So, it looks like sometime in the near future Weather Underground may stop access to their API
I've stated this thread to look at alternatives both for people with their own PWS (Personal Weather Station) and those without.
I have briefly looked at Apixu as an alternative and have started work on a driver for people who don't have their own PWS.
Some of the things that are missing from apixu's api are solarradiation and illuminence - I just can't seem to find anywhere this is mentioned in the apixu api docs (I might be missing something)
However; I've managed to get some of the more obvious ones working:
Temperature
Wind
Humidity
Pressure
Precipitation
ForecastHigh
ForecastLow
Sunrise
Sunset
City
State
Country
The 'units' for these are switchable (MPH/KPH, F/C etc)
It's still heavily commented out from my previous WU driver but it should work OK.. I just need to clean it up a bit.
You will obviously need to create an account on their website apixu.com so you can get an api key to enter into the driver
If you would like to try this (beta) driver then please send me a PM and I'll send you a link to the code.
So... onto people with their own PWS..
What do they (and me!) do to get their data into Hubitat?
@JHoke has suggested 'Weewx' installed to a local raspberry Pi to collect data sent from a PWS
I am starting to look at this option now and the hope is that, working with John (and almost anyone else who wants to help), we can take the cloud out of it all and host the data locally for access from Hubitat with a new driver.
I really like this idea!
OpenWeatherMap might be another alternative to use for both (as I believe we can send data to OWM from a PWS and use it for people who do not have a PWS)
Reading all sorts of blog and other posts about IBM's The Weather Comapny and their choice to cut off the API and charge $800 a month is terrible. Even if you are a data provider you will have to pay for API access. So many applications are depending on this service and the cost will cause many to just shut down.
You got me with the all 'local' connection. Just ordered another screen that has the pc connection (Acurite). Already installed Weewx on my Rpi. Should be ready for any testing early next week.
I'm more than happy to help test options. I have a Ambient Weather WS-1401-IP and I also have a Mac mini so if anyone has some methods for capturing the weather station data and monitoring it with HU, please let me know.
The TL-WR902AC I ordered just arrived. I’ll test loading Meteobridge on it at some point this long weekend. I didn’t have a spare RPi around, so at $40 CAD, this was going to be less expensive, for a bridge in a case, almost ready to go. The software looks like a lot less trouble to setup and configure too. I just want to send data to another service from my Acurite bridge, so this should do the job. If I can display it in a dashboard or do some cool automation in Hubitat, that is so much better.
I’m only capturing temp, humidity and air pressure, so my needs are simpler. So many other weather stations near by, I get the rest of the data from what they share.
I used to use a MacMini with WeatherCat software - you should be able to create JSON output with WeatherCat and make it available via HTTP (running MAMP for example) on the Mac
Honestly - for the price of a Pi, and the cost of operation - I'd just buy a Pi
Just an FYI - this is going something I start digging into towards the end of June as I have a crazy audit @ work going on until then and it is eating most of my time
I have started building out a template and the way WeeWX works is it creates "loop" packets every time the station sends data (differs by station - mine is < 1m) and it also creates 'archive' packets which get written to the database - and drives reports .. I've configured my archive period 5m so in theory the json would get created every 5m which is probably overkill for this, but I'm all about overkill
@Cobra do you have a format you want the JSON in or do you care about order/naming etc? As I am creating from scratch I can have it worked out any way that you want (within reason LOL)
At this point I'm all for simple. The best of my understanding is using the Observer-IP module takes the output from my station and uploaded it to WU and then I use the driver @Cobra created to get my lux, temp, local high and low forecasts. So programing JSON outputs is going to take some educating on someone's part. Not that I can't or won't learn, I just need some connect-the-dots.
So far I'm up to installing what weewx driver selection in the install. I'm having all kinds of issues trying to get the socket logger driver working.
I'm still plugging away at reconfiguring my network so will have to look at weewx tomorrow
I'm hoping to create a complete package.. maybe even a RPi image but certainly a new driver to collect all the data.
Then hopefully come up with some complete install doc
For anyone interested, Meteobridge is very simple to setup. Literally takes minutes to setup and configure. Works with the Acurite bridge, no issues at all with that part. However, it is expensive considering the license is 65 € ($90 CAD / $70 USD) and $40 for the router. For me, this isn't what I was hoping it would be, as their license to upload to Ambient Weather is no longer valid. You have to buy either the $200 "WeatherBridge" (Ambient Weather's version of the same TL-WR902AC, but licensed for Ambient Weather servers) or the $450 Meteobridge Pro through Ambient Weather to get the capability, unless you want to pay an additional fee of $150 to Ambient Weather for the right to upload to their server. Not too happy Meteobridge didn't disclose this before I flashed the router.
By the way, normally it is a one way street when you flash the supported routers with Meteobridge, so be sure this is what you want before proceeding.
I'm heading to weeWX. Hopefully it'll coexist nicely with Homebridge on a Mac.
Another option that is pure OSX based is WeatherCat (https://trixology.com/weathercat) I used it for years before my MacMini died and I needed to replace it .. I had a Pi laying about so I migrated to weeWX in a couple hours ... you should be able to produce the same output in that as well - but its commercial not opensource
I'm slightly annoyed at Ambient Weather, but I get their business model. One of the most valuable features for me is that ability to ask Alexa about conditions from my PWS. I have this with the Personal Weather skill, but with the changes, I don't know where that's headed. The Ambient Weather skill is the only other one I'm aware of that does that same thing. For the price, I'm almost wondering if it wouldn't be more cost effective to just buy the WS-0900-IP and use it in parallel with weeWX.
I just recently found out that Acurite has an Alexa skill. I say "Alexa, ask My AcuRite about GriderWeather", which is the name of the Acurite Access Hub in the My Acurite website, and she reads the 5-in-1 weather station data then asks if I want to hear more, then will read off the other device data. I think I also had it read the older Acurite hub, as we have both. It's not the most user friendly and extremely wordy, but glad they actually have one!
Thanks! They didn't have that when I originally setup the Personal Weather skill. Good to know there's at least an option, even if I do have to use that unnecessary and lengthy verbiage, coupled with the wordy responses.
[Edit] Weird, no forecast available. Only what I can read on the panel anyway, and it thanks me for not asking it anything else.
Well crap! So while I was searching for some info about the Acurite bridge, I found this announcement that the hub is not only now unsupported hardware, but they're turning off the server access. I never received an notification of this change and my bridge is less than a year old.
So now I have an August 31 deadline to get it working with weeWX. I got weeWX installed today after much effort (not a fan of python), but I'm getting an error when it tries to access the "Interceptor" driver to sniff the packets from the bridge. Runs when configured with the simulator, so I think the installation is OK. Might just be something specific to a Mac OS install that needs adjustment. Haven't hit the google group yet. Thanks for the link and offer to help.
Sorry - I never did install it on the Macs here (all mac and linux house) as the Pi was a better option for me. I would definately hit up the google group - wish I could help more
It does sound like you are good install wise as the simulator is running - its probably a driver issue that is either related to the specific hardware - or the mac
I too have an Acurite system and I have the newer AcuRite 09155M Access point but it too is not supported by weeWX. It only sends data to AcuRite. So what I did, was purchase the AcuRite 06006M Color Display for 5-in-1 Weather Sensors. I plugged the USB from the display right into the Rpi, ran weeWX and all is well.
Apparently the older Acurite bridge does work with this Interceptor driver, I just haven't figured out what's wrong with my install of it yet. I'm not happy about their handling of the situation, no one is, but I'd rather try to make use of what I have, than send more money to them. If I expand my setup in the future, it won't be with Acurite.
