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Davis VP2 Relay Device

For discussion of DIY weather equipment - sensors, accessories, improvements to existing kit etc
iandrews
Posts: 139
Joined: Sun 03 Jan 2010 10:57 am
Weather Station: Davis Pro2
Operating System: Windows 2012R2
Location: London

Re: Davis VP2 Relay Device

Post by iandrews »

mcrossley wrote: Thu 30 Apr 2020 10:44 am That is what I use my relay device for. As you say you can only have 1 ISS connected to a VP2 console, and it will only read solar data from an ISS.

So you have to make it appear as if all the data is coming from a single ISS.

OR - Buy a WeatherLink Live device, or a Metobridge Pro (was Red).
Hi,

I have a VP2, I currently have the temp & hum / rain / solar & UV plugged into the standard ISS, and the wind into a wireless transmitter. I am planning on moving the wind high up on the side of the house, and as it will have a clear view of the sky also the solar & UV. I understand that the solar & UV can be plugged into the wireless transmitter I currently have for the wind, but the Davis console wont pick up the solar & uv readings.

What would be the best way to get the solar & UV into Cumulus, your relay device sounds great, but it may be beyond my skills and I also don't have much time to tinker with things at the moment. Am I correct that a WeatherLink Live device can do what I want, in that it can receive the solar & uv (and wind) from the extra transmitter, along with rain / temp & hum from the standard ISS and pass to Cumulus "merged" together, and Cumulus just treats it as coming from a single ISS. What about the Metobridge Pro (red), I understand that it can receive the solar & uv (and wind) from the extra transmitter, but from looking around I can't see that this can then be fed into Cumulus, though can be used to say update a local SQL database, or uploaded to something like weatherunderground.

Any advise?
Thanks,
Ian.
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mcrossley
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Weather Station: Davis VP2/WLL
Operating System: Bullseye Lite rPi
Location: Wilmslow, Cheshire, UK
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Re: Davis VP2 Relay Device

Post by mcrossley »

If you discount the DIY route, then you have two options I think, both of which you have indentified.

A WLL device will do what you want, and works with Cumulus MX.

The Meteobridge Pro will also do what you want, but you should look at as a complete system that replaces Cumulus.
iandrews
Posts: 139
Joined: Sun 03 Jan 2010 10:57 am
Weather Station: Davis Pro2
Operating System: Windows 2012R2
Location: London

Re: Davis VP2 Relay Device

Post by iandrews »

Thanks,

IF I go the DIY route, what do I need, seems like a Moteino-USB (https://lowpowerlab.com/shop/product/100), and then a Transceiver, but what one, I am in the UK, with a UK purchased VP2.

Assume that the Transceiver then needs to be wired up to the Moteino-USB, and then the Moteino-USB plugged into a (windows) PC (or PI?) to be powered / programmed with your code. I have taken a look at your code page, but not sure how the code would be downloaded to the Moteino-USB, is there a programming environment that runs on the PC (Pi?) that is used, or is it say just SSH'ed across.

Ian.
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mcrossley
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Weather Station: Davis VP2/WLL
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Re: Davis VP2 Relay Device

Post by mcrossley »

The Moteino comes with a transceiver installed - you would need the 868 MHz version for the UK.

The Moteino is just a packaged up Arduino chip - you could put your own together with an Arduino board, USB interface, and transceiver. It would be cheaper but not as neat or convenient, that is what you are paying for.

You use the standard Arduino IDE programming environment to flash the program onto the board from your PC (via the USB port).

Once programmed all it needs is power via the USB socket.
Herbaldew
Posts: 113
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Weather Station: VP2+
Operating System: Raspberry Pi OS (64-bit)
Location: US Mid-Atlantic

Re: Davis VP2 Relay Device

Post by Herbaldew »

I didn't re-read this post, but I don't think this is mentioned....If you ever look at your console and want to see UV and solar the following applies.

I have no idea about the Metobridge Pro (red), but according to Davis tech support if you plug the UV and solar sensors into your wireless anemometer's board you CANNOT see the UV and solar readings on your console even with using the WLL.

The Moteino method combines the data from the ISS and wireless anemometer's board and the console sees its transmission as one ISS and displays everything.
iandrews
Posts: 139
Joined: Sun 03 Jan 2010 10:57 am
Weather Station: Davis Pro2
Operating System: Windows 2012R2
Location: London

Re: Davis VP2 Relay Device

Post by iandrews »

Herbaldew wrote: Tue 30 Jun 2020 4:35 pm I didn't re-read this post, but I don't think this is mentioned....If you ever look at your console and want to see UV and solar the following applies.

