mirror of
https://github.com/weewx/weewx.git
synced 2026-04-18 00:26:57 -04:00
1597 lines
93 KiB
HTML
1597 lines
93 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
|
|
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml">
|
|
|
|
<!-- $Revision$ -->
|
|
<!-- $Author$ -->
|
|
<!-- $Date$ -->
|
|
<!-- For some reason, the table of contents generator used in this document demands that all
|
|
heading elements be on one line. -->
|
|
|
|
<head>
|
|
<meta content="en-us" http-equiv="Content-Language" />
|
|
<meta content="text/html; charset=utf-8" http-equiv="Content-Type" />
|
|
<title>User's guide to the Weewx weather system</title>
|
|
<!-- CSS -->
|
|
<link href="weewx_docs.css" rel="stylesheet" />
|
|
<!-- JavaScript -->
|
|
<script src="samaxesjs.toc-1.5.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
|
|
</head>
|
|
|
|
<body>
|
|
|
|
<h1 class="title">User's guide to the <span class="code">weewx</span> weather system
|
|
<br />
|
|
Version 2.0</h1>
|
|
<h1>Table of Contents</h1>
|
|
<p>This is the complete guide to installing <span class="code">weewx</span> —
|
|
all details and options are documented here. As such, it can get a bit tedious to
|
|
follow. </p>
|
|
<p>If you are running Ubuntu, you can save some time by following the <em>
|
|
<a href="debian.htm">Quick Start Guide for Debian (Ubuntu) Systems</a>.</em> </p>
|
|
<p>For information on customizing <span class="code">weewx</span>, see the separate
|
|
document <a href="customizing.htm"><em>Customizing <span class="code">weewx</span></em></a>.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>For instructions on upgrading from various versions, see the separate document
|
|
<em><a href="upgrading.htm">Upgrading <span class="code">weewx</span></a></em>.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>For instructions on porting to the SheevaPlug, see the separate document <em>
|
|
<a href="sheeva.htm">Notes on porting <span class="code">weewx</span> to the SheevaPlug</a></em>.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<div id="technical_content">
|
|
<div id="toc">
|
|
</div>
|
|
<h1 id="Copyright">Copyright</h1>
|
|
<p>(c) 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 by Tom Keffer <<a href="mailto:tkeffer@gmail.com">tkeffer@gmail.com</a>>
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
|
|
the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software
|
|
Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
|
|
ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS
|
|
FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with
|
|
this program. If not, see <a href="http://www.gnu.org/licenses/">http://www.gnu.org/licenses</a>.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<h1 id="About_weewx">About <span class="code">weewx</span></h1>
|
|
<p><span class="code">weewx</span> is a piece of software, written in
|
|
<a href="http://www.python.org">Python</a>, that interacts with your weather
|
|
station to produce plots, reports, and HTML pages. It can optionally upload
|
|
the reports to a remote Web server as well as publish to the
|
|
<a href="http://www.wunderground.com">WeatherUnderground</a> or
|
|
<a href="http://www.pwsweather.com/">PWSweather.com</a>. It uses modern software
|
|
concepts, making it simple, robust, and easy to extend. For an example station
|
|
see <a href="http://www.threefools.org/weewx">Hood River West</a>. </p>
|
|
<p>Key features: </p>
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>An easy to understand, simple, extensible micro-kernel architecture;</li>
|
|
<li>Uploads to popular weather sites, such as Weather Underground and CWOP;</li>
|
|
<li>Uploads to your website using FTP;</li>
|
|
<li>Support for multiple <em>skins</em>;</li>
|
|
<li>Simple, but extensible templating system;</li>
|
|
<li>Support for multiple unit systems;</li>
|
|
<li>Support for sqlite or MySQL databases;</li>
|
|
<li>Calibration corrections;</li>
|
|
<li>Ability to extend <span class="code">weewx</span> with new services
|
|
and reports. </li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
<p>I wrote <span class="code">weewx</span> over the winter of 2008-2009 for
|
|
two reasons: it was a wet and miserable winter here in Oregon with not much
|
|
else to do, so there was no good reason not to, and because I wanted a simple,
|
|
easy-to-understand server to run my Davis VantagePro2 weather station on a Linux
|
|
box. I had been using <a href="http://www.wviewweather.com/">wview</a>, which
|
|
is a high-performance and feature rich system authored by Mark Teel with lots
|
|
of users. Written in C, it's an efficient system that can run on underpowered
|
|
boxes. In exchange, it's huge (45,000+ lines of code), tightly integrated
|
|
in with its companion library, radlib (another 14,000+ lines), and very complex,
|
|
making it difficult to understand and reliably customize. I wanted something
|
|
more modern and much, much simpler. </p>
|
|
<p>Having made a career in C++ and Java, I was also interested in some more
|
|
modern languages, so I thought I'd try either Python or Ruby (although,
|
|
truth be told, the roots of Python are nearly as old as C++!). I ended up picking
|
|
Python because its libraries are more mature and there are many mores choices
|
|
for third party libraries. </p>
|
|
<p><span class="code">Weewx</span> weighs in at well under 6,000 lines of code,
|
|
with another 3,800 comment lines. Because it is pure Python, it requires no
|
|
makefiles, no builds, no special installs. It offers very powerful configuration
|
|
and templating options, as well as an internally extensible engine, making it
|
|
easy to customize. Its internal modular design and use of modern exception handling
|
|
make it very robust and difficult to crash. It is also architecturally very
|
|
simple and easy to understand.</p>
|
|
<h2>Supported hardware</h2>
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>Davis "Vantage" series of weather stations, including the
|
|
<a href="http://www.davisnet.com/weather/products/vantage-pro-professional-weather-stations.asp">
|
|
VantagePro2</a>™ and <a href="http://www.vantagevue.com/">VantageVue</a>™,
|
|
using serial, USB, or
|
|
<a href="http://www.davisnet.com/weather/products/weather_product.asp?pnum=06555">
|
|
WeatherLinkIP</a>™ connections. Both the "Rev A" (firmware
|
|
dated before 22 April 2002) and "Rev B" versions are supported.
|
|
</li>
|
|
<li>Oregon Scientific WMR-USB series (tested on the
|
|
<a href="http://us.oregonscientific.com/cat-Weather-sub-Professional-Weather-Stations-prod-Pro-Wireless-Weather-Station.html">
|
|
WMR100N</a>). Not nearly as reliable as the Davis instruments, but a lot
|
|
less expensive.</li>
|
|
<li>In addition, <span class="code">weewx</span> comes with a software simulator,
|
|
useful for testing and evaluation.</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
<h1 id="Downloading_weewx">Downloading <span class="code">weewx</span></h1>
|
|
<p><span class="code">Weewx</span> can be downloaded from its SourceForge page:<a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/weewx/">http://sourceforge.net/projects/weewx/</a>.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<h1 id="Prerequisites">Prerequisites</h1>
|
|
<h2>Python</h2>
|
|
<p>Python V2.5, V2.6, or V2.7 is required. The newer V3.0 distribution will
|
|
not work. </p>
|
|
<h2>External packages</h2>
|
|
<p>The following external packages are required to use <span class="code">weewx</span>.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li><a href="http://pypi.python.org/pypi/configobj/">configobj</a> (Version
|
|
4.5 or greater) Manages the configuration file <span class="code">weewx.conf</span>.
|
|
</li>
|
|
<li><a href="http://www.cheetahtemplate.org">Cheetah</a> (Version 2.0 or
|
|
greater) The templating engine. </li>
|
|
<li><a href="http://pypi.python.org/pypi/pyserial">pyserial</a> (Version
|
|
2.3 or greater) Manages the serial connection to the weather station.</li>
|
|
<li><a href="http://pypi.python.org/pypi/PIL">Python Imaging Library</a>
|
|
(Version 1.1.6 or greater) Also known as PIL, this is included in many Python
|
|
distributions. </li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
<p>For the Oregon Scientific WMR-USB series you will also need:</p>
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li><a href="https://sourceforge.net/projects/pyusb/">PyUSB</a> (Version
|
|
0.4 or greater). Driver for the USB bus. </li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
<p>If you wish to use MySQL as your database (instead of the default
|
|
<span class="code">sqlite</span>), then you will need (in addition to a MySQL
|
|
server, of course):</p>
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li><a href="https://sourceforge.net/projects/mysql-python/">MySQLdb for
|
|
Python</a> (Version 1.2.3 or greater). This is the Python DBAPI2 adapter
|
|
for MySQL.</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
<p>Finally, there is one optional package:</p>
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li><span class="code"><a href="http://pypi.python.org/pypi/pyephem/">pyephem</a></span>
|
|
(Version V3.7.3 or greater). For extended almanac information. If not installed,
|
|
fallback information will be used. </li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
<p>There are two general strategies for installing these prerequisites: </p>
|
|
<ol>
|
|
<li>Use operating system tools, such as <span class="code">apt-get</span>
|
|
(or its graphical equivalent Synaptic Package Manager) for Debian/Ubuntu
|
|
or <span class="code">yast</span> for SuSE; or </li>
|
|
<li>Use the Python tool <span class="code">
|
|
<a href="http://pypi.python.org/pypi/pip">pip</a></span>. </li>
|
|
</ol>
|
|
<p>Option #1 is easier, but if your Linux distribution does not come with such
|
|
tools, you may have to use <span class="code">pip</span>. </p>
|
|
<p>Brief instructions for both approaches are given below. </p>
|
|
<h3>Installation on Debian distributions (including Ubuntu and Mint) using
|
|
<span class="code">apt-get</span></h3>
|
|
<p>The instructions that follow are for using the Debian tool
|
|
<span class="code">apt-get</span>, but the same package names would be used
|
|
should you chose to use a graphical interface such as the Synaptic Package Manager.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>To install all useful packages (you may be able to trim this list if you
|
|
are not using all features):</p>
|
|
<pre class="tty">sudo apt-get install python-configobj
|
|
sudo apt-get install python-cheetah
|
|
sudo apt-get install python-serial
|
|
sudo apt-get install python-imaging # Already present in most systems, but it doesn't
|
|
# hurt to install again.
|
|
sudo apt-get install python-usb # Required only for the Oregon Scientific WMR-USB
|
|
sudo apt-get install python-mysqldb # Required only if you are using MySQL
|
|
sudo apt-get install mysql-client # Required only if you are using MySQL</pre>
|
|
<p>Note that the <span class="code">python-imaging</span> (PIL) package is often
|
|
preinstalled on many Debian distributions so the install may not actually do
|
|
anything. </p>
|
|
<p>As noted above, if you choose to install the optional package
|
|
<span class="code">pyephem</span>, then it will have to be installed using
|
|
<span class="code">pip</span>. See the
|
|
<a href="http://pypi.python.org/pypi/pip">pip</a> website for instructions on
|
|
how to install <span class="code">pip</span>. Once installed, then installing
|
|
<span class="code">pyephem</span> is easy: </p>
|
|
<pre class="tty">sudo pip install pyephem</pre>
|
|
<h3>Installation on Fedora using <span class="code">yum</span></h3>
|
|
<p>Installing on Fedora v16 can be done entirely by using <span class="code">
|
|
yum</span>. </p>
|
|
<p class="tty">sudo yum install python-configobj<br />
|
|
sudo yum install python-imaging<br />
|
|
sudo yum install python-cheetah<br />
|
|
sudo yum install pyserial<br />
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>The optional package <span class="code">pyephem</span> can also be installed
|
|
by using <span class="code">yum</span>:</p>
|
|
<p class="tty">sudo yum install pyephem </p>
|
|
<h3>Installation on SuSE using <span class="code">yast</span></h3>
|
|
<p>My SuSE 11.3 system came with some of the prerequisites installed, some available
|
|
through <span class="code">yast</span>, and some that required
|
|
<span class="code"><a href="http://pypi.python.org/pypi/pip">pip</a></span>.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>Using <span class="code">yast</span>, install the following: </p>
|
|
<pre class="tty">sudo yast -i gcc
|
|
sudo yast -i python-devel
|
|
sudo yast -i python-configobj
|
|
sudo yast -i python-serial
|
|
sudo yast -i python-imaging
|
|
sudo yast -i python-setuptools </pre>
|
|
<p>Now install <span class="code">pip</span>. There are many ways to do this
|
|
(see the <span class="code"><a href="http://pypi.python.org/pypi/pip">pip</a></span>
|
|
website), but perhaps the simplest is by using <span class="code">get-pip.py</span>:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<pre class="tty">sudo curl https://raw.github.com/pypa/pip/master/contrib/get-pip.py | python</pre>
|
|
<p>Now using <span class="code">pip</span>, install Cheetah: </p>
|
|
<pre class="tty">pip install Cheetah</pre>
|
|
<p>Finally, if you choose to install the optional package <span class="code">
|
|
pyephem</span>, then install it using <span class="code">pip</span>: </p>
|
|
<pre class="tty">pip install pyephem</pre>
|
|
<h3>Installation using <span class="code">pip</span></h3>
|
|
<p>An alternative approach to installing the required packages is by using the
|
|
Python setup tool "<span class="code"><a href="http://pypi.python.org/pypi/pip">pip</a></span>".
