Will meteotemplate also support Weatherflow stations

[nitrx]

I know this is a tricky one , I hope to receive soon my new weatherstation (Sky and Air ) from weathetflow the station has it owns api so not the api used by meteotemplate ( api documentaion https://weatherflow.github.io/SmartWeather/api/ I have no knowledge of this but I hope it can be implemented, I Think its is possible too update the template by the wunderground way but thats not ideal (understatement ) due the hickups and no realtime conditions.

[Jachym]

Hi,
AFAIK WD already supports WeatherFlow stations so I thínk in a sense it is already supported

[nitrx]

Oke I did know that but anyway maybe its a solution but I dont like weatherdisplay its to cluttered and very hard to understand I will see what I do when its sofar
thanks

[Jachym]

OK, are all the parameters essential for MT available? Im looking at it and it seems like there are two units, do all users have both? Are they sold together?

What I need is the API to provide:
- date/time of measurement
- temperature
- humidity
- pressure
- daily precipitation
- rain rate
- wind speed
- wind gust (optional, if N/A we can use speed)
- wind bearing
- solar (optional)

[nitrx]

OK, are all the parameters essential for MT available? Im looking at it and it seems like there are two units, do all users have both? Are they sold together?

What I need is the API to provide:
- date/time of measurement
- temperature
- humidity
- pressure
- daily precipitation
- rain rate
- wind speed
- wind gust (optional, if N/A we can use speed)
- wind bearing
- solar (optional)

You have too sell both units one is for baro/temp/hum and the other for wind/rain/uv/solarradiation as far I can see the units sent the data in local epoch time the output is
{
"status": {
"status_code": 0,
"status_message": "SUCCESS"
},
"station_units": {
"units_temp": "f",
"units_wind": "mph",
"units_precip": "in",
"units_pressure": "mb",
"units_distance": "mi",
"units_direction": "cardinal",
"units_other": "imperial"
},
"station_id": 67,
"station_name": "Home",
"public_name": "Public Location Name",
"latitude": 29.00724,
"longitude": -80.88067,
"timezone": "America/New_York",
"elevation": 21.845,
"obs": [
{
"timestamp": 1495732068,
"air_temperature": 29.1,
"barometric_pressure": 1002.9,
"sea_level_pressure": 1004.7,
"relative_humidity": 77,
"precip": 0,
"precip_accum_last_1hr": 0,
"precip_accum_last_24hr": 0,
"wind_avg": 3.5,
"wind_direction": 289,
"wind_gust": 5.1,
"wind_lull": 2.2,
"solar_radiation": 330,
"uv": 8,
"brightness": 7000,
"lightning_strike_last_epoch": 1495652340,
"lightning_strike_last_distance": 22,
"lightning_strike_count_last_3hr": 0,
"feels_like": 21.4,
"heat_index": 21.4,
"wind_chill": 21.4,
"dew_point": 17.2,
"wet_bulb_temperature": 18.6,
"delta_t": -2.8,
"air_density": 1.18257,
"air_temperature_indoor": 29.1,
"barometric_pressure_indoor": 1002.9,
"sea_level_pressure_indoor": 1004.7,
"relative_humidity_indoor": 77,
"precip_indoor": 0,
"precip_accum_last_1hr_indoor": 0,
"precip_accum_last_24hr_indoor": 0,
"wind_avg_indoor": 3.5,
"wind_direction_indoor": 289,
"wind_gust_indoor": 5.1,
"wind_lull_indoor": 2.2,
"solar_radiation_indoor": 330,
"uv_indoor": 8,
"brightness_indoor": 7000,
"lightning_strike_last_epoch_indoor": 1495652340,
"lightning_strike_last_distance_indoor": 22,
"lightning_strike_count_last_3hr_indoor": 0,
"feels_like_indoor": 21.4,
"heat_index_indoor": 21.4,
"wind_chill_indoor": 21.4,
"dew_point_indoor": 17.2,
"wet_bulb_temperature_indoor": 18.6,
"delta_t_indoor": -2.8,
"air_density_indoor": 1.18257
}
]
}

The units can be set to Imperial or metric I've the station not received I hope in Januari but I've no idea where the data are sent to yes to wunderground but thats not usefull so atm I'm stuck I just saw that Brian from Weatherdisplay has released a free version for the rasperry 3 with the api for Meteotemplate (unfortunattely I've an pi 2) it seems that the sofware need to intercept UDP packets locally I think that might be the solution to feed meteotemplate well I will see what to do when I receive the station I will come back to you then.

