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Homemade weather station question

For discussion of DIY weather equipment - sensors, accessories, improvements to existing kit etc
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nansmico
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu 16 Dec 2021 8:46 pm
Weather Station: Home made
Operating System: linux Raspbian

Homemade weather station question

Post by nansmico »

I have built my own weather station using an Arduino and a Raspberry pi. The Arduino is outdoors with the weather sensors and communicates via wireless to the pi. I have configured the Raspberry pi with Cumulus MX and displays the web pages nicely and looks like it's working properly as far as I can tell. I don't have any data going to it because I'm not sure how to do this since there is no option to select for a homemade weather station. Can someone explain to me what file needs to be updated in order for the web pages to show the data? At the moment the Arduino has been programmed to output realtime.txt format to the pi. Can this file be used?
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mcrossley
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Re: Homemade weather station question

Post by mcrossley »

Probably the simplest way would be to use the EasyWeather station. This just reads a file for input, see - https://cumuluswiki.org/a/EasyWeather_Format
IainA_42
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat 06 May 2023 11:34 am
Weather Station: RPi Pico based PWS
Operating System: Linux (OpenSUSE)

Re: Homemade weather station question

Post by IainA_42 »

I have a RPi pico based station which can send the data to a Raspberry Pi3A running CumulusMX (from the pre-built RPi image). I can take that data and rearrange it into any format necessary, but what I'm missing is where should that data actually be for CumulusMX to read it?
water01
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Re: Homemade weather station question

Post by water01 »

You configure it as a Davis Station see here https://www.meteocercal.info/forum/thre ... l#pid16032 (you may have to subscribe to the forum to see it).

Also look at this Topic viewtopic.php?t=12083 where Werk_AG has documented the software and hardware. I have also PMd him to see if he will help.
David
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Werk_AG
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Re: Homemade weather station question

Post by Werk_AG »

Hi water01

I agree with mcrossley, probably the easier solution is use EasyWeather station.

Configuring it as Davis Station would imply implementing on the Arduino the capability to emulate the Davis protocol, as WeatherDuino does.
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The freedom to choose the weather instruments you want
IainA_42
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat 06 May 2023 11:34 am
Weather Station: RPi Pico based PWS
Operating System: Linux (OpenSUSE)

Re: Homemade weather station question

Post by IainA_42 »

OK, not making myself clear so starting from scratch....
I have data from my weather station; I can take that data and write it into a file in Easyweather.dat format. Where should that file be placed in the filesystem (I'm running it on a Raspberry Pi) for Cumulus to read the file.
If I understand the setup correctly, Cumulus will read the file at one minute intervals (default) to update the dashboard. (And store the data in a database??)
At the moment it doesn't seem to read the file which is in the /home/cmx directory, although that is where I have specified the file to be.
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mcrossley
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Re: Homemade weather station question

Post by mcrossley »

I understood it could be anywhere on your filesystem that is accessible to CMX. You just need to provide the absolute full path and filename.
watsonm
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Re: Homemade weather station question

Post by watsonm »

I create my own data stream based on the Ecowitt data protocol and send it to:

"http://CMX_IP:8998/station/ecowitt"

I used to use easweather.dat format but have long since deleted any old files relating to this . You could try using the url above first ....

However I found that the ECowitt format was a lot more useful to me . The following link may help if you wish to give it a try. (dont forget to switch to http(ecowitt) in settings -> station setting->general)

viewtopic.php?p=169042#p169042
Regards Mike
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IainA_42
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat 06 May 2023 11:34 am
Weather Station: RPi Pico based PWS
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Re: Homemade weather station question

Post by IainA_42 »

Ok, so I have a file in the right location but Cumulus doesn't seem to be referencing it. I note the wiki says the station type should be "Easyweather (using .dat file)". I don't see an entry like that in the stations list.

Note the point about Ecowitt but that just seems a a whole new lot of stuff to get to grips with at the moment!
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mcrossley
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Re: Homemade weather station question

Post by mcrossley »

The station type is just "EasyWeather"
IainA_42
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat 06 May 2023 11:34 am
Weather Station: RPi Pico based PWS
Operating System: Linux (OpenSUSE)

Re: Homemade weather station question

Post by IainA_42 »

OK, think I'm sorted now! Most of my problems seem to stem from me using three different machines to put the system together and trying to read files on the wrong machine. Once I got my brain into gear it all looks much better!
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