Topic: RM Young ResponseOne

[doubleohwhatever]

Hi All,

Figured I'd share some photos of my personal RM Young ResponseOne install. Installed a few of these and have had zero issues with them.

The custom electronics in the box is a board that receives data from UV, solar radiation, soil temperature, and soil moisture sensors. It outputs the data via RS485. I've been meaning to make a custom PCB to replace the prototype but just haven't gotten around to it.

Everything feeds into a Raspberry Pi 3 running WeeWX and the whole kit runs off the mains but has a battery backup that provides enough power for about a week (Yes, the batteries are fine on their side like that). Not shown in the photos are a surge protector which is connected to a grounding rod.

The posts for both the main unit and the rain bucket are Schedule 80 PVC filled with concrete. The main unit post has conduit for running wire inside. The rain bucket will get relocated to a better location this coming summer.

[CW2274]

Installed a few of these and have had zero issues with them.

You can bet RMY is not going to release something half-assed.

[DaleReid]

Very nice.  A nice clean and professional wire-up in the box.

Can you elaborate a bit on your work?  You mention three or four other sensors. Do those get read and converted into a common value for the parameter, such as the solar radiation device is read and coverted into watts/m/m?

If those independent values are obtained, does the RaspPi then stuff them into the weewx database for output?

Where do the values go?  I didn't see a web site on your profile.  Or just for local logging?

Thanks, and keep us posted as to the final install.

Oh, I assume the RMYoung ResponseOne is not in an area where it ever snows?  I've got a couple WXT units from Vaisala and snow is a big problem, even with the heaters.
Dale

[doubleohwhatever]

Very nice.  A nice clean and professional wire-up in the box.

Thanks

Can you elaborate a bit on your work?  You mention three or four other sensors. Do those get read and converted into a common value for the parameter, such as the solar radiation device is read and coverted into watts/m/m?

Sure thing. The custom electronics kit grabs the data from the four additional sensors and outputs ascii messages very similar to what the ResponseOne outputs.

For example, the ResponseOne output looks like this:
        #0 100.00 180.5 22.1 50.1 0998.6 00000 00*08
        #ADDRESS WIND_SPEED WIND_DIR TEMP HUM PRES BUCKET_TIPS STATUS*CRC

My custom board output looks like this:
        #9 23.9 98.7 4.2 481.2 00*CC
        #ADDRESS SOIL_TEMP SOIL_MOISTURE UV_INDEX SOLAR_RADIATION STATUS*CRC

So, the devices (ResponseOne and custom board) output data in the same format but with different addresses and are set to output data over RS485. I have two USB RS485 adapters connected to the Raspberry Pi.

As for the additional sensors themselves:
Soil Temp: https://vegetronix.com/Products/THERM200/
Soil Moisture: https://vegetronix.com/Products/VH400/
UV: https://www.specmeters.com/weather-monitoring/sensors-and-accessories/sensors/light-sensors/lightscout-uv-light-sensor-3676i/
Solar Radiation: https://www.specmeters.com/weather-monitoring/sensors-and-accessories/sensors/light-sensors/lightscout-silicon-pyranometer-3670i/

The custom board uses a ADS1115 16-Bit ADC which can read data from any 0-5v sensor or any 0-3v sensor at a higher resolution. I'm currently using just one ADS1115 but you can have up to four on the same I2C bus. So a max of 16 sensors. Hopefully I'll be able find time to get a custom PCB put together at some point.

If those independent values are obtained, does the RaspPi then stuff them into the weewx database for output?

It's all logged to the WeeWX database. I put together the RM Young ResponseOne driver for WeeWx. So I was able to sneak in the ability to read a secondary data source:
https://github.com/doubleohwhatever/weewx-rmyro

I don't even mention this feature in the documentation to keep from confusing people but if you search the code for "secondary" you'll see it:
https://github.com/doubleohwhatever/weewx-rmyro/blob/master/rmyro.py

Where do the values go?  I didn't see a web site on your profile.  Or just for local logging?

My site is here:
https://griffinparkweather.com/

I didn't include initially because I'm working on it this week to add live data as opposed to the standard WeeWX update every five minutes. So just ignore any errors, etc.

Oh, I assume the RMYoung ResponseOne is not in an area where it ever snows?  I've got a couple WXT units from Vaisala and snow is a big problem, even with the heaters.

Correct, no major snow here. I think we got a combined 3/4 inch last year. However, my rain bucket is heated because it does dip below freezing in winter and I've had issues with tipping mechanisms freezing in the past.

I've got a couple WXT units from Vaisala and snow is a big problem, even with the heaters.

I've had issues with WXT536 units in just about every climate. I've heard that even NOAA kicked them to the curb due to anemometer issues (wacky readings during high wind).

[DaleReid]

Oh, great, now I have lots of reading to do!

This is a major work and thank you for sharing all you have.

Your reply which shows it can be done is to take the output of several sensors and 'combiners' rather than be limited to just one (weather station) represents the next thing in hobbyist work on customizing systems.

I've watched the laser snow depth work and what Brian Hamilton with Weather Display customizing code and having cron jobs run to get data available, but nothing that I've seen where custom pieces of hardware and code generate strings that some additional code running on say the RaspPi can combine them and output such as what you have. 

A major step forward from what I've seen.  Yet, while there are some very sophisticated programs and templates out there, the merging of custom sensor arrays with standard or modified software to give just exactly what the owner wants is unique from what I've seen. 