|
|
Refer to their instructions on how to install this tool. </p>
|
|
<p>Once <span class="code">pip</span> has been installed, installing the rest
|
|
of the packages is very easy. </p>
|
|
<pre class="tty">pip install configobj
|
|
pip install pyserial
|
|
pip install Cheetah
|
|
pip install pil </pre>
|
|
<p>If you choose to install the optional package <span class="code">pyephem</span>:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<pre class="tty">pip install pyephem</pre>
|
|
<h2>Time</h2>
|
|
<p>The time on the VantagePro is automatically synchronized with the
|
|
<span class="code">weewx</span> server nominally every four hours (changeable
|
|
by the user). You should run a <a href="http://www.ntp.org/">NTP</a> daemon
|
|
on your server to insure that it is synchronized with the correct time. Doing
|
|
so will greatly reduce errors, especially if you send data to services such
|
|
as the Weather Underground. </p>
|
|
<h2>System requirements</h2>
|
|
<p>I run <span class="code">weewx</span> on a 500MHz system with an AMD Geode
|
|
processor and 512 MB of memory. Configured this way, it consumes about
|
|
5% of the CPU and about 40MB of total memory. </p>
|
|
<h1 id="Installing_weewx">Installing <span class="code">weewx</span></h1>
|
|
<p>Because <span class="code">weewx</span> is "Pure Python", that
|
|
is it is 100% Python with no "C" modules to compile, installing it
|
|
is very easy. Furthermore, it uses the standard Python
|
|
<a href="http://docs.python.org/install/index.html">distutils</a> install method,
|
|
which is very easy and flexible. Detailed instructions follow. </p>
|
|
<h2>Unpacking</h2>
|
|
<p>Start by unpack the tar ball (substitute your version for X.Y.Z) into any
|
|
convenient directory where you have write permission </p>
|
|
<p class="tty">tar xvf weewx-X.Y.Z </p>
|
|
<p>Then change directory into it: </p>
|
|
<p class="tty">cd weewx-X.Y.Z </p>
|
|
<h2>Choosing where to install <span class="code">weewx</span></h2>
|
|
<p>Next step is figuring out where you want to install <span class="code">weewx</span>.
|
|
If <span class="code"><em>$WEEWX_INSTALL</em></span> symbolizes the root location
|
|
of where the <span class="code">weewx</span> directory will be installed, then
|
|
the nominal directory layout is: </p>
|
|
<table class="center" style="width: 60%" summary="Summarizing the nominal weewx directory layout">
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<td><strong>Subdirectory</strong></td>
|
|
<td><strong>Contents</strong></td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<td><span class="code"><em>$WEEWX_INSTALL</em>/bin</span></td>
|
|
<td>Python packages and scripts</td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<td><span class="code"><em>$WEEWX_INSTALL</em>/weewx.conf</span></td>
|
|
<td>Configuration file</td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<td><span class="code"><em>$WEEWX_INSTALL</em>/skins</span></td>
|
|
<td>Template skins and their configuration files</td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<td><span class="code"><em>$WEEWX_INSTALL</em>/archive</span></td>
|
|
<td>sqlite3 archive and statistical databases</td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<td><span class="code"><em>$WEEWX_INSTALL</em>/public_html</span></td>
|
|
<td>Generated HTML and .PNG images</td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
</table>
|
|
<p>By default, the location for <span class="code"><em>WEEWX_INSTALL</em></span>
|
|
is <span class="code">/home/weewx</span>. However, it can be changed by editing
|
|
the file <span class="code">setup.cfg</span> and changing the following line
|
|
</p>
|
|
<pre class="tty">home = /home/weewx</pre>
|
|
<p>to reflect your decision. </p>
|
|
<h2>Build and install</h2>
|
|
<p>Build the distribution </p>
|
|
<pre class="tty">./setup.py build </pre>
|
|
<p>(Because <span class="code">weewx</span> is pure Python this doesn't
|
|
actually build anything, but it does arrange files for the final installation)
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>Then install it. If you have write permission in the directory where
|
|
<span class="code">weewx</span> will go (<em>i.e.</em>, <span class="code">
|
|
<em>$WEEWX_INSTALL</em></span>), then type </p>
|
|
<p class="tty">./setup.py install </p>
|
|
<p>Otherwise, if you do not have write permission, you will have to use sudo:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p class="tty">sudo ./setup.py install </p>
|
|
<h3>Upgrading</h3>
|
|
<p>Before upgrading from a previous version of <span class="code">weewx</span>,
|
|
check the upgrade notes, found in file <a href="upgrading.htm">upgrading.htm</a>,
|
|
to see if there any specific actions you need to do. </p>
|
|
<p>You then generally follow the procedure above. </p>
|
|
<p><strong><em>In particular, before starting, be sure to set </em></strong>
|
|
<span class="code"><strong><em>home</em></strong></span><strong><em> in the
|
|
file </em></strong><span class="code"><strong><em>setup.cfg</em></strong></span><strong><em>.
|
|
</em></strong></p>
|
|
<p>The build and install process will do the following for you. </p>
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>Save your old '<span class="code">bin</span>' subdirectory as
|
|
<span class="code"><em>$WEEWX_INSTALL</em>/bin.YYYYMMDDHHMMSS</span> where
|
|
YYYYMMDDHHMMSS is a timestamp; </li>
|
|
<li>Install the new version in the '<span class="code">bin</span>'
|
|
subdirectory, while preserving any user extensions in the '<span class="code">bin/user</span>'
|
|
subdirectory; </li>
|
|
<li>Save a copy of your old <span class="code">weewx.conf</span> as
|
|
<span class="code"><em>$WEEWX_INSTALL</em>/weewx.conf.YYYYMMDDHHMMSS;</span>
|
|
</li>
|
|
<li>Merge any changes you've made to your old configuration file
|
|
<span class="code">weewx.conf</span> into the new configuration file, then
|
|
install the merged copy (this effectively causes changes you've made
|
|
to override the values in the shipped version of <span class="code">weewx.conf</span>);
|
|
</li>
|
|
<li>Install a <span class="code">'skins'</span> subdirectory if
|
|
one does not already exist. </li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
<h2>Permissions</h2>
|
|
<p>Strictly speaking it is not necessary to install or run
|
|
<span class="code">weewx</span> with root privileges. You only need read/write
|
|
access to the serial port for your hardware. For example, if your hardware has
|
|
a USB interface, on Ubuntu and SuSE: </p>
|
|
<p class="tty">sudo chmod a+rw /dev/ttyUSB0 </p>
|
|
<p>Once done, if you edit <span class="code">setup.cfg</span> to install into
|
|
a directory where you have write permissions, you can install and run
|
|
<span class="code">weewx</span> without any root privileges at all. </p>
|
|
<h2>Final note on installation</h2>
|
|
<p>This is an advanced topic. Ignore it if you are just getting started. </p>
|
|
<p>Because <span class="code">weewx</span> is pure Python, it does not actually
|
|
have to be "built" and "installed" at all! You can just
|
|
simply run it out of whatever directory you unpack it into. This can be useful
|
|
for testing and experimentation of new versions. If you try this,
|
|
<span class="code">weewx</span> must still be told where to find the skin templates
|
|
and databases, as well as where to put the generated HTML files and plot images.
|
|
This is done by setting <span class="code">WEEWX_ROOT</span> in
|
|
<span class="code">weewx.conf</span> to reflect where your data files can be
|
|
found (normally, the install process does this for you): </p>
|
|
<pre class="tty">> # Edit WEEWX_ROOT to reflect the location of your data hierarchy:
|
|
> vi ./weewx-X.Y.Z/weewx.conf
|
|
> # Now run weewxd.py out of the directory you unpacked weewx into:
|
|
> ./weewx-X.Y.Z/bin/weewxd.py ./weewx-X.Y.Z/weewx.conf</pre>
|
|
<h1 id="Configuring_weewx">Configuring <span class="code">weewx</span></h1>
|
|
<p>This section covers configuring <span class="code">weewx</span>, in particular
|
|
the configuration files <span class="code">weewx.conf</span> and
|
|
<span class="code">skin.conf</span>. </p>
|
|
<p>In the following, <span class="code"><em>$WEEWX_ROOT</em></span> refers to
|
|
the <span class="code">weewx</span> root directory, generally
|
|
<span class="code">/home/weewx</span>. The subdirectories <span class="code">
|
|
archive</span>, <span class="code">skins</span>, and <span class="code">public_html</span>
|
|
are expected to be found there. </p>
|
|
<h2>Moving from wview</h2>
|
|
<p>NOTE: This section is necessary only if you are moving from
|
|
<a href="http://www.wviewweather.com/">wview</a> to <span class="code">weewx</span>
|
|
and wish to transfer your old data over. If you are starting afresh, you do
|
|
not need to follow this section — the two main databases are created and populated
|
|
automatically by <span class="code">weewx</span>. </p>
|
|
<p>The main archive database can be just copied over because wview and
|
|
<span class="code">weewx</span> use identical schemas: </p>
|
|
<pre class="tty">mkdir <em>$WEEWX_ROOT</em>/archive
|
|
cp /usr/local/var/wview/archive/wview-archive.sdb <span class="code"><em>$WEEWX_ROOT</em></span>/archive/weewx.sdb</pre>
|
|
<p>The second database, the statistics, will then be automatically created and
|
|
backfilled on startup of weewx. If your existing database is large, backfilling
|
|
could take some time. On my modest 500 MHz
|
|
<a href="http://www.fit-pc.com/new/fit-pc-slim-specifications.html">fit-PC Slim</a>
|
|
with 512 MB of memory it took a little over 4 minutes for a year and a half
|
|
(25 MB) of data. </p>
|
|
<h2 id="Configuring_your_Davis_console">Configuring your Davis Vantage console</h2>
|
|
<p>Weewx comes with a configuration utlity, <span class="code">config_vp.py</span>,
|
|
that can set many of the on-board EEPROM constants in the Davis Vantage stations,
|
|
such as its archive interval, altitude, rain bucket type, <em>etc.</em> </p>
|
|
<p>Run it with the configuration file as an argument and <span class="code">
|
|
--help</span> as an option to see its usage: </p>
|
|
<pre class="tty"><em>$WEEWX_ROOT</em>/bin/config_vp.py <em>$WEEWX_ROOT</em>/weewx.conf --help </pre>
|
|
<p>This will print out something like:</p>
|
|
<pre class="tty">Usage: config_vp.py: config_path [--help] [--info] [--clear] [--set-interval=SECONDS] [--set-altitude=FEET]
|
|
[--set-barometer=inHg] [--set-bucket=CODE] [--set-rain-year-start=MM] [--set-time]
|
|
[--start | -- stop]
|
|
|
|
Configures the VantagePro weather station.
|
|
|
|
Options:
|
|
-h, --help show this help message and exit
|
|
--info To print configuration, reception, and barometer
|
|
calibration information about your weather station.
|
|
--clear To clear the memory of your weather station.
