WeatherFlow installation on Weather Display

Having been watching this for a while I would be put off from buying one of these stations if my VP1 packed up just because of their idea to only allow bluetooth to be used for set up. In my view there should be a web interface as well as bluetooth. I think they need to rethink their strategy.

Stuart

I agree with you that WeatherFlow would be better with an inbuilt web interface and with a Windows setup procedure which would be more tolerant of the age of the software. I must admit that I’m not impressed with the acrobatics I’ve been trying to get it to work without an ultramodern version of Bluetooth. I’m sure that I would’ve had it working several days ago if it had not been for Bluetooth (all versions that I have are prior to version 4!)

As I wrote previously, almost all new devices (such as for home automation, etc.) can only activated from an Android or iOS device (phone/tablet) - WeatherFlow is not the exception - phone/tablet activation seems to have become the norm sometime last year.

As I wanted to ‘modernize’ my home automation system, I needed to replace my ‘antique’ X10 controllers and my aging Insteon controllers. My only options were to use either Z-Wave or Zigbee controllers - unfortunately, the two communication protocols are not compatible. So, I opted for the Z-Wave communication protocol and started looking for replacement light dimmers/switches, power outlets, etc. I quickly found out that all those new controllers needed some specific brand name hubs or bridges (such as Samsung SmartThings, Philips Hue, Lutron Cas

All of this does not make it right. Having a web interface does not stop one using a phone if you have one but why force this on everyone.

Stuart

you are never going to please everyone

Stuart, it certainly does not make “forcing people to use a phone to activate a device” right, unfortunately…

If you look around at the last two or three younger generations you will noticed that they spend most of their time with their ‘nose’ in their phones, no one talk to each other, they prefer typing rather than talking … even when they are sitting next to each other…

Unfortunately, most companies are now producing their applications, their devices and their software for those generations (the ‘TL;DR’ generations = “too long; didn’t read”, some text is being ignored because of its length), the generations that live ‘on their phones’…

Yes R_o_B I agree, many times I have people walk into me as they are too busy on the phones! I just think it is short sighted of companies to rely on that technology 100%.

Stuart

I’m surprised it doesn’t insist on a Facebook login too :lol:

Eureka! I’ve got it kinda-sorta working! :slight_smile: I have not yet installed the two outside items in their definitive place where they would be meaningful but I have the answers on the WD display. Too early to be definitive but there does seem to be a couple of differences between it and my two other weather stations. The Hub does not contain indoor temperature and humidity sensors so I’ll remove those features from the display. The barometer seems to be about 10 hPa out, compared with the other two. However, it is still early days before I get everything set up comme il-faut.

In the end, I bought a new phone to be able to do this, but I still feel a little disgruntled at this being necessary, the old one (~nearly 5 years old) still being in its prime. I resent the time necessary to set it up again, particularly pairing Bluetooth with other apps!

By the way, you only needed a more modern phone without phone service - this is what I have, a Huawei Honor 6X Smartphone that I bought from Amazon USA (I could not get a similar phone at a similar price on Amazon Canada). Obviously, I cannot use the phone to place call, but then, I did not need a phone to place call as I have all that I need in my home/office and I did not want a phone just to carry around… :wink:

May I suggest, if you have not already done so, that you create an account to the WeatherFlow Community - you will find within those forums (message bases) all the help you might need from a lot of knowledgeable people (including the people involved with the development of the WeatherFlow Smart Weather Station) - it is worth the subscription.

Can someone point me at Brian’s video regarding Weatherflow setup? I’m expecting mine Monday and would like to be prepared. Thanks!

http://www.weather-display.com/youtubevideos.php

Thank you, sir.

After many tries, I have managed to get both Davis and WeatherFlow working simultaneously on the same computer. The attachments show a screenshot of the two. In order to do this, I eliminated all traces of Weather Display from the computer, including clearing the register. I then reinstalled WD with the Davis first and then the WeatherFlow. Without this rigmarole, I was not able to install both on the same computer with all functions. In fact, on a number of attempts, the data from one could even corrupt the other. The important point was clearing the register.

The attachment shows the results I obtained today but please note that the physical installations of the two systems were several metres apart, with different shadowing and that the Davis wind direction and speed were not working, while the WeatherFlow wind speed was in a very sheltered position. Nevertheless, it is clear that the tracking between the two systems is otherwise pretty good, with no interference between them.

I hope now to be able to install WeatherFlow hardware correctly close to the Davis, so that I can make a real comparison. I also have Aercus on on a different computer. On the whole, it tracks Davis fairly closely, so that I may be able to make a comparison between all three systems. (I haven’t dared try putting all three systems onto the one computer :slight_smile: )


@Devil: Did you create a 2wd.txt file in the secondary WD install directory? That should ensure separate registry entries for each WD instance.

Yes! Absolutely! I believe (no proof) that the problems may have been due to common legacy entries in the registry because they went only after I did two clean installs in the order Davis first, then WF

Odd. :?

My original installation of Weather Display has been processing the data from my Davis Instruments Vantage Pro2 Plus weather station for some 10 years.

About a month and a half ago, after receiving and installing my WeatherFlow weather station, I created a new directory (on the same hard drive that Weather Display has been using for those past years), placed the zero-byte ‘2wd.txt’ text file in that newly created directory and then proceeded with the full installation (of a freshly download copy) of Weather Display. I then started the newly installed Weather Display, proceeded with the different required settings and within a few minutes, Weather Display was processing the data from the WeatherFlow weather station.

To be sure, I checked my Windows 10 registry and there are two different separate keys (created and used by Weather Display), the older key ‘wdisplayftp.ini’ contains the data (and a lot of data) from the Vantage weather station, whereas the newer key ‘wdisplayftp2.ini’ contains the data (and not much data yet) from the WeatherFlow weather station.

I have been running simultaneously two copies of Weather Display for about a month now - I did not encountered any of the installation problems you have faced.

Agreed. I’ve done it many times for testing without difficulty. I have seen it messed up when the 2nd install has been run before the 2wd.txt has been created but otherwise it’s normally a pretty bulletproof process :dontknow:

Yesterday, we had the mother and father of a thunderstorm, some 15 km N of here, with WF measuring over 1100 strikes between <5 and >30 km distance from here. I attach the WD plot of the event in dark magenta on the wind direction graph. It seems to me that the visual info is rather lacking. How can I increase the Y axis response, to give a better visual representation of the parents’ storm?


2018-10-21_114141.jpg

to me it shows nicely a peak curve in strike count