Topic: Barani FAQ section

[mauro63]

In this post, you can ask everything about Barani products, technical details, datasheet, configuration etc
I will do my best to give an answer ASAP with the help of Barani's Staff

please, before to send a request, take a look at the institutional FAQ page

 [ You are not allowed to view attachments ]

https://www.baranidesign.com/faq

Mauro

[Jasper3012]

I had a question about how to set up the complete weather station (MeteoHelix Pro + Rain gauge + MeteoWind). I've never found the instructions on barani's site particularly clear to be honest... I don't even know what terms like "sigfox" and "lorawan" mean!

From what I can tell the MeteoHelix is a MeteoShield Pro with the temp/hum sensor built in, with an option to add a rain gauge. Then you have to activate the station by scanning a code or something and then it will start sending data? With regards to the MeteoWind, does this have a seperate "transmitter" that also sends data to the site?

[Jasper3012]

With regards to Sigfox/Lorawan, is this some sort of network that transmits data to the site, completely seperate from wifi?

[mauro63]

I had a question about how to set up the complete weather station (MeteoHelix Pro + Rain gauge + MeteoWind). I've never found the instructions on barani's site particularly clear to be honest... I don't even know what terms like "sigfox" and "lorawan" mean!

From what I can tell the MeteoHelix is a MeteoShield Pro with the temp/hum sensor built in, with an option to add a rain gauge. Then you have to activate the station by scanning a code or something and then it will start sending data? With regards to the MeteoWind, does this have a seperate "transmitter" that also sends data to the site?

Hi Jasper, Sigfox and Lorawan are transmission technologies for IoT applications
you can deep at this links

https://www.link-labs.com/blog/what-is-lorawan
https://build.sigfox.com/sigfox

At now, you can connect a Meteohelix Pro to Sigfox or Lorawan network and have your data on cloud, on Barani Allmeteo portal
https://weather.allmeteo.com/

Meteohelix pro can give you:
- temperature
- humidity
- dew point
- atmospheric pressure
- solar radiation

You can connect to Meteohelix Pro a Meteorain (when will be ready) and have all data on a single web interface
If you add a Meteowind, at the moment, you will need to have a new web interface, so another account, to see wind data

Meteohelix Pro and Meteowind don't need wifi connection, don't need power, the power comes from an integrated solar panel and a li-on battery, the low consumption can give you about 6 months of charge without any solar radiation

Meteohelix transmission module is integrated, when you will install the Meteohelix you need to create an account on allmeteo portal, activate the weather station with a simple magnet that you will find in the package, and insert on portal the ID of your Meteohelix, that's all

The same for the Meteowind, in this case the power/transmission unit is separated from the sensor with 5 mt cable

Mauro

[Jasper3012]

So the only thing you need to do to get the data online is scanning the station with a magnet and give in the MeteoHelix ID on the allmeteo website? No confirugation or whatever needed with the Sigfox? Thanks for the info btw!

[mauro63]

So the only thing you need to do to get the data online is scanning the station with a magnet and give in the MeteoHelix ID on the allmeteo website? No confirugation or whatever needed with the Sigfox? Thanks for the info btw!

No Jasper,
you don't need, Barani will do this job
You only need to verify the signal coverage of your area, if you can't or want, barani will do, they will need only your's coordinates

Mauro

[ConligWX]

So how do you upload the data to other websites like WOW, CWOP, PWSWeather, WUnderground, Weathercloud and your own Web Server?

[mauro63]

So how do you upload the data to other websites like WOW, CWOP, PWSWeather, WUnderground, Weathercloud and your own Web Server?

for Wunderground

https://www.baranidesign.com/faq-articles/2020/2/3/forwarding-weather-station-data-to-weather-underground-wunderground

Mauro

[kenthcwx]

Temperature accuracy difference between Meteoshield Standard & Professional.

I was thinking about getting the Pro but would cost a lot more money than the Standard & was wondering about the temp differences between them.

Thanks
Jamie

[mauro63]

Temperature accuracy difference between Meteoshield Standard & Professional.

I was thinking about getting the Pro but would cost a lot more money than the Standard & was wondering about the temp differences between them.

