Hi - I wonder if anyone out there can help me! I’ve been using an Qregon WMR200 with Weather Display for years, but some of the sensors on my station are coming to the end of their lives, so I’ve upgraded to a Davis Vantage Pro2. I really want to continue using Weather Display, but I just can’t find a way to connect it to the new station. The only way I can see to connect the Davis to the PC is to use the little “Weatherlink” dongle that sits inside the console, which has a usb plug on the end of the cable. The Davis talks to the PC ok using the Weatherlink software, but I can’t find a way to get it to talk to Weather Display! On the PC the usb CP210x USB to UART bridge is running ok, offering COM 3, but you can obviously only have one device per port!
Any thoughts anyone?
What you’ve done sounds right, bit it also sounds like you’re trying to run WeatherLink and WD at the same time? If so, you need other software, e.g. VirtualVP, to do that. I’m not sure if that’s even available now though. WeatherLink also uses the VP in a special mode (USB Express I think) which WD can’t use, so you need to be sure that you’ve got the Weatherlink dongle set in the right mode. Hopefully someone will be along soon who has done this…I have done but about 5 years ago so my memory is kinda fuzzy and I now run my station through a WeatherLink Live box so it’s not something I’ve needed to do since then.
Hi Chris - many thanks for the reply. I don’t really want to run Weatherlink, it’s WD that I really want to use but Weatherlink seems to be the only way to get the Davis talking to my pc! It uses up the COM port that would be used by WD, so that’s where I’m stuffed!
I see on the WD Station Type setup page if you use “Stationless”, there is a function to pick up data from the .wlk file, but it won’t let me tell the system where it is!
I’m on standby for other suggestions! - Many thanks - Chris S…>
Sorry Chris - I think I’m in a muddle with COM ports etc! Of course there will only be one COM port in use - connected to the Davis. WD just needs a software connection to the Davis data in the same way my Oregon WMR 200 does! I’m getting muddled because WD asks which COM port the weather station it gets its data from is on. As soon as I tell it, Weatherlink loses connection!
Chris S…>
Does http://discourse.weather-watch.com/p/234511 help?
Stuart
You unfortunately cannot run WeatherLink software collecting data and WD at the same time as they use the same com Port if you want WD to do it setup with weatherlink not running and and it should work
Hi - many thanks for the note. Unfortunately I’ve tried that & it doesn’t work! It seems to need Weatherlink running to get the Davis to get the pc to allocate a COM port. Just simply telling WD to use the same port on its own doesn’t work!
Cheers - Chris S…>
When you run WeatherLink can you see if it is using USBexpress mode or serial mode? WD ONLY uses serial mode and AFAIK Weatherlink defaults to USBexpress and somewhere in Weatherlink you can set it back to serial mode, then your USB dongle should work with WD.
Stuart
Hi Stuart - I’ve had a look at Brian’s post before but it doesn’t really help as I’ve already tried most of what he suggests. The only thing I haven’t tried is using virtualVP, which would seem to solve my problem, but it doesn’t seem to exist any more!
Cheers - Chris S…>
You don’t need WeatherLink. WD can access the VP2 directly but WeatherLink is setting the link into USB Express mode that WD can’t interact with. You need to reset the dongle back to serial mode which will make it appear in Windows as a COM port without needing WeatherLink to make that port appear. I think that each time you run WeatherLink it sets the port the way it wants it so you’d need to reset it to serial mode each time you use WL.
Hi again Chris - thanks for your reply - and your patience! What you suggest does sound promising! I did try that, but obviously the dongle must be in the wrong mode as it doesn’t work when Weatherlink is stopped & WD is told to use the port Weatherlink was using. The question is - how do I change the mode on the dongle without running Weatherlink?
Cheers - Chris S…>
This video shows what to do and is done by Brian
Cracked it!!! Thanks hcorrin - I did try the utility mentioned by Brian in his video before, but I think I must have had the Vantage disconnected from usb when I did. I ran it again this morning with the Vantage connected & bingo - I looked at Device Manager to see which Com port had been allocated, set WD to that & data started appearing! Weatherlink no longer needed!
Many thanks to all who have tried to help me with this - very much appreciated!
Chris S…>
I am glad I found this forum BEFORE making my purchase. Unfortunately I was recently burned by the Acurite Atlas Display issue and have returned the station for a refund. I am considering the Davis Vantage Pro2, but based on all the reviews that I have seen on this station is that their WeatherLink software is clunky and outdated and uses a lot of resources on your PC. So, like Chris S, I don’t want to use that software, but I’m considering WeatherDisplay. My apologies if I seem unknowledgeable, but many of you keep referring to the dongle. Are you referring to the the USB Dongle and if so, do you have a part number or something that I could use to ensure I am purchasing the right dongle. I would like to report my data, but want to make sure I am moving in the right direction. Any advice you can offer would be appreciated. Thank you all in advance.
Melanie
You have two ways to connect to the VP2 to collect data. They’re shown on this page - Weather Station Data Collection - Davis Instruments
The WeatherLink USB is cheaper and will connect the console to a computer by USB to allow data to be collected. The WeatherLink Live box is more expensive, but allows you to collect the data over your home LAN, e.g. by WiFi, and it can also upload the data to the WeatherLink web site at the same time as you collect it locally. Either of these solutions will work with Weather Display, just with slightly different configuration settings.
Davis VP2 stations are without a doubt the best of the hobby wx stations. Davis does combine hardware (USB/Serial) and software (WeatherLink) together, but that’s not entirely bad…the needed Windows driver is included with WeatherLink. When you purchase the Davis VP2 and WeatherLink you hook up the hardware then load WeatherLink to install the needed driver and confirm that you have setup your VP2 correctly and are receiving data. (The mistake new owners make is selecting USB mode in WeatherLink instead of serial. Setting USB mode puts the Davis unit into USBExpress mode and WD cannot read Davis data in this mode. WD requires the Davis to be in serial mode). Then shutdown WeatherLink and load up WD, set the comm port and start collecting data.
WD and Davis VP2 is a rock sold combination and you will not be disappointed.
Dan:
If you are using WD, which I do a lot, then the Davis needs some software driver to make it’s interface work, I take it, and it isn’t a standard, already in Windows 10, USB driver or such?
And what if one chooses to buy one of the other kinds of boards, third party, aftermarket, that have WiFi interface, logging, auto send to popular weather reporting stations? Do you have familiarity to know if those boards come with their needed drivers to talk over WiFi to a computer that is running WeatherDisplay, or does one still need to get the package from Davis to get the needed software you refer to?
Dale
You can get the drive from Silcon Labs, but it’s easier to use the one from Davis. The main reason is because if at some point down the road you should need support from Davis, at least in the old days, they would only accept problem reports that referenced WeatherLink as the source.
And what if one chooses to buy one of the other kinds of boards, third party, aftermarket, that have WiFi interface, logging, auto send to popular weather reporting stations? Do you have familiarity to know if those boards come with their needed drivers to talk over WiFi to a computer that is running WeatherDisplay, or does one still need to get the package from Davis to get the needed software you refer to? Dale
While I have no experience with them, I do know WD and Windows make a good team. I would expect any 3rd party/non-Davis hardware that required special drivers would be included. I wouldn’t expect Davis to supply drivers for other after market interfaces.
Thank you both for the information! I truly appreciate the guidance.
Melanie