|
|
--set-interval=SECONDS
|
|
Sets the archive interval to the specified number of
|
|
seconds. Valid values are 60, 300, 600, 900, 1800,
|
|
3600, or 7200.
|
|
--set-altitude=FEET Sets the altitude of the station to the specified
|
|
number of feet.
|
|
--set-barometer=inHg Sets the barometer reading of the station to a known
|
|
correct value in inches of mercury. Specify 0 (zero)
|
|
to have the console pick a sensible value.
|
|
--set-bucket=CODE Set the type of rain bucket. Specify '0' for 0.01
|
|
inches; '1' for 0.2 MM; '2' for 0.1 MM
|
|
--set-rain-year-start=MM
|
|
Set the rain year start (1=Jan, 2=Feb, etc.).
|
|
--set-time Set the onboard clock to the current time.
|
|
--start Start the logger.
|
|
--stop Stop the logger.
|
|
|
|
Mutating actions will request confirmation before proceeding.</pre>
|
|
<p>It is useful to run it with the <span class="code">--info</span> option to
|
|
see what the current EEPROM settings are on your station: </p>
|
|
<pre class="tty"><em>$WEEWX_ROOT</em>/bin/config_vp.py <em>$WEEWX_ROOT</em>/weewx.conf --info </pre>
|
|
<p>This will print out something like: </p>
|
|
<pre class="tty">VantagePro EEPROM settings:
|
|
|
|
CONSOLE TYPE: VantagePro2
|
|
|
|
CONSOLE FIRMWARE:
|
|
Date: Nov 28 2005
|
|
Version: <Unavailable>
|
|
|
|
CONSOLE SETTINGS:
|
|
<span class="highlight">Archive interval: 300 (seconds)</span>
|
|
<span class="highlight">Altitude: 700 (foot)</span>
|
|
Wind cup type: large
|
|
<span class="highlight">Rain bucket type: 0.01 inches</span>
|
|
<span class="highlight">Rain year start: 10</span>
|
|
<span class="highlight">Onboard time: 2012-09-30 16:48:27 PDT (1349048907)</span>
|
|
|
|
CONSOLE DISPLAY UNITS:
|
|
Barometer: mbar
|
|
Temperature: degree_F
|
|
Rain: inch
|
|
Wind: knot
|
|
|
|
CONSOLE STATION INFO:
|
|
Latitude (onboard): 45.7
|
|
Longitude (onboard): -121.6
|
|
Time zone code: 4
|
|
Use manual or auto DST? AUTO
|
|
DST setting: N/A
|
|
GMT offset: -8.0 hours
|
|
Use GMT offset or time zone? TIME_ZONE
|
|
|
|
RECEPTION STATS:
|
|
Total packets received: 22843
|
|
Total packets missed: 748
|
|
Number of resynchronizations: 0
|
|
Longest good stretch: 534
|
|
Number of CRC errors: 647
|
|
|
|
BAROMETER CALIBRATION DATA:
|
|
<span class="highlight">Current barometer reading: 30.209 inHg</span>
|
|
Altitude: 700 feet
|
|
Dew point: 48 F
|
|
Virtual temperature: 66 F
|
|
Humidity correction factor: 23
|
|
Correction ratio: 1.025
|
|
Correction constant: +0.027 inHg
|
|
Gain: -1.000
|
|
Offset: -1.000</pre>
|
|
<p>Note that console version number is only available on consoles with firmware
|
|
dates after about 2006.</p>
|
|
<p><span class="highlight">Highlighted</span> values can be changed.</p>
|
|
<p>For example, to change the archive interval to 10 minutes (600 seconds):</p>
|
|
<pre class="tty"><em>$WEEWX_ROOT</em>/bin/config_vp.py $WEEWX_ROOT/weewx.conf --set-interval=600</pre>
|
|
<p>Other parameters can be set in a similar manner.</p>
|
|
<h3 id="Archive_interval">Archive interval</h3>
|
|
<p>Valid archive intervals are 60, 300, 600, 900, 1800, 3600, and 7200. However,
|
|
if you are ftp'ing lots of files to a server, setting it to 60 seconds may
|
|
not give enough time to have them all uploaded before the next archive record
|
|
is due. If this is the case, you should pick an archive interval of at least
|
|
300 seconds, or trim the number of files you are using. </p>
|
|
<p>I have found that a five minute (300 seconds) archive interval works well
|
|
for the VantagePro2. Because of the large amount of onboard memory it carries,
|
|
going to a larger interval really does not have any advantages. </p>
|
|
<p><em>Choose your archiving interval carefully! </em>Once chosen, it cannot
|
|
be changed without messing up your statistics (highs and lows will be OK, but
|
|
averages and rms wind speed will be wrong). </p>
|
|
<h3>Rain bucket type</h3>
|
|
<p>Normally, this is set by Davis, but if you have replaced your bucket with
|
|
a different kind, you might want to reconfigure. For example, to change to a
|
|
0.1MM bucket (bucket code "2"), use the following:</p>
|
|
<p class="tty"><em>$WEEWX_ROOT</em>/bin/config_vp.py $WEEWX_ROOT/weewx.conf
|
|
--set-bucket=2</p>
|
|
<h2>Configuring MySql</h2>
|
|
<p>This section can be ignored if you are not using MySQL.</p>
|
|
<p>Assuming that you use the default database configurations, your
|
|
<span class="code"><a href="#[Databases]">[Databases]</a></span> section will
|
|
look something like this:</p>
|
|
<pre class="tty"> [[archive_mysql]]
|
|
host = localhost
|
|
user = weewx
|
|
password = weewx
|
|
database = weewx
|
|
driver = weedb.mysql
|
|
|
|
[[stats_mysql]]
|
|
host = localhost
|
|
user = weewx
|
|
password = weewx
|
|
database = stats
|
|
driver = weedb.mysql</pre>
|
|
<p>You will need to give the necessary permissions for databases '<span class="code">weewx</span>'
|
|
and '<span class="code">stats</span>' to whatever MySQL user you choose, by
|
|
default, user '<span class="code">weewx</span>'. Here are the necessary minimum
|
|
permissions:</p>
|
|
<pre class="tty">mysql> CREATE USER 'weewx'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'weewx';
|
|
mysql> GRANT select, update, create, delete, insert ON weewx.* TO weewx@localhost;
|
|
mysql> GRANT select, update, create, delete, insert ON stats.* TO weewx@localhost;</pre>
|
|
<p>This assumes user '<span class="code">weewx</span>' would have password '<span class="code">weewx</span>'.
|
|
If you wish, databases '<span class="code">weewx</span>' and '<span class="code">stats</span>'
|
|
can be combined into one database, although this will make it harder to drop
|
|
the latter should you need to rebuild the stats database at a later time.</p>
|
|
<h2>Editing the configuration file <span class="code">weewx.conf</span></h2>
|
|
<p>Station specific information is set in the configuration file <em>
|
|
<span class="code">$WEEWX_ROOT/weewx.conf</span></em>. (There is another configuration
|
|
file <span class="code">skin.conf</span> for presentation-specific options,
|
|
which is described in a separate document <em><a href="customizing.htm">Customizing
|
|
<span class="code">weewx</span></a> </em>under section <em>
|
|
<a href="customizing.htm#The_Standard_skin_configuration_file">Reference: The
|
|
standard skin configuration file</a></em>.) </p>
|
|
<p>Most of the important options are up near the top of the file. They are all
|
|
documented in this section, although you can safely ignore most of them. The
|
|
truly important ones, the ones you are likely to have to customize for your
|
|
station, are shown in <span class="bold_n_blue"><strong>bold face and in blue</strong></span>.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>Default values are provided for many of them, meaning that if they are not
|
|
listed in the configuration file <em>at all</em>, <span class="code">weewx</span>
|
|
will pick sensible values. When the documentation below gives a "default
|
|
value" this is what it means. However, all options have been given values
|
|
in the configuration file that ships with <span class="code">weewx</span>, so
|
|
you can see what they look like. The value given in this shipped configuration
|
|
file is not necessarily the same as the "default value". </p>
|
|
<p>What follows is organized by the different sections of the configuration
|
|
file. </p>
|
|
<h3>General</h3>
|
|
<p>The options declared at the top are not actually part of any section.</p>
|
|
<p class="config_option">debug </p>
|
|
<p>Set to 1 to have the program perform extra debug checks, as well as emit
|
|
extra information in the log file. Otherwise, set to 0. Default is 0 (no debug).
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p class="config_important">WEEWX_ROOT </p>
|
|
<p>Set to the root directory of the <span class="code">weewx</span> file hierarchy
|
|
for this station, nominally '<span class="code">/home/weewx</span>'.
|
|
The <span class="code">weewx</span> data subdirectories <span class="code">skins</span>,
|
|
<span class="code">archive</span>, and <span class="code">public_html</span>
|
|
are expected to be found here. This value will be set automatically by the setup
|
|
script <span class="code">setup.py</span> to reflect the choice you made in
|
|
the configuration file <span class="code">setup.cfg</span>. Required. No default.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p class="config_option">socket_timeout </p>
|
|
<p>Set to how long to wait before declaring a socket time out. This is used
|
|
when FTP'ing data to a web server or sending data to the Weather Underground.
|
|
Twenty (20) seconds is reasonable. Default is 20. </p>
|
|
<h3 class="config_section">[Station]</h3>
|
|
<p>This section covers options relating to your weather station setup. </p>
|
|
<p class="config_important">location </p>
|
|
<p>The station location should be a UTF-8 string that describes the geography
|
|
of where your weather station is located, such as '<span class="code">Hood
|
|
River, Oregon</span>'. Required. No default. </p>
|
|
<p class="config_important">latitude <br />
|
|
longitude </p>
|
|
<p>The lat/lon should be set in decimal degrees, negative for southern and western
|
|
hemispheres, respectively. Required. No default. </p>
|
|
<p class="config_option"><span class="config_important">altitude</span></p>
|
|
<p>Normally the station altitude is downloaded from your hardware, but not all
|
|
stations support this. Set to the altitude of the station and the unit used
|
|
for the altitude. Example: </p>
|
|
<pre class="tty">altitude = 700, foot</pre>
|
|
<p class="config_option"><span class="config_important">rain_year_start
|
|
</span></p>
|
|
<p>Normally the start of the rain year is downloaded from your hardware, but
|
|
not all stations support this. Set to the start of your rain year, for example,
|
|
10, if your rain year starts in October (as mine does). Default is 1. </p>
|
|
<p class="config_option">week_start </p>
|
|
<p>Start of the week. 0=Monday, 1= Tuesday, ... , 6 = Sunday. Default is 6 (Sunday)
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p class="config_important">station_type </p>
|
|
<p>Set to the type of hardware you are using. It must match the name of one
|
|
of the sections below. For this version, valid options are:</p>
|
|
<p class="indent"><span class="code">Vantage</span> For Davis Vantage (<em>VantagePro</em>,
|
|
<em>VantagePro2</em>, and <em>VantageVue</em>) weather stations.</p>
|
|
<p class="indent"><span class="code">WMR-USB</span> For Oregon Scientific WMR-USB
|
|
series station (only the WMR100N has been tested).</p>
|
|
<p class="indent"><span class="code">Simulator</span> For a software weather
|
|
station simulator</p>
|
|
<h3 class="config_section">[Vantage]</h3>
|
|
<p>This section is for options relating to the Davis Vantage series of hardware
|
|
(<em>VantagePro, VantagePro2</em> or <em>VantageVue</em>).</p>
|
|
<p class="config_important">type </p>
|
|
<p>Set to either '<span class="code">serial</span>', if you have a serial
|
|
or USB connection to your VantagePro (by far the most common), or to '<span class="code">ethernet</span>'
|
|
if you have the WeatherLinkIP. No default. </p>
|
|
<p class="config_important">port </p>
|
|
<p>If you chose '<span class="code">serial</span>' above, then set to
|
|
the serial port name used by your station. Example, /<span class="code">dev/ttyUSB0</span>
|
|
is a common location for USB ports under Debian, <span class="code">/dev/ttyS0</span>
|
|
for serial ports. Otherwise, not required. No default. </p>
|
|
<p class="config_important">host </p>
|
|
<p>If you chose '<span class="code">ethernet</span>' above, then give
|
|
the either the IP address (<em>e.g.</em>, <span class="code">192.168.0.1</span>)
|
|
or hostname (<em>e.g.</em>, <span class="code">console.mydomain.com</span>)
|
|
to your console. Otherwise, not required. No default. </p>
|
|
<p class="config_option">baudrate </p>
|
|
<p>Set to the baudrate of your station. The default is 19200. </p>
|
|
<p class="config_option">tcp_port </p>
|
|
<p>The port where your WeatherLinkIP will be listening. Default is 22222.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p class="config_option">tcp_send_delay </p>
|
|
<p>How long to block after sending a socket packet to your WeatherLinkIP. Default
|
|
is 1 second. </p>
|
|
<p class="config_option">iss_id </p>
|
|
<p>Set to the ID number of your Integrated Sensor Suite (ISS). This is used
|
|
in the formula to calculate reception quality for wireless stations. Default
|
|
is 1. </p>
|
|
<p class="config_option">timeout </p>
|
|
<p>How many seconds to wait for a response from the station before giving
|
|
up. Default is 5 seconds. </p>
|
|
<p class="config_option">wait_before_retry </p>
|
|
<p>How many seconds to wait before retrying again. Unless you have a good reason
|
|
to change it, this value should be left at the default, as it is long enough
|
|
for the station to offer new data, but not so long as to go into a new loop
|
|
packet (which arrive every 2 seconds). Default is 1.2 seconds. </p>
|
|
<p class="config_option">max_tries </p>
|
|
<p>How many times to try again before giving up. Default is 4. </p>
|
|
<h3 class="config_section">[WMR-USB]</h3>
|
|
<p>This section is for options relating to the Oregon Scientific WMR series
|
|
of weather stations with USB connectors. The WMR100N is known to work, others
|
|
might work as well.</p>
|
|
<p class="config_option">stale_wind</p>
|
|
<p>How long a wind record can be used to calculate wind chill (in seconds).