Bravo!

I went to your site and very much like the graphic display.  While it makes sense this is the first that I can recall that uses gentle shading on the graph to indicate day/night.  I have Weather Display and Brian has provided a Sunrise/Sunset tick on his graph, and even if I don't have a solar radiation sensor hooked up, have it generate the max radiation for the date and plot that so at least the curve is displayed, which helps. 

Again, thank you for your very nice description and sharing so much.  I hope other readers here would also enjoy any future updates.  And the pictures are nice, too, so include when you can.

Dale
(with my little stations and graphs, blushing in comparison to all those with all those out here with talent.)
http://ecwx.info/graph2.jpg for example (thanks to Jim at jcweather for this lead)

[Bushman]

Cool stuff!  And great job on the website. 

[DaleReid]

Whatever:  You say the custom electronics board grabs data from the various sensors and then outputs a serial ascii string.

Is the 'custom' board an Arduino or RaspPi, or hard wired, burned chip that is basically a non-changable program?

I would assume that reading info from the analogue inputs and processing it would be easier for a Arduino to do, but of course dedicated logic chips could do the same thing but border on being a computer in its own right.

I'm not saying it is trivial nor easy to do either way. I know there are some threads here that tell about using Arduinos to power a complete station and recall reading of some of the trials and tribulations of trying to get the windspeed, etc. to work perfectly with timing issues and so on.   Dobable, but not always a quick few hours of programming and testing.

Can you be more explicit about your approach to reading those sensors and making that serial string?  Just curious.  Dale (and intrigued).

[droiddk]

Nice install!

Regards

[doubleohwhatever]

Hi All,

Thanks for the kind comments. Though a lot of the credit for my website belongs elsewhere. WeeWX does a lot of the heavy lifting and the theme I'm using is a modified version of this theme:
https://github.com/neoground/neowx

Basically, I've just customized a lot of things to fit my needs.

While it makes sense this is the first that I can recall that uses gentle shading on the graph to indicate day/night.

WeeWX generates the graphs. You can customize the colors, data on each graph, etc.

Is the 'custom' board an Arduino or RaspPi, or hard wired, burned chip that is basically a non-changable program?

The custom board is an arduino based board I'm calling "Sensor Streamer". Sometime this year I'm hoping to make a proper custom board that will have eight 0-3v, eight 0-5v inputs, a tipping bucket input, and likely a couple of other input options.

The arduino program is quite simple and that's on purpose. It's easier to adjust settings on the raspberry pi than run outside and re-program an arduino board. So the "Sensor Streamer" board just simply obtains a value from each input, assembles it into a string, and then sends it out via the serial port. It doesn't care what sensor is attached to an input. It just grabs the values and sends them on. I've attached the code for the arduino program. It's nothing fancy.

The converting and mapping of the sensor data happens on the Raspberry Pi inside the ResponseOne driver:
https://github.com/doubleohwhatever/weewx-rmyro/blob/master/rmyro.py#L238

[drew]

Amazing setup and website! Great work!

[doubleohwhatever]

Thanks all! If only I could make this hobby into a career.

Anyway, for any WeeWX fans, I've shared on github the extension I used to make the live data work:
https://github.com/doubleohwhatever/weepost

[CloudyDave]

You may very well know, but I can't access your website at https://griffinparkweather.com/week.html.  Get a Secured Connection Failed error message.
An error occurred during a connection to griffinparkweather.com. Cannot communicate securely with peer: no common encryption algorithm(s). (Error code: ssl_error_no_cypher_overlap)
A certificate problem maybe?

[blizzardof78]

You may very well know, but I can't access your website at https://griffinparkweather.com/week.html.  Get a Secured Connection Failed error message.
An error occurred during a connection to griffinparkweather.com. Cannot communicate securely with peer: no common encryption algorithm(s). (Error code: ssl_error_no_cypher_overlap)
A certificate problem maybe?

I just tried it CloudyDave and it worked fine on my end. (See attachment)

[Bushman]

Works fine for me, too.

[doubleohwhatever]

I've checked the SSL cert and all seems well. It's just a DO droplet using LetsEncrypt. Apologies it wasn't working for you earlier. Unfortunately I can't find a reason why it wasn't working. All seems good now though.

[CloudyDave]

My apologies.  Something is amiss on my end.  It's a problem with FireFox.  IE11 and Edge are working ok.
Sorry.

[CloudyDave]

Just discovered the problem with Firefox.  It was an older version I use for accessing my cams.
If you want to laugh at me it was Version 43......  Which because it's so old has encryption issues with certs.

[doubleohwhatever]

No worries

[ivano]

complimenti davvero bella  volevo chiederti quanto costerebbe una stazione come la tua? grazie

[doubleohwhatever]

Thanks for the kind words

The total cost was just below $3500.00 USD.

ResponseONE: $1996.00 - http://www.youngusa.com/products/16/85.html
Rain bucket: $500.00 - http://www.youngusa.com/products/3/18.html
Silicon pyranometer: $269.00 - https://www.specmeters.com/weather-monitoring/sensors-and-accessories/sensors/light-sensors/lightscout-silicon-pyranometer-3670i/
UV sensor: $295.00 - https://www.specmeters.com/weather-monitoring/sensors-and-accessories/sensors/light-sensors/lightscout-uv-light-sensor-3676i/
Mounting, electronics, enclosures, and batteries: ~ $350 - All from Amazon