Weather Bug home station

[bdlhome]

We spoke with Weather Underground and they wanted an exorbitant amount of money for licensing.

 

What exactly were they licensing? I thought they published their APIs http://wiki.wunderground.com/index.php/API_-_XML

 

On a related note, is there any way of knowing what attributes are available for a particular Weatherbug station before purchasing the module? I was interested in light levels but couldn't work out if it wasn't available for the stations I was looking at or whether it just isn't shown on the website.

 

thanks,

Brian

[Michel Kohanim]

Hello Brian,

 

They are licensing the use of their servers and services. We do have the same type of licensing with WeatherBug but it's much more reasonable.

 

Yes, please send your zip code to support@universal-devices.com and we'll let you know what features are available. Of course, like everything else at UDI, you have a full money back guarantee in case you are not satisfied.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

 

We spoke with Weather Underground and they wanted an exorbitant amount of money for licensing.

 

What exactly were they licensing? I thought they published their APIs http://wiki.wunderground.com/index.php/API_-_XML

 

On a related note, is there any way of knowing what attributes are available for a particular Weatherbug station before purchasing the module? I was interested in light levels but couldn't work out if it wasn't available for the stations I was looking at or whether it just isn't shown on the website.

 

thanks,

Brian

[madcodger]

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

 

 

Sorry to jump ahead of Gary in answering, but here's the link to Ambient Weather's "contact us" page. They publish Virtual Weather Station. I also use VWS, and it's a great program.

 

Joe

 

 

http://www.ambientweather.com/amcoin.html

[Michel Kohanim]

Thanks Joe, we'll take a look.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

 

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

 

 

Sorry to jump ahead of Gary in answering, but here's the link to Ambient Weather's "contact us" page. They publish Virtual Weather Station. I also use VWS, and it's a great program.

 

Joe

 

 

http://www.ambientweather.com/amcoin.html

[Illusion]

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

 

Gary,

 

I am getting ready to drop a bunch of money with Smarthome on the Venstar 1700 insteon thermostats (20% off sale). I cannot tell what features the ISY supports without adding the device. Are you saying that the ISY cannot poll the information the thermostat receives from the outdoor sensor? If that is true I will save the dough on purchasing the outdoor sensors as ISY integration would be the only reason I would get them.

[MikeB]

The ISY cannot read the external sensor. I don't believe the Thermostat Adapter supports that function.

[sbuckler]

Was digging around the site to see if there was an alternative to gathering weather info other than WeatherBug. I have been using VWS for over ten years and have pulled my weather data needed for automation from the HomeSeer plugin. I am attempting to consolidate my resources by eliminating HomeSeer which means I need a source for Zwave and VWS. VWS can obtain data from many manufacturers of weather stations, and I see by this thread that there was interest a few years ago. The WeatherBug module is ok, but it would be nice to have access to all data from our own personal stations in addition to weather conditions from local METAR stations.

 

Are there any plans to have this implemented, or has it fallen off the radar?

 

Off topic, I see zwave may be coming. Can I use my Aeon labs Z-Stick and my zwave thermostats with what is planned?

 

Stan

[arw01]

Would be interested in this as well. Been working for a few months to get a really great buy on a Davis system off of Ebay.

 

I also have heard of the WVS linux program. It talks to a variety of weather stations at home and can upload the data into weatherbug's servers. It would be a work around for sure, we keep a number of computers up 24x7 around here, but native support would be my preference.