|
|
Default is 30.</p>
|
|
<h3 class="config_section">[Simulator]</h3>
|
|
<p>This section is for options relating to the software weather station simulator
|
|
that comes with <span class="code">weewx</span>.</p>
|
|
<p class="config_option">loop_interval</p>
|
|
<p>The time (in seconds) between emitting loop packets. Default is 2.5</p>
|
|
<p class="config_option">mode</p>
|
|
<p>One of either</p>
|
|
<table class="indent" style="width: 50%">
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<td class="code">simulator</td>
|
|
<td>Real-time simulator. It will sleep between emitting packets [Default]</td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<td class="code">generator</td>
|
|
<td>Emit packets as fast as it can. Useful for testing.</td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
</table>
|
|
<p class="config_option">start</p>
|
|
<p>The start time for the generator in the format <span class="code">YYYY-MM-DD
|
|
hh:mm</span>. Optional. Default is the present time.</p>
|
|
<p> </p>
|
|
<h3 class="config_section">[StdRESTful]</h3>
|
|
<p>This section is for configuring the <span class="code">StdRESTful</span>
|
|
service, which uploads to simple
|
|
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Representational_State_Transfer">RESTful</a>
|
|
servers such as the <a href="http://www.wunderground.com/">Weather Underground</a>,
|
|
<a href="http://www.pwsweather.com/">PWSweather.com</a>, or
|
|
<a href="http://www.wxqa.com/">CWOP</a>. </p>
|
|
<h4 class="config_section">[[Wunderground]]</h4>
|
|
<p><span class="code">Weewx </span>can send your current data to the
|
|
<a href="http://www.wunderground.com/">Weather Underground</a>. If you do not
|
|
wish to do this, comment out the two options below. </p>
|
|
<p class="config_important">station </p>
|
|
<p>Set to your Weather Underground station ID (e.g., <span class="code">KORHOODR3</span>).
|
|
Required. </p>
|
|
<p class="config_important">password </p>
|
|
<p>Set to your Weather Underground password. Required. </p>
|
|
<h4 class="config_section">[[PWSweather]]</h4>
|
|
<p><span class="code">Weewx </span>can send your current data to the
|
|
<a href="http://www.pwsweather.com/">PWSweather.com</a> service. If you do not
|
|
wish to do this, comment out the two options below. </p>
|
|
<p class="config_important">station </p>
|
|
<p>Set to your PWSweather station ID. Required. </p>
|
|
<p class="config_important">password </p>
|
|
<p>Set to your PWSweather password. Required. </p>
|
|
<h4 class="config_section">[[CWOP]]</h4>
|
|
<p><span class="code">Weewx</span> can send your data to the
|
|
<a href="http://www.wxqa.com/">Citizen Weather Observer Program</a>. If you
|
|
do not wish to do this, comment out option "<span class="code">station</span>"
|
|
below. </p>
|
|
<p class="config_important">station </p>
|
|
<p>Set to your CWOP station ID (e.g., <span class="code">CW1234</span>). Required.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p class="config_important">passcode </p>
|
|
<p>This is used for APRS (amateur radio) stations only. Set to the passcode
|
|
given to you by the CWOP operators. Otherwise, leave this option commented out
|
|
[Required for APRS stations; ignored for others] </p>
|
|
<p class="config_option">server </p>
|
|
<p>A comma separated list of servers:ports to try. Unless you have a good reason
|
|
to change this, use the servers listed. [Required.] </p>
|
|
<p class="config_option">interval </p>
|
|
<p>The interval in seconds between posts. Because CWOP is heavily used, the
|
|
operators discourage very frequent posts. Every 5 minutes (300 seconds) is fine,
|
|
but they prefer every 10 minutes (600 s) or even longer. Setting this value
|
|
to zero will cause every archive record to be posted. [Optional. Default is
|
|
zero.] </p>
|
|
<p class="config_option">stale </p>
|
|
<p>How old a record can be before it will not be used for a catch up. CWOP does
|
|
not use the timestamp on a posted record. Instead, they use the wall clock time
|
|
that it came in. This means that if your station is off the air for a long period
|
|
of time, then <span class="code">weewx</span> attempts a catch up, old data
|
|
could be interpreted as the current conditions. [Optional. Default is 1800 seconds.]
|
|
</p>
|
|
<h3 id="[Reports]" class="config_section">[StdReport]</h3>
|
|
<p>This section is for configuring the <span class="code">StdReport</span> service,
|
|
which controls which reports are to be generated. While it can be highly customized
|
|
for your individual situation, this documentation describes the section as shipped
|
|
in the standard distribution. </p>
|
|
<p>Each report is represented by a sub-section, marked with double brackets
|
|
(<em>e.g.</em>, <span class="code">[[MyReport]]</span>). Any options for the
|
|
report should be placed under it. The standard report service will go through
|
|
the sections, running each report in order. Hence, normally the report
|
|
<span class="code">[[StandardReport]]</span> will be run first, then report
|
|
<span class="code">[[FTP]]</span> (which actually optionally uploads the results
|
|
to a remote web server). Details for how to customize reports are in the section
|
|
<em><a href="customizing.htm#Opportunities_for_customizing_reports">Opportunities
|
|
for customizing reports</a></em>, in the document <em>
|
|
<a href="customizing.htm">Customizing <span class="code">weewx</span></a></em>.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p class="config_option">SKIN_ROOT </p>
|
|
<p>The directory relative to <span class="code"><em>$WEEWX_ROOT</em></span>
|
|
where the skins live. Default is <span class="code">skins</span>. </p>
|
|
<p class="config_option">HTML_ROOT </p>
|
|
<p>The target directory for the generated files, relative to
|
|
<span class="code"><em>$WEEWX_ROOT</em></span>. Generated files and images will
|
|
be put here. Default is <span class="code">public_html</span>. </p>
|
|
<h4 class="config_section">[[StandardReport]]</h4>
|
|
<p>This is the standard report that will be run on every archiving interval.
|
|
It uses the skin "<span class="code">Standard</span>", which generates
|
|
four HTML pages ("day", "week", "month", and "year"
|
|
observations), plot graphs for same, an RSS feed, and NOAA monthly and yearly
|
|
reports. Unless changed otherwise, it uses US Customary Units and puts the results
|
|
in <span class="code">public_html</span> and subdirectory <span class="code">
|
|
public_html/NOAA</span>. </p>
|
|
<h4 class="config_section">[[FTP]]</h4>
|
|
<p>While this "report" doesn't actually generate anything, it
|
|
uses the report machinery to upload files from directory <span class="code">
|
|
<em>$HTML_ROOT</em></span> to a remote webserver. It does an incremental update,
|
|
that is, it only FTPs any files that have changed, saving the outgoing bandwidth
|
|
of your Internet connection. </p>
|
|
<p>If you do not use such a server, comment out the first four options below.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p class="config_important">user </p>
|
|
<p>Set to the username you use for your FTP connection to your web server. Required.
|
|
No default. </p>
|
|
<p class="config_important">password </p>
|
|
<p>Set to the password you use for your FTP connection to your web server. Required.
|
|
No default. </p>
|
|
<p class="config_important">server </p>
|
|
<p>Set to the name of your web server (e.g.,
|
|
<a href="http://www.threefools.org">www.threefools.org</a>, in my case). Required.
|
|
No default </p>
|
|
<p class="config_important">path </p>
|
|
<p>Set to the path where the weather data will be stored on your webserver (e.g., '<span class="code">/weather</span>').
|
|
NB: some FTP servers require a leading slash ('<span class="code">/</span>'),
|
|
some don't. Required. No default. </p>
|
|
<p class="config_important">passive </p>
|
|
<p>Set to 1 if you wish to use the more modern, FTP passive mode, 0 if you wish
|
|
to use active mode. Passive mode generally works better through firewalls, but
|
|
not all FTP servers do a good job of supporting it. See
|
|
<a href="http://slacksite.com/other/ftp.html">Active FTP vs. Passive FTP, a
|
|
Definitive Explanation</a> for a good explanation of the difference. Default
|
|
is 1 (passive mode). </p>
|
|
<p class="config_option">max_tries </p>
|
|
<p><span class="code">Weewx</span> will try up to this many times to FTP a file
|
|
up to your server before giving up. Default is 3. </p>
|
|
<h3 id="[StdConvert]" class="config_section">[StdConvert]</h3>
|
|
<p>This section is for configuring the <span class="code">StdConvert</span>
|
|
service. This service acts as a filter, converting the unit system coming off
|
|
your hardware to a target output unit system. Everything that follows, including
|
|
the archiving service, will use the target system. Hence, your data will be
|
|
stored in the database in the target system. </p>
|
|
<p><em>Once chosen, it cannot be changed!</em> Weewx does not allow you to mix
|
|
unit systems within the databases. You must chose one or the other and then
|
|
stick with it. This means that users coming from wview (which uses US Customary)
|
|
should not change the default setting. Having said this, there is a way of reconfiguring
|
|
the database to use another unit system. See the section
|
|
<a href="customizing.htm#Changing_the_unit_system">Changing the Unit System
|
|
in the Customizing Guide</a>.</p>
|
|
<p>Note that whatever you choose here, it does not affect your options for the
|
|
unit system to be used for <i>reporting</i>.</p>
|
|
<p class="config_option">target_unit</p>
|
|
<p>Set to either '<span class="code">US</span>' or '<span class="code">METRIC</span>'.