Maybe somebody over here is using meteotemplate with weatherflow
Thanx anyway

[hankster]

The info for the Weather Flow API is at https://weatherflow.github.io/SmartWeather/api/

[weather display]

you can modify the weather display screen (customise) to make it how you want it (i.e less cluttered etc)

[nitrx]

I will have a closer look at it in the next weeks

[bidouilleur]

I do use weatherdisay via a pi3 to intercept the udp packages on local network and send it to a self hosted meteotemplate site

Had a few pitfalls but once I got all things clear it is basically a 5 minute setup to get all working in chain.

[Smithee]

Just set up a weather flow and it would be great to add it direct to Meototemplate (without going via WD or such like) -ie just by adding a station id? Mine is at:


https://smartweather.weatherflow.com/share/2701/grid

Would that be possible?

Andy

[andyk1]

I saw the Weather Flow when it came out on kickstarter but again I wanted more info and real life reviews which of course there where none. Now I regret not jumping on it when I had the chance. Reading good things about it and love the lightening sensor part of it.

Andyk1

[bidouilleur]

you can still order till Monday on Indiegogo a set. After that it'll be direct but according the F, US as start and later world wide ... so you can still get one at the discount price via Indiegogo

Shipping should start soon

[nitrx]

I saw the Weather Flow when it came out on kickstarter but again I wanted more info and real life reviews which of course there where none. Now I regret not jumping on it when I had the chance. Reading good things about it and love the lightening sensor part of it.

Andyk1

There are a lot of reviews and the fieldtesters have done a lot of work thre are also tools developed much more info on https://community.weatherflow.com/

I hope to receive my air and flow in the next 14 days

[andyk1]

[/quote]
There are a lot of reviews and the fieldtesters have done a lot of work thre are also tools developed much more info on https://community.weatherflow.com/

I hope to receive my air and flow in the next 14 days
[/quote]

Cool, Keep us posted as I am interested to know what reviewers think.

Andyk1

[bidouilleur]

Here is a map with all active devices by kind

You can click on any pin and see what is going on, and as always, much depends on how the station has been positioned ....

[andyk1]

Here is a map with all active devices by kind

You can click on any pin and see what is going on, and as always, much depends on how the station has been positioned ....

Hello bidouilleur!

Thank you for the link. Very helpful. I had a chance to look at the map and surprised there are 5 active stations fairly near me that have the weatherflow or part of it. Having said that I see in the map that there are what are called "Dead" station and by looking at them a few have been off line for as long as 6 months. Would that mean these stations are dead as in non working, moved or whatever reason they just stopped working? I see there are actually alot over a 1000 worldwide and would like to know a bit more about them.

The ones I do see working seem for the most part (and none close enough to consider next door) fairly accurate compared to a number of WU stations near them.

A question... I noticed some have hubs... is that a requirement as I saw some weatherflows did not list that option.
and there are 4 separate units to weatherflow?

Andyk1

[bidouilleur]

Hello Andykl

today the WF set has 3 units (4th is planned but still a design only, guess it'll start to live in a few weeks)

hub : as it's name says, it is a relay station between the sky/air modules and your lan/wan network.

• it has the radio transmitter (8xx or 9xx mhz according region) to link to the modules
  it has the wifi transmitter to link to your lan/wan router
  it has a buffering memory (several hours) to be able to backfill data to WF servers if lan/wan outage
  it also sends out all the data in raw format via UDP for personal use or 3d party software

here are already some applications that can 'read' the data : https://community.weatherflow.com/t/wea ... iki/873/14
I use weewx on a pi to collect locally the udp flow and push it to meteotemplate, took me a few minutes to setup, but as you will see there are several options available and I think everyone will find the one suiting him.

air : module that reads temperature, pressure, humidity and detects +/- lightning nearby

sky : module that reads wind + direction, rain, solar sensor

And from there WF calculates different things you can see via their mobile app or website page. This is mine for exemple : https://smartweather.weatherflow.com/station/3531/grid. Remember I'm also +/- a tester so readings can be wacko with moments ... purpose is to push it over the limit and we do

Later a 4th module will come called Breathe : inside module allowing temperature and some pollution metrics. But I guess it is way to early to define it yet as testers will most probably push for changes allong the way as we did with the other modules.

WF is very pro active and does take feedback into account. Evolution is their word and they design the modules so they can be upgraded software wise.

Hope this clears out some details. The hardware is pretty nice and does a good job but as with every hardware, much depends on how you install them .. putting the air module in full sun will give bad results ... putting the sky in the shade will never give correct solar readings ... but the same can be said for the VP2 if installed in a barn

Indeed some seem to have bought the station, played a bit with it and abandoned it. Guess like all other brands ... also some stations are older test versions that now are abandoned .. or re used with brief moments to compare with later models (testers do have weird habits ....) Gary's map is another exemple of what can be done via the API this time .. as you can see data is pretty open to use.

