Locally connecting to WeatherlinkIP?

[Morseman]

Making progress on installation of a new VP2+ and WeatherlinkIP.  I'm successfully transmitting to the Davis server and am visible on the map (WO3E/3).  However, I have not been able to figure out how to connect Weather Cat on my MacBook Pro to the WIP logger. 

Not sure if I'm doing this right, but when WC asked for the IP address of my weather station, I went into the configuration utility for my Linksys wireless router under LOCAL NETWORKS/DHCP Clients Table.  I see five IP addresses listed, two of which have identifiable tags (e.g., "Bob's iPad"), and three of which are unlabeled:  192.168.1.100; ...101, and ...103.  I tried entering each of these, but apparently none corresponded to the WeatherlinkIP logger.

Any suggestions?

--Bob--

[JosBaz]

Hi Bob,

I do not own WeatherLinkIP but based on what I read about it, the data logger only uploads to the www.weatherlink.com website. Very easy to use but the downside is that you cannot send data anywhere else, which also means the data logger does not respond to 'polls' coming from a Mac running WC on your local LAN.

Jos

[socalbob]

The WeatherlinkIP works fine with WeatherCat, so you will need to figure out what the correct IP address is for your WeatherLinkIP.

[Tornado Tim]

Try using a ARP table and not the DCHP table.

Your WLIP should have a MAC address printed on the label, match this to the ARP table and get the IP address for it.

If you can, use DHCP override (some routers allow this) and match up an IP address (that wont change) to the WLIP.

[elagache]

Welcome Bob to the WeatherCat forums!

There are a number of WeatherCat  fans using the WeatherLink IP setup.  So between them and Stu (Stuart Ball, the WeatherCat developer) you are sure to get your Mac connecting to your IP data logger.

This too is a friendly bunch . . . . you don't even need to like cats to be part of this community! 

Cheers, Edouard 

[Morseman]

Thanks for the tips.  I haven't dived into router lore before, and am not familiar with the ARP table.  However, right after I posted my last message I just took a guess and entered the next higher IP address into the WC communication screen, and it seems to have worked!  Decided to take a break.

Now, I'm looking forward to verifying that the logger data is properly flowing from WeatherlinkIP through the wireless router to WC, and exploring more of the program.

I'll let you know how it comes out.  Thanks again for everyone's support.

--Bob--

[WCDev]

Morning folks and welcome to the forum Bob.

Details of using WLIP can be found in the WeatherCat manual, pages 53/54.

A network scanner can be very handy to find out what's on your network - the manual mentions AutoScan network but this is currently broke on 10.7, another one is Angry IP Scanner (http://www.angryip.org/w/Download) which is less capable but works well enough.

You can connect to the logger via a browser to see how its configured - should look like the attached image. I'd recommend setting it to a fixed IP address on your network via its config screen (or DHCP override as Tim mentioned).

Note, the logger can really only manage to do one thing at a time, thus you'll need to quit WeatherCat before it'll respond to a browser request.

Stu.

[Morseman]

Thanks, Stu.  I did try Autoscan with, of course, no success.  Some details of your reply are beyond my current knowledge of networks, but I will use them as a starting point to learn more.   WC seems like a great program!

--Bob--

[elagache]

Hi Bob, Stu, Tim, and WeatherCat faithful,

Tornado Tim's suggestion to configure your IP router to fix the WeatherLink IP IP address on your home network is the best solution you'll find.  I wrote up a lengthy explanation of how that works on your thread on the MacWeather.net forum.

As noted there, you'll need to try to make sense of your IP Router's manual.  However, unless your Router is really ancient, it should support some sort ARP table feature.  I bought one before 2000 and it already had this.

Certainly come back to either forum with any questions you might have on the process.  This isn't a particularly user-friendly aspect of modern computing.

Cheers, Edouard 

[elagache]

Dear WeatherCat users of the WeatherLink IP logger from Davis,

Bob has been struggling trying to figure out to use his Cisco-Linksys WRT54GS to reserve a particular IP address for his WeatherLink IP logger so that WeatherCat can reliably find his weather station.

