Just to correct the record, the Vantage protocol was not reverse engineered. They are one of the few vendors who have published their protocol <https://support.davisinstruments.com/article/rbzgl0rh6k-vantage-pro-pro-2-and-vue-communications-reference-2-6-1-any-os>, and have for many years.
On Sun, May 17, 2020 at 5:13 PM Greg Troxel <[email protected]> wrote: > "'Ben Luria' via weewx-user" <[email protected]> writes: > > > apologies if this topic came up before or in case I am off-topic here. > I'm > > toying with SDR and home automation on a Raspberry Pi and would like to > add > > weather data via WeeWX and a weather station. Is there any particular > brand > > / model I should go for or maybe avoid? Am looking for something solar > > powered optimally, but that is not a must. > > You put "open" in quotes, which means that I don't know what you mean by > that word :-) > > There are a few things you could mean: > > 1) well-understood interfaces and existing drivers so that you can get > at the weather data and use it, and not have problems due to closed > interfaces > > 2) open protocol, or perhaps reverse-engineered protocols, for the > sensor suite (outside part) to talk to the console (inside, that you > look at, and that usually is interfaced to a computer), so that you > can sniff it with an SDR instead of using the console receiver. > > 3) being able to get at the weather data locally, without the device > talking to some cloud service (not under your control, subject to the > company stopping it, and likely run with proprietary software) > > 3A) separately from transport via cloud, can the local station produce > observations by itself, or does it need a (perhaps implemented with > proprietary software) cloud service to do that? > > 4) firmware/software for the weather station equipment being open source > > 5) an open hardware design for the station, even if it uses proprietary > chips > > 6) full-on open, meaning open licenses for all silicon in the station, > including CPUs and sensors, which leads you to RISC-V and for > temp/humidity I'm really not sure what. > > > You mentioned home automation, so I would recommend you check out the > mqtt extension, which is I think what most use to bridge weewx data into > an automation system (such as Home Assistant, which is the natural > choice for weewx fans, being open source and python). > https://github.com/weewx/weewx/wiki/mqtt > > > For 1, there are lots of choices, and basically you should look at what > weewx supports. > > For 2, I am not really aware of anything open, except for build-your-own > kinds of stations. But maybe weatherflow is UDP over IP and counts > here. The Davis VP2 protocol has been reverse engineered and there is > rtldavis. However, the Davis datalogger/interface in the console has > the really nice property that when your computer goes down, it keeps > storing data, and then when you straighten out your computer from the > botched upgrade, or you get power back, weewx reads the data and your > historical record is 100% fine, as if you never went down. So I don't > really want to get my data with an SDR on a unix computer, even though > I'd like to try that, because I really like it that I haven't lost data > the probably 6 times I've had an issue in about 2.5 years. > > For 3, Davis is fine, and some acurite setups have local USB. Various > other systems have "interceptor" drivers that snoop the data going to > the cloud, and I have the impression that sometimes people fetch their > own data back from the cloud because that's all they can do. > > For 3a, note Vince's comments about weatherflow and rain. (I think > weatherflow is really interesting and don't mean to knock them. I just > find the notion that you don't know how much rain you got without the > internet quite curious. On the other hand sometimes with Davis it rains > and you conclude from the readings that you have a bird's nest, wasp's > nest or pine needles in your rain collector or blocking the tipping > bucket from tipping.) > > For 4, and even more so for 5, I'm not aware of any contenders, other > than build-your-own with arduino and e.g. i2c sensors. But this is > very interesting and may qualify: > > https://www.tinkerforge.com/en/doc/Kits/WeatherStation/WeatherStation.html > https://www.tinkerforge.com/en/shop/bricklets/sensors.html > However, I don't see rain and wind. > > For 6, my impresssion is that I will be viewed as crazy just for > bringing it up. > > > That leaves you with all the other considerations, which is that Davis > is expensive but otherwise viewed favorably by most, and that various > cheap stations are cheap and tend to fail. And weatherflow seems to > turn everyone who plays with one into a fan, which is a very positive > comment. > > > There are surely DIY/maker projects out there to do rain gauges and > maybe wind. Temp is fairly easy, but you need to build a radiation > shield. So I'd say this is for "my hobby is building a weather station > from parts" vs "I want to get weather data into my home assistant setup > and I don't want anything too egregious". > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "weewx-user" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/weewx-user/rmisgfy14on.fsf%40s1.lexort.com > . > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "weewx-user" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/weewx-user/CAPq0zECG4gdPxXo6K8wX9KKdZ6zDq4UtV7qXhEdeyeUdVoe_Og%40mail.gmail.com.