|
|
Default is '<span class="code">US</span>'.</p>
|
|
<h3 id="Calibrate" class="config_section">[StdCalibrate]</h3>
|
|
<p>This section is for configuring the <span class="code">StdCalibrate</span>
|
|
service. This service offers an opportunity to correct for any calibration errors
|
|
in your instruments. It is very general and flexible. </p>
|
|
<p>Because this service is normally run after <span class="code">StdConvert</span>,
|
|
the units to be used should be the same as the target unit system chosen in
|
|
<a href="#[StdConvert]"><span class="code">StdConvert</span></a> above. It is
|
|
also important that this service be run before the archiving service
|
|
<span class="code">StdArchive</span>, so that it is the corrected data that
|
|
is stored. </p>
|
|
<p>If you do not wish to apply any calibrations, you can leave it out of
|
|
<span class="code"><a href="#service_list">service_list</a></span>, the list
|
|
of services to be run, and it will not be loaded or run at all. </p>
|
|
<h4 class="config_section">[[Corrections]]</h4>
|
|
<p>In this section you list all <em>correction expressions</em>. For example,
|
|
say that you know your outside thermometer reads high by 0.2°F. You could add
|
|
the expression: </p>
|
|
<pre>outTemp = outTemp - 0.2</pre>
|
|
<p>Perhaps you need a linear correction around a reference temperature of 68°F:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<pre>outTemp = outTemp + (outTemp-68) * 0.02</pre>
|
|
<p>It is even possible to do corrections involving more than one variable. Suppose
|
|
you have a temperature sensitive barometer: </p>
|
|
<pre>barometer = barometer + (outTemp-32) * 0.0091</pre>
|
|
<p>All correction expressions are run in the order given. </p>
|
|
<p>Both LOOP data and archive data will be corrected. </p>
|
|
<p>If you are using a Davis Vantage instrument and all you require is a simple
|
|
correction offset, this can also be done in the hardware. See your manual for
|
|
instructions. </p>
|
|
<h3 id="QC" class="config_section">[StdQC]</h3>
|
|
<p>This section is for configuring the <span class="code">StdQC</span> service.
|
|
This service offers a very simple <em>Quality Control</em> that only checks
|
|
that values are within a minimum and maximum range.</p>
|
|
<p>Because this service is normally run after <span class="code">StdConvert</span>,
|
|
the units to be used should be the same as the target unit system chosen in
|
|
<a href="#[StdConvert]"><span class="code">StdConvert</span></a>. It is also
|
|
important that it be run after the calibration service, <span class="code">StdCalibrate
|
|
</span>and before the archiving service <span class="code">StdArchive</span>,
|
|
so that it is the calibrated and corrected data that is stored. </p>
|
|
<p>If you do not wish to use this service, you can leave it out of
|
|
<span class="code"><a href="#service_list">service_list</a></span>, the list
|
|
of services to be run, and it will not be loaded or run. </p>
|
|
<h4 class="config_section">[[MinMax]]</h4>
|
|
<p>In this section you list the observation types you wish to have checked,
|
|
along with their minimum and maximum values. The units should be in <em>the
|
|
same unit system as specified in section <span class="code">
|
|
<a href="#[StdConvert]">StdConvert</a></span> above</em>. </p>
|
|
<p>Example, </p>
|
|
<p class="tty">[[MinMax]] <br />
|
|
outTemp = -40, 120 <br />
|
|
barometer = 28, 32.5 <br />
|
|
outHumidity = 0, 100 </p>
|
|
<p>In this example, if a temperature should fall outside of the inclusive range
|
|
-40 °F through 120 °F, then it will be set to the null value,
|
|
<span class="code">None</span>, and ignored. In a similar manner, the acceptable
|
|
values for barometric pressure would be 28 through 32.5 inHg, for humidity 0
|
|
through 100%. </p>
|
|
<p>Both LOOP and archive data will be checked. </p>
|
|
<p>Knowing the details of how your hardware encodes data helps to minimize the
|
|
number of observations that need to be checked. For example, the VP2 devotes
|
|
only one unsigned byte to storing wind speed, and even then
|
|
<span class="code">0xff</span> is devoted to a bad value, so the only possible
|
|
values that could appear are 0 through 126 mph, a reasonable range. So, for
|
|
the VP2, there is no real point in checking wind speed. </p>
|
|
<h3 id="[StdArchive]" class="config_section">[StdArchive]</h3>
|
|
<p>This section is for configuring <span class="code">StdArchive</span>, the
|
|
service that stores data in the databases. Options allow chosing which database
|
|
to use for archiving and statistics.</p>
|
|
<p class="config_option">archive_database</p>
|
|
<p>The database to be used to store the archive data. This should match a section
|
|
given in the section <span class="code"><a href="#[Databases]">[Databases]</a></span>
|
|
below. Normally, this is set to <span class="code">archive_sqlite</span>.</p>
|
|
<p class="config_option">stats_database</p>
|
|
<p>The database to be used to store the statistical data. This should match
|
|
a section given in the section <span class="code"><a href="#[Databases]">[Databases]</a></span>
|
|
below. Normally, this is set to <span class="code">stats_sqlite</span>.</p>
|
|
<p class="config_option">archive_delay </p>
|
|
<p>How long to wait in seconds after the top of an archiving interval before
|
|
fetching new data off the station. For example, if your archive interval is
|
|
5 minutes and archive_delay is set to 15, then the data will be fetched at 00:00:15,
|
|
00:05:15, 00:10:15, etc. This delay is to give the station a few seconds to
|
|
archive the data internally, and in case your server has any other tasks to
|
|
do at the top of the minute. Default is 15 seconds. </p>
|
|
<p id="record_generation" class="config_option">record_generation</p>
|
|
<p>Set to whether records should be downloaded off the hardware (recommended),
|
|
or generated in software. If set to '<span class="code">hardware</span>', then
|
|
<span class="code">weewx</span> tries to download archive records from your
|
|
station. However, not all types of stations support this, in which case
|
|
<span class="code">weewx</span> falls back to software generation. A setting
|
|
of '<span class="code">hardware</span>' will work for most users. A notable
|
|
exception is <a href="http://www.wxforum.net/index.php?topic=10315.0">users
|
|
who have cobbled together homebrew serial interfaces</a> to the Vantage stations
|
|
that do not include memory for a logger. These users should set this option
|
|
to '<span class="code">software</span>', forcing software record generation.
|
|
Default is '<span class="code">hardware</span>'.</p>
|
|
<p id="stats_types" class="config_option">stats_types </p>
|
|
<p>The list of types for which statistics will be kept. Types not listed will
|
|
not be available for generating HTML pages. Optional. The default is all types,
|
|
resulting in a possibly much bigger than necessary stats database (do you really
|
|
have four different soil moisture sensors?) The list that ships with the configuration
|
|
file will work for most stations and probably will not have to be modified.
|
|
This list is used only when the stats database is first created, thereafter
|
|
it is downloaded from the database.</p>
|
|
<h3 class="config_section">[StdTimeSynch]</h3>
|
|
<p>This section is for configuring <span class="code">StdTymeSynch</span>, a
|
|
service that can synchronize the onboard clock of station with your computer.
|
|
Not all weather station hardware supports this.</p>
|
|
<p class="config_option">clock_check</p>
|
|
<p>How often to check the clock on the weather station in seconds. Default is
|
|
14,400 seconds (every 4 hours)</p>
|
|
<p class="config_option">max_drift</p>
|
|
<p>The maximum amount of clock drift to tolerate, in seconds, before resetting
|
|
the clock. Default is 5.</p>
|
|
<h3 id="[Databases]" class="config_section">[Databases]</h3>
|
|
<p>This section lists actual database bindings. The name of each database is
|
|
given in double brackets below (for example, <span class="code">[[archive_sqlite]]</span>).
|
|
The details of the binding follow. You are free to add new bindings.</p>
|
|
<p>Note that if you choose the <a href="http://www.mysql.com/">MySQL</a> database
|
|
it is assumed that you know how to administer it. In particular, you will have
|
|
to set up a user with appropriate privileges to create and update the named
|
|
databases.</p>
|
|
<h4 class="config_section">[[archive_sqlite]]</h4>
|
|
<p>This definition uses the <a href="http://sqlite.org/">sqlite</a> database
|
|
engine to store archive data. It is open-source, simple, lightweight, highly
|
|
portable, and memory efficient. For most purposes it serves nicely.</p>
|
|
<p class="config_option">database</p>
|
|
<p>The path, relative to <span class="code">WEEWX_ROOT</span>, to the archive
|
|
sqlite file. Required.</p>
|
|
<h4 class="config_section">[[stats_sqlite]]</h4>
|
|
<p>This definition uses the <a href="http://sqlite.org/">sqlite</a> database
|
|
engine to store the statistical data. It is open-source, simple, lightweight,
|
|
highly portable, and memory efficient. For most purposes it serves nicely.</p>
|
|
<p class="config_option">database</p>
|
|
<p>The path, relative to <span class="code">WEEWX_ROOT</span>, to the stats
|
|
sqlite file. Required.</p>
|
|
<h4 class="config_section">[[archive_mysql]]</h4>
|
|
<p>This definition uses the MySQL database engine to store archive data. It
|
|
is free, highly-scalable, but more complicated to administer. </p>
|
|
<p class="config_option">host</p>
|
|
<p>The host the archive database is located on. Default is '<span class="code">localhost</span>'.</p>
|
|
<p class="config_option">user</p>
|
|
<p>The user name to be used to log into the server. Required.</p>
|
|
<p class="config_option">password</p>
|
|
<p>The password. Required.</p>
|
|
<p class="config_option">database</p>
|
|
<p>The name of the archive database inside the server. Required.</p>
|
|
<h4 class="config_section">[[stats_mysql]]</h4>
|
|
<p>This uses the MySQL database engine to store archive data. It is free, highly-scalable,
|
|
but more complicated to administer. </p>
|
|
<p>The host the stats database is located on. Default is '<span class="code">localhost</span>'.</p>
|
|
<p class="config_option">user</p>
|
|
<p>The user name to be used to log into the server. Required.</p>
|
|
<p class="config_option">password</p>
|
|
<p>The password. Required.</p>
|
|
<p class="config_option">database</p>
|
|
<p>The name of the statistical database inside the server. Required.</p>
|
|
<h3 class="config_section">[Engines]</h3>
|
|
<p>This section is used to configure the internal service engine in
|
|
<span class="code">weewx</span>. It is for advanced customization. Details on
|
|
how to do this can be found in the section <em>
|
|
<a href="customizing.htm#Customizing_the_weewx_service_engine">Customizing the
|
|
weewx service engine</a></em> of the document <a href="customizing.htm"><em>
|
|
Customizing </em><span class="code"><em>weewx</em></span></a>. </p>
|
|
<h4 class="config_section">[[WxEngine]]</h4>
|
|
<p>This section is for options used by the service engine. </p>
|
|
<p id="service_list" class="config_option">service_list </p>
|
|
<p>This option is the list of <em>services</em> that are to be run by the service
|
|
engine. After each event (such as the arrival of LOOP data, etc.), they will
|
|
be run in the given order. The standard list of services run by weewx is:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p class="tty">service_list = weewx.wxengine.StdConvert, weewx.wxengine.StdCalibrate,
|
|
weewx.wxengine,StdQC, weewx.wxengine.StdArchive, weewx.wxengine.StdTimeSynch,
|
|
weewx.wxengine.StdPrint, weewx.wxengine.StdRESTful, weewx.wxengine.StdReport</p>
|
|
<p>Note that this must all be on one line! </p>
|
|
<p>You can leave some of these services out if you do not need them. For example,
|
|
the bare minimum if you are using a Davis Vantage instrument, storing your data
|
|
in US Customary units, doing no data corrections or quality control and running
|
|
as a daemon (no printing to console) would be:</p>
|
|
<p class="tty">service_list = weewx.wxengine.StdArchive, weewx.wxengine.StdTimeSynch,
|
|
weewx.wxengine.StdRESTful, weewx.wxengine.StdReport</p>
|
|
<p>However, this will only make a slight difference in execution speed. </p>
|
|
<h1 id="Running_weewx">Running <span class="code">weewx</span></h1>
|
|
<p><span class="code">Weewx</span> can be run either from the command line (useful
|
|
for diagnostic purposes because it will print out a summary of every LOOP data),
|
|
or as a daemon. When first trying <span class="code">weewx</span>, it's
|
|
probably best to run it from the command line because you will be able to see
|
|
command line diagnostics, as well as log messages. </p>
|
|
<h2>Running from the command line</h2>
|
|
<p><span class="code">Weewx</span> can easily be run from the command line.
