Added support for more sensors on the discontinued Accurite smart hub

[joe002]

Boris,

I see that with Version 4.0 of the firmware you "added support for more sensors on the discontinued Accurite smart hub".

Since I just upgraded my support to get Version 4.0, and I use the discontinued Accurite smart hub, can you give me a little more detail which sensors you now support? For example, maybe you maybe now support the Model #: 06045M Lightening Detector and/or maybe other sensors?

Thanks,
Joe

[sbougie]

Hi Joe002,

Did i read correctly, Meteobridge still suported on the old smarthub, does it mean that meteobridge will work if i upgrade to V 4.0, if this true i will consider upgrading, i do not mind paying if Meteobridge does work with v4.0, i am still using Acuparse but i will switch to Meteobridge if this work now

[admin]

You will need something in your LAN that takes the requests from the smarthub meant for the Acurite website and mimics a suitable reply. Having that Meteobridge can still read data out of the smarthub.

IMHO you don't need to upgrade to test this.

[joe002]

sbougie - yes the old hub does work with v4.0. As Boris indicated, you do need something to emulate the old Acurite server - I use acuparse.

Boris - can you elaborate on the "added support for more sensors on the discontinued Accurite smart hub"?

[sbougie]

Thanks for replying, we are still stuck with the same problem as Meteobridge does not emulate the server response needed for the smart hub to work, Maybe this will implemented in a near future, thanks for the info, i will still follow up, and in the mean time, i will continue using Accuparse on my Raspberry Pi, as it work very well with the Smart Hub.

[joe002]

Boris - can you please help me with the added support for the new sensors with the old hub?

If I purchase an Acurite Atlas that has the optional lightening detector, would I see via the old discontinued hub and meteobridge: wind speed, wind direction, rain, temperature, humidity, UV level, and lightening?

I would like to buy it and use it with the meteobridge, but I don't know if it will work. I know there are issues with meteobridge and the new hub (Acurite Access), and I'm fine with the old hub because it works.

Can you help me please, thanks.

[galfert]

Old hub does not work with Atlas. You can only use the Access with the Atlas.

And the Access is not compatible with the Meteobridge.

[joe002]

Thanks for the info.

I wonder what support was added then???

[galfert]

The reason for the Access is because it changed the upload protocol to myAcurite.com. The reason the old hub stopped working is because Acurite decommissioned their old servers. Unfortunately with the Access they also removed the ability to connect via USB and their is no API to get data over the local network. Poor move by Acurite. The Access only uploads to myAcurite and WU. There is a way to get data from the Access but it involves intercepting WU data, unfortunately that doesn't include all of the data as WU doesn't receive extra sensors for Lightning and temp/hum and for some reason also with the Atlas there is no Solar Radiation and only UV is reported to WU. The way to intercept this partial data is with Acuparse and WeeWx and probably others. There are also even more adventurous individuals that are intercepting the data via RF right from the sensors using SDR.

The Access for some individuals recently started having issues with phantom rainfall. Acurite has acknowledged the issue but offered not fix yet. They won't do replacements because they have noticed that it doesn't resolve the problem. The issue is manifesting itself in both WU and myAcurite data...but for some reason it does not show up on the Atlas HD Display. Which seems to rule out the Atlas itself and point the finger at the Access. For me that writes off the Atlas with the Access as a reliable station. The display for the Atlas does not have Internet connectivity...it is just a display.

The Atlas also had issues when first released with false lightning detection. Took them a while but they finally figured it out. It had to do with how the wires inside where laying as they were susceptible to interference.

With Acurite it also makes you wonder why the annouced the Atlas Elite and never released it. Kinda sorta tells you that they jumped the gun announcing that and they probably are wanting things to be 100% with the original Atlas 7/8 before they go making a mockery of themselves with a flawed Atlas Elite. I'd like to see the Atlas Elite released and see what they can do. Until then I just keep Acurite on my mind but not in the running.

I'd recommend either an Ambient Weather WS-2000 (maybe WS-2902A) or an Ecowitt or other Fine Offset clone. Do not get other Ambient models like WS-8478 as that is not made by Fine Offset. You can combine an Ambient WS-2000 with an Ecowitt GW1000 and then open up interesting software solutions to do whatever you want with your data very easily.....Meteobridge, Weather-Display, WeeWx....and possibly more.

The next step after an Ambient/Ecowitt/Fine Offset that I would recommend is a Davis Vantage Pro 2. But not the Davis Vue because its internal design is not built for replacement parts. If your humidity sensor goes bad which is a notorious thing with Davis then you are SOL with the Vue. With Davis you'll get great support from not just Davis and their distributors but also from the user community and there are a ton of options for connecting to many different software using various data loggers....Meteobridge NANO, Meteobridge Standard, Meteobridge Pro (direct from Smartbedded), WiFiLogger, and even Davis' own new WeatherLink Live device....and of course the more traditional USB and IP loggers. There are multiple combinations possible and besides the already mentioned devices with their software there is also Weather-Display, WeeWx, and Cumulus.

I've basically recommended an more affordable and very capable system with Ambient/Ecowitt/Fine Offset or a higher quality Davis VP2. I think those are the only reasonable choices until Acurite gets its act together. I'm sure that there are plenty of Acurite fans with no problems that will jump on my throat but I'm entitled to my opinion. None of these choices are perfect...there is always a compromise. Learn and decided for yourself what pros and cons you are willing to deal with as Ambient/Ecowitt/Fine Offset and Davis all have their disadvantages. Acurite fans will I'm sure point out the disadvantages of Ambient/Ecowitt/Fine Offset and of Davis. In a nutshell Ambient/Ecowitt/Fine Offset is lower quality and may not last but sensors are decent except if you live in very dry climate, max wind is limited to 100 Mph, and RF reception is limited to 300 FT advertised but more realistically 100 FT. For Davis the disadvantage is the humidity sensor that I touched on and its higher price of you bottom line once you put it all together and THAT 1980's Black & White display!!! Nothing is perfect...decide what is important to you.

Good honest comparison:
https://www.wxforum.net/index.php?topic=37425.0

[vade64]

This is just the info I have been looking for as well. I have an Acurite 5n1 (01058RM) that I bought two years ago along with the Acurite smartHub. I connected them with the dlink (DIR-505) and meteobridge and all was well in the world. I was able to post data to PWS then pull that in to my Rachio sprinkler for ideal/point of delivery weather data. Then...Feb 2019 rolls in and the Acurite smartHub gets MD'd. Been trying to find a suitable replacement ever since. Love the Davis set up but man, $$$. Guess I'll check out the others mentioned. Please let me know if you have any other suggestions as well as links to best package deals.

Also would like to know more about Acuparse. Sounds like this would possibly get my smartHub communicating again. Went to the acuparse website and seems broken. Getting a lot of 404 errors.

[joe002]

gus - thanks for the detailed reply! I was looking at the other options, but decided (for now) to keep using my 5-in-1 with meteobridge and the Acuparse (which "replaces" the old Acurite servers).

I initially started this thread because Boris indicated that he "added support for more sensors on the discontinued Accurite smart hub". Since I'm using the old hub I was wondering what new sensors he's supporting. I was kind of hoping that the Atlas would be picked up by the old hub and the meteobridge could see it and report the extra sensors it has. Sounds like that won't work. It also sounds like they have some bugs to work out with the Atlas.

I'm still wondering what Boris is now supporting???

vade64 - here's the thread on using the Acuparse with your 5-in-1 and the meteobridge.

[admin]

It is just more of the same sensors in parallel, not new sensors.

[joe002]

Boris - OK, thanks. I won't try buying any of the new sensors.