Weather Bug home station

[garybixler]

Hi all

 

Though I would throw this question out here. I have been trying to find out if the ISY or any PC running Weather Bug can access a home weather station that supports Weather Bug. For example I found the Honeywell TE923W-IP weather station that is a server on Ethernet. It says it supports Weather Bug but I haven't been able to find out any detailed information on how it functions as a server. Does it need to communicate with the Weather Bug site or not to allow Weather Bug access? Just wondering if anyone has done this or that it is just not possible.

 

I see that there is a section in Weather Bug for backyard stations but I think it requires being part of their network.

 

Because the closest Weather Bug station is 40 miles away it doesn't reflect the conditions at my location. So I am just tossing ideas around as to how to get weather information into the ISY.

 

Thanks Gary

[Michel Kohanim]

Hello Gary,

 

As far as I can remember (from my conversations with WB), you will have to become part of their network; i.e your station should send information to their servers so that they can aggregate the data.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

 

Hi all

 

Though I would throw this question out here. I have been trying to find out if the ISY or any PC running Weather Bug can access a home weather station that supports Weather Bug. For example I found the Honeywell TE923W-IP weather station that is a server on Ethernet. It says it supports Weather Bug but I haven't been able to find out any detailed information on how it functions as a server. Does it need to communicate with the Weather Bug site or not to allow Weather Bug access? Just wondering if anyone has done this or that it is just not possible.

 

I see that there is a section in Weather Bug for backyard stations but I think it requires being part of their network.

 

Because the closest Weather Bug station is 40 miles away it doesn't reflect the conditions at my location. So I am just tossing ideas around as to how to get weather information into the ISY.

 

Thanks Gary

[garybixler]

Hi Michel

 

 

Thanks so much for the info. Don't know if I should go the back yard station route or wait to see if a station may be directly supported in the ISY in the future. Hate to get the wrong one.

 

Thanks again

Gary

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi Gary,

 

Unfortunately, we do not even have direct support for a weather station in our requirements at all. And, you are the only one with this request. Do you think this feature will be required by a lot of folks?

 

With kind regards,

Michel

 

Hi Michel

 

 

Thanks so much for the info. Don't know if I should go the back yard station route or wait to see if a station may be directly supported in the ISY in the future. Hate to get the wrong one.

 

Thanks again

Gary

[Brignolo]

Unfortunately, we do not even have direct support for a weather station in our requirements at all. And, you are the only one with this request. Do you think this feature will be required by a lot of folks?

Absolutely, positively, without question, YES!

(Or at least I would...)

 

Here's my take on it. Weather conditions, although universally forecast for an area, are peculiar locally. There are many instances where a timely decision (i.e. IF the wind is blowing, or gusting at xxmph, THEN retract the awning) must be made locally. There are many other conditions which could trigger events fed by local weather conditions:

- IF the soil in garden X is xx dry (moist) THEN turn on sprinkler X

- IF AWAY is on AND the humidity outside is XX% THEN turn on airconditioner WAIT one hour and THEN Turn off AC.

 

The list is only limited by your needs/imagination.

 

Joe

 

P.S. I have been looking at Davis Instrumentation for my home weather system. They seem to have the most instrumentation available.

[garybixler]

Hi Michel

 

I agree totally with Brignolo. The thing I could add is using the outside temp to decide whether or not to use the heat pump. It is a very clumsy method that the Venstar thermostat uses. Even though Venstar can have an outdoor temp sensor it doesn't use that for any decision making. Also it can't be seen by the ISY.

 

But Weather Station support I'm guessing would not be in the near future.

 

So in the mean time I almost decided to go with the Davis Vantage pro 2 with the IP link and try getting the info via Weather Bug. I don't know if the ISY can access backyard links.

 

Thanks for considering this.

 

Gary

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi Gary,

 

So, which weather station should we support? It seems Davis is the right one, yes? Do they have Ethernet access/APIs?

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[Brignolo]

Michel, Gary:

 

http://www.davisnet.com/weather/products/weather_product.asp?pnum=06555

Defines the internet access from the Davis Weather Instrumentation.

 

Yes, Davis is the one to support. It is the most expensive, but it is also the most comprehensive AND with the most options which would interface with the ISY.

 

It also is the most professional: http://www.home-weather-stations-guide.com/davis-weather-station.html

 

I'm looking for a reason to buy one. If you want to use me for testing, and you want to develop the support for the Davis Instrumentation, I will be your beta.

 

Joe

[wacvmd]

Michel,

I also would be willing to help in a beta test for the Davis Perception. I have had them running now for 8 years. They delver data to my desktop wirlesly and are very reliable. Weather is certainly a local phenomen and ever the closest weatherbug station is 5 miles away my local conditions are quite different. If I can be of any help just ask. I feel adding support for the Davis Stations would be great for isy.

Thenks: Bill Crane

[garybixler]

Michel

 

Sorry but I could not find out anything about Ethernet APIs. This is the info I received back from the Weather Bug backyard forum.