Thanks
Jamie

Hi Jamie,
I have long tested the standard meteoshield and I must admit that its performance is far from the Pro version, let's say it is just slightly better than a Davis 7714
Precisely for this reason, the standard Meteoshield is no longer in production, at the moment it is only possible to order the Pro version

Mauro

[kenthcwx]

Temperature accuracy difference between Meteoshield Standard & Professional.

I was thinking about getting the Pro but would cost a lot more money than the Standard & was wondering about the temp differences between them.

Thanks
Jamie

Hi Jamie,
I have long tested the standard meteoshield and I must admit that its performance is far from the Pro version, let's say it is just slightly better than a Davis 7714
Precisely for this reason, the standard Meteoshield is no longer in production, at the moment it is only possible to order the Pro version

Mauro

Thank you very much Mauro. I'll save for the Pro then & will probably do comparisons when I get it!

[Jorginho]

HI,

I am a Davis vantage Pro2 user. I am aware of all the updates it got in the last years. The single spoon in the pluviometer, the ultrsonic anemometer and I own  the SHt-31 and got rid of the huge cap also covering this one and making it slow. I just removed the material the used and used something that is a so much faster and even after 4 years of use it is every bit as accurate as my calibrated datalogger and aeveyr bit as fast.
In 2016 I bought a Peetbros Ultimeter 2100. Sadly it is a 1990's technology but its anemometer wroked according to WMO standards and it responded much better in very  low winds than  the Davis. Other things worked to some extend better as well. Bt it is restrictive and Peet never really thought of wireless or may be lacked the money  to develop it.

So my Davis is doing pretty well on one hand, but I want a step up and so I looked into Barani. It all seems great, but the site just isn't very clear.

The strentghs of Davis to my mind:
1) Virtually  Plug and Play.
2) Pretty reliable in most ways. Sturdy.. I have had many of them and they all worked flawlessly  (no sensors failed).
3) Pretty good transmission  over long distances which is key to me
4) A lot of third party suspport to get me where I want to if Davis is lacking
5) VBia thirdparty (in my case) software I can upload to wow, to wunderground to a host of similar sites.

With Barani I understand it is a recent development and understand it is simply not fair to ask/demand similar third party  support nor do I expect them to be as mature when ti comes to uploading.

What is also very  unclear to me is how easy  I can transmit data from the sensors to a receiver in a barn 250 metres away. With  a Davis it workd 95% of the time, but I needed a repeater to  get it to 99,9%...And since I don't live in the barn it is pretty irritating if the score is 95% because at times I need to check what is going wrong which is time consuming.

So my questions:
- Suppose I go for the 1124 euro solution. What do I need to get the data in the barn and via the receiver onto the net?
- Is Barani open for thrid party software to support it so we can go on the way we are used to with Davis? Does anyone know what is in the pipeline here? When asked over here by Japser the reply was solely about wunderground. But he asked for other options too. Can anyone elaborate?
- How reliable is the transmission when  some obstacles (wooden walls of the barn) over such distances? Anything know about it?
_ If I am correct I the data now goes via some server of Barani which is nice on  one  hand, but who owns that data? Is it mine or Barani's?

I know I am being criticial but all in  all Davis still serves me well. Making a switch is costly also so it is not without a financial risk. Hence my questions.

Thansk very  much in advance!

[Jorginho]

Temperature accuracy difference between Meteoshield Standard & Professional.

I was thinking about getting the Pro but would cost a lot more money than the Standard & was wondering about the temp differences between them.

Thanks
Jamie

Hi Jamie,
I have long tested the standard meteoshield and I must admit that its performance is far from the Pro version, let's say it is just slightly better than a Davis 7714
Precisely for this reason, the standard Meteoshield is no longer in production, at the moment it is only possible to order the Pro version

Mauro

Hi Mauro...so it was you who wrote this, I thought it was Jan Barani himself. What are the differences, also contructional, between the Meteoshield and the Pro version? Thx!

[mauro63]

Temperature accuracy difference between Meteoshield Standard & Professional.

I was thinking about getting the Pro but would cost a lot more money than the Standard & was wondering about the temp differences between them.

