Weather34 Help Request(Ecowitt or Alike)

[weatherist34]

Good morning

firstly I hear you and the month in month out requests to support better interaction with Ecowitt and alike hardware, so Im looking for a Ecowitt user preferably SPEAKS ENGLISH fluently , is in a EUROPEAN TIMEZONE ,prepared to use FACETIME occasionally for development ,most importantly is patient and prepared to learn from getting it wrong sometimes.

My idea is ultimately to keep the template a unique meteobridge supported only , that said I have an offer with help and support to use other software and devices ,whilst that increases popularity that is not really what Im looking for but it is an option Im considering, with increased popularity in terms of wider support for other methods comes increased support and sometimes overwhelmingly .When it becomes overwhelming the productivity , design can be tedious and less productive , less appealing .(trust me I've been there).

So an idea ultimately what I would like to put forward is a dedicated meteobridge API for ecowitt or alike therefore keeping the API strictly for that hardware type .The existing Weather34 API is 99% dedicated to Davis hardware and 99% stable this would remain untouched and ideally selectable via meteobridge network screen .

it's an idea to meet the requests for Ecowitt support . but please think about it before coming forward we all have daily lives/commitments/family and Im not someone who spends their days in front of computer .

I'm all ears and open to ideas but don't be offended if I don't agree or have concerns I'm just trying to do something that is manageable and allows design productivity .

brian

[HighWay]

Hi Brian.

I am Ecowitt user, and currently running on Meteobridge and using your template.
I am in EU zone, but unfortunately my English is not fluent. I have the will to learn and to test new solutions , but I am mostly experienced in the Electronics, than programming.
As electronic engineer I am thinking that Ecowitt hardware is very poorly made, they using cheap components , especially in the RF part.
For example I was forced to replace local cheaper XTAL oscillators with TCXO ones , in order to improve RF stability. Also in one of my console I did external SMA connector which allowed me to put home made 868 MHz antenna. This significant improve the network coverage and have no longer signal drop.
That is why once I said that Ecowitt is not so reliable , and it is hard to be considered as "professional" weather data source. Hope they will improve its hardware in the future.

It is really good idea that you would make Ecowitt dedicated template , and I would support / if I can / your efforts to do it. To the moment I have no idea how I can be useful for you , what I can offer.
Before my migration to Meteobridge I used weewx-Weather34 , running on Docker . BTW it is still working , but seems this template is no longer supported. One of my Meteo observation points: https://burgas.vhelectronics.com/ waiting to be switched to Aurora

So , if you thinking that I can take some part of your efforts or to help you somehow , it will be interesting to me to join

Regards,

Victor

[weatherist34]

Hi Brian.

I am Ecowitt user, and currently running on Meteobridge and using your template.
I am in EU zone, but unfortunately my English is not fluent. I have the will to learn and to test new solutions , but I am mostly experienced in the Electronics, than programming.
As electronic engineer I am thinking that Ecowitt hardware is very poorly made, they using cheap components , especially in the RF part.
For example I was forced to replace local cheaper XTAL oscillators with TCXO ones , in order to improve RF stability. Also in one of my console I did external SMA connector which allowed me to put home made 868 MHz antenna. This significant improve the network coverage and have no longer signal drop.
That is why once I said that Ecowitt is not so reliable , and it is hard to be considered as "professional" weather data source. Hope they will improve its hardware in the future.

It is really good idea that you would make Ecowitt dedicated template , and I would support / if I can / your efforts to do it. To the moment I have no idea how I can be useful for you , what I can offer.
Before my migration to Meteobridge I used weewx-Weather34 , running on Docker . BTW it is still working , but seems this template is no longer supported. One of my Meteo observation points: https://burgas.vhelectronics.com/ waiting to be switched to Aurora

So , if you thinking that I can take some part of your efforts or to help you somehow , it will be interesting to me to join

Regards,

Victor

Good morning

thank you for the offer at present it is pretty much in the early stages , I have a couple of users providing some support but has we already stumbled on is a universal configuration using Ecowitt and alike there a quite a few variations of setups and possibilities . Whilst this is possible using a Davis hardware environment it was somewhat easier to create or maintain as the majority did not have additional sensor like weat leaf,soil etc most used a configuration that at most had a uv/solar sensor or recent new airlink air quality. With ecowitt obviously the range of multiple sensors are at a far more affordable consumer price , this is where our first obstacle appeared like multiple wind sensor WTF i thought !! why was my question probably because they can no other reason if it's in the same vicinity ! . anyway we will push on and look for a universal approach(it really reduces support time) .


I'll be in touch as and when there is something stable to use and Burgas not far from me its a popular spot for us here to look for oncoming snow or winter storm as Burgas is a point if its a northerly approach.

ps yes im familiar with TCXO but i was more into GaAsFET preamps low noise designs at VHF im a ex radio ham so got a lot understanding of circuit designs before everything went very very small surface mount ..its a good past time doing your own stuff when it works as expected ..

again thanks for the offer be in touch ...brian