 

"While WeatherLink IP does connect through Ethernet, I'd strongly discourage you from going with the IP package. It doesn't play well at all with WeatherBug. It's built on old technology and after talking with Chris (WeatherBug's CTO), he recommends the USB package for the most trouble free installation. I'd just go with the USB package and connect it to your computer for now, then when our neat little device comes out you'll be able to plug it in via USB, wirelessly sign it onto the network, and you're set. It's going to be fantastic. I can't wait to get my hands on it myself."

 

 

So I don't know when this new box will be out or what it will support or even who makes it. Davis? For now I will just set it up on a PC and wait for the Ethernet.

 

 

Gary

[Michel Kohanim]

Mr. Crane ... thanks so very much for the offer. Perhaps we should start a new forum just for weather/weatherbug?

 

Gary, I understand what they are saying but this simply means that ISY will not have direct access to this information. i.e. you have to send it to weatherbug, which implies that you will have to have your computer on 24/7, and therefore, you will spend more keeping your computer on than saving by using weather information!

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[garybixler]

Hi Michel

 

Latest update on the ethernet interface.

 

"In order for you to publish to WeatherBug, you will need the USB WeatherLink package. Even when the new network device comes out, you'll will connect the USB cable to the device, sign the device on your network, and use a web app to configure the streaming to WeatherBug. So I'd definitely grab the USB package. Anyway you go you're going to need it.

 

My company, Mallard, will be producing the device itself. The technology is called WeatherStream and will be integrated into our new Wi-Net device. Wi-Net will also double as a router and save on your Internet bill, so it's going to be a great deal. You can visit wi-net.mallardcomputer.com to learn more. We're still in the marketing phase, but as soon as we gve a physical device to test I'll test it at my next keynote presentation, in which the video will be online.

 

It will definitely stream to WeatherBug as well as the different services that WeatherLink and Ambient support. Good idea on the third party plugins. I haven't thought of it but we could offer something like this as part of an SDK. I'll bring it up at my next business meeting and see if we can add this to the spec list. Thanks for bringing that up."

 

Gary

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi Gary,

 

I am not sure what to make of this site. It's either a hoax or a brilliant idea which has eluded millions of scientists thus far. Or, maybe it's just WiMAX? But, then again, WiMAX is not available everywhere yet. In short, very interesting. In long: I don't see this solving our problem any time soon.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[garybixler]

Hi Michel

 

That site is a little weird to say the least. Brings up more questions than answers.

 

Emailing Davis directly I got this info.

 

http://www.davisnet.com/support/weather ... dllsdk.asp

 

Don't know if it will be useful or not, but I guess this all they have.

 

I ordered the IP version of WeatherLink and will set up an open port to connect with it. If anything at the above site is useful you could connect to my unit for any testing.

 

 

Thanks Gary

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi Gary,

 

Thanks so very much. When you have this up and running, would you be kind enough notify me (post to this topic)? I would love to connect to your box for testing.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

 

Hi Michel

 

That site is a little weird to say the least. Brings up more questions than answers.

 

Emailing Davis directly I got this info.

 

http://www.davisnet.com/support/weather ... dllsdk.asp

 

Don't know if it will be useful or not, but I guess this all they have.

 

I ordered the IP version of WeatherLink and will set up an open port to connect with it. If anything at the above site is useful you could connect to my unit for any testing.

 

 

Thanks Gary

[garybixler]

Hi Michel

 

I have the Davis weather system connected to the net. Besides uploading currant conditions to the WeatherLink servers every 5 minutes it only allows one additional connection at a time. Usually the WeatherLink software. I had found this information for programmers on the Davisnet site.

 

http://www.davisnet.com/support/weather ... antagecomm

 

I will email you my DNS and port number. I checked the port using http://www.canyouseeme.org/ and it appears to be open.

 

Hope this is all useful.

 

Thanks Gary

[lapolonyc]

Hello All,

 

This is something that I am very interested in at this moment. Just finished redoing the entire landscaping and got the EZFlora (EZRain hooked up) and I was looking at the the Weather Bug to see if I could have the ISY run my Sprinkler system based on the WB.

 

Now...where I got confused about reading this post is that I saw the module that I can purchase for the ISY to get me WB data. Why cannot we use that to program the irrigation system?

Also does the module come with any already written programs that would tell based on the WB data what my irrigation should be doing (suggested times and etc.? How is that work.

 

I think this is a BIG thing coming up. Having irrigation system run based on the live data.

 

Anyone already using the WB module?

 

Thanks in advance!

[MikeB]

Now...where I got confused about reading this post is that I saw the module that I can purchase for the ISY to get me WB data. Why cannot we use that to program the irrigation system?

 

You can, and in most cases that might be fine for you - but some people want weather infromation more specific to their location (like, right in their back yard) instead of weather information from a WeatherBug station a couple miles away. In my case, for right now, I'm more than happy with WeatherBug.

 

 

Also does the module come with any already written programs that would tell based on the WB data what my irrigation should be doing (suggested times and etc.?

 

No, the programs are left up to the user to write, because they are so specific to each system. UDI employees and other users are very helpful on this forum, however, so I'm sure you'll get plenty of assistance if you ask.