I have no idea about the Metobridge Pro (red), but according to Davis tech support if you plug the UV and solar sensors into your wireless anemometer's board you CANNOT see the UV and solar readings on your console even with using the WLL.

The Moteino method combines the data from the ISS and wireless anemometer's board and the console sees its transmission as one ISS and displays everything.
Yes, I was thinking (assuming) that the console couldn’t see (display) the solar / uv data using WLL.

I may try the DIY route, seems the boards are only about £20. Also, if I went the WLL route, then as I understand it, if I ever had issues with Cumulus going of-line, then the only way to “catch-up” missing data is if I have a pro subscription (@ about £50) a year.

Ian.
iandrews
Posts: 139
Joined: Sun 03 Jan 2010 10:57 am
Weather Station: Davis Pro2
Operating System: Windows 2012R2
Location: London

Re: Davis VP2 Relay Device

Post by iandrews »

So, just ordered the following:

LowPowerLab Moteino-USB R6 with RFM69HCW RF Transceiver (868 MHz), 4 MBit Flash

Got it from Welectron, and could only get it with the high power module, and the extra 4 MBit Flash. Hope that will be ok.

Just over €40 (including shipping).

Hopefully I can get it programmed / set up ok.

Ian.
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mcrossley
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Re: Davis VP2 Relay Device

Post by mcrossley »

iandrews wrote: Tue 30 Jun 2020 5:18 pm Yes, I was thinking (assuming) that the console couldn’t see (display) the solar / uv data using WLL.
Correct, the WLL does no rebroadcast
iandrews wrote: Tue 30 Jun 2020 5:18 pm Also, if I went the WLL route, then as I understand it, if I ever had issues with Cumulus going of-line, then the only way to “catch-up” missing data is if I have a pro subscription (@ about £50) a year.
Correct.
iandrews
Posts: 139
Joined: Sun 03 Jan 2010 10:57 am
Weather Station: Davis Pro2
Operating System: Windows 2012R2
Location: London

Re: Davis VP2 Relay Device

Post by iandrews »

Though on the flip side, if the relay device ever goes down (either because of a crash, or maintenance) then the console would stop receiving data, and so there would be nothing to log / catch-up. Though suppose if one was by the console it could always be reconfigured to receive on the original ISS and transmitter channels, and data would still be received (logged) minus the solar / UV.

Getting things ready, I have downloaded and installed the IDE, and the code from your github page. I loaded the RelayRxTx.ino file from the RelayRxTx folder into the IDE, and compiled, it complained about missing files, so I copied PacketFifo.cpp & PacketFifo.h and RFM69registers.h from the top level VPTools folder to the RelayRxTx folder (is that the correct thing to do). It then seemed to compile, but the following appeared:

In file included from sketch\DavisRFM69.cpp:15:0:
sketch\DavisRFM69.h:83:1: warning: 'typedef' was ignored in this declaration
typedef struct __attribute__((packed)) Station {
^~~~~~~
In file included from C:\Batch\VPTools\Examples\RelayRxTx\RelayRxTx.ino:12:0:
sketch\DavisRFM69.h:83:1: warning: 'typedef' was ignored in this declaration
typedef struct __attribute__((packed)) Station {
^~~~~~~
C:\Batch\VPTools\Examples\RelayRxTx\RelayRxTx.ino:64:1: warning: 'typedef' was ignored in this declaration
typedef struct __attribute__((packed)) Payload {
^~~~~~~
C:\Batch\VPTools\Examples\RelayRxTx\RelayRxTx.ino:75:1: warning: 'typedef' was ignored in this declaration
typedef struct __attribute__((packed)) PayloadStation {
^~~~~~~
Sketch uses 16566 bytes (51%) of program storage space. Maximum is 32256 bytes.
Global variables use 1101 bytes (53%) of dynamic memory, leaving 947 bytes for local variables. Maximum is 2048 bytes.


Is that something to be worried about. Also, the first time I loaded the RelayRxTx.ino I'm sure it showed a warning about incompatible characters in one of the files, but it doesn't seem to show now.

Ian.
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mcrossley
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Weather Station: Davis VP2/WLL
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Re: Davis VP2 Relay Device

Post by mcrossley »

I only send partial data via the relay.

My transmitter configuration...

Tx1 = Wind + Solar
Tx2 (ISS) = Temp, Hum, Rain

The relay aggregates all the data
Relay (Tx3) = Wind, Rain, T, H, Solar

My VP2 Consoles are set to..
Rx 1 = Wind
Rx 2 = Rain
Rx 3 = ISS (the remaining, Temp, Hum, Solar)

So the fast changing data - wind and rain - is obtained direct from the original sources, and T, H, Solar come via the relay.