|
|
Start by making sure you have appropriate permissions to the serial port your
|
|
weather station uses. For example, if you are using a plain old serial port:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p class="tty">sudo chmod 666 /dev/ttyS0 </p>
|
|
<p>Then run the main loop program, <span class="code">weewxd.py</span>, giving
|
|
the configuration file as its only parameter: </p>
|
|
<p class="tty"><em>$WEEWX_ROOT</em>/bin/weewxd.py <em>$WEEWX_ROOT</em>/weewx.conf
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>It should start by downloading any data stored in your weather station into
|
|
the archive database. As the Davis VantagePro can store a couple thousand archive
|
|
records internally, this could take a minute or two. I've found this process
|
|
particularly slow on SuSE for some reason. </p>
|
|
<p><span class="code">Weewx</span> will then start monitoring LOOP data, printing
|
|
a short version of the received data on standard output, about once every two
|
|
seconds. </p>
|
|
<p>You can tell a running instance of <span class="code">weewx</span> to reread
|
|
its configuration file by sending it the <span class="code">HUP</span> signal.
|
|
First run <span class="code">ps</span> to find out the Process ID (PID) number
|
|
of the instance, then send it the <span class="code">HUP</span> signal: </p>
|
|
<p class="tty">ps -a # Note
|
|
the PID of the weewxd.py process </p>
|
|
<p class="tty">kill -HUP <em>pid</em> # Send it a HUP signal </p>
|
|
<h2 id="Running_as_a_daemon">Running as a daemon</h2>
|
|
<p>For unattended operations it is best to have <span class="code">weewx</span>
|
|
run as a daemon, started automatically when the server is rebooted. Start by
|
|
selecting the appropriate run script. They can be found under
|
|
<span class="code"><em>$WEEWX_ROOT</em>/start_script</span>. </p>
|
|
<table class="center" style="width: 70%">
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<td style="width: 25%">SuSE:</td>
|
|
<td class="code"><em>$WEEWX_ROOT</em>/start_script/SuSE/weewx</td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<td style="width: 25%">Debian/Ubuntu:</td>
|
|
<td class="code"><em>$WEEWX_ROOT</em>/start_script/Debian/weewx</td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
</table>
|
|
<p>Check the chosen script to make sure the variable <span class="code">WEEWX_ROOT</span>
|
|
inside has been set to the proper root directory for your <span class="code">
|
|
weewx</span> installation (it should have been set to the correct value automatically
|
|
by the install process, but it's worth checking). </p>
|
|
<p>Copy it to the proper location for your system: </p>
|
|
<table class="center" style="width: 70%">
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<td style="width: 25%">SuSE:</td>
|
|
<td class="code">cp <em>$WEEWX_ROOT</em>/start_script/SuSE/weewx /etc/init.d</td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<td>Debian/Ubuntu:</td>
|
|
<td class="code">cp <em>$WEEWX_ROOT</em>/start_script/Debian/weewx /etc/init.d</td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
</table>
|
|
<p>Make sure the script is executable: </p>
|
|
<table class="center" style="width: 70%">
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<td style="width: 25%">SuSE:</td>
|
|
<td class="code">chmod +x /etc/init.d/weewx</td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<td style="width: 25%">Debian/Ubuntu:</td>
|
|
<td class="code">chmod +x /etc/init.d/weewx</td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
</table>
|
|
<p>Create symbolic links in the run level directories: </p>
|
|
<table class="center" style="width: 70%">
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<td style="width: 25%">SuSE:</td>
|
|
<td class="code">/usr/lib/lsb/install_initd /etc/init.d/weewx</td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<td style="width: 25%">Debian/Ubuntu:</td>
|
|
<td class="code">update-rc.d weewx defaults 98</td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
</table>
|
|
<p><span class="code">Weewx</span> will now start automatically whenever your
|
|
system is booted. You can also manually start, stop, and restart the
|
|
<span class="code">weewx</span> daemon: </p>
|
|
<p class="tty">/etc/init.d/weewx start </p>
|
|
<p class="tty">/etc/init.d/weewx stop </p>
|
|
<p class="tty">/etc/init.d/weewx restart </p>
|
|
<p>By default, the scripts are designed to have <span class="code">weewx</span>
|
|
run at run levels 2, 3, 4 and 5. Incidentally, a nice tool for setting run levels
|
|
with Debian (Ubuntu) systems is
|
|
<a href="http://sysv-rc-conf.sourceforge.net/">sysv-rc-conf</a>. It uses a curses
|
|
interface to allow you to change easily which run level any of your daemons
|
|
runs at. There is a similar tool on SuSE. From the start menu run the YAST Control
|
|
Center, then look for Systems Services (Runlevel). Pick "Expert" mode
|
|
to see the run levels. </p>
|
|
<p>You can also tell <span class="code">weewx</span> to reread its configuration
|
|
file without stopping by using the 'reload' option: </p>
|
|
<p class="tty">/etc/init.d/weewx reload </p>
|
|
<h1 id="Compatibility_with_wview">Compatibility with <span class="code">wview</span></h1>
|
|
<p>The sqlite3 archive database used by <span class="code">weewx</span> (nominally,
|
|
<span class="code">weewx.sdb</span>) is completely compatible with the database
|
|
used by <a href="http://www.wviewweather.com">wview</a> (usually called
|
|
<span class="code">wview-archive.sdb</span>), at least as of wview Version 5.2.X.
|
|
The schema and its semantics is identical. However, the statistical file
|
|
<span class="code">stats.sdb</span> is different, and must be rebuilt. This
|
|
will be done automatically on startup by <span class="code">weewx</span>.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<h1 id="Monitoring_weewx">Monitoring <span class="code">weewx</span></h1>
|
|
<p><span class="code">Weewx</span> logs many events to the system log. On Debian
|
|
systems, this is <span class="code">/var/log/syslog</span>, on SuSE,
|
|
<span class="code">/var/log/messages</span>. Your system may use yet another
|
|
place. When troubleshooting the system, be sure to check it! </p>
|
|
<p>Setting the option <span class="code">debug </span>in <span class="code">
|
|
weewx.conf</span> to <span class="code">1</span> (one) will generate many more
|
|
checks and output and can be useful for debugging. </p>
|
|
<h1 id="Troubleshooting">Troubleshooting</h1>
|
|
<p>This section lists some common problems installing and running
|
|
<span class="code">weewx</span>. Check it first. If you are still stuck, be
|
|
sure to </p>
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>Set option <span class="code">debug </span>in <span class="code">weewx.conf</span>
|
|
to <span class="code">1</span> (one)! It will put lots more information
|
|
in the log file, which can be very useful for troubleshooting and debugging!
|
|
</li>
|
|
<li><a href="#Monitoring_weewx">Look at the log file</a>. I am always happy
|
|
to take questions, but the first thing I will ask you is: "Did you
|
|
look at the log file?" </li>
|
|
<li>Run from the command line. Generally, <span class="code">weewx</span>
|
|
will catch and log any unrecoverable exceptions. But if you are getting
|
|
strange results, it is worth running from the command line and looking for
|
|
any clues. </li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
<h2>Hardware</h2>
|
|
<h3>Establishing connectivity</h3>
|
|
<p>If you unable to get anything out of <span class="code">weewx</span>, first
|
|
check that you have connectivity to your weather station. For the Davis stations,
|
|
you can use a terminal emulator (I like <span class="code">minicom</span> because
|
|
it can be run from through a simple TTY connection) to run a simple test. Set
|
|
it up to communicate using the appropriate port and baudrate. For example</p>
|
|
<p class="tty">minicom -b 19200 -D /dev/ttyUSB0</p>
|
|
<p>Then type in <span class="code">TEST</span>, all in capital letters. It will
|
|
not echo the characters. Then hit the <span class="code"><enter></span>
|
|
key. It should echo back <span class="code">TEST</span>.</p>
|
|
<p>If this works, then you have established connectivity with the Davis and
|
|
the problem must lie elsewhere.</p>
|
|
<h3>Tips on a reliable system</h3>
|
|
<p>If you are having problems keeping your weather station up for long periods
|
|
of time, here are some tips, in decreasing order of importance: </p>
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>Run on dedicated hardware. If you are using the server for other tasks,
|
|
particularly as your desktop machine, you will have reliability problems.
|
|
If you are using it as a print or network server, you will probably be OK.
|
|
</li>
|
|
<li>Run headless. Modern graphical systems are extremely complex. As new
|
|
features are added, test suites don't always catch up. Your system will
|
|
be much more reliable if you run it without a windowing system (X Windows,
|
|
in the case of Linux). </li>
|
|
<li>Use an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS). The vast majority of power
|
|
glitches are very short lived — just a second or two — so you do not need
|
|
a big one. The 425 VA unit I use to protect my fit-PC cost me $55 at Best
|
|
Buy. </li>
|
|
<li>Use a VantagePro console with a serial connection, not a USB connection.
|
|
See the next section for details. </li>
|
|
<li>If you do use a USB connection, put a ferrite coil on each end of
|
|
the cable to your console. If you have enough length and the ferrite
|
|
coil is big enough, make a loop so it goes through the coil twice.
|
|
Here's a picture of a Davis Envoy with a ferrite coil not only on the
|
|
USB connection (top wire), but also the power supply. Both have loops.</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
<p>
|
|
<img alt="Ferrite coils" height="480" longdesc="Cable connection looped through a ferrite coil" src="ferrites.jpg" width="640" /></p>
|
|
<h3>cp2101 converter problems</h3>
|
|
<p>The USB converter used in the Davis VantagePro is known to have some "noise"
|
|
problems. The symptom is that the Linux kernel will disconnect from your old
|
|
USB port claiming "EMI noise", and reconnect to a new and different
|
|
port, where <span class="code">weewx</span> can't find it. Here's a
|
|
typical log output: </p>
|
|
<pre>Nov 29 10:40:21 hummingbird kernel: [6661624.786792] hub 2-0:1.0: port 3 disabled by hub (EMI?), re-enabling...
|
|
Nov 29 10:40:21 hummingbird kernel: [6661624.786871] usb 2-3: USB disconnect, address 2
|
|
Nov 29 10:40:21 hummingbird kernel: [6661624.795778] cp2101 2-3:1.0: device disconnected
|
|
Nov 29 10:40:21 hummingbird weewx[25808]: VantagePro: Max retries exceeded while getting LOOP packets</pre>
|
|
<pre> </pre>
|
|
<pre>... (messages elided)</pre>
|
|
<pre> </pre>
|
|
<pre>Nov 29 10:40:22 hummingbird kernel: [6661625.352340] cp2101 2-3:1.0: cp2101 converter detected
|
|
Nov 29 10:40:22 hummingbird kernel: [6661625.528107] usb 2-3: reset full speed USB device using ohci_hcd and address 3
|
|
Nov 29 10:40:22 hummingbird kernel: [6661625.735497] usb 2-3: cp2101 converter now attached to ttyUSB1</pre>
|
|
<p>In this example, the VantagePro was connected to <span class="code">/dev/ttyUSB0</span>,
|
|
but then reconnected to <span class="code">/dev/ttyUSB1</span>. </p>
|
|
<p>If you put ferrite coils on the USB connection, you will eliminate 90% of
|
|
this problem. I did this about 18 months ago, and have not had a problem since.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>However, there is one final step you can take that will really harden up
|
|
your system: install a <span class="code">udev</span> script that will create
|
|
a symbolic link to the VantagePro USB port, whatever it might be. With this
|
|
approach, if the port jumps from <span class="code">ttyUSB0</span> to
|
|
<span class="code">ttyUSB1</span>, the symbolic link will follow it. You just
|
|
specify port <span class="code">/dev/vpro</span> in the configuration file
|
|
<span class="code">weewx.conf</span> and be done with it. </p>
|
|
<p>Here's how to do this: </p>
|
|
<h4>Installing a udev script</h4>
|
|
<p>I have installed a file <span class="code">/etc/udev/rules.d/vpro.rules</span>
|
|
on my fit-PC that looks like this: </p>
|
|
<pre># Automount the VantagePro2 to port /dev/vpro.