[lapolonyc]

MikeB,

 

Thank you very much for your response.

Do you think you could share the programs for ISY that you have written that work with the weather bug and your sprinkler system? You can PM me with that if you do not mind. I really appreciate any help I can get.

 

Thanks in advance

 

Martin

[madcodger]

Michel, et al,

 

I would be very interested in an ISY feature that allows us to use our personal weather stations with the ISY. As others noted, support for the Davis Vantage 2 Pro line seems like a great idea. I have one, and it's pretty close to flawless in reporting. I've also found that having "very" local weather is helpful, particularly for wind and, in the summer, rain. Wind gusts can vary dramatically and a good cloudburst can provide a lot of water, but may deliver it to only a small area. I sometimes see our house is soaked while the location of the official "reporting station" only a few miles away, stays dry, for example.

 

As for software mentioned, I have at least one and usually three computers on all the time, so it's not that big of a deal if I must use that method. My station reports to the Weather Underground and National Weather Service networks using the Virtual Weather Station software package, which works great and might be another thing to consider if PC-based software is found necessary. Then again, if the ISY could do this it would be one step closer to turning those PCs off when not in use...

 

Finally, I'm wondering if anyone knows of an Insteon-based zone controller that can handle large numbers of zones? We have 42 irrigation zones on their own well that can take 14 total hours to run, so we stagger them across 2 - 3 days and water deeply instead of small amounts each day, except when I'm starting new grass seed. It would be great to tie these into the rest of the home automation system, perhaps when the current controllers (Rain Birds) go bad one day.

[Michel Kohanim]

madcodger,

 

Thanks so very much for the feedback. Yes, indeed this is on our requirements list but with a low priority. Is it possible for your weather station to also feed WeatherBug? We spoke with Weather Underground and they wanted an exorbitant amount of money for licensing. NOAA site does not have a real time feed (it's hourly and you have to download a large xml file ... they are working on a web services solution though). So, we chose WeatherBug since their licensing is very reasonable and they have an open API which can be used for reporting to and retrieving from ... all and all everything is almost in real time.

 

So, while waiting, it would be best if we can figure out a way to report to WeatherBug and thus others would also benefit from your information + you will get the WB module free of charge!

 

Again, we do have this in our list.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

 

Michel, et al,

 

I would be very interested in an ISY feature that allows us to use our personal weather stations with the ISY. As others noted, support for the Davis Vantage 2 Pro line seems like a great idea. I have one, and it's pretty close to flawless in reporting. I've also found that having "very" local weather is helpful, particularly for wind and, in the summer, rain. Wind gusts can vary dramatically and a good cloudburst can provide a lot of water, but may deliver it to only a small area. I sometimes see our house is soaked while the location of the official "reporting station" only a few miles away, stays dry, for example.

 

As for software mentioned, I have at least one and usually three computers on all the time, so it's not that big of a deal if I must use that method. My station reports to the Weather Underground and National Weather Service networks using the Virtual Weather Station software package, which works great and might be another thing to consider if PC-based software is found necessary. Then again, if the ISY could do this it would be one step closer to turning those PCs off when not in use...

 

Finally, I'm wondering if anyone knows of an Insteon-based zone controller that can handle large numbers of zones? We have 42 irrigation zones on their own well that can take 14 total hours to run, so we stagger them across 2 - 3 days and water deeply instead of small amounts each day, except when I'm starting new grass seed. It would be great to tie these into the rest of the home automation system, perhaps when the current controllers (Rain Birds) go bad one day.

[MikeB]

Thank you very much for your response.

Do you think you could share the programs for ISY that you have written that work with the weather bug and your sprinkler system? You can PM me with that if you do not mind. I really appreciate any help I can get.

 

Hi Martin -

 

I don't currently have an irrigation system, so don't have any example programs to offer.

 

You might consider starting a separate post asking for sample programs.

 

Thanks!

[madcodger]

madcodger,

 

Thanks so very much for the feedback. Yes, indeed this is on our requirements list but with a low priority. Is it possible for your weather station to also feed WeatherBug?

 

Michel,

 

I bet it can. I'll check into it this week and report back. No worries on not adding this soon. Not a problem.

 

Joe

[gsownsby]

Well, if we're going in for wishful think...why not Ambient Weather's Virtual Weather Station (VWS). It interfaces with many, many home weather stations...La Crosse, Davis, etc. I have a La Crosse and publish to our website using VWS:

 

http://www.sceniccityweather.com

 

Apparently, they know the interfacing required of various home weather stations.

 

Gary

Chattanooga, TN

[Michel Kohanim]

Hello Gary,

 

Do you have more information/APIs/contacts for VWS?

 

With kind regards,

Michel

 

Well, if we're going in for wishful think...why not Ambient Weather's Virtual Weather Station (VWS). It interfaces with many, many home weather stations...La Crosse, Davis, etc. I have a La Crosse and publish to our website using VWS:

 

http://www.sceniccityweather.com

 

Apparently, they know the interfacing required of various home weather stations.

 

Gary

Chattanooga, TN