So a shortish outage of the relay is not really noticeable, though it only ever really goes offline if the cat decides to play with it!
iandrews
Posts: 139
Joined: Sun 03 Jan 2010 10:57 am
Weather Station: Davis Pro2
Operating System: Windows 2012R2
Location: London

Re: Davis VP2 Relay Device

Post by iandrews »

mcrossley wrote: Thu 02 Jul 2020 8:23 am I only send partial data via the relay.

My transmitter configuration...

Tx1 = Wind + Solar
Tx2 (ISS) = Temp, Hum, Rain

The relay aggregates all the data
Relay (Tx3) = Wind, Rain, T, H, Solar

My VP2 Consoles are set to..
Rx 1 = Wind
Rx 2 = Rain
Rx 3 = ISS (the remaining, Temp, Hum, Solar)

So the fast changing data - wind and rain - is obtained direct from the original sources, and T, H, Solar come via the relay.
Very clever, never thought of that. I think my ISS is 1 at the moment, and the the extra transmitter 2 (that the wind is currently plugged into). Think I remember reading that the console gives priority to tx1, so may be worth swapping my 2 over when I get the relay working (or even if I don't), so the wind is on 1 as that's the one that changes rapidly. Then I can plug the solar and uv into the extra transmitter and then set it up like yours (but with Rx 3 also having uv).

Is there anything in the code to tell the relay to not (re)-broadcast the wind / rain, or does the console just ignore it as it knows those 2 are on different channels.
mcrossley wrote: Thu 02 Jul 2020 8:23 am So a shortish outage of the relay is not really noticeable, though it only ever really goes offline if the cat decides to play with it!
:lol:

Have you got any monitoring set up to alert you to if it stops, or is it just a case of noticing on the console / web page.


The board should hopefully be here early next week. Cost was just under £40 in the end, so a bit more than the £20 I originally thought, but if it works it's a lot cheaper than a WLL and cheaper than a years subscription to Weatherlink Pro.
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mcrossley
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Re: Davis VP2 Relay Device

Post by mcrossley »

All the transmitters send packets for all the sensors to that can be connected. Obviously if no sensor is connected then it sends a null response.

If in the console you define one transmitter as say wind, then it will ignore wind data from every other transmitter. Same for the other options, temp, temp/hum, rain.

So you can set the relay to only pick up t/h, solar, and UV. But I have mine pick up everything and rebroadcast it - no harm and I have set a console to recv from the relay only to test it out.
iandrews
Posts: 139
Joined: Sun 03 Jan 2010 10:57 am
Weather Station: Davis Pro2
Operating System: Windows 2012R2
Location: London

Re: Davis VP2 Relay Device

Post by iandrews »

So the Moteino-USB arrived today (so just under 3 days from ordering via Germany).

Connected it up, and got the sketch uploaded to it ok. Opened up the Serial Monitor, selected 115200 baud, and typed the command o1 and got the following:

