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Fig 1.  

After a couple of years thinking that a new weather station was required and having previously looked at Ecowitt models in Dec 2023 and putting the idea on hold,  further issues with intermittent data in Oct/Nov 2024 from the Wind Sensor even after installing new batteries it was decided today (2024-11-02) to purchase an Ecowitt GW2001 Wittboy with GW2000 Gateway from Amazon ( https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BBRC5W6M/?th=1 ).

Product Page (EkoWitt Site) :  https://shop.ecowitt.com/en-gb/collections/lan-wlan-weather-station/products/wittboy  

It's understood that the GW2001 Station comprise WS90 Sensor Head + GW2000 Hub

WS90

• The integrated outdoor weather sensor (WS90) collects
  
  

  	Range	Resolution	Accuracy
  Temperature	40°C to 60°C	0.1°C	±0.3°C
  Humidity	1% to 99%	1%	±3.5%
  Wind Speed	0m/s to 40m/s	0.1m/s	<10m/s, ±0.5m/s; ≥10m/s, ±5%
  Wind Direction	0° to 359°	1°	<2m/s, ±10°; ≥2m/s, ±7°
  Light	0Klux to 200Klux	0.1Klux	±15%
  UVI	1 to 15	1	±2
  Rain	0 to 9999	0.1mm	TBA

  
  - Wind :  sonic anemometer
  - Rain :  haptic/ piezo rain sensor
   
  
• The windgust reading will be the max wind speed in the past 28s.
  
• Data transmitted to GW2000 Gateway Hub  (868MHz)
   
• Sensor reporting interval: 8.8 seconds
   
• The Station is believed to come with Bird Spikes that will be needed to prevent birds from landing on the flat top of the Rain / UV/ Light Sesnor pad at the top of the station.
   
• Station has dual-power supply - Solar Power Autonomy  (6.5V/4mA) & Backup Battery (2 x AA 1.5V, recommended none-rechargeable Lithium)
   
• The GW2000 has both WIFI and RJ45 (Ethernet) connection options
   
• The station has now moving parts

GW2000

• 3 sensors
  - Temperature (-10°C – 60°C; resolution: 0.1°C)
  - Humidity (1% ~ 99%; resolution: 1%; accuracy: ± 5% )
  - Atmospheric pressure sensor (300 – 1100 hPa ; accuracy: ± 5 hPa)
   
• 868MHz UK and European frequency reception
  
• Wireless Range from external sensors: 150m (300m unobstructed)
   
• Powered by USB 5V
  

Notes:

• Owners of a  GW2000 can verify their WS90 firmware version by hovering the mouse over the WS90 icon in the SensorsID section of the WebUI
   
• The details of how to get data to AstroWeather program will be worked out later, but it will most-likely involve using Cumulus MX  (free software for retrieving, storing and displaying data from an electronic Automatic Weather Station (AWS), rather than relying on the EcoWitt Cloud.
   (see Notes- Cumulus MX Software (4.2.1) ). 
   
• A Cat 5e or 6 ethernet cable will be used to connect the GW2000 hub to the Observatory's Ethernet Switch
   
  A diagram showing the existing & proposed configuration/use of the Ethernet Switch is shown in Ethernet Switch Configuration section below.

Quickstart and manuals : https://www.ecowitt.com/api/quickstart/product?id=245

includes links to  

-  WS90 Manual :   https://osswww.ecowitt.net/uploads/20240318/WS90%20%E8%AF%B4%E6%98%8E%E4%B9%A6%2020240318_20240318171539.pdf
-  GW2000 Manual :    https://osswww.ecowitt.net/uploads/20220803/GW2000%20Manual.pdf
-  Data exchange format

Possible Future Accessories

• Mounting Pole for WS90/Wittboy Station
   -  25mm (1") diameter pole, 45cm long
   - mounting bracket
   
• WN31 temperature/humidity sensor, 8 channel    £20
  - Temperature (-40°C – 60°C; resolution: 0.1°C, accuracy +/- 1°C)
  - Humidity (1% ~ 99%; resolution: 1%; accuracy: ± 5% )
  - Battery 2xAA
   (not WN32 because it overrides WS90 T/H) 
   
• Ekowitt Ultrasonic Anemometer Heater Power Supply £49 (10m),  £59 (20m)
   - helps to keep snow and ice clear of the wind sensor, improving reading in subzero tempeartures
   - also provides a power source for WS90/Wittboy in dark locations
  
   - length of cable needed between power plug in Observatory and top of existing Weather Station Mast is around 10.5m.
     this is slightly too short for the 10m version (£49).
     options are to move the weather station mast aound 1m closer to the Observatory or use the 20m version (£59)
   
  
• WH57 lightning sensor £65
  - detects lightning & storms with 25 miles of sensor.

Cumulus is free software for retrieving, storing and displaying data from an electronic Automatic Weather Station (AWS). 
See https://www.cumuluswiki.org/a/About_Cumulus for more information about Cumulus.