Thanks
Jamie

Hi Jamie,
I have long tested the standard meteoshield and I must admit that its performance is far from the Pro version, let's say it is just slightly better than a Davis 7714
Precisely for this reason, the standard Meteoshield is no longer in production, at the moment it is only possible to order the Pro version

Mauro

Hi Mauro...so it was you who wrote this, I thought it was Jan Barani himself. What are the differences, also contructional, between the Meteoshield and the Pro version? Thx!

Hi Jorginho,
the Meteoshield Standard, not more on production, was born with the goal to obtain a lower-cost version and with more space inside so to accept bigger sensors
The number of the external helicoids was lower, the internal space was increased to 40mm of the Pro version to 60 mm.
to have a reduce of the costs, the Standard version not had double helicoid, external white and internal black, but only one helicoid, black painted on the internal sides

The results, in terms of performances, was not bad, but not more than a good Davis 7714 so, Barani decided do not produce anymore this version, and I agree with this decision.

following an image of the internal about Meteoshield standard

 [ You are not allowed to view attachments ]

Mauro

[Daniel785]

HI,

I am a Davis vantage Pro2 user. I am aware of all the updates it got in the last years. The single spoon in the pluviometer, the ultrsonic anemometer and I own  the SHt-31 and got rid of the huge cap also covering this one and making it slow. I just removed the material the used and used something that is a so much faster and even after 4 years of use it is every bit as accurate as my calibrated datalogger and aeveyr bit as fast.
In 2016 I bought a Peetbros Ultimeter 2100. Sadly it is a 1990's technology but its anemometer wroked according to WMO standards and it responded much better in very  low winds than  the Davis. Other things worked to some extend better as well. Bt it is restrictive and Peet never really thought of wireless or may be lacked the money  to develop it.

So my Davis is doing pretty well on one hand, but I want a step up and so I looked into Barani. It all seems great, but the site just isn't very clear.

The strentghs of Davis to my mind:
1) Virtually  Plug and Play.
2) Pretty reliable in most ways. Sturdy.. I have had many of them and they all worked flawlessly  (no sensors failed).
3) Pretty good transmission  over long distances which is key to me
4) A lot of third party suspport to get me where I want to if Davis is lacking
5) VBia thirdparty (in my case) software I can upload to wow, to wunderground to a host of similar sites.

With Barani I understand it is a recent development and
understand it is simply not fair to ask/demand similar third party  support nor do I expect them to be as mature when ti comes to uploading.

What is also very  unclear to me is how easy  I can transmit data from the sensors to a receiver in a barn 250 metres away. With  a Davis it workd 95% of the time, but I needed a repeater to  get it to 99,9%...And since I don't live in the barn it is pretty irritating if the score is 95% because at times I need to check what is going wrong which is time consuming.

So my questions:
- Suppose I go for the 1124 euro solution. What do I need to get the data in the barn and via the receiver onto the net?
- Is Barani open for thrid party software to support it so we can go on the way we are used to with Davis? Does anyone know what is in the pipeline here? When asked over here by Japser the reply was solely about wunderground. But he asked for other options too. Can anyone elaborate?
- How reliable is the transmission when  some obstacles (wooden walls of the barn) over such distances? Anything know about it?
_ If I am correct I the data now goes via some server of Barani which is nice on  one  hand, but who owns that data? Is it mine or Barani's?

I know I am being criticial but all in  all Davis still serves me well. Making a switch is costly also so it is not without a financial risk. Hence my questions.

Thansk very  much in advance!

I have the MeteoHelix and would like some more 3rd party choices including pws weather and weather cloud could you pass these recommendations on Mauro?

[mauro63]

HI,

I am a Davis vantage Pro2 user. I am aware of all the updates it got in the last years. The single spoon in the pluviometer, the ultrsonic anemometer and I own  the SHt-31 and got rid of the huge cap also covering this one and making it slow. I just removed the material the used and used something that is a so much faster and even after 4 years of use it is every bit as accurate as my calibrated datalogger and aeveyr bit as fast.
In 2016 I bought a Peetbros Ultimeter 2100. Sadly it is a 1990's technology but its anemometer wroked according to WMO standards and it responded much better in very  low winds than  the Davis. Other things worked to some extend better as well. Bt it is restrictive and Peet never really thought of wireless or may be lacked the money  to develop it.

