Topic: Maximum cable length between Weather Link IP and router?

[Zoandar]

I was going to get a USB WeatherLink, but I read in the PDF manual that they recommend not exceeding 16 feet in extending the USB cable. I would need to go much further for that hookup. So, I am looking into the WeatherLink IP. Is there any maximum length to the LAN cable it would use to connect to my router? My router is actually between the Vantage Vue console I have nearby (I also have a Vantage Pro 2, and am using its ISS, but that console is on another level of my home) and my PC, so connecting by LAN cable to the Vue console would be the shortest connection route. I also like the idea of having the data available even if my main PC isn't running.

I currently run the Vue on battery, so I guess I would also have to connect it to AC power, according to the WeatherLink IP setup guide.

Any comments or suggestions are welcome.

[BigOkie]

I was going to get a USB WeatherLink, but I read in the PDF manual that they recommend not exceeding 16 feet in extending the USB cable. I would need to go much further for that hookup. So, I am looking into the WeatherLink IP. Is there any maximum length to the LAN cable it would use to connect to my router? My router is actually between the Vantage Vue console I have nearby (I also have a Vantage Pro 2, and am using its ISS, but that console is on another level of my home) and my PC, so connecting by LAN cable to the Vue console would be the shortest connection route. I also like the idea of having the data available even if my main PC isn't running.

I currently run the Vue on battery, so I guess I would also have to connect it to AC power, according to the WeatherLink IP setup guide.

Any comments or suggestions are welcome.

I would think it would only be limited by the interface in which it was connected.  For Cat5/5E/6, maximum recommended cable length is about 90 meters (295 feet).

[wxtech]

The WLIP definitely needs AC power to function.  So where is your nearest UPS?  Surely you have your router on a UPS.

[Zoandar]

I would think it would only be limited by the interface in which it was connected.  For Cat5/5E/6, maximum recommended cable length is about 90 meters (295 feet).

Thanks. I only need to travel by circuitous route (hidden cable) perhaps 25-30 feet to get from the Vue console to the router. I have both consoles in specific places and don't want to move either of them, but neither is near a PC. I've never been a fan of USB's quirky reliability anyway, so the IP version looks like my best option.

[Zoandar]

The WLIP definitely needs AC power to function.  So where is your nearest UPS?  Surely you have your router on a UPS.

Well, no, I don't..We have an emergency generator which I use in power outages to run pretty much everything here, so it powers the router to handle our LAN and, on the rare occurrence it actually has service during a power outage, our cable modem. When we lose power here, the cause is usually sufficient to also take out our internet provider. I do use UPS units on our PCs, but never saw the need for having the router running from one. There is power near where I run the Vantage Vue console. But I had been running it on batteries to make it portable so during weather events I could relocate it to my desk when I am sitting there. Once I get the data on our LAN I wouldn't need to move it, so it could be plugged in where it is.

I have read on this forum under the WL-USB section of problems with signal loss, and Davis pointed at the AC supply as a potential cause. Has anyone had similar problems using the IP version, or has it proven to be more reliable?

[wxtech]

WLIP in use since Mar 2011.  Once set up, it works and I forget it.  Very reliable.  I upload to my site every 5 minutes.
And it sends to weatherlink dot com every minute:  http://www.weatherlink.com/user/wxtech/index.php?view=summary&headers=0

[Zoandar]

Thanks for all the helpful replies, folks!

I am wondering..........has anyone tried using a second router as a wireless bridge, to plug the WLIP into, and have it communicate by wifi with the main router in a LAN? This would save my having to run a cable from the console to our LAN router, unless there is some reason I would not want to do it (like poor throughput or something). I have a spare router that I just upgraded, so could just be a matter of figuring out how to tell it to be a bridge.

Aha! I just found this thread discussing it, so it looks like it may be possible:

http://www.wxforum.net/index.php?topic=9993.0

I also just found a thread on support forum for my older router, telling how to set it up as a bridge/AP device.

Thanks again for the help. If anyone knows of any problems I may encounter running a WLIP this way, please chime in.

[dalecoy]

Thanks again for the help. If anyone knows of any problems I may encounter running a WLIP this way, please chime in.

Actually, it would be nice if you report back in a few days, and tell us what you did, and how well it is working.

[Zoandar]

Thanks again for the help. If anyone knows of any problems I may encounter running a WLIP this way, please chime in.

Actually, it would be nice if you report back in a few days, and tell us what you did, and how well it is working.

To clarify, so far this is entirely academic..I have not ordered a WeatherLink yet. Thinking seriously about it now, as putting my Davis system data online is something I've wanted to do since I bought the Vantage Pro, but the costs were prohibitive at the time. However, should I decide to do this, I promise to come back to this forum and let you know how things went. I've seen too many forum threads fade off into the void and never say whether the help provided to someone ever worked. I don't like to do that. I appreciate any help you good folks provide, and will surely let you know if things work as planned. Also, I like leaving a trail of "bread crumbs" when I use a forum to solve a problem, so the next person coming along looking for the same solution doesn't have to do all the same digging to get the same answer.

[Zoandar]

OK, after extensive reading I have decided to move forward on this project, and I just ordered a WeatherLinkIP which will arrive tomorrow. I'll relate my setup experiences as I go along.

