WeatherBug Module Not Reporting Light or Light Rate

[rhubahb]

Has anyone been experiencing issues with the WeatherBug plug-in, specifically around the Light % and Light Rate? They both are reporting 0% 24 hrs a day. I have switched to different local stations (in the Boston area) to no avail. I am currently connected to the 'KLWM' station. These values used to work when I first installed the WeatherBug module about 3 months ago, then one day about 5 - 6 weeks ago they stopped. All other WeatherBug values appear to be accurate. I have the ISY 991/IR Pro (1050) with Weather Information (21020). I am running Insteon_UD99 v3.1.14. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks.

[Michel Kohanim]

Hello rhubahb,

 

I have not experienced this issue nor is there anything we have changed in that part of code. In all cases, and just ot have the same point of reference, may I humbly suggest upgrading to 3.1.17?

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[CJVann]

I just checked Weatherbug for zip code 01840 (Lawrence, Massachusetts) and it is showing Light= 61.7, and Light Rate=2 ... So at least you know that site is broadcasting light data.

[rhubahb]

Thanks. I will try the upgrade and selecting a different zip code to see if either or both resolve the issue. I'll post the results back in case anyone else happens to see this issue down the road. Thanks again for your responses.

[JMC]

I'm experiencing a very similar problem, WeatherBug is reporting 0% light and 0 rainfall even though it has been raining steadily for 2 days. I saw Michel's suggestion to upgrade to 3.1.17 (from 3.1.13) and did so but with no change. The other data, temperature, wind, etc. all appear normal. I've tried 3 different stations in my area (KAUN, KBAB and KLHM) all with basically the same results. The light level is not critical to me but the rain is, the Irrigation Module can't properly calculate the irrigation requirement without the rain data.

[TJF1960]

Like JMC I also subscribe to KBAB and KLHM and the rain data has disappeared. So I started checking other sites. I checked all sites within 36 miles, none had rain data. 76 miles away at truckee was the first site I came to that has some rain data which showed up in ISY. So its not a problem with ISY, it appears it is a weatherbug thing, but what could be the reason?

 

Any ideas or suggestions?

 

Thanks,

Tim

[wrj0]

Tim,

 

Some weather stations may submit only limited weather data, depending on their capability. Also, for those of us submitting data to Weatherbug, they limit the data that they accept from certain Backyard stations, for example, they don't currently accept light levels (among other data) from my Davis weather station.

 

(At the risk of raising Michel's blood pressure , I should probably avoid asking again for local network Davis weather station support in the ISY. But it sure would be a nice addition.)

[TJF1960]

Hi wrj0,

 

Thanks for the reply.

 

The stations I have been tapped into for the last couple of years have always offered all rain and wind data (at least for the last 2 or so years), pretty much everything except for light data. It has just been this last week that I have noticed no rain data from all of the stations in and around my area. We haven't had rain for 2+ months so this is the first real rainfall since Nov.

 

Thanks,

Tim

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi Guys,

 

That's quite unfortunate ... my station does report rain and it was raining heavily today.

 

Perhaps we can ask WeatherBug for input?

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[Teken]

Just some feed back across the pond. The light, light rate, do not operate here as well. I changed my stations to one of 15 options with no change what so ever.

 

Regards

 

Teken . . .

[Brian H]

Westbrook CT. seems to report Light and Light Rate but I get zero for rain fall and it rained heavily yesterday.

[Michel Kohanim]

Hello everyone,

 

We did send an email to WeatherBug and got a canned response back. I think it would be wise for everyone with missing data points to contact WeatherBug directly.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[io_guy]

Most of the Canadian (if not all) stations do not provide rain data.

I'd love to see a way to inject rain data into the ISY via REST. That way I could pull it from Weather Underground.

 

I could just send it as a variable (which is what I do now), but directly into the ISY internal variable would allow it to work with the irrigation module.

[Michel Kohanim]

io_guy,

 

Sounds good. We'll investigate the level of complexity ... just have to find the right balance between functionality and generic-ness.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[TJF1960]

I have gotten nowhere with weatherbug. I have sent them 3 emails from different addresses and received the same canned response a day or two later.

I did a bit more digging and found that station KMYV, KMCC, KSMF and KBAB which is closest to me, are all national weather stations so I got onto http://forecast.weather.gov/stations.php?foo=0 and found out that they are indeed all transmitting rain information. So it appears that for whatever reason weatherbug has simply just stopped grabbing rain specs for a lot of stations in this area and probably other areas as well.

The weather specs for each national weather station from the above link are available in xml format for those who are able to use them.

 

Tim

 

edit: I received a semi-canned response today issued shortly after I sent them another email:

"Dear Sir / Madam,

 

Thank you for your email. We have created Case #: 00105820 for your reference.

 

We are aware of this issue with airport stations not reporting rain and our engineers are currently working on the problem. We do not have a time frame for when it will be fixed. Sorry.

 

Thanks

WeatherBug Customer Care

So who knows if/when they will get it fixed...Soon I hope.

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi Tim,

 

This is quite disheartening. The problem with forecast.weather.gov (NOAA) is that they do not provide live data for all areas. Most are forecasts and those that have live data are not updated regularly. Furthermore, we had a hell of time with timeouts and connection issues.

 

The other choice is weather underground. This said, I am not certain anyone would be willing to pay the amount of money they want for licensing.

 

Google Weather is another choice but it does not have enough data points.

 

I am really not sure what we can do here. Perhaps if everyone on the forum with WeatherBug module sent an email to WB, we might have a better chance of them fixing the issues?

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[JMC]

I've been quiet on this topic since January because there hasn't been any rain for me to confirm what was/was not working.

 

When I reported the lack of rain data from KAUN (Auburn Municipal Airport) to WeatherBug in January I did not receive any reply at all. I did notice, however, that KAUN was removed from the list of available stations. I checked the surrounding stations and found that CTRSH (Mesa Verde High School in Citrus Heights) was reporting rain data so I switched my station to CTRSH.

 

When rain finally started again in March the rainfall counter on my WeatherBug module remained at 0. I checked the various area stations and none were reporting any rain data, even those which had been reporting it in January.

 

I have a query in to WB asking if they can confirm that I will get the rain data I need if I subscribe to WeatherBug Plus. I figure the answer to that query may also answer whether the lack of rain data we see is accidental, a bug or other glitch, or is deliberate.

 

Incidentally, the data for the KAUN area came right up from NOAA at this site: http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/forecast/wxtabl ... on=-121.06

 

The Forecast Weather Table interface provides options for getting different formats and locations. It does appear to only update hourly though, but it should still be plenty good for calcluating irrigation requirements.

 

mike

[TJF1960]

I received an email from my ISY this morning, my sprinklers would not run today....Because there has been rain today! I looked at weatherbug and sure enough they are reporting rainfall again in my area. I checked 2 of the closest stations and both are now reporting rain.

It may turn out to be a good day after all!