|
|
# Install in /etc/udev/rules.d/vpro.rules
|
|
#
|
|
ACTION=="add", ATTRS{interface}=="CP2102 USB to UART Bridge Controller", SYMLINK+="vpro"</pre>
|
|
<p>What this rule says is that when the USB port is plugged in (action
|
|
<span class="code">add</span>), and it has an attribute with name
|
|
<span class="code">interface</span> that is equal to "<span class="code">CP2102
|
|
USB to UART Bridge Controller</span>", then add a symbolic link for its
|
|
physical port to <span class="code">/dev/vpro</span>. </p>
|
|
<p>Here's a rule that works for my Serial-to-USB cable, made by Prolific
|
|
Technology, Inc.:</p>
|
|
<pre># Automount Serial-to-USB cable to port /dev/vpro
|
|
# Install in /etc/udev/rules.d/cable.rules
|
|
#
|
|
ACTION=="add", ATTRS{product}=="USB-Serial Controller", SYMLINK+="vpro"</pre>
|
|
<p>Your devices may, and probably will, have different identifiers!! I can recommend
|
|
this article, "<a href="http://www.reactivated.net/writing_udev_rules.html"><em>Writing
|
|
udev rules</em></a>," for how to find and write an appropriate
|
|
<span class="code">udev</span> rule for your controller. (Note, however, that
|
|
this article uses the old <span class="code">udevinfo</span> command, rather
|
|
than the newer <span class="code">udevadm</span> command.) In particular, run
|
|
the command </p>
|
|
<pre># udevadm info --attribute-walk --path $(udevadm info --query=path --name=/dev/ttyUSB0) </pre>
|
|
<p>where<span class="code"> /dev/ttyUSB0</span> is the port (substitute your
|
|
real USB port) the VP2 is attached to. It will print out various identifiers
|
|
that can be useful in identifying your VP2 to <span class="code">udev</span>.
|
|
While the first example script above used a rule that matched attribute
|
|
<span class="code">interface</span>, others are possible. For example, the second
|
|
example, for the serial-to-USB cable, chose to match the attribute
|
|
<span class="code">product</span>. </p>
|
|
<p>Once you've installed your <span class="code">udev</span> rule, you can
|
|
then set <span class="code">port=/dev/vpro</span> in <span class="code">weewx.conf</span>,
|
|
confident that it will always point to your VantagePro2, no matter which USB
|
|
port it is actually attached to! </p>
|
|
<p>I have tested this system many times. You can yank the USB port out of the
|
|
machine and then plug it back in while also pulling out the network connection
|
|
in the middle of an FTP upload: <span class="code">weewx</span> will recover.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>Or, at least, it should! </p>
|
|
<h3>FreeBSD</h3>
|
|
<p>User Fabian reports that the following had to be done to get the VantagePro2
|
|
working under FreeBSD:</p>
|
|
<pre class="tty">I needed the uslcom Driver for the usb/rs232 Adapter used by my vantage. Also I had to reset the memory of the weatherstation.
|
|
Loading the Driver:
|
|
Put uslcom_load="YES" in /boot/loader.conf (to load it as module).
|
|
Which gives here an output like:
|
|
uslcom0: <CP2102 USB to UART Bridge Controller> on usbus1
|
|
And put in weewx.conf:
|
|
port = /dev/cuaU0</pre>
|
|
<h3>Weewx generates HTML pages, but it does not update them</h3>
|
|
<p>If you are getting a symptom that everything appears normal, that is HTML
|
|
is getting generated and getting FTP'd to your webserver <em>(look in the
|
|
log to be sure</em>!), but your web pages are not being updated, it could be
|
|
because the data on board your console has gotten garbled. The way the Davis
|
|
Vantage series works is that the software (<span class="code">weewx</span> in
|
|
this case) asks the console for all archive data "since" some time.
|
|
The console then downloads the records one at a time. After it gets to the very
|
|
last one, the memory wraps around, and the timestamp will suddenly jump backwards
|
|
in time a couple weeks — the software knows it has downloaded the last
|
|
record.</p>
|
|
<p>However, if the internal memory gets garbled, the console will immediately
|
|
return archives in the past, and so it looks like the timestamps have decreased
|
|
in value and so <span class="code">weewx</span> figures that's it: there's
|
|
no more data.</p>
|
|
<p>I have received reports from a couple of users who have had this problem.
|
|
There seems to be two fixes:</p>
|
|
<ol>
|
|
<li>Unplug the console, take out the batteries, and wait a minute or two.
|
|
This will cause the console software to internally reboot. In one case this
|
|
has fixed the problem without data loss.</li>
|
|
<li>If all else fails, clear the memory of the console using the utility
|
|
<span class="code">config_vp.py</span>. This may cause loss of data, but
|
|
usually works. Adjust paths as necessary:</li>
|
|
</ol>
|
|
<p class="tty">cd /home/weewx<br />
|
|
./bin/config_vp.py weewx.conf --clear </p>
|
|
<h3>3rd party Vantage connectors</h3>
|
|
<p>This section is for those who are using a homebrew or 3rd party connector
|
|
to a Davis Vantage console that does not contain a logger, such as the
|
|
<a href="http://www.wxforum.net/index.php?topic=14063.0">DSI-01 serial interface</a>.
|
|
That is, it is a pure serial connection to the console, with no onboard memory.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>For these interfaces, you must set record generation to <em>software</em>.
|
|
Without this information, <span class="code">weewx</span> is unable to detect
|
|
the absence of onboard memory. If you do not do this, you will get errors that
|
|
look like the following in your syslog:</p>
|
|
<pre class="tty">Nov 27 20:30:21 raspberrypi weewx[5607]: reportengine: Caught unrecoverable exception in generator weewx.filegenerator.FileGenerator
|
|
Nov 27 20:30:21 raspberrypi weewx[5607]: **** 'NoneType' object has no attribute '__getitem__'
|
|
Nov 27 20:30:21 raspberrypi weewx[5607]: **** Traceback (most recent call last):
|
|
Nov 27 20:30:21 raspberrypi weewx[5607]: **** File "/home/weewx/bin/weewx/reportengine.py", line 132, in run
|
|
Nov 27 20:30:21 raspberrypi weewx[5607]: **** obj.start()
|
|
Nov 27 20:30:21 raspberrypi weewx[5607]: **** File "/home/weewx/bin/weewx/reportengine.py", line 259, in start
|
|
Nov 27 20:30:21 raspberrypi weewx[5607]: **** self.run()
|
|
Nov 27 20:30:21 raspberrypi weewx[5607]: **** File "/home/weewx/bin/weewx/filegenerator.py", line 41, in run
|
|
Nov 27 20:30:21 raspberrypi weewx[5607]: **** self.setup()
|
|
Nov 27 20:30:21 raspberrypi weewx[5607]: **** File "/home/weewx/bin/weewx/filegenerator.py", line 52, in setup
|
|
Nov 27 20:30:21 raspberrypi weewx[5607]: **** self.initAlmanac(self.gen_ts)
|
|
Nov 27 20:30:21 raspberrypi weewx[5607]: **** File "/home/weewx/bin/weewx/filegenerator.py", line 87, in initAlmanac
|
|
Nov 27 20:30:21 raspberrypi weewx[5607]: **** rec = self.getRecord(archivedb, celestial_ts)
|
|
Nov 27 20:30:21 raspberrypi weewx[5607]: **** File "/home/weewx/bin/weewx/filegenerator.py", line 115, in getRecord
|
|
Nov 27 20:30:21 raspberrypi weewx[5607]: **** record_dict_vt = weewx.units.dictFromStd(record_dict)
|
|
Nov 27 20:30:21 raspberrypi weewx[5607]: **** File "/home/weewx/bin/weewx/units.py", line 892, in dictFromStd
|
|
Nov 27 20:30:21 raspberrypi weewx[5607]: **** std_unit_system = d['usUnits']
|
|
Nov 27 20:30:21 raspberrypi weewx[5607]: **** TypeError: 'NoneType' object has no attribute '__getitem__'
|
|
Nov 27 20:30:21 raspberrypi weewx[5607]: **** Generator terminated...
|
|
Nov 27 20:30:23 raspberrypi weewx[5607]: genimages: Generated 11 images in 2.53 seconds
|
|
</pre>
|
|
<p>See the section on option <span class="code">
|
|
<a href="#record_generation">record_generation</a></span>.</p>
|
|
<h2>Software</h2>
|
|
<h3><span class="code">configobj</span> errors</h3>
|
|
<p>These are errors in the configuration file. Two are very common. Incidentally,
|
|
these errors are far easier to diagnose when <span class="code">weewx</span>
|
|
is run from the command line. </p>
|
|
<h4><span class="code">configobj.DuplicateError</span> exception</h4>
|
|
<p>This error is caused by using an identifier more than once in the configuration
|
|
file. For example, you may have inadvertently listed your FTP server twice:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<pre>[Reports]
|
|
[[FTP]]
|
|
... (details elided)
|
|
user = fred
|
|
server = ftp.myhost.com
|
|
password = mypassword
|
|
server = ftp.myhost.com # OOPS! Listed it twice!
|
|
path = /weather
|
|
... </pre>
|
|
<p>Generally, if you encounter this error, the log file will give you the line
|
|
number it happened in: </p>
|
|
<pre>Apr 24 12:09:15 raven weewx[11480]: wxengine: Error while parsing configuration file /home/weewx/weewx.conf
|
|
Apr 24 12:09:15 raven weewx[11480]: wxengine: Unable to initialize main loop:
|
|
Apr 24 12:09:15 raven weewx[11480]: **** Duplicate keyword name at line 254.
|
|
Apr 24 12:09:15 raven weewx[11480]: **** Exiting. </pre>
|
|
<h4><span class="code">configobj.NestingError</span> exception</h4>
|
|
<p>This is a very similar error, and is caused by a misformed section nesting.
|
|
For example: </p>
|
|
<pre>[Reports]
|
|
[[FTP]]]
|
|
... (details elided)</pre>
|
|
<p>Note the extra closing bracket on the subsection <span class="code">FTP</span>.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<h3>No barometer data</h3>
|
|
<p>If everything appears normal except that you have no barometer data, the
|
|
problem may be a mismatch between the unit system used for service
|
|
<span class="code">StdConvert</span> and the unit system used by service
|
|
<span class="code">StdQC</span>. For example:</p>
|
|
<p class="tty">[StdConvert]<br />
|
|
target_unit = METRIC<br />
|
|
<br />
|
|
...<br />
|
|
<br />
|
|
[StdQC]<br />
|
|
[[MinMax]]<br />
|
|
barometer = 28, 32.5</p>
|
|
<p>The problem is that you are requiring the barometer data to be between 28
|
|
and 32.5, but with the unit system set to <span class="code">METRIC</span>,
|
|
the data will be in the range 990 to 1050 or so!</p>
|
|
<h3><span class="code">Cheetah.NameMapper.NotFound</span> errors</h3>
|
|
<p>If you get errors of the sort: </p>
|
|
<pre>Apr 12 05:12:32 raven reportengine[3074]: filegenerator: Caught exception "<class 'NameMapper.NotFound'>"
|
|
Apr 12 05:12:32 raven reportengine[3074]: **** Message: "cannot find 'fubar' in template /home/weewx/skins/Standard/index.html.tmpl"
|
|
Apr 12 05:12:32 raven reportengine[3074]: **** Ignoring template and continuing.</pre>
|
|
<p>you have a tag in your template that <span class="code">weewx</span> does
|
|
not recognize (in this example, it's the tag <span class="code">$fubar</span>
|
|
in the template <span class="code">/home/weewx/skins/Standard/index.html.tmpl</span>.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<h1 id="Architectural_notes">Architectural notes</h1>
|
|
<p>This section is not needed to get started. </p>
|
|
<h2>Goals</h2>
|
|
<p>The primary design goals of <span class="code">weewx </span>are: </p>
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>Architectural simplicity. No semaphores, no named pipes, no inter-process
|
|
communications, no complex multi-threading to manage. </li>
|
|
<li>Extensibility. Make it easy for the user to add new features or to modify
|
|
existing features.</li>
|
|
<li>"Fast enough." In any design decision, architectural simplicity
|
|
and elegance trump speed. </li>
|
|
<li>One code base. The same code base should be used for all platforms,
|
|
all weather stations, all reports, and any combination of features. Ample
|
|
configuration and customization options should be provided so the user doesn't
|
|
feel tempted to start hacking code. At worse, the user may have to subclass,
|
|
which is much easier to port to newer versions of the code base, than customizing
|
|
the base code. </li>
|
|
<li>Minimal reliance on external packages, so the user doesn't have
|
|
to go chase them down all over the Web before getting started. </li>
|
|
<li>Support only the Davis VantagePro2 initially (that's what I have),
|
|
but make no architectural decisions that lock out other stations. </li>
|
|
<li>As "pythonic" as I know how to make it. I'm a beginner
|
|
Python programmer with two decades of experience in C++. I tried hard to
|
|
not make the code base look like it was written by a C++ programmer who
|
|
stumbled across a Python manual! </li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
<h2>Strategies</h2>
|
|
<p>To meet these goals, the following strategies were used: </p>
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>A "micro-kernel" design. The <span class="code">weewx</span>
|
|
engine actually does very little. Its primary job is to load and run <em>
|
|
services</em> at runtime, making it easy for users to add or subtract features.
