AirLink Update

[mcrossley]

I thought I'd jot down some of the experience so far with the AirLink device I so kindly received as a donation.

Firstly firmware. My device came with firmware version 2020-09-04. Yesterday the firmware was updated, which required two reboots, interestingly the device did not lose any data during the process, well only the interval during which the update occurred, the stats percentages still showed 99 or 98% complete.

The update process first reverted the firmware to version 2020-08-28, then did another update to 2020-10-21, which makes me wonder if there is an issue with 2020-09-04 version?

Question: Does anyone know if using the reset button loses the stats memory? Power cycling it certainly does.

Then what to do with the data?

First I added it to my Homepage as a "live" 1 hour average PM 2.5 µm value along with a rolling 24 hour AQI value (UK COMEAP).

Next I added it to my Recent Graphs, this shows the 1 minute average values for PM 2.5 and PM 10, along with an "indicative" 1 3 hour rolling AQI value (hidden by default).

Then came the Historic Graphs. These show...
1. A daily average PM 2.5 and PM 10 values
2. The average maximum and minimum PM 2.5 values, along with a monthly average
3. The average PM 2.5 value by hour of the day.

Finally I have added the daily AQI value to the Data Summary page.

How much use these will be and what else I add will be a time thing I think, in order to accumulate more data to make representations meaningful. (I'm thinking of maybe something like the hour of day by month of the year that temperature uses)

Thoughts, and what is everybody else doing with the data?

1 The UK AQI actually has no meaning for periods of less than 24 hours - Davis take note!

[beteljuice]

2/ No doubt the 3 hour is an attempt to create the Canadian 'standard' ... but their AQI does NOT have a stand-alone value for particulate matter. It MUST be a raft of readings (from approved sites).

These things are like a microwave oven - full of promise, but limited in use

[Mapantz]

I'm liking the historical AQI data Mark.. nudge nudge

I really like having AQ data to look at. It will become more meaningful over longer periods of time, as illustrated by those historical graphs.

[PaulMy]

I've had the AirLink since October at the same time as the WLL. The AirLink is plugged in outdoor AC outlet and has a battery. The WLL is the same, AC power and battery.
Today while I was away we had a power outage at about 13:05. Shortly after we returned home the power came back on at about 15:05. Unfortunately I had not untangled my rats nest of wiring to my APC so most things shut down, including WiFi and internet, until power was restored.

I've checked my Weatherlink.com account (Pro trial) and see that data from the WLL is all there so must have uploaded when power came back on.
However the AirLink data is missing on my Weatherlink.com account for the two hours that power was off. Is this expected or can I avoid this?
My CumulusMX with WiFiLogger which has the AirLink added had the historical weather data added but not the AirLink data (missing in \data\AirLink202012.txt)
My separate CumulusMX with WLL which also has the AirLink added did not catch up the historical data, and also missing in its \data\AirLink202012.txt.

I have had several occasions were the PC had shut down and restarted automatically, and CumulusMX then needs to be started manually, sometimes a few hours later when I notice it, and on these occasions both WLL and AirLink data catches up in CumulusMX and on Weatherlink.com, likely as there was no power loss and there was continuous WiFi and internet.

So the question is, why was WLL data uploaded on WL.com during the power outage, and why did AirLink not do the same?

Enjoy,
Paul

[PaulMy]

Oh Mark,
I forgot to mention on the nice job in adding to your home page and data summary.
And thanks for adding the AQ graphs to the Dashboard and web files current and historical charts.

Enjoy,
Paul

[mcrossley]

but their [Canadian] AQI does NOT have a stand-alone value for particulate matter. It MUST be a raft of readings (from approved sites).

But you can still calculate the AQHI from just the particulate matter - it will probably be lower than if you include the O3 and NO2, and none of the AQI's we calculate come from "approved sites", but neither do our temperatures or rainfall values etc either, does that make it pointless to gather any of the data?

[mcrossley]

I'm liking the historical AQI data Mark.. nudge nudge

I really like having AQ data to look at. It will become more meaningful over longer periods of time, as illustrated by those historical graphs.

Let me know what you want, I added a new table that MX uploads to once every update interval.

I've had the AirLink since October at the same time as the WLL. The AirLink is plugged in outdoor AC outlet and has a battery. The WLL is the same, AC power and battery.
Today while I was away we had a power outage at about 13:05. Shortly after we returned home the power came back on at about 15:05. Unfortunately I had not untangled my rats nest of wiring to my APC so most things shut down, including WiFi and internet, until power was restored.

I've checked my Weatherlink.com account (Pro trial) and see that data from the WLL is all there so must have uploaded when power came back on.
However the AirLink data is missing on my Weatherlink.com account for the two hours that power was off. Is this expected or can I avoid this?

If the AirLink loses power it will lose everything so will not upload when the network comes back. Best make sure it and the WLL are on the battery.

It is best to leave it a few minutes after the network comes back before starting Cumulus to give the WLL and AirLink time to upload their data to wl.com. I think the WLL will try this every minute, but the AirLink only every archive interval. So if you are using 5 minute archives, leave it at least 5 minutes before starting Cumulus.

I did have a thought the other day about adding a delay feature to Cumulus itself so you could specify either a simple delay to start-up, or wait for a test for a remote site (ping?) to be successful, then an optional additional delay. This is becoming a requirement I think with more use of Cloud storage for historic data.

[PaulMy]

It is best to leave it a few minutes after the network comes back before starting Cumulus to give the WLL and AirLink time to upload their data to wl.com. I think the WLL will try this every minute, but the AirLink only every archive interval. So if you are using 5 minute archives, leave it at least 5 minutes before starting Cumulus.

Thanks Mark, I will try to remember that.

Enjoy,
Paul

[PaulMy]

I've had the AirLink since October at the same time as the WLL. The AirLink is plugged in outdoor AC outlet and has a battery. The WLL is the same, AC power and battery.
Today while I was away we had a power outage at about 13:05. Shortly after we returned home the power came back on at about 15:05.
-----
So the question is, why was WLL data uploaded on WL.com during the power outage, and why did AirLink not do the same?

Enjoy,
Paul

And a correction,,, which I can't blame it on old age, but can on blindness
After some research just realized the AirLink does NOT have a battery!

Enjoy,
Paul

[Phil23]

My device came with firmware version 2020-09-04. Yesterday the firmware was updated,

So I assume that was a Pushed Out update, not one you loaded yourself.

Not sure I've seen how you Identify the firmware version.
Doesn't seem to mention it in the API info on GIT.

Is there a URL that contains that info?

Phil

[Mapantz]

Is there a URL that contains that info?

Phil

weatherlink.com

Airlink settings, health data:

Screenshot 2020-12-13 220503.png

[mcrossley]

It is also logged in your MXdiags file which is how I saw it change. There is also a web tag for it <#AirLinkFirmwareVersionOut> or <#AirLinkFirmwareVersionIn>

[mcrossley]

So I assume that was a Pushed Out update, not one you loaded yourself.

Yes, AirLink and WLL firmware updates are pushed out by Davis.

[Phil23]

Interesting,

I need to re-read above, but just looked & this is what I see.

Screenshot 2020-12-14 201306.jpg

Edit,

Looking above, Up-time is confusing.

Is the other time the ESP32 Up-time as the other is clearly AirLink.

[mcrossley]

The Uptime is the time since the last AirLink reboot, Link uptime is the time since the AirLink network last connected.