Author Topic: WiFiLogger  (Read 6780 times)

crawdad62

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WiFiLogger
« on: September 24, 2018, 06:23:58 PM »
Is anyone using the WiFiLoggerhttps://www.scaledinstruments.com/shop/davis-instruments/wifilogger/ and if so does WeatherCat play well with it?

Blicj11

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Re: WiFiLogger
« Reply #1 on: September 24, 2018, 07:18:20 PM »
I have not seen that product before, so thanks for posting. I have been to the manufacturer's site several times and looked at their stuff, which appears to be well designed and built. I have a Davis WeatherLinkIP? Data Logger and just plug it into the port of an Apple Airport Express, which allows me to put the console wherever I desire.
Blick


elagache

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According to the manufacturer it should work (Re: WiFiLogger)
« Reply #2 on: September 24, 2018, 11:07:27 PM »
Dear crawdad62, Blick, and WeatherCat Davis fans,

Is anyone using the WiFiLoggerhttps://www.scaledinstruments.com/shop/davis-instruments/wifilogger/ and if so does WeatherCat play well with it?

I had seen this item on the Scaled Instruments website, but was so busy I didn't investigate, so thanks for your question.  Scaled Instruments has this link with more information on the product:

https://www.weatherstations.co.uk/wifi-logger.htm

I'm quoting from the key paragraph below:

Quote
WiFi connection to a local computer running weather station software The WFL behaves essentially like a local WeatherlinkIP logger and offers exactly the same data formats as the standard Davis logger, including real-time (LOOP and LOOP2) and archive/summary data. As a result, it should interface to any software that can connect locally to a WeatherlinkIP logger via TCP/IP ? this includes CumulusMX, Weather Display, Weatherlink, Weathercat (for Mac users) and several others. (Note: Software is not supplied with the WiFi logger but should be downloaded from the main site for each program);

So according to the manufacturer, this device is supposed to work with WeatherCat.  However, as far as I know, nobody has reported successfully doing this on this forum anyway.  It's worth a try, but definitely make sure you understand your return options - just in case!

Cheers, Edouard  [cheers1]

crawdad62

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Re: WiFiLogger
« Reply #3 on: September 25, 2018, 01:18:11 AM »
Thanks for the replies. Hmmm well I?m going to read and re-read the thread at wxforums. Scaled Instruments is a good place and the owner replies quickly. I may shoot him an email.

elagache

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Email the manufacturer? (Re: WiFiLogger)
« Reply #4 on: September 25, 2018, 11:37:07 PM »
Dear crawdad62 and WeatherCat technology leading edgers,

Thanks for the replies. Hmmm well I?m going to read and re-read the thread at wxforums. Scaled Instruments is a good place and the owner replies quickly. I may shoot him an email.

That's all good ideas.  However, probably your best bet is to send an email to the manufacturer directly.  If they have tested their data logger with WeatherCat and it does work, then you are in business.  If they simply assume it should work because it has the same hardware interface as the Davis IP logger, that isn't quite as much of a reassurance.  Certainly you could shoot an email to Ryan Wilhour at Scaled Instruments and explain the situation.  He should be willing to take back the product if the manufacturer claims it does work with WeatherCat but turns out to be mistaken.

Cheers, Edouard

P.S. If you go ahead and purchase this logger - by all means - do let us know what you discover!  If it works fine with WeatherCat, I'll gladly add that information to the WeatherCat Wiki.

crawdad62

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Re: WiFiLogger
« Reply #5 on: September 30, 2018, 04:10:13 PM »
Well I ordered the WiFi Logger. I would assume that now that there's no connection from the console to the Mac that you need to configure WeatherCat as you would if you were using Meteobridge?

elagache

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Assume it is a Davis IP data-logger (Re: WiFiLogger)
« Reply #6 on: September 30, 2018, 11:23:38 PM »
Dear crawdad62 and WeatherCat explorers of new technology,

Well I ordered the WiFi Logger. I would assume that now that there's no connection from the console to the Mac that you need to configure WeatherCat as you would if you were using Meteobridge?

According to the manufacturer's webpage I referenced on my previous posting, you should configure the WiFi data logger like the Davis IP data logger.  Instead of plugging in your console into your Ethernet, the WiFi data logger has an IP address on your WiFi network.  You can use that to configure the data logger following the same instructions for the Davis IP data logger.  There are instructions on how to do this starting on page 73 of the current WeatherCat manual.

There is additional instructions on the WeatherCat Wiki that you will find here:

http://wiki.trixology.com/index.php?title=How_to_setup_the_Davis_WeatherLinkIP%E2%84%A2_data_logger

Please do let us know how this product works out for you!

Cheers, Edouard  [cheers1]

Blicj11

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Re: WiFiLogger
« Reply #7 on: October 01, 2018, 07:47:12 AM »
One additional reminder to reserve a DHCP slot for your internal IP address in your router as the first step for configuring this data logger. Makes the whole thing much simpler if you have an assigned slot for an internal static IP address tied to your new logger's MAC address.
Blick


johnd

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Re: According to the manufacturer it should work (Re: WiFiLogger)
« Reply #8 on: March 04, 2019, 04:27:39 PM »
So according to the manufacturer, this device is supposed to work with WeatherCat.  However, as far as I know, nobody has reported successfully doing this on this forum anyway. 