One thing I kept encountering in the reviews I read was that although many seem happy with their out of box experience, several enthusiasts preferred to use different software not from Davis once they had the WLIP running. In the interest of shortening my research a bit, if anyone would like to recommend alternate software and why they like it, I'd love to read about it. Pointing me to a different thread for that information would be fine. I'd just like to avoid some of the searching if I can, since it can be hard to find what one is looking for on forums. My primary interest in this project is to be able to see the same data my console would display, but from any device that accesses the internet. I ran across some mention of data lag compared to real time, but I also read that may actually be caused by the website collecting the data, and their filtered output of the raw incoming data. I would hope that while I am here, with the data being fed to my LAN, I could get a rapid throughput to view it via wifi connected devices. Away from home, I can understand there being some lag to process things through a website somewhere.

[dalecoy]

What software you use depends largely on how you want your website to look.  Fancy?  Or just plain functional?

I use WeatherLink, but I'm oldfashioned.  http://www.thecoys.net/weather/Current_Vantage_Pro_Plus.htm

Others like a fancier look.

... I would hope that while I am here, with the data being fed to my LAN, I could get a rapid throughput to view it ...

Think for a minute and define "rapid throughput".  Most weather data is relatively slow (except for wind).  Why do you need to get "rapid throughput"?  There's no correct answer, by the way. 

[Zoandar]

OK, well, perhaps "rapid" wasn't a good choice of words. How about "timely"? I would like no more than to be able to see by wifi what the console is displaying in real time, or close to real time. In other words, if it is 75 degrees and sunny now, but had been 60 and raining 15 minutes earlier, I'd like to see the 75 and sunny. As a comparison to undesirable throughput, wherever Weather Underground gets their Android mobile app data for our location, it usually runs way behind actual conditions. The temperature alone can be 10 degrees off as it rises through the day. I'd hope I can do better. That's all I meant.

As far as software, I am definitely more interested in functional than fancy. But I guess there has been some improvement over the past several years. Some of the WeatherLink reviews I read that date back into the previous decade (have to watch how old those Amazon reviews really are) had complaints that rainfall was not displayed at all. Yet I see rainfall listed in some of the WeatherLink connected sites for our area. So really what I want out of the software is to see is the amount of data and kinds of data I would like, more-so than eye candy. However, if someone's software would give me the same kind of display on my PC that I see on my consoles, that would be very cool! (With the animated wind direction gauge, etc. ). I visited WeatherLink's website with the Android mobile app, and the displays from local sources are pretty rudimentary.

[Bushman]

You mean a phone display like this?

[Cutty Sark Sailor]

I use VWS.... especially for the jpgs embedded in my cam images... but the site uses mostly Ken's scripts...

[Zoandar]

You mean a phone display like this?

HO  LEE  CRAP!

Um, yea, like that! 

Can you give me details on how you have that set up? That is gorgeous! Is it pretty much "real time"?

[Zoandar]

I use VWS.... especially for the jpgs embedded in my cam images... but the site uses mostly Ken's scripts...

I found Virtual Weather Station for Windows, so it would be great on PCs (can you run it on more than one, or does each one need to buy a copy)? But if I can get something like the above, to display on my phone, that would be super!

[Cutty Sark Sailor]

I use VWS.... especially for the jpgs embedded in my cam images... but the site uses mostly Ken's scripts...

I found Virtual Weather Station for Windows, so it would be great on PCs (can you run it on more than one, or does each one need to buy a copy)? But if I can get something like the above, to display on my phone, that would be super!

I'm not sure about multiple pc's... check with Ambient on that... never thought about it, one station's all I can handle 

[Zoandar]

I'm not sure about multiple pc's... check with Ambient on that... never thought about it, one station's all I can handle 

Well, I read through the WeatherLink PC software license agreement, and they do specify installing on one PC. So I have that answer. But I think I'll be looking into some of the 3rd party software, since Weatherlink isn't terribly attractive to look at. Not as bad as I had feared, though, after reading complaints by reviewers.

So, I am up and running on a test connection using a CAT5 cable! I moved the console here to my desk for setup and testing, and connected it to a hub that is fed by our router.  Now I need to decide if I want to try using my old router to create a "wireless client bridge", or to route a CAT5 cable between where the console normally resides and our router. Research shows D-Link routers can't be used as wireless client bridges, but I have an old Linksys WRT54G that is supposed to be able to do it. I'm going to try just to see if I can make it work.

[Bushman]

You absolutely CAN use a DLink router as a bridge. 

[Zoandar]

You absolutely CAN use a DLink router as a bridge.  

Cool! Because my DIR655 was way more stable than the old Linksys. So can you point me to instructions? Everything I read said it couldn't be done.  I had pretty much decided to go with routing the Cat5 cable this morning, after I started remembering why I had replaced that WRT54G. We actually went through 2 of them. Most miserable router I have ever used. I don't want to get back into frequent power cycling and resets again.
 
I'm also looking, with little success, for a nice Android mobile app to display a virtual console to display my data. Any suggestions are welcome.

Update - I found a way to route the LAN cable out of sight, so that is installed and I'm up and running. My eventual thought was to keep the added possible problem source of using the wireless client bridge out of the equation. Thanks for the help, folks!