Now I happen to have the WRT54GL "router" but I don't use its IP routing capability at all.  I just use it as a Wi-Fi access point, and had to change the firmware to Tomato by PolarCloud to do it.  That sure looks to me like it would be goin' about it da' hard way. 

So how do folks solve this problem?  Are people using other router models that have a way built in to lock a DHCP address for a particular MAC hardware address?  If so which routers are they using?  Is there another strategy that you'all use?

I've been trying to help Bob on MacWeather, but . . . . I fear that if I mention anything more about alternative firmwares he'll run away screaming!! 

Cheers, Edouard 

[WCDev]

Hi Edouard/Bob,
On a 54GL, go to Network Setup, set the starting address for the DHCP server and number of addresses (if not already set). All other IP addresses on the sub-net outside of that range will be static. Manual at:http://www.palearnersonline.com/A1/lib/linsysSetup.pdf - Chapter 3, Network setup.

For WLIP, connect via the browser to WLIP, tick the use static address and enter an IP address (one of the non-DHCP ones) then save. (You may also need to set the default gateway and DNS addresses in WLIP)

Hope this helps,
Stu.

[elagache]

Howdy Stu, Bob, and WeatherCat fans,

For WLIP, connect via the browser to WLIP, tick the use static address and enter an IP address (one of the non-DHCP ones) then save. (You may also need to set the default gateway and DNS addresses in WLIP)

Ahh, yes that's a good idea!!  Actually I use the same trick to connect to our old Laser printer.  I limit the DHCP to a range under 192.168.1.128 and then use that address for the printer.  Since that address is indeed never bothered by any other device, it works perfectly well as a static IP address for your home network.

Thanks Stu!!  To be honest, I'm really glad I got my WRT54GL router working and . . . . hope I'll never have to fuss with it again!! 

Cheers, Edouard 

[Morseman]

Hi, folks.  Sorry for the hiatus - another trip.  Returned to the Washington DC area Thursday night.  Friday we set an all-time June heat record of 104F and then Friday night we learned a new word - derecho!  We were very lucky - no major house damage and only 45 minutes without power.  Our neighbors were not so fortunate, with much damage to homes, cars, and trees.  Many are still without power 5 days after the event, all around 100F.

In any case, we are now back in Pennsylvania for a few days and I can once again work on the weather station.  I can get WC running with the WeatherlinkIP, but only after a few tries of guessing the logger IP address, since I still have not been able to assign a permanent IP address to the logger.

I have not yet received the Mac version of Weatherlink software and cannot configure the logger directly.  Stu had suggested I use my browser to connect to the logger and configure it to a static IP address outside of the DHCP IP address range of the router.  I can make my way though the router utility to see the DHCP range.  But how do I use the browser (Firefox) to get into the logger and set its IP address?  I tried merely entering the DHCP-assigned logger IP address into the address window of the browser, but that produced no result.

Cheers,
Bob

[Morseman]

Still trying to figure out how to configure the logger and set its IP address outside the DHCP range of the router.  I thought that could be accomplished when I receive the Mac version of the Weatherlink software. However, in the FAQs for WL on the Davis website, it says:

"However, the WeatherLink for Mac Software does not support the WeatherLinkIP. This means you cannot use the WeatherLink for Mac Software to access a WeatherLinkIP directly from the Mac or download archive data to your computer."

Then what does the WL Mac software actually DO, if it can neither (1) get data from the logger directly, nor (2)  download data from the WL website??

The next step would seem to be to run the WL Windows software in the virtual machine under Parallels, and try to set the logger IP address that way.  However, I seem to recall reading somewhere that running WL software in a virtual machine leads to problems.

Suggestions?

--Bob--

[WCDev]

Hi Bob,
You should just be able to connect to the logger via its IP address in your browser. If it doesn't respond initially, wait a few minutes and try again - it isn't very good at doing two things at the same time, so if it's talking to WeatherLink.com, or connected to WeatherCat, it won't talk to your browser.

Hope this helps,
Stu.