Can I bump this comment/question? I'm sure that a Weathercat user somewhere must be using the Vue/VP2-compatible WiFi logger but it would be good to hear positive confirmation that the two are 100% compatible (or if there were any hiccups, just what they might have been).

crawdad62

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Re: WiFiLogger
« Reply #9 on: March 04, 2019, 04:48:07 PM »
It ABSOLUTELY works with WeatherCat. Set it up using the Davis IP Logger setting and you're good to go. I have one for sale since I can't use it anymore with my website software. I had to go with Meteobridge but I see no advantage to either other than that.

Blicj11

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Re: WiFiLogger
« Reply #10 on: March 04, 2019, 04:52:42 PM »
johnd:

As this is your first post, welcome to the forum.

crawdwd62:

Thanks you for reporting back on your purchase.

I note on ProData's website,  they cannot ship to North America. Maybe that will change, post-Brexit, if there is a post-Brexit. I also note that Prodata Weather Systems is now an official Davis Instruments dealer as well.
Blick


crawdad62

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Re: WiFiLogger
« Reply #11 on: March 04, 2019, 04:55:35 PM »
Yes ProData is pretty much the rest of the world's dealer for the Wifi Logger. However in the US it's Scaled Instruments.

https://www.scaledinstruments.com/shop/davis-instruments/wifilogger/

johnd

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Re: WiFiLogger
« Reply #12 on: March 04, 2019, 05:18:20 PM »
Thanks for the very prompt replies and to crawdad62 for the confirmation that WFL+WC works well (and if anyone else wants to add a me-too then that would be great).

Maybe I should have added a word of explanation for my post: We don't have the luxury of running a Mac alongside our standard Windows business PCs and so can't check software like Weathercat at first hand. But we're starting to get several enquiries about using the WiFi logger in association with Macs and, while I can see that there really should not be any problem using WFL with any WeatherlinkIP-compatible software, that's not quite the same as having first-hand confirmation of problem-free compatibility.

And yes Ryan at Scaled Instruments is absolutely the person to contact  to source the WiFi Logger in the US, while we are of course delighted to help with enquiries from Europe and other geographies.

elagache

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Welcome and which Metiobridge? (Re: WiFiLogger)
« Reply #13 on: March 05, 2019, 12:03:39 AM »
Dear John, crawdwd62, Blick, and WeatherCat fans of new gear (or as they say in da' UK . . . . "kit.")

Maybe I should have added a word of explanation for my post: We don't have the luxury of running a Mac alongside our standard Windows business PCs and so can't check software like Weathercat at first hand. But we're starting to get several enquiries about using the WiFi logger in association with Macs and, while I can see that there really should not be any problem using WFL with any WeatherlinkIP-compatible software, that's not quite the same as having first-hand confirmation of problem-free compatibility.

Welcome and thank you for the explanation of your situation.  Of course we understand and are obviously very pleased to have yet another way to use WeatherCat!

I have one for sale since I can't use it anymore with my website software. I had to go with Meteobridge but I see no advantage to either other than that.

As long as we are attempting to resolve some uncertainties.  Did you buy the external Meteobridge or did you buy the Meteobridge Nano that also fits in the David data-logger slot and transmits via WiFi?  Here is the write-up about it on the Meteobridge website:

https://www.meteobridge.com/wiki/index.php/Meteobridge_NANO

It would be useful to get a confirmation that this also works perfectly well with WeatherCat.

Cheers, Edouard  [cheers1]

crawdad62

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Re: WiFiLogger
« Reply #14 on: March 05, 2019, 01:56:09 PM »
I bought a Meteobridge a year or so ago. I saw it advertised on Ambient's website but it was over $200 so I looked into it and found it's just a TPLink MR3020 modem with Meteobridge software flashed on it. I decided I'd try that. Meteobridge has a trial period so I used that and just played around with the setting but never actually hooked up my Davis console. I basically forgot about it. Go forward about a year and I was poking around on WXforums and saw the WifiLogger. Looked interesting and while it was more expensive than the home grown Meteobridge it seemed well developed. Not only that but I was actually looking to move my console away from the Mac since I was doing a lot of video work and needed to be booting into different drives which meant WeatherCat wasn't uploading any data while I was in different accounts/drives. I purchased the WifiLogger and it "just works."

It's basically the size of the Davis USB interface. It plugs into the same port. There's two buttons. One is a reset and one is used to set it up and get on your network. As I mentioned previously you set it up in WeatherCat as you would the Davis IP Logger. I let it do all the uploading to the various weather services. That way I didn't even need the Mac to be on.

I then started to think about setting up a website and found that the template I wanted to use (Weather34) wasn't supported and knew that the Meteobridge was. So I started using it. The main difference hardware-wise is you use the Davis USB interface and then it goes to the TPLink modem (although you can use it wirelessly too).

I'd say Meteobridge has a bit more configurability and uploads to more services (although both did the services I use). It also uploads to the template I want to use for my site. Other than that they are pretty much equal. I'm trying to think of any other differences or anything else that might be of interest but I can't off-hand. If you have any questions I'd be happy to try and answer them.