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Time for a new station - what's needed for Davis?

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gordon.cunningham
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu 19 May 2016 3:03 am
Weather Station: Fine Offset/Ambient w/USB issues
Operating System: Windows 10 Pro
Location: Earth
Contact:

Time for a new station - what's needed for Davis?

Post by gordon.cunningham »

It's (well past) time to get a new weather station for my home. My current station is dying, and I've been limping along with it (a Fine Offset by Ambient) for a long time - I'm sick of the USB disconnect problem in this model, too. I'm looking at the Davis line of weather stations to be used with Cumulus, though the prices are scary!

If I do choose to go with a Davis, are there any issues to be aware of when using it with Cumulus? What do I need to interface it with Cumulus on my Windows 10 machine? Do I need the pricey interface and WeatherLink software? I'll probably opt for serial as I believe I can use my serial terminal servers via Ethernet, and if not, serial offers much greater cabling distances than USB. I need a system that is completely self-contained - no Internet necessary for standard operation and logging.

Thanks.
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dazza1223
Posts: 860
Joined: Sun 25 Jan 2015 8:41 pm
Weather Station: Davis Vantage Pro 2 plus
Operating System: Raspberry pi 4 (4gb)
Location: Worthing
Contact:

Re: Time for a new station - what's needed for Davis?

Post by dazza1223 »

hi there yes i got the davis vantage vue and it was £399 with the data logger and ive had it for about 2 years now and it so so relatable never let me down !! but i will say something if ur using a raspberry pi will get the serial logger as it better for the data speen and drop outs serial port
Have fun and keep learning

dazza :D

https://www.davisworthing.co.uk

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PaulMy
Posts: 3777
Joined: Sun 28 Sep 2008 11:54 pm
Weather Station: Davis VP2 Plus 24-Hour FARS
Operating System: Windows8 and Windows10
Location: Komoka, ON Canada
Contact:

Re: Time for a new station - what's needed for Davis?

Post by PaulMy »

For Davis stations, both VP2 and Vue, you need the optional extra interface dongle to connect to a computer or router. This is not needed for a stand-alone weather station home console setup. The Davis Weatherlink interface dongle comes in serial, USB or IP version and includes data logging for the period that the console may not be connected to a computer (computer or power down, etc.), and also comes with the Weatherlink software. Weatherlink can be purchased in the US from less than U$120. There are non-Davis third party dongles available.

The Davis station and Weatherlink dongles all work with Cumulus, and Cumulus is ages better than the included Weatherlink software. The WeatherlinkIP dongle version needs a setting ticked in Cumulus for once a minute disconnect so that it can function with both Cumulus and Weatherlink.com (the Davis upload network/website).

Nothing else needed, but there are extra options for the VP2 - FARS, solar/UV, extra sensors...

Enjoy,
Paul
Davis Vantage Pro2+
C1 www.komokaweather.com/komokaweather-ca
MX www.komokaweather.com/cumulusmx/index.htm /index.html /index.php
MX www.komokaweather.com/cumulusmxwll/index.htm /index.html /index.php
MX www. komokaweather.com/cumulusmx4/index.htm

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gordon.cunningham
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu 19 May 2016 3:03 am
Weather Station: Fine Offset/Ambient w/USB issues
Operating System: Windows 10 Pro
Location: Earth
Contact:

Re: Time for a new station - what's needed for Davis?

Post by gordon.cunningham »

Thanks guys, appreciate the info.

My current weather station uses Cumulus and is highly integrated into my home automation (HA) and AV systems. My HA system is based on Homeseer 2 (Windows) and runs in a VM on a VMWare server. HA I/O is mostly serial to devices via an older network-connected serial terminal server, hence my desire to get a serial or ethernet interface for the weather station. I wrote a number of scripts to process, quantize, and distribute the weather data the way I chose.

I had a complete home-grown camera system years ago that is no longer viable, so I'm starting to add RPi3's with cameras, streaming feeds, and several other goodies. However, I'm aware that the RPi platform does have limited processing power, so I still want to keep my HA system as the core processing engine and central management system. Yeah, I try to keep it all local and self-contained (meaning I don't use systems like Alexa that require Internet services - the Internet goes down at the most inopportune moments) and keep it all relatively cheap by using older technology that is still completely usable (and often built very well).

I think I'll save up a bit and get one of the better Davis stations and be done with it. Thanks again!
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