Can weather station ET be used?

[bunkers]

Can the internally calculated ET from a Davis Vantage Pro weather station, like the 6162C -- be used in McsSprinklers? Also, can the UV and solar be used from the station?

Also, where is the historical ET data being stored? Is it viewable? Is is stored in a local file by zipcode?

[bunkers]

By the way, completely off topic, my yard got flash flooded last Saturday --

Now I'm talking with the town stormwater engineers to get a solution for this in the future. This was 10 minute rain event ... probably the first measurable rain I've had all year. When it rains, it pours ...

[pete@malibubeach.com]

Iu am brand new to mcsSprinklers but the following image (part of one of the setup pages in MCS sprinklers) lists the sensors/measurements that can be used from the Vantage pro (as long as you have them imported into Homeseer using the weather plugin). I don't see a place for UV. Also (and maybe Michael can clarify this), I wasn't sure which rain measurement to use. I guess the choices are current hourly rate; rain in the last hour; or rain in the last 24 hours.

Pete

[bunkers]

So maybe I need to rephrase my original question.

"Do I need to have homeseer to enable mcssprinklers to use my own weather station data?" ...

or

"Does mcssprinklers standalone support the use of a personal weather station, esp. the Davis Vantage Pro 6162,6163 with UV, Solar and ET data?"

[Michael McSharry]

The rainfall of interest is the measurement since midnight. If the Davis does not produce this value then I will need to do something to accomodate it.

Many do not have the ET sensor with their station because it doubles the cost, but if you do then this is the one that you want to use as you have shown in your screen-shot. The UV/Solar is only used when ET needs to be estimated based upon a form of sunlight measurement.

mcsSprinklers is designed as a LAN-based computing node where sensor data is received over the LAN. It will also pull data from Homeseer devices if configured for this mode of operation. For weather and forecast data mcsSprinklers also provides a backup mechanism where if no data is received from the LAN then it will pull it from the internet.

There were several applications delivered with mcsSprinklers (e.g. xapmcsWeatherAWS) that perform the function of putting data on the LAN. The one for Davis Vantage Pro (xapmcsDavisVP) was not included because I need to work without someone who has the unit. It has not been a priority because none of the current users have the ET option. They are integrating their weatherstation by uploading to WeatherUnderground then then selecting this station as their weather source.

Sensor data that is broadcast on the LAN is available to all computers on the LAN. This allows mcsSprinklers to operate in a redundant configuration where each copy is able to share the same sensor source without the need to replicate the source.

[bunkers]

Thanks for the detailed explanations.

I suppose its only a matter of time before I make the jump and start using homeseer anyways.

I've currently only got the (3) rain8net's, (1) WGL W800RF32 and (1) X10 1132U controller and (1) RF palm pad. I used to have some X10 devices, but now with Z-wave, I was hesitant to move forward with more X10 gear.

I know this is un-related to mcssprinkers, but what kind of gear would you reccomend for me, if my only potential would be: light control, limited dimming control, temperature control over A/C and furnaces, outdoor motion sensors (X10) and eventually a davis weather station and perhaps a 4-5 camera home security/monitoring system that is PC based.

Should I go Z-wave or X10, or does it really matter that much?

[Michael McSharry]

There are zealots for various technologies for lighting control. X10 is mature and cheap with some reliability problems. The RF technologies of Zwave and Zigbee are emerging. Zwave is Zensys and now a few others are licensing it. It was the first out of the gate. Zigbee is a non-proprietary standard with many companies backing it so it should be the turtle that eventually wins the race.

UPB and Insteon are the other two powerline technologies that are natural path up from X10. Smarthome is pushing Insteon and is still in the beta stage. UPB is manufactured by a few companies and is the dominate technology in the professional marketplace. UPB is stable, reliable, and has excellent manufacturer support.

If you had not built yet then direct wiring or something like the C-Bus that is used in Europe are other options tha provide no-compromise solutions.

I never tried Zwave since it was a brand new technology with a competing Zigbee that I felt would win the VHS/Betamax battle. I did try Insteon when the SDK was made available. I returned it when it was obvious that it was not yet ready. I have UPB and X10 at my house.

HVAC control is usually done with an intelligent thermostat. There are IP-based, Zwave, X10 and serial ones. I went with the serial HAI 80b model and have been happy with it.

I did tinker with cameras and you will find many opinions on this board on that subject. If I was concerned with security then I would simply use a disk-based video recorder that has built in motion detection and then make a loose interface with other home automation capabilities. There are so many ways to deal with video that you really need to have specific purpose to know what equipment would be appropriate.

I started with Homeseer to integrate all my HA capabilities and found that I did not like to have all my eggs in the same basket. I have since migrated to a more decentralized LAN-based HA capability. That way there is less interdepence. I use Homeseer primarily as a tool for testing because of the user interface that makes this capability easy. I use version 1 of HS because of the preference for a Window's GUI rather than a browser one.

[pete@malibubeach.com]

I'm using Davis Vantage Pro 2 and the Ambient Virtual Weather Station software; and, yes, the rain since midnight is one of the parameters that is available and imported into HS.

Pete

[Cecil]

ET from Davis Weather Station and MCS Working Together?

According to a much earlier thread on the ET topic, I believe MCS is expecting the ET value delivered by the Homeseer Device to be the hourly ET.

It is expecting an ET for the last hour. The number that you provide is scaled by the solar intensity factor that is also a user input next to where the zip code is input.

To ballpark and expected value: given a Monthly ET of 8 inches; the daily will be 8/24= 0.3; the hourly will be 0.3/24 = 0.0012. This would be the reading at about 11 AM and 3 PM.

It is also my understanding that the value the Davis is providing via the VWS plugin to HS is the cumulative Daily ET. I just doubled checked again and the value the VWS plugin is providing to HS is the sames as the Daily ET value shown in the VWS program. Has anyone successfully used the Davis ET in MCS? I've thought of writing a script to try and generate the value MCS wants from the HS value, but have never gotten around to it.

Cecil

[Michael McSharry]

The Davis is the only residential weather station that I know that provides the ET. If it is delivering the Daily ET rather than the Hourly ET then I will change ET sensor input to be Daily. Please confirm that this should be done.

[Cecil]

I am confident that the Davis/VWS combination is reporting daily ET to HS and thus to MCS. If someone has a differing opinion I would like to see how they are getting a different value.

As an aside, I think the WeatherHawk station may also report ET. At least the VWS documentation mentions that it does. The doc does not describe if it is a daily or hourly ET. However, as it is in the same section as the ET for Davis, I suspect it also reports a daily value.

Cecil

[Michael McSharry]

I was approached by the Weatherhawk folks to add mcsSprinklers to their family of offering. I've got the info for the interface with the Weatherhawk but it has been a low priority.

[ka7gzr]

The manual states that the Davis Pro2 updates ET hourly.

http://www.davisnet.com/product_docu...3_6163Spec.pdf

I use the VWS interface and I don't believe it manipulates the data at all although I don't have the Davis Pro2.
Jim

[Cecil]

The Davis does indeed update the ET hourly. (I have a Davis Pro 2.) However, the value that is reported to Homeseer via the VWS plugin is the daily total. For example, right now (3PM EDT) VWS is showing a ET value of .1250. The HS device for ET shows a value of .12. My conclusion is that the value available to MCS thru the VWS plugin for HS is indeed the daily ET, not the hourly value.

Cecil

[Cecil]

Ka7gzr,


What weather station are you using with VWS? Do you use the ET value with MCS?

Cecil