Ok I pulled the trigger and ordered the Davis 6163 (with console), Airlink, and Weatherlink Live today. My first attempt with WeeWX will be using the weatherlink weewx driver and the airlink driver to collect the data.
I will report back with my setup, configuration, and experience for others that are interested. On Wednesday, March 16, 2022 at 9:17:21 PM UTC-4 Doug Jenkins wrote: > Tom: > > the reason I am considering the 6163 with the 24 hour aspiration fan is > because where I am going to mount the ISS. > > On my property, I really have 2 locations to mount the ISS (minus the > anemometer), on my TV Tower that is mounted to the side of my house, or on > a post in the front yard. The front yard would be ideal, but I was worried > someone would steal/damage the unit as it would be sticking out from the > street. The location would be perfect on a meterological prespective, but a > $1000+ station unprotected is asking for trouble where I live. Plus > mounting this device out there would require me to get a solar wireless > transmitter device ($149) for the anemometer that is going up the TV tower. > > So if I go with mounting the station on my tv tower, I will be putting it > up 4 feet above the roof line. With the florida sun, I expect the temp > readings to be considerably off, so I figured a aspirating fan would tamper > that effect. Again i could be wrong on this approach, so if anyone has run > into this as an issue, please let me know. > > for the rest of the sensors, I want the UV/Radiation sensors so I can know > the UV index at my location. > > Again thanks for the great information, it is helping me plan and design > this setup out. :) > > On Wed, Mar 16, 2022, 10:30 AM Tom Hogland <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Only other thing might be, why the 6163? If you need 24-hour fans and the >> solar/UV then that's what you need, but it's a hefty price increase to get >> those. I think the 6162 loses the fan, and the 6152 (that I have) loses the >> solar/UV. Otherwise, the wireless is all the same, as are the basic weather >> sensors (the "ISS" to Davis). Note that the 6152C/6162C/etc are the cabled >> versions - all the ones without the C in the model are wireless, and all of >> the anemometers are wired to the ISS regardless of model (although Davis >> has a wireless anemometer adapter, either AC powered or solar). >> >> If the WL Live will integrate both devices then that's probably the way >> to go - the Envoy pre-dates the Airlink by quite a few years and I can't >> see any docs that say it will see the Airlink. (In fact none of the Envoy >> docs mention the Airlink...) The Envoy + Weatherlink datalogger mostly >> duplicates the WL Live functionality, so you don't need both. The Envoy >> *may* be more reliable, depending on a LOT of variables, just because it's >> a dedicated ISS receiver that's hard-wired to your weather PC, while the WL >> Live depends on your weewx sniffing network packets for data. >> >> I have a *real* Dell/Ubuntu server in the basement, so weewx happily runs >> on it. If I was to duplicate it today I'd probably go get a Dell/HP/Lenovo >> micro-form factor PC instead. Models with 6-8th gen i5 CPUs, 16GB memory >> and decent drives are under $300 and that lets them run generic Linux on >> them - very easy to support, troubleshoot etc. A "spinny" drive would be my >> choice - I'm too old-school to trust any form of SSD for the constant >> writes that these systems do, and a 250GB-500GB drive is cheap. I've still >> got 20+ year old drives in the basement that function perfectly, although >> they're worthless when it comes to capacity - too easy to fill up a 4GB >> drive these days :-) >> >> On Wednesday, March 16, 2022 at 5:19:37 AM UTC-8 [email protected] >> wrote: >> >>> Thank you Greg and Tom for the advice and insight! I do appreciate it! >>> >>> The reason I am considering the 6163 (VP2+ Wireless) model is that it >>> would be a very long cable run through my attic (which has poor access) to >>> get to my utility closet where I keep my telco equipment and my dedicated >>> machine for the weather station. Plus I might get a soil/leaf module in the >>> future to monitor my garden once I recover from the sticker shock of buying >>> the initial Davis hardware :) >>> >>> For the weatherlink data logger, I will need to consider that in the >>> future. Right now I was thinking of just getting the WeatherLink Live 6100 >>> as according to the user guides, it will allow me to pull the raw data for >>> both the airlink and the VP2+ via its API directly from the local device. I >>> see that there are a number of weatherlink weewx drivers on the wiki page >>> from others who are pulling this data today. The weatherlink 6100 will be >>> on a battery backup and directly connected to my home network in a closet >>> that is close to the weather station. I will see if that is enough to go >>> through some of our regular thunderstorms here in West Florida (we lose >>> power on a regular basis). >>> >>> Based on Toms' feedback, I am not going to go with the sonic anemometer. >>> It is very expensive ($540 today) and what I read is that it is good for up >>> to 90mph. I will use the included anemometer with the VP2+ and see how that >>> goes. I read those cups can go through a cat5 hurricane, just hope I do not >>> have to experience that to test that theory out at home! >>> >>> I am going to use a dedicated NUC PC for this station as they are >>> currently cheaper than a RPI4 (8GB) and will have a M.2 SSD. That should be >>> more than enough hardware to run the website and weewx with no issues. >>> >>> anything else I am missing? >>> >>> On Tuesday, March 15, 2022 at 10:37:13 AM UTC-4 [email protected] >>> wrote: >>> >>>> I'm using a VP2 - about 12 years worth now. My connection is via a >>>> serial Weatherlink in a Weather Envoy, as my weewx install is in the >>>> basement and my console is upstairs in the living room. Since the WL Live >>>> came out the Envoy is more affordable than it used to be, and works great. >>>> If you can put your console next to (or close to) the weewx PC then you >>>> can >>>> just use the serial/USB module, otherwise you'll need the Envoy. >>>> >>>> I use the standard anemometer on my roof; I also have a Tempest with >>>> sonic anemometer, and it doesn't seem to be quite as accurate or sensitive >>>> as the old-school version. (It's also $500 extra, and I'm cheap...) My >>>> anemometer has needed absolutely no maintenance in that 12 years. I'm also >>>> thinking about using the AirLink if I can get it's data pulled into weewx >>>> and integrated, but haven't seen any discussion about it in here. >>>> >>>> Next plan is to start using the Tempest to report into a weewx instance >>>> and see how it compares to the VP2, If it's accurate and reliable it'll go >>>> up on the roof pole with the VP2 anemometer and do it's thing. >>>> >>>> >>>> On Monday, March 14, 2022 at 4:33:20 AM UTC-8 [email protected] >>>> wrote: >>>> >>>>> >>>>> 1. Should I use the WeatherLink or a direct connection module? >>>>> Pros/Cons? >>>>> 2. Has anyone used the Air Quality module from Davis on their weather >>>>> station and reported the data using WeeWX? >>>>> 3. Has anyone used the Davis Sonic Anemometer? I am thinking of >>>>> putting the anemometer high up on the tower (33ft/10m), but maintaining >>>>> that will be a big chore. I am surrounded by large oaks, so the higher >>>>> the >>>>> anemometer, the better wind reading. >>>>> >>>>> -- >> 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/fdcc8d07-0186-451b-ae45-63670fdfe3bcn%40googlegroups.com >> >> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/weewx-user/fdcc8d07-0186-451b-ae45-63670fdfe3bcn%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >> . >> > -- 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/71b19668-56e6-4d56-80fd-d50c9c759e9cn%40googlegroups.com.
