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    #31
    Originally posted by smcwilliams View Post
    In hindsight, I think the difficulty is that on the Ambient website for the WS-2000 there is NO mention of such a thing as an Observer module, which apparently was needed for earlier models of their units. Even when you look at the Observer module on their website, the WS-2000 unit is not mentioned as being compliant. Thus a user like me who previously had a Ambient 1000 unit which fed into a mini-Linux box which then fed WU etc. had not a clue to expect there'd be such a thing as the Ambient website mentioned the data went right from their unit to the weather sites.

    Similarly, there is no mention in your plugin what an Observer unit even is (altho this would not be necessary admittedly for people who bought earlier Ambient units and knew what an Observer unit was). As a user, I didn't even know what it was, and when I did your configuration it seemed logical to me that the plugin would need the local IP in order to fetch its data, since it was never clear from what I read that the plugin used the API to go to the Ambient servers to retrieve the info. This was only made clear earlier in this thread. Must be obvious of course to you, but wasn't to me. I sent info back to Ambient that perhaps they could clarify for their Observer unit that is not needed/necessary for the WS-2000 explicitly. Although for people with less than robust internet connections, it would perhaps be useful.

    And perhaps when you get around to revising your own docs, you could expand on what an Observer module is and when it should be configured, or mention models when it's not needed. As I recall I didn't see the WS-2000 listed even.

    But thanks for persevering with this as I figured out what was going on...I appreciate it

    .
    I agree the documentation for the plugin needs to be updated. I will work on that.

    The reason the ObserverIP Module is not listed for 90% of the Ambient PWS's is because it is not needed. All of the units that come with a Display do not need the ObserverIP module so there's no mention of it on the Ambient Site. The ObserverIP module is a "hack" method to get Local access to the data from the PWS due to the limitation that there's no way of getting the data from the "New Display" units. The Local option was added from requests to have the data locally and not depend on an internet connection.

    However I do agree I should update the documentation as there are a lot of changes not documented very well.

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      #32
      I've read through this thread and may have missed it, but does anyone have the ObserverIP unit operational with the WS-2000. I've never had an Ambient Weather station and was going to purchase the WS-2000 because it's display tablet seemed better than the other Ambient offerings. But if I can't talk to HS, then it's a non-starter.

      Thanks....Forrest

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        #33
        Originally posted by kesterf View Post
        I've read through this thread and may have missed it, but does anyone have the ObserverIP unit operational with the WS-2000. I've never had an Ambient Weather station and was going to purchase the WS-2000 because it's display tablet seemed better than the other Ambient offerings. But if I can't talk to HS, then it's a non-starter.

        Thanks....Forrest
        The WS-2000 is the Osprey 2902 Sensor array + the new Color Display system. This unit reports it's information to the AmbientWeather.Net online service as well as other Online systems like WU. This plugin pulls that data perfectly fine and works with ANY Ambient Weather system that sends data to the AmbientWeather.Net online service.

        The ObserverIP Module is an ADD-ON to the eco-system that allows/provides LOCAL access to the PWS data. It is not required!

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          #34
          Forrest, the plugin works FINE without buying the ObserverIP module. It just took me a while to figure out what to do as the docs from Ambient and from Simplex were not clear about this module. But do note: the plugin retrieves the weather data from the Ambient website via an API string of letters/numbers that you get from Ambient and enter into the plugin on the config page. As long as you have a good, stable, reliable internet connection for the data to flow from your Ambient 2000 unit to their website, and from their website back to your HS computer, you will be fine (as I am).

          If you have internet connectivity issues, or no internet at all, the Observer unit will pull the data from the Ambient 2000 and you can then enter the IP number for the Observer unit on your local network (prob along the lines of a 192.168.x.x number) and this plugin will pull the data across your local in-house network. As noted, the Observer module is NOT required and probably a waste of money in most cases.

          Basically the thread above is an example of documentation issue with Ambient and Simplex. Once this was all straightened out, I have the plugin working perfectly, no errors, and I don't need the ObserverIP module at all. We have Fios fibre optic to the house and have lost internet connectivity twice in 14 years, so data flows reliably from the 2000 unit to Ambient, then back from Ambient to the plugin.

          I had email from Ed at Ambient who seemed to indicate that no-one as yet had bought the ObserverIP module for the 2000 system. Really just not needed.

          Hope this helps you,

          Scott

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            #35
            Scott, Perfect! Thanks for the info. Better than I hoped. Sounds like I can save a few bucks and just buy the WS-2000 for now and add the ObserverIP later if I need too.

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              #36
              Originally posted by kesterf View Post
              Scott, Perfect! Thanks for the info. Better than I hoped. Sounds like I can save a few bucks and just buy the WS-2000 for now and add the ObserverIP later if I need too.
              As has been noted the OIP is NOT needed. This was an add on from a feature request for having LOCAL access to the data without internet.

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                #37
                Originally posted by Simplex Technology View Post

                As has been noted the OIP is NOT needed. This was an add on from a feature request for having LOCAL access to the data without internet.
                Thanks John. I should probably expand my "add ObserverIP later if I need to" comment. It was intended to mean if I decide my internet connection is too unreliable or if I decide I want to grab the data locally. Forrest

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