So my Davis is doing pretty well on one hand, but I want a step up and so I looked into Barani. It all seems great, but the site just isn't very clear.

The strentghs of Davis to my mind:
1) Virtually  Plug and Play.
2) Pretty reliable in most ways. Sturdy.. I have had many of them and they all worked flawlessly  (no sensors failed).
3) Pretty good transmission  over long distances which is key to me
4) A lot of third party suspport to get me where I want to if Davis is lacking
5) VBia thirdparty (in my case) software I can upload to wow, to wunderground to a host of similar sites.

With Barani I understand it is a recent development and
understand it is simply not fair to ask/demand similar third party  support nor do I expect them to be as mature when ti comes to uploading.

What is also very  unclear to me is how easy  I can transmit data from the sensors to a receiver in a barn 250 metres away. With  a Davis it workd 95% of the time, but I needed a repeater to  get it to 99,9%...And since I don't live in the barn it is pretty irritating if the score is 95% because at times I need to check what is going wrong which is time consuming.

So my questions:
- Suppose I go for the 1124 euro solution. What do I need to get the data in the barn and via the receiver onto the net?
- Is Barani open for thrid party software to support it so we can go on the way we are used to with Davis? Does anyone know what is in the pipeline here? When asked over here by Japser the reply was solely about wunderground. But he asked for other options too. Can anyone elaborate?
- How reliable is the transmission when  some obstacles (wooden walls of the barn) over such distances? Anything know about it?
_ If I am correct I the data now goes via some server of Barani which is nice on  one  hand, but who owns that data? Is it mine or Barani's?

I know I am being criticial but all in  all Davis still serves me well. Making a switch is costly also so it is not without a financial risk. Hence my questions.

Thansk very  much in advance!

I have the MeteoHelix and would like some more 3rd party choices including pws weather and weather cloud could you pass these recommendations on Mauro?

Don't worry Daniel, this info is on Barani hands and many others like these
now the company is working to a completely new web interface, we have chosen do not add new functions to the actual interface but rewrite it from the ground
I hope to have good news in a month or so

Mauro

[ConligWX]

Hi there. just curious as to what Weather Station software is compatible with Barini products?  WD, Weewx, Cumulus, Meteobridge?

[Jorginho]

Temperature accuracy difference between Meteoshield Standard & Professional.

I was thinking about getting the Pro but would cost a lot more money than the Standard & was wondering about the temp differences between them.

Thanks
Jamie

Hi Jamie,
I have long tested the standard meteoshield and I must admit that its performance is far from the Pro version, let's say it is just slightly better than a Davis 7714
Precisely for this reason, the standard Meteoshield is no longer in production, at the moment it is only possible to order the Pro version

Mauro

Hi Mauro...so it was you who wrote this, I thought it was Jan Barani himself. What are the differences, also contructional, between the Meteoshield and the Pro version? Thx!

Hi Jorginho,
the Meteoshield Standard, not more on production, was born with the goal to obtain a lower-cost version and with more space inside so to accept bigger sensors
The number of the external helicoids was lower, the internal space was increased to 40mm of the Pro version to 60 mm.
to have a reduce of the costs, the Standard version not had double helicoid, external white and internal black, but only one helicoid, black painted on the internal sides

The results, in terms of performances, was not bad, but not more than a good Davis 7714 so, Barani decided do not produce anymore this version, and I agree with this decision.

following an image of the internal about Meteoshield standard

 [ You are not allowed to view attachments ]

Mauro

Thx Mauro, also for the news about a revamped interfacing with some of the services I mentioned. At least that is what I gathered from your reply.

Since my weatherstation is in the countryside I have one more question. I looked into Sigfox and LoRaWan. I think Barani should be much  more clear how it exaclty works btw.

But mmay be you can tell me how the transmission works. My station is in a countryside and a barn  is at 200 metres.

So anemometer, pluviometer thermometer is in the countryside. What is beyond me it seems is to what they transmit? Is it to the Sigfox transciever (ro what it is) and where is that located. And if so: can we transmit over 200 metres?
Or are the anemometer etc sending to data to a netwok (we have good coverage here) and does my Sigfox sit at my home 3 km away receiving the data from nodes or something similar?

