barryH Posted April 28, 2011 Share Posted April 28, 2011 has anyone had any experience with working with weatherbug Light values. trying to see if i can write a rainy day program that will turn lights on earlier then already programmed, if it is darker because it cloudy or overcast. the problem i am seeing is that values i see are inconsistent. sometimes it was just a # like 18.6 and the light rate is a %h. lately both light and light rate in %h. like right now it list light as 22.9%h and light rate as -12.3%h. is there anywhere a better description on the light aspect of weatherbug? thanks, barry Link to comment
Michel Kohanim Posted April 28, 2011 Share Posted April 28, 2011 Hi Barry, Have you looked at this: http://www.universal-devices.com/mwiki/ ... ta_Program With kind regards, Michel Link to comment
barryH Posted April 29, 2011 Author Share Posted April 29, 2011 Hi Michel, I have made a program already. its the weatherbug info that concerns me. firstly in my module both Light and Light rate are in %h, as it has it in the wiki. i have seen it on occasion as a #, as you have Light as just a # in your program. are you just dropping the %h? secondly, what is the range spread of the value that light shows 0-100?. i have seen it on a light day at in the high 20's i looked in the wiki and the forum and did not come across any info or comments. if there is published info can you please direct me to it. thirdly, rain data for my zip code has been 0 for the entire month and we have had about 4+" of rain this month. is there a phone # i can call them, tried e-mail but no response. thanks Barry Link to comment
Michel Kohanim Posted April 29, 2011 Share Posted April 29, 2011 Hi Barry, Light information is like black magic! All we know is that the range is from 0 to 100 and beyond that it's all based on experimentation. Perhaps you should change the station if the rain rate is not accurate. With kind regards, Michel Link to comment
barryH Posted April 29, 2011 Author Share Posted April 29, 2011 Michel, Yes did that for the rain. unfortunately when it was bright and sunny here it had about 12 for light which seemed off. it is possible that it could have been darker 3 miles away. thanks for your help, i will keep trying. Barry Link to comment
wrj0 Posted April 29, 2011 Share Posted April 29, 2011 I also had some problems using Weatherbug data from another location, so purchased and installed a Davis VP2 weather station at home. Sending the VP2 data to Weatherbug allows me to pull it into the ISY from Weatherbug and solved my local rain data problem. But, it turns out that light data from personal weather stations is not published by Weatherbug. So, to address that problem I installed a 2420M Motion Sensor on a north facing window and adjusted it so that Dark & Light level reports from the 2420M are right where I need to turn on/off lights. All of my climate data is now local and I don’t have any issues with a passing cloud or rain storm “over there.†The only thing that would make this work even better is if the ISY could pull weather data directly from the Davis VP2 instead of having to push it to Weatherbug for the ISY to retrieve. This feature has been requested previously, but there just doesn’t seem to be enough of us using Davis VP2 weather stations to warrant the work by ISY developers. But it doesn't hurt to ask. Link to comment
mlvarnell Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 I just had a brainstorm. I have an old weather station from Oregon Scientific. When doing maintenance on it, I noticed the rain gauge was a seesaw with a magnet, a reed switch, and a small 'self dumping water bucket.' Here's the deal, the reed switch is a 'dry contact closure' which is a perfect fit for the screw terminals on a triggerlinc. voila! you connect them, count the number of closures over time, and there is your custom rainfall amount! It is also wireless with a 50' range. You could also monitor sprinkler output! Link to comment
llovering Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 I installed a 2420M Motion Sensor on a north facing window and adjusted it so that Dark & Light level reports from the 2420M are right where I need to turn on/off lights. All of my climate data is now local and I don’t have any issues with a passing cloud or rain storm “over there.†How did you program the motion sensor to give you light values that accumulate so you don't have a false positive from a passing cloud? -Larry Link to comment
LeeG Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 The Motion Sensor will report an ambient light change only after 3.5 minutes have elapsed. This is designed to compensate for passing car lights, etc. This time interval cannot be changed. The only value that can be changed is the light level that generally differentiates Dusk/Dawn. Link to comment
wrj0 Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 Along with adjusting the 2420M Dusk/Dawn light level, programs such as offered in the UDI Wiki allow transient light level changes to be ignored. Please refer to this Wiki Article. Link to comment
rlebel Posted October 7, 2012 Share Posted October 7, 2012 Okay, previous posts have suggested that the light data from Weatherbug data can to strange, but right now I am getting a report from station SNTMN that the light is 0.3% and of course there is no way to compare to a number less than 1. By the way, it is pretty bright outside now. I'm on the coast in Santa Monica so I need to use this nearby station so that I get a good reading when we are fogged in, stations further inland will be sunny. I guess I may have to depend on the 2420M light sensor. Link to comment
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