I Need Advice On Weather Stations

These worked for me and are quite cost-effective. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M64ISDE/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

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For sure! Thanks for that link. I've paid upwards of $40 for Stevenson screens to put sensors in. Compared to that $10.79 is a steal!

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do you happen to know if the functionality is dependent on it having internet access or a cloud account?

everything i use so far does not require any cloud access or accounts. its all local network only.

I don't believe it (ecowitt) requires the cloud connection based on the setup steps. But I can't guarantee that as I never specifically tested it without the cloud connection being present.

Ecowitt weather stations donā€™t need a cloud connection unless you intend to upload data to ecowitt.net, or to download firmware updates.

I canā€™t speak to the weatherflow tempestā€™s cloud needs though.

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Definitely cloud dependent. Even though a substantial portion of data can be accessed locally using an MQTT broker. But accessing any interpretative data is cloud dependent.

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Even then. Your data isnā€™t routing through the cloud to your hub is still local with a data stream to the cloud for Ecowitt.net from the hub after it receives the data from your devices. Ecowitt.net is not required to use ecowitt devices.

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Iā€™m not worried about what talks to the hub. I dont want any dependencies on the cloud to be able to use the product. I block all outbound traffic on the iot network and only open up specific rules for updates when needed. I had some smart plugs that would not operate unless they could communicate with the cloud. I was also using a power monitoring device that required the cloud. As of now the only thing that needs access is the HomePods and Apple TVā€™s and those are on their own subnet.

Things i avoid:
Devices that require cloud account to activate
Devices that require internet access to function
Devices that require an app to function

You can use Ecowitt without any cloud dependencies. You will need the app to set it up and add devices, and the app does make it easier in some regards, but once set up you could do it just with a console (local connection). As for viewing the data, use a console or set up a dashboard.

Nope. The ecowitt gateway has a built in web server that can be used to onboard all ecowitt sensors ā€¦.

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That right I forgot about that! I havenā€™t used that in a while. I do use the Ecowitt.con connection. I have my Rachio irrigation controller tied to my Ecowitt, and for that I need the cloud connection. So I just use the app.

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Is there a lux sensor that can be added from
Ecowitt? I have a tempest and a Ecowitt gateway 1000 and highly rely on my tempest lux sensor and temps to control the lighting and climate in the house. If it should ever fail I want to ensure I have redundancy to not have an interruption.

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Both my older 7-in-1 outdoor weather station and the newer Wittboy model have what they refer to as a solar/light and UV sensor. This seems to be on a slightly different scale to the lux readings from my Hue outdoor motion sensors, so their may be some technical / scientific difference, I'm not sure.

image

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Yes, the ws90 (Wittboy) has a lux/uv sensor. I would encourage you to consider the 2000 gateway. It is a bit more expensive (I think like $20), however my 1000 gateway started to randomly drop offline for no apparent reason after about a year. The 2000 gateway has the option for an Ethernet connection, eliminating that possibility.
I realize I may well be in the minority on that as others like @aaiyar have not had that problem. I only know of one other person that had that issue.

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True.

Just want to remind everyone that the Misol version of the WS90 and GW2001 is significantly cheaper than the ecowitt version. Based on other Misol products, it should work with the Hubitat ecowitt integration .......

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The Tempest and Ecowitt Wittboy (WS90) are almost identical in their capability. I cant rememebr the exact difference but when I looked at them I decided that the difference was not enought to warrant the higher cost of the Tempest.

I will add that I have had an unofficial ongoing experiment with the Wittboy's piezo rain sensor and a mechanical WH40 rain gauge. There tends to be a slight difference. The piezo doesnt seem to be accurate in light rain and misting conditions.


If you notice, the Wh40 (on the left) registered higher on the weekly number than the Piezo. I have been watching these two and their readings for a few months. The differences over all aren't worth getting too worked up over, but it's interesting to watch the differences as they play out.

UPDATE:

I think i just figured it out, and the difference may be more substantial than I thought for someone else. It appears the Tempest has lightning detection included, where the Wittboy you need to add a lightning sensor (approx. $56). For me it was not worth the extra money as I already had the lightning sensor in place. That is the same reason I have two rain sensors. I already had the Wh40 in place.

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I see this in the lineup for 2024 from Ecowitt.

A GW1200 has been announced - presumably as the successor to the GW1100. Thanks to a better processor, this gateway will also be able to operate IoT devices.

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I just found out yesterday that Ecowitt is also retiring (no further development / updates) to the WS View app and it has been replaced by the WS View Plus app.

Not true as far as i can tell


You're comparing two different products. The Misol price includes the gateway (GW2001). The Amazon price for the WS90 sensor array does not (that's why it says the product cannot not be used alone).

The comparable ecowitt product is currently $200, usually $250.

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