Again I have to add that this should be made far more clear. It can't be difficult for Barani to simply draw a scheme and I saw they did it with  India btw on it but how it works is still unclear to me.

Anyways: could you may be elaborate on that. I have  no further questions to ask, sorry  for asking mmay be too many questions! Thanks for your time and effort!

[mauro63]

Temperature accuracy difference between Meteoshield Standard & Professional.

I was thinking about getting the Pro but would cost a lot more money than the Standard & was wondering about the temp differences between them.

Thanks
Jamie

Hi Jamie,
I have long tested the standard meteoshield and I must admit that its performance is far from the Pro version, let's say it is just slightly better than a Davis 7714
Precisely for this reason, the standard Meteoshield is no longer in production, at the moment it is only possible to order the Pro version

Mauro

Hi Mauro...so it was you who wrote this, I thought it was Jan Barani himself. What are the differences, also contructional, between the Meteoshield and the Pro version? Thx!

Hi Jorginho,
the Meteoshield Standard, not more on production, was born with the goal to obtain a lower-cost version and with more space inside so to accept bigger sensors
The number of the external helicoids was lower, the internal space was increased to 40mm of the Pro version to 60 mm.
to have a reduce of the costs, the Standard version not had double helicoid, external white and internal black, but only one helicoid, black painted on the internal sides

The results, in terms of performances, was not bad, but not more than a good Davis 7714 so, Barani decided do not produce anymore this version, and I agree with this decision.

following an image of the internal about Meteoshield standard

 [ You are not allowed to view attachments ]

Mauro

Thx Mauro, also for the news about a revamped interfacing with some of the services I mentioned. At least that is what I gathered from your reply.

Since my weatherstation is in the countryside I have one more question. I looked into Sigfox and LoRaWan. I think Barani should be much  more clear how it exaclty works btw.

But mmay be you can tell me how the transmission works. My station is in a countryside and a barn  is at 200 metres.

So anemometer, pluviometer thermometer is in the countryside. What is beyond me it seems is to what they transmit? Is it to the Sigfox transciever (ro what it is) and where is that located. And if so: can we transmit over 200 metres?
Or are the anemometer etc sending to data to a netwok (we have good coverage here) and does my Sigfox sit at my home 3 km away receiving the data from nodes or something similar?

Again I have to add that this should be made far more clear. It can't be difficult for Barani to simply draw a scheme and I saw they did it with  India btw on it but how it works is still unclear to me.

Anyways: could you may be elaborate on that. I have  no further questions to ask, sorry  for asking mmay be too many questions! Thanks for your time and effort!

Do not worry, this is a very interesting set of ask and I will prepare a little scheme about it
if you have coverage, Sigfox or Lorawan, you don't need to worry about the distance, Meteohelix, Meteowind IoT and Meteorain in all versions will send data directly to Sigfox or Lorawan network.
You can access your data everywhere, with a pc, tablet, smartphone etc, obviously, you will need a connection, wifi, or 4g or cabled etc

Mauro

[Jorginho]

Hi.

Thx. I'll await your scheme before asking some more questions. Might be solved with your scheme!

[ConligWX]

Hi there. just curious as to what Weather Station software is compatible with Barini products?  WD, Weewx, Cumulus, Meteobridge?

I am guessing then there is no support for the above software with Barani devices.

Does anyone have  any screen shots of this allMETEO software anywhere?  cant seem to find any.

[Jorginho]

Mauro63 is not the same as Barani. He  just buys his gear there I think and tests it and is enthusiastic. He is in  close contact. But he can  say that himself, just my impression.

I aksed Barani myself and I never got an anwer about WOW, AWEKAS etcetc. Like I said on another thread a serious problem for people using those is that Barani only uploads (or only can  upload) the actual data every 10 minutes. Their own webapplication seems to do that a lot better and you do get the extrema over that 10 minute intervall.

I think wunderground simply does not allow for that kind of data to be uploaded.

I have no clue about wow etc. I only use wow and wunderground. I use 5 minute interval (shorter has no advantage I think) on  wow and I use rapidfire on wunderground with my  VP2. That is enough. Of course the datalogger on my  VP2 stores everything too.