Cumulus will be reviewed and examined as a potential means of transfer weather data between a newly ordered EcoWitt weather station and my AstroWeather program running on the observatory's AllSky/Weather Computer.  This is part of a project to eventually replace the Observatory's existing Oregon Scientific Weather Station & VWS Software.

Cumulus MX
Cumulus MX v4.2.1 build 4043, 19-October-2024 was downloaded today (2024-11-02) from https://cumuluswiki.org/a/Software

Source Code (on github) :  https://github.com/cumulusmx/CumulusMX

An installation guide is available at https://cumulus.hosiene.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=22051 

This version of Cumulus MX (CMX) moves away from .Net Framework 4.8 to .NET 8. and requires .NET8 to be present on the computer.

.NET8
The presence of .Net8 on computer was assessed using the command 'dotnet --list-sdks '
 which showed that .Net8 was present:

>dotnet --list-sdks
8.0.403 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk]

Further information was obtained with the 'dotnet --info' which indicated that .Net version was 8.0.10

>dotnet --info
.NET SDK:
Version: 8.0.403
Commit: c64aa40a71
Workload version: 8.0.400-manifests.e99c892e
MSBuild version: 17.11.9+a69bbaaf5

Runtime Environment:
OS Name: Windows
OS Version: 10.0.22631
OS Platform: Windows
RID: win-x64
Base Path: C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk\8.0.403\

.NET workloads installed:
Configured to use loose manifests when installing new manifests.
There are no installed workloads to display.

Host:
Version: 8.0.10
Architecture: x64
Commit: 81cabf2857

.NET SDKs installed:
8.0.403 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk]

.NET runtimes installed:
Microsoft.AspNetCore.App 6.0.35 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.AspNetCore.App]
Microsoft.AspNetCore.App 7.0.20 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.AspNetCore.App]
Microsoft.AspNetCore.App 8.0.10 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.AspNetCore.App]
Microsoft.NETCore.App 6.0.35 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App]
Microsoft.NETCore.App 7.0.20 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App]
Microsoft.NETCore.App 8.0.10 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App]
Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App 6.0.35 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App]
Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App 7.0.20 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App]
Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App 8.0.10 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App]

Other architectures found:
x86 [C:\Program Files (x86)\dotnet]
registered at [HKLM\SOFTWARE\dotnet\Setup\InstalledVersions\x86\InstallLocation]

Environment variables:
Not set

global.json file:
Not found

 

Installation Notes:

• A restore point was created Pre-Cumulus MX 4.2.1
  
• The distribution file CumulusMXDist4043.zip was unzipped, and the resulting 'CumulusMX folder' moved in its entirety to
  C:/More Programs/CumulusMX
  
• The executable 'CumulusMX.exe' was run (this is for 64 bit Windows machines)
  
  This opens as console , which needs to be  left running
  
  Then run the first time configuration wizard by entering
  http://localhost:8998/wizard.html           (from the computer that is running CumulusMX )  or
  
  http://192.168.1.24:8998/wizard.html   (from another computer on the same local network)
  
  Both methods brought up the 'First Time Setup Wizard'  for Basic Cumulus and Station Setup
  
  Completion of the Wizard will be delayed until after I've got the EkoWitt Weather Station and set up its network

First Time Setup Wizard

Implementation on AllSky/Weather Computer

• Install .NET onto AllSky/Weather Computer since as it wasn't already present on the machine (?)
    This was achieved by running the cmd 'winget install Microsoft.DotNet.Runtime.8 '  from elevated Cmd console (opened by System Administrator)
    This found, downloaded (27.3 MB) and installed .Net 8.0.10
    'dotnet --list-sdks' didn't list the supposedly installed .Net8
    but 'dotnet --info' did. (prehaps in was already installed but not the packages that Visual Studio installed on the Development Computer ?)
  
   
    
• Cumulus MX installation onto AllSky/Weather Computer  (Done 2024-11-02)
   
• Setup
  
  - Choose HTTP (Ecowitt) as the station type.
  - Then set up a customised server in the Weather Server settings on the HP2551 as per the instructions below the HTTP (Ecowitt) setting i.e.
  
   State Enable
  - Protocol Type:  Ecowitt
  - IP:  IP address of your CumulusMX
  - Computer Port : The port you started CumulusMX on usually 8998
  - Interval 20 seconds
  - Path /station/ecowitt

Following diagram compares the use & configuration of the Observatory's Ethernet Switch as it has been since the Clair Dome Observatory was kitted out in 2018 (and still was as at 2024-10-01), with the proposed use & configuration moving forward.

After installation of new equipment in Nov 2024 Ecowitt GW2000 Hub and Tapo C325WD Camara the 5 port Ethernet Hub will be fully utilised and any additional ethernet devices will require a new Hub with additional ports.

The existing Ethernet Switch is a 10/100 model, and after installation of Cat6 cable direct to the router, there may now be a benefit in using a 100/1000 Switch model.  Previously with the slower Ethernet-Over-Powerline connection there was no benefit in using a 100/1000 Switch.