use the serial on the computer I want to connect it to (although I guess a serial to usb converter would be an option) so unless there's a compelling reason, I'd like to stick with USB or IP. This PC it would be connected to is on 24/7 so that doesn't help narrow the 2 options. One thing, our network here is set up for only static IP addresses, no DHCP. One person at Davis said I would have to run DHCP the other said you can configure a static IP address.
Does anyone know which is true? Meaning you have actually done this? And if I went IP then the device would have to plug into a switch on the network, not the actual router. Any issues with that?
If I went USB it would be cheaper. That's a plus because I'm also considering an extra console toi put in a different location. Would the usb setup be easier or harder than the IP method? Not talking about assigning IP addresses, etc. Talking about configuring software, etc. to get data online?
I've also got the impression the USB and IP data loggers at Davis are not the only way to go. Is that true? Are the other ways much more complicated? I'd like to stick with simplistic if at all possible but if I can accomplish the same result and there are some online step by step methods, I'm all ears.
Lastly, my ultimate goal is to obviously get this online but I want to be able to check the current data as well as prior days with an android phone app. Davis told me that would cost $30 per year. Is that true? Is there not a "free" way of doing this?
Any thoughts?