I think that Barani should realise that for most users here, 10 minute updates with just the values of that moment does not suffice. Also people want to compare on  WOW etc. Their own interface with their own site will not suffice for those users. A serious problem, at least WU, is that 10 minute intervall which  itself cannot be changed due to the use of Sigfox or Lorawan. Which do not accept more frequent uploads.

I think Barani, if possible, should think of a wireless communication between their instruments and a PC so people can upload to wow etcetc or wunderground with rapidfire. Essentially much like Davis and others.

[Julius]

A serious problem, at least WU, is that 10 minute intervall which  itself cannot be changed due to the use of Sigfox or Lorawan. Which do not accept more frequent uploads.

That is not true; LoRaWAN can handle uploads every microsecond, depending on how many nodes you have in your area that use the same LoRaWAN receiver (or gateway as they often call it). Any one gateway can pick up hundreds of uploads at the same time and congestion only starts to become an issue around the 800 nodes per gateway at one time. (and actual delay for a packet to be [modulated > sent through LoRa wirelessly > demodulated] in most settings remains under 0.03 sec)
It's the networks after that where some have fair use limits built in, like with the things network (TTN) which can now be used by the barani devices. They impose limits of 30 sec intervals per device upload.

The 10 min upload interval is designed in the MeteoHelix unit's firmware, as I understand it, but you could overcome issues with that interval by re-uploading in between, so every 5 minutes, where you repeat the last upload once forwarding from allMeteo to x API/web-interface. Or,
actually changing firmware would be better I think. Having a 5 minute interval would easily be possible as far as (solar) battery power goes, from what I've seen on my MeteoHelix Pro that would not be an issue at all, but Barani knows best here. I have no idea if firmware updating is even possible, but I would assume it is.

For the MeteoWind IoT Pro and MeteoRain units I don't know the exact upload/interval specs yet, maybe Mauro can chime in here? I agree that the barani website is not very clear on that, while this is obviously something users wish to know before buying.

It's now almost December, and I'm getting a little impatient, how long does it take for that new website to be launched? Because I too am waiting for proper interfacing, for example with the https://weather.station.software/handbook/stations-management/adding-a-station/ WordPress plugin, WOW (metoffice.co.uk, KNMI), OpenWeatherMap, Aeris API, Windy API etc.
Sure, right now from allmeteo you can upload your data to FTP, and from that FTP site you can parse it and send it using several existing API interfaces, but it remains complex that way, plus, if allMeteo is disappearing, it's not worth spending too much time getting such forward entries working. I'm basically put on hold until more news is there.

[MeteoVarsenare]

Julius,

The update should come in the beginning of 2021. So i ordered an barani station basic (temp-rain-wind) and since today testing it in my garden next to netatmo in 7714 heatshield. .
Later maybe tomorrow the barani moves to open fields 3km from my place. And over 1 week Meteowind also moves over there. Measuring at  approx 12m.


From Jan Barani,

We are reprogramming the whole cloud application and the Wunderground data forwarding will be included including others such as AWEKAS etc. Its just that things are taking longer than expected.  I want to say that early next year we will have it ready with all these features.

[Julius]

and the Wunderground data forwarding will be included

Who needs Wunderground? After a year's use they're a paid service, they say. And their site is really slow-loading in Europe.
Also, MeteoHelix stations only show up for 5 minutes on wundermap, then disappear.

I think it would be best to just update firmware to divide the 60 samples of 10 secs taken by the MeteoHelix, or maybe even do 60 samples in 5 minutes (double the sample time to each 5 sec).
I don't think there would be a power shortage or issues if you do, the solar power is way overkill looking at the battery status of the unit we have anyway. I really wonder;
Was there a particular reason not to use a 5 min interval?
If barani really wants to gain market share, I would double the output speed of data from their Pro IoT hardware, to have an actual current output every 5 minutes. That way you can compete with, for one, netatmo, and many others.

I want to say that early next year we will have it ready with all these features.

What features are they?
I hope for API-compatibility with windy.com, awekas, Weatherlink software, PWS, WOW MetOffice UK.
WOW also requires a more frequent interval than every 10 minutes, all WOW site weather-maps only show stations that sent out current data the last 5 minutes.