Code: Select all

time	Rx/Tx	raw_packet_data              	id	packet_counts	chan	rssi	fei	delta_t	batt	wind	dir	sensor	value
2688868	T	82-00-00-FF-C1-00-B5-66-FF-FF	3	-/-/-/----	0	-	-	2687996	ok	-	-	temp	-
5376620	T	E2-00-00-80-01-00-08-13-FF-FF	3	-/-/-/----	1	-	-	2687752	ok	-	-	rain	-
7178072	R	51-01-B4-FF-71-00-50-4E-FF-FF	2	0/1/0/100.0	0	-61	6	0	ok	1	253	r_secs	-
8064372	T	52-01-B4-FF-71-00-9E-AE-FF-FF	3	-/-/-/----	2	-	-	2687752	ok	1	253	r_secs	-
10752120	T	42-01-B4-FF-C1-00-9A-27-FF-FF	3	-/-/-/----	3	-	-	2687748	ok	1	253	uv	-
11827588	R	80-00-00-26-BD-00-88-17-FF-FF	1	0/1/0/100.0	0	-66	7	4649516	ok	-	-	temp	61.9 (16.6)
13439868	T	82-01-B4-FF-C1-00-24-17-FF-FF	3	-/-/-/----	4	-	-	2687748	ok	1	253	temp	-
15045884	R	E1-01-B4-80-01-00-57-82-FF-FF	2	0/2/2/50.0	3	-60	7	7867812	ok	1	253	rain	-
16127620	T	E2-01-B4-80-01-00-99-62-FF-FF	3	-/-/-/----	0	-	-	2687752	ok	1	253	rain	-
16947716	R	50-00-00-FF-75-00-48-5B-FF-FF	1	0/2/1/66.7	2	-65	7	5120128	ok	-	-	r_secs	-
18815376	T	52-01-B4-FF-71-00-9E-AE-FF-FF	3	-/-/-/----	1	-	-	2687756	ok	1	253	r_secs	-
19507860	R	40-00-00-00-05-00-95-E5-FF-FF	1	0/3/1/75.0	3	-66	7	2560144	ok	-	-	uv	0.0
21503120	T	92-01-B4-00-01-00-E7-A4-FF-FF	3	-/-/-/----	2	-	-	2687744	ok	1	253	gust	0	gustref:0
22068056	R	80-00-00-26-BD-00-88-17-FF-FF	1	0/4/1/80.0	4	-65	7	2560196	ok	-	-	temp	61.9 (16.6)
22913712	R	81-00-B4-FF-C1-00-40-A6-FF-FF	2	0/3/4/42.9	1	-62	6	7867828	ok	0	253	temp	-
24190864	T	82-00-B4-FF-C1-00-8E-46-FF-FF	3	-/-/-/----	3	-	-	2687744	ok	0	253	temp	-
24628396	R	E0-00-00-5E-05-00-31-02-FF-FF	1	0/5/1/83.3	0	-67	7	2560340	ok	-	-	rain	94
25536348	R	E1-00-B4-80-01-00-FD-D3-FF-FF	2	0/4/4/50.0	2	-62	7	2622636	ok	0	253	rain	-
26878644	T	E2-00-B4-80-01-00-33-33-FF-FF	3	-/-/-/----	4	-	-	2687780	ok	0	253	rain	-
27188360	R	50-00-00-FF-75-00-48-5B-FF-FF	1	0/6/1/85.7	1	-66	7	2559964	ok	-	-	r_secs	-
29566392	T	52-00-B4-FF-71-00-34-FF-FF-FF	3	-/-/-/----	0	-	-	2687748	ok	0	253	r_secs	-
29748520	R	90-00-00-00-05-00-31-51-FF-FF	1	0/7/1/87.5	2	-65	7	2560160	ok	-	-	gust	-
30781548	R	61-01-B4-FF-C1-00-61-CF-FF-FF	2	0/5/5/50.0	4	-61	7	5245200	ok	1	253	solar	-
32254164	T	62-01-B4-FF-C1-00-AF-2F-FF-FF	3	-/-/-/----	1	-	-	2687772	ok	1	253	solar	-
32308680	R	80-00-00-26-BD-00-88-17-FF-FF	1	0/8/1/88.9	3	-65	7	2560160	ok	-	-	temp	61.9 (16.6)
33404160	R	81-01-B4-FF-C1-00-EA-F7-FF-FF	2	0/6/5/54.5	0	-61	6	2622612	ok	1	253	temp	-
So, it looks like it's working (receiving) ok. Haven't got time this evening, but hopefully over the weekend I can configure the console to receive on channel 3 to see if I get all the data ok.

Then need to see if any frequency adjustments need to be done. The fei seems to be 6 or 7, but will of course need to check what the console gets.

Ian.
iandrews
Posts: 139
Joined: Sun 03 Jan 2010 10:57 am
Weather Station: Davis Pro2
Operating System: Windows 2012R2
Location: London

Re: Davis VP2 Relay Device

Post by iandrews »

Also, looking at the serial output a bit more, most of the "value"s on the Transmit packets are just - not sure if any of the following code needs to be amended.

Code: Select all

// station id associated with each payload
// Zero relative = Davis ID -1
static PayloadStation payloadStations = {
  1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1   // wind, uv, rain, solar, temp, hum
};

// Stations to receive from
// id, type, active
static Station stations[NUM_RX_STATIONS] = {
  {0, STYPE_ISS, true},   // Anemometer txmr in my case
  {1, STYPE_ISS, true}    // The 'real' ISS
};
My setup currently has the following:

TX1 - Rain, Temp, Hum, UV, Solar
TX2 - Wind
Herbaldew
Posts: 113
Joined: Sun 12 Mar 2017 8:33 pm
Weather Station: VP2+
Operating System: Raspberry Pi OS (64-bit)
Location: US Mid-Atlantic

Re: Davis VP2 Relay Device

Post by Herbaldew »

mcrossley wrote: Thu 02 Jul 2020 7:58 pmIf in the console you define one transmitter as say wind, then it will ignore wind data from every other transmitter.
I quit using my Moteino due to phantom wind gusts (and how much of a hassle it was to edit them out).

IIRC I was receiving all data on the console via the Moteino set as tx3 and had the solar and UV sensors plugged in to the anemometer transmitter. If I were to fire up my Moteino again and connect it as tx3 like before and set the anemometer transmitter as tx4, would this solve my phantom gust problem and still get the solar and UV data from the anemometer transmitter?
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