|
|
</li>
|
|
<li>A largely stateless design style. For example, many of the processing
|
|
routines read the data they need directly from the database, rather than
|
|
caching it and sharing with other routines. While this means the same data
|
|
may be read multiple times, it also means the only point of possible cache
|
|
incoherence is through the database, where transactions are easily controlled.
|
|
This greatly reduces the chances of corrupting the data, making it much
|
|
easier to understand and modify the code base. </li>
|
|
<li>Isolate the data collection and archiving code in a single thread that
|
|
is simple enough that it is unlikely to crash. The report processing is
|
|
where most mistakes are likely to happen, so isolate that in a separate
|
|
thread. If it crashes, it will not affect the main data thread. </li>
|
|
<li>A powerful configuration parser,
|
|
<a href="http://www.voidspace.org.uk/python/configobj.html">ConfigObj</a>,
|
|
by Michael Foord and Nicola Larosa, was chosen to read the configuration
|
|
file. This allows many options that might otherwise have to go in the code
|
|
to go instead in a configuration file. </li>
|
|
<li>A powerful templating engine,
|
|
<a href="http://www.cheetahtemplate.org/">Cheetah</a>, was used. This allows
|
|
many variables that I may not have thought of to be accessed from within
|
|
the HTML templates, without starting to modify the code. </li>
|
|
<li>Pure Python. The code base is 100% Python — no underlying C libraries
|
|
need be built to install <span class="code">weewx</span>. This also means
|
|
no Makefiles are needed. </li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
<p>While <span class="code">weewx</span> is nowhere near as fast at generating
|
|
images and HTML as its predecessor, <span class="code">wview</span> (this is
|
|
partially because it uses fancier fonts and a much more powerful templating
|
|
engine), it is 'fast enough' for all platforms but the slowest. I run
|
|
it regularly on a 500 MHz machine where generating the 9 images used in the "Current
|
|
Conditions" page takes just under 2 seconds (compared with
|
|
<span class="code">wview</span>'s 0.4 seconds). </p>
|
|
<p>Unfortunately, the architectural goal of one code base is likely to be broken
|
|
with the arrival of Python V3.X. It has so many changes that are not backwards
|
|
compatible with V2.X, that a separate code base will most likely be needed.
|
|
My intention is to stick with the V2.X versions until V3.X is so widespread
|
|
it cannot be ignored, then make a permanent switch. Given the slow adoption
|
|
rate of V3.X this is unlikely to happen anytime soon. In any case, I doubt the
|
|
transition will affect the average <span class="code">weewx</span> user. </p>
|
|
<p>All writes to the databases are protected by transactions. You can kill the
|
|
program at any time (either Control-C if run from the command line or "<span class="code">/etc/init.d/weewx
|
|
stop</span>" if a daemon) without fear of corrupting the databases. </p>
|
|
<p>The code makes ample use of exceptions to insure graceful recovery from problems
|
|
such as network outages. It also monitors socket and console timeouts, restarting
|
|
whatever it was working on several times before giving up. In the case of an
|
|
unrecoverable console error (such as the console not responding at all), the
|
|
program waits 60 seconds then restarts the program from the top. </p>
|
|
<p>Any "hard" exceptions, that is those that do not involve network
|
|
and console timeouts and are most likely due to a logic error, are logged, reraised,
|
|
and ultimately cause thread termination. If this happens in the main thread
|
|
(not likely due to its simplicity), then this causes program termination. If
|
|
it happens in the report processing thread (much more likely), then only the
|
|
generation of reports will be affected — the main thread will continue downloading
|
|
data off the instrument and putting them in the database. You can fix the problem
|
|
at your leisure, without worrying about losing any data. </p>
|
|
<h2>Terminology</h2>
|
|
<p>This is a glossary of terminology used throughout the code. </p>
|
|
<table style="width: 100%">
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<td>packet</td>
|
|
<td>Something obtained off the weather station. Frequently uses a complex
|
|
internal encoding, so it requires some processing to be useful.</td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<td>record</td>
|
|
<td>Something obtained off the SQL database. </td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<td>archive packet</td>
|
|
<td>A packet obtained off the store on the weather station. For example,
|
|
with a Davis VantagePro, it's obtained using their
|
|
<span class="code">DMPAFT</span> command. </td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<td>loop packet</td>
|
|
<td>A packet with the current observations. For example, with a Davis
|
|
VantagePro, it's obtained using their <span class="code">LOOP</span>
|
|
command. </td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<td>archive record</td>
|
|
<td>A record obtained off the SQL database</td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<td>tuple-time</td>
|
|
<td>An instance of the Python object <span class="code">
|
|
<a href="http://docs.python.org/2/library/time.html#time.struct_time">
|
|
time.struct_time</a></span>. This is a 9-wise tuple that represent a
|
|
time. It could be in either local time or UTC, though usually the former.
|
|
See module <span class="code">
|
|
<a href="http://docs.python.org/2/library/time.html">time</a></span>
|
|
for more information. They are useful because they are a little closer
|
|
in format to what the Davis VantagePro uses, although they still require
|
|
a bit of processing. Variables carrying tuple time usually have a suffix '<span class="code">_tt</span>'.</td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<td>epoch time</td>
|
|
<td>Sometimes referred to as "unix time," or "unix epoch
|
|
time." The number of seconds since the epoch, which is 1 Jan 1970
|
|
00:00:00 UTC. Hence, it always represents UTC (well.... after adding
|
|
a few leap seconds. But, close enough). This is the time used in the
|
|
databases and appears as type '<span class="code">dateTime</span>'
|
|
in the SQL schema, perhaps an unfortunate name because of the similarity
|
|
to the completely unrelated Python type '<span class="code">datetime</span>'.
|
|
Very easy to manipulate, but it's a big opaque number. </td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<td>time stamp</td>
|
|
<td>A variable in unix epoch time. Always in UTC. Variables carrying
|
|
a time stamp usually have a suffix '<span class="code">_ts</span>'.</td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<td>datetime</td>
|
|
<td>An instance of the Python object <span class="code">datetime.datetime</span>.
|
|
Variables of type datetime usually have a suffix '<span class="code">_dt</span>'.</td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<td>SQL type</td>
|
|
<td>A type that appears in the SQL database. This usually looks something
|
|
like '<span class="code">outTemp</span>', '<span class="code">barometer</span>', '<span class="code">extraTemp1</span>',
|
|
and so on.</td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<td>observation type</td>
|
|
<td>A type that can be used in the presentations. This is generally
|
|
all of the SQL types, plus calculated data (such as
|
|
<span class="code">rms</span> or <span class="code">vecavg</span>).</td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<td>value tuple</td>
|
|
<td>A 3-way tuple. First element is a value, second element the unit
|
|
type the value is in, the third the unit group. An example would be
|
|
<span class="code">(21.2, 'degree_C', 'group_temperature')</span>.</td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<td>db_dict</td>
|
|
<td>A dictionary with all the data necessary to bind to a database.
|
|
An example for sqlite would be <span class="code">{'driver'
|
|
: 'db.sqlite', 'root':'/home/weewx', 'database':'archive/weewx.sdb'}</span>,
|
|
an example for MySQL would be <span class="code">{'driver' : 'db.mysql',
|
|
'host': 'localhost', 'user' : 'weewx', 'password' : 'mypassword', 'database'
|
|
: 'weewx'}</span>.</td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
</table>
|
|
<h2>Units</h2>
|
|
<p>In general, there are three different areas where the unit system makes a
|
|
difference.: </p>
|
|
<ol>
|
|
<li>On the weather station. As far as I know, the Davis Vantage series supports
|
|
only U.S. Customary units internally. The Oregon Scientific WMR-USB series
|
|
uses an odd mix of US and metric.</li>
|
|
<li>In the database. Either US or Metric can be used.</li>
|
|
<li>In the presentation (i.e., html and image files). </li>
|
|
</ol>
|
|
<p>The general strategy is that measurements are converted by service
|
|
<span class="code">StdConvert</span> as they come off the weather station into
|
|
a target unit system, then stored internally in the database. Then, as they
|
|
come off the database to be used for a report, they are converted into a target
|
|
unit, specified by the skin. </p>
|
|
<h2>Value "<span class="code">None</span>"</h2>
|
|
<p>The Python special value '<span class="code">None</span>' is used
|
|
throughout to signal a missing data point. All functions expect it. </p>
|
|
<p>However, the time value must never be '<span class="code">None</span>'.
|
|
This is because it is used as the primary key in the SQL database. </p>
|
|
<h2>Time</h2>
|
|
<p><span class="code">Weewx </span>stores all data in UTC (roughly, "Greenwich"
|
|
or "Zulu") time. However, usually one is interested in weather events
|
|
in local time and want image and HTML generation to reflect that. Furthermore,
|
|
most weather stations are configured in local time. This requires that many
|
|
data times be converted back and forth between UTC and local time. To avoid
|
|
tripping up over time zones and daylight savings time, <span class="code">weewx</span>
|
|
generally uses Python routines to do this conversion. Nowhere in the code base
|
|
is there any explicit recognition of DST. Instead, its presence is implicit
|
|
in the conversions. At times, this can cause the code to be relatively inefficient.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>For example, if one wanted to plot something every 3 hours in UTC time, it
|
|
would be very simple: to get the next plot point, just add 10,800 to the epoch
|
|
time: </p>
|
|
<p class="tty">next_ts = last_ts + 10800 </p>
|
|
<p>But, if one wanted to plot something for every 3 hours <em>in local time</em>
|
|
(that is, at 0000, 0300, 0600, etc.), despite a possible DST change in the middle,
|
|
then things get a bit more complicated. One could modify the above to recognize
|
|
whether a DST transition occurs sometime between <span class="code">last_ts</span>
|
|
and the next three hours and, if so, make the necessary adjustments. This is
|
|
generally what <span class="code">wview</span> does. <span class="code">Weewx
|
|
</span>takes a different approach and converts from UTC to local, does the arithmetic,
|
|
then converts back. This is inefficient, but bulletproof against changes in
|
|
DST algorithms, etc: </p>
|
|
<p class="tty">time_dt = datetime.datetime.fromtimestamp(last_ts) </p>
|
|
<p class="tty">delta = datetime.timedelta(seconds=10800) </p>
|
|
<p class="tty">next_dt = time_dt + delta </p>
|
|
<p class="tty">next_ts = int(time.mktime(next_dt.timetuple())) </p>
|
|
<p>Other time conversion problems are handled in a similar manner. </p>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<script type="text/javascript">
|
|
samaxesJS.toc({
|
|
exclude : 'h4, h5, h6',
|
|
autoId : true,
|
|
context : 'technical_content'
|
|
});
|
|
|
|
</script>
|
|
|
|
</body>
|
|
|
|
</html>
|