"Real-Time" CSV Input to WD - Convenient NEW 'WIFI Station' Data Input

Software Weather Display for Windows
1

Nice new addition, I think. In the newest build of Weather Display, Build 42, v 10.37S, Brian was kind enough to include the ability to read “from a Weather-Exchange-like format CSV file.”
For those of us who are logging real-time information from a WIFI Station like the Ambient Weather WS-1400-IP by simply grabbing the data from the ‘livedata.htm’ page in “real-time,” this is slick.

Easy to use if you personally create a real time WS-1400-IP log file as described below:
a. In Weather-Display Build 42 for Windows, one simply goes to “Station Type & Settings” in WD’s Control Panel menu.
b. Select “Stationless/etc”, and at bottom right of window that appears under “Use from Weather Exchange format CSV file” …
c. Select the file that holds your data, then check “Enable.” WD then begins reading your selected file every 1 min, picking up the latest data for its purposes.

The (25) HEADERS for a CSV file that WD can now use, if interested, are:

  1. YR
  2. MO
  3. DAY
  4. HR
  5. MIN
  6. SEC
  7. TEMP OUTSIDE (F)
  8. HUMIDITY OUTSIDE
  9. TEMP INSIDE (F)
  10. HUMIDITY INSIDE
  11. TEMP DIFF (IN minus OUT)
  12. ABSOLUTE PRESSURE (IN)
  13. RELATIVE PRESSURE (IN)
  14. AVG WIND (MPH)
  15. WIND BEARING (S, N, E, W, NNE, ETC.)
  16. WIND DIRECTION (DEG)
  17. WIND GUST (MPH)
  18. RAIN-HOURLY (INCHES)
  19. RAIN-DAILY (INCHES)
  20. SOLAR RADIATION (WATTS/M2)
  21. UV
  22. UVI
  23. RAIN-WEEK (INCHES)
  24. RAIN-MONTH (INCHES)
  25. RAIN-YR (INCHES)

(My particular approach: I grab WS-1400-IP PWS data every xx-xxx seconds from “<station_IP_address>livedata.htm>” and populate a .csv. I do this with a simple PERL script which I run in background. It displays & logs the data nicely. No need to modify hub, bridge, firmware or station. Works for low-techy, inelegant me. )
Cheers. Greg

UPDATE: For background, the article that allowed me (with a few additions) to locally read & store my WS-1400-IP data is located here: https://www.durmon.com/extracting-data-from-the-ambient-weather-observerip-3-0-module/ - Clear, concise, educational & perfect for a dweeb like me. Thanks Mr. Durmon.

UPDATE 2: I have attached PERL script which adds .csv file logging ‘script lines’ to those of Mr. Durmon’s, noted above. These lines include a loop to allow one to specify .csv file logging on a user defined time period. The WS-1400-IP PWS data in this .csv file is then directly readable by WD. This script adder also displays the 1400-IP data on the “terminal” for check/convenience purposes. With this script running in the background, WD will seamlessly suck in the data from the .csv the script creates. (NOTE: You must change suffix from .txt to .pl to make the attached file executable.) – If anyone creates a similar Python script, I would be grateful to hear of it.

AW-1400_ObserverIP_datalogger_forUseIn_WD_Bld42.txt (3.95 KB)

2

Hi Gregory,

Have you read my my thread about importing csv data, unfortunatly I been having all sorts of problems.

I am trying to do the same using a home made station and my software written in python v2.7x

Does the CVS data format work with WD.

Could you post a sample file.

Michael

3

Whimick - Hello. No, sorry, I had not seen your thread. Regret hearing you are having Python pains. I used PERL because it was easier for me. And, more importantly, because I found a great article – SEE “UPDATE” to my post above, which got me going. The script in that article worked flawlessly out of the chute. Then I simply added the continuous .csv data logging.

And absolutely YES! The PERL script I wrote for the WS-1400-IP and the .csv it creates work flawlessly with the new WD Build 42. Perfectly. My script is running full time. WD grabs the last .csv log item every 1 min and beautiful things happen:) — per your request, a sample .csv is attached (can’t upload .csv, but need only change the .txt to .csv); it has 96 records, first line (record) is headers.
g

wdata_1400log.txt (9.18 KB)

4

Thanks for posting the file I will try and duplicate the format in my script.

For some silly reason WD will not process txt or csv files.

Do you use stationless to feed WD or some other settings

I have just totally removed WD and will re-install it in the hope that it will solved my problems.

I do hope the WD people can so find and answer.

Michael

5
For some silly reason WD will not process txt or csv files.
it does but the format of your csv file was out of sequence for the format WD was expecting (I did email you about that)
6

Whimick - WD absolutly DOES read and process .csv files. Full stop.

Any failure to read is probably

  • File format or structure error (be rigorous about getting the .csv correct and check multiple times if necessary.) Try reading my file sample into WD. Does work. [I verify my file in Calc (an Excel equivalent) to ensure proper structure is being delivered by my .csv generating script. Easy to spot errors in this way.]
  • Incorrect labeling/suffix (.txt vs .csv for example)
  • Attempting to read-in/pull-in at the wrong place… MUST BE Build 42, by selecting WIFI PRO, then the item in that section’s lower right corner… “from…CSV…”
    g
7

Thankyou for adding the wifi option.

I think I am making progress, do I need to include the header(fields) in my csv file, and does it matter what units I use?

8

header is not needed and yes it needs to be in the units expected

9

At last I have good news, ITS WORKING.

Thankyou for the your hard work.

Is there any provision for extra temperature sensors, leaf wetnees and soil wetness?

If some at what possition can they be added to the CSV file.

10

They could be added to the end and I would then Jacinto read that data in
Not sure why you did not instead work with me on the
Csv import method you were using
( I.E the problem was you seemed to have data out of sequence from what WD expected)

11

As I said its Good News the CSV Wifi is working fine, after taking you advice a re-checked my CVS coding

I will see what happen if I add extra data at the end of my CSV

Sorry for any miss undertstanding caused

Thanks Michael

12

but the problem with the csv data being out of sequence was with the original method you had selected to use that data in WD
(the vws data.csv option)
now you are using a different method (the wifi csv option)
have you made any changes to your csv file?

13

Yes I have done as suggested and carefully checked my python code that makes the CSV and corrected the data’s position, so now i hope its in the right ordet, and now use VWS Wifi to read in the CSV.

So it appears to be working with out errors.

I have also added extra temperature, leafwetness and soil wetness at the end of the CSV

Files attached

Whimick_Met_Data_csv.txt (97 Bytes)

Weather_Current.txt (744 Bytes)

14

when you say vws wifi
i think you mean you are using the csv file option in the wifi pro setup?

15

To confirm what I mean I attatched a jpg.

Do you know were I may find more details details about this format?

As In would like to use some extra sensors

Weather Exchange.jpg

16

in the sample files you have posted, does that have those extra sensors?
if so then I can support for them

17

Yes, the posted “weather_current.txt” has the field list and the .csv has the matching number of fields.

18

good oh
I will work on this and let you know when ready to test

19

Thankyou. I have attatched some file for you to look at.

Michael

Whimick_Met_Current.txt (759 Bytes)

Whimick_Met_Data_csv.txt (104 Bytes)

20

Hey, those are different files with extra fields. Might have been nice to mention that…