If you have more questions, you can also jump in on their forum.

[andyk1]

Hello Andykl

today the WF set has 3 units (4th is planned but still a design only, guess it'll start to live in a few weeks)

Thank you for your detailed reply. This is my second attempt at replying to you and unfortunately don't have time to re-write it. (&^%$-^*!) power failure)

The one question I have that most weather arrays suffer is ... How does it survive severe close lighting/thunder storms?
That is one major issue in our area. I literally have to keep an our door array as a replacement (ws-2902) if we have one very close which of course in this part of the country will be inevitable. I know that will be tough to answer. No one almost ever talks about that situation.

I to am a PI guy (Raspberry Pi b+,2,3, arduino etc.). Have written allot of Python over the years for various indoor/outdoor sensors only to lose them in severe lightening storms. Thanks for your detailed message and I'll be getting back to you.

Andy

[bidouilleur]

tricky question. Air and Sky are battery powered and should not suffer except if they get a direct hit ... and since they contain little to no metal ...
I had some storms passing near (few hundred meters away from strike) and the units are still there, working.
The hub is powered via USB and is most vulnerable according me if your powerlines are not secured (where I live they are pretty stable during thunderstorms and we don't see heavy peaks + the adapter will most probably fry first)

For now I didn't get any news from the other tester any unit fried due to lightning storm.

Data is send every 3 seconds to the online servers from WF so that data is secure. What you do locally .....

[andyk1]

tricky question. Air and Sky are battery powered and should not suffer except if they get a direct hit ... and since they contain little to no metal ...
I had some storms passing near (few hundred meters away from strike) and the units are still there, working.
The hub is powered via USB and is most vulnerable according me if your powerlines are not secured (where I live they are pretty stable during thunderstorms and we don't see heavy peaks + the adapter will most probably fry first)

For now I didn't get any news from the other tester any unit fried due to lightning storm.

Data is send every 3 seconds to the online servers from WF so that data is secure. What you do locally .....

Not meant to be tricky. One of our major problems is static elec here from April to about June-July. I've lost 3 SDR radio's sending our local fire/police band to Broadcastify as have others and if you look there's not a single one left or at least this time of year. Same thing with Flightradar24, Flightaware and so on. Even though they are cheap you get tired of replacing them after awhile. Mouthing a weather array 10 feet higher than your home level makes for an easy target but have never had one hit directly but the static caused just takes them out even thou there batter operated. Am waiting to see if this ws-2902 Survives this season. The WF is a bit expensive to experiment with. The other thing I'm worried about the outdoor unit is wind. The highest wind we've had was 128 maybe 5 years ago and I only know that because of local broadcasts as My weather station was long gone before that speed. The Mount doesn't look that sturdy to me having just a 1/4" camera mount hole.

Andy.

P.S. Yes anything that matters in our home (electrical) is on a Battery backup system. We have 5 and replace batteries in them every 3-5 years. Spikes are our worst enemy. Our power grid is so reliable here everyone not only has one gas powered generator... we all have two as a back-up...

I'm exaggerating about 2 generators... we have 3...

[hankster]

The "dead" stations you see on the map are mostly pre-release or beta units that testers are no longer using. I have not heard of any users loosing their units to lightning but I would guess since they are consumer grade products they have no more protection that other such electronic items. The small screw mount is so it can be mounted on a tripod for portable use. The "Air" base can be mounted using screws, the "Sky" can use screws or a 1" pole. Beta testers already have WeeWX and other programs running on the Pi for weather monitoring and home automation.

http://nfmweather.com/weather3/

[Heikki L]

you can modify the weather display screen (customise) to make it how you want it (i.e less cluttered etc)

sorry for hijacking this thread, but would love to use weather display, instead of the ancient cumulus with its limitations, but I have absolutely no idea what I am doing with, its very cluttered and very complicated to understand. I ue a WS3083 station, and have no idea how to even set up weather display or even if its supported. Really confusing

[Johnny]

I've yet to receive my WeatherFlow Air and Sky station, but I'm hoping I can use my Meteobridge Gizmo box to send data to Meteotemplate.

Log into Meteobridge and under the 'Station' tab there is an option to select 'WeatherFlow Air and Sky'. Then under the 'Weather Nets' tab I can add Meteotemplate and add the associated URL.

That all sounds nice and easy, I'll have to wait and see if that actually works.