[markkkk42]

Hi Werk

What is the radio data format you use for the 433 mhz radios?. The radio link is very hit and miss around metal sheds. I am using proper radio antennas for the 433 mhz band...actual commercial to way radio antennas  and I am not happy with the performance and would like longer distances if possible. The 433 radios from ebay are ok for the money and short range but have you done any work on extending that range.   Are you just sending data packets manchester encoded are just serial data to the radio. Lora maybe a possibility but it depends on how fast your data rate is as Lora doesnt use a fast data rate. Is it 1200 baud or 2400?...or faster

I should be able to interface a different radio module. I havent looked at the data output packets yet from the arduino.

Another thing as well is i have had 2 nano die now on a GPIO.  The latest was the rain gauge which is just a pulled high input but my rain gauge stopped registering and it drove me nuts trying to faultfind it as I couldnt find anything wrong and the nano input was pulled high and went low with the reed switch but it wasnt registering. I replaced the nano and it now works

I am doing a complete rebuild of my 2 systems I have here now and making them the same. I am really pleased with the Inspeed wing sensors so and getting another set. The rain gauge from the davis I will reuse and the other I just have a FO rain gauge. Been trying to find a good reasonably priced rain gauge to make both the same but nothing yet. The other thing i am trying to find is a cheap housing for the outside temp sensor that doesnt heat up too much. the davis one seems to work well but I have repurposed a FO one and it is no where near as good when the sun comes out

[AllyCat]

Hi,

I will be following this thread with interest because I also would like to use other transceivers and/or host microcontrollers (for lower power applications).  But perhaps I can give a few answers.

Weatherduino originally used the "Virtualwire" Arduino library, but a few months ago this was replaced by "Radiohead".  However, I believe the wireless protocol is basically the same and converts each group of 4 bits to 6 bits using a lookup table, to "balance" the number of 0s and 1s.  Each packet terminates with a CRC "checksum", but I don't know if this is 16 bits or 8.

The present Weatherduino boards use purely "dumb" transmitter and receiver modules, but many modern "Smart" transceivers (particularly LoRa) need to be configured by the host microcontroller.  However, Werk recently commented in a thread that the "development team" already has a prototype LoRa system under test. 

Yes the Fine Offset "Solar Screen" is terrible even in UK, with a rise of at least 5 degrees C when the sun hits it. I put mine in a "shaded" location (not up on the mast as the optimistic FO photos show) and I've seen it suggested that painting the screen with "brilliant white" paint can help. But I also would like to use a few FO screens (since I have several) and propose to try a modestly-sized PV Solar Panel to create some "shade" and to run a small computer fan inside the Solar Screen.

Cheers,  Alan.

[markkkk42]

I will look at the data output from the micro and see what it is like. There are plenty of RF modules around that will take straight rail to rail data input. Some not so good as other of course. I used to have some from some work stuff I did too many years ago to remember now but will chase up some more modern stuff. The main thing is the baud rate. I dont think it will be very fast and thats a good thing to keep the module cost down.

I have only just briefly looked at Lora and it seems really great but not sure if it requires the data presented to it to be in any special format. The biggest issue of course is the low power thats legal to use and of course the frequency allowed for different countries. 

The weather shield the Davis uses work great but the FO one is really crap. I know one of the guys here locally bought a alu one as I found it reading some posts but I thought it was a bit expensive. There must be some cheaper ones around but I have not looked very much for one yet.

[werk_ag]

In my opinion the FO Radiation shield (without the original transmitter inside) is not appropriate to put a temperature /Humidity sensor inside, not just because its inefficiency, but because the spacing between "the plates" is too large. On windy days rain can easily get in and reach the sensor. I could bet that a sensor without additional protection don't last more than an winter inside an FO radiation shield.

Mark, as AllyCat said, LoRa radios can't be seen as a simple replacement for the OOK/ASK/FSK radios used on the majority of weather stations, they require a completely different hardware support. Indeed I already have some working prototypes using LoRa, but I haven't any idea if they ever will be released. TX and RX PCB are more complex and totally based on SMD parts. Assemble two or three units is funny, but assemble twenty or thirty boards its very time consuming, each unit takes some hours to assemble manually. By other side, the RF modules currently used can easily cover a range from 40 to 50 meters with one or two walls in between, which is enough for most of the installations.

...
The radio link is very hit and miss around metal sheds.
...

I think this happen with any radio transmission / reception.


Regarding the baud rate, the greater the baud rate, less the covering range. Currently WeatherDuino uses 1000 bps

[werk_ag]

Weatherduino originally used the "Virtualwire" Arduino library, but a few months ago this was replaced by "Radiohead".  However, I believe the wireless protocol is basically the same and converts each group of 4 bits to 6 bits using a lookup table, to "balance" the number of 0s and 1s.  Each packet terminates with a CRC "checksum", but I don't know if this is 16 bits or 8.

The present Weatherduino boards use purely "dumb" transmitter and receiver modules, but many modern "Smart" transceivers (particularly LoRa) need to be configured by the host microcontroller.  However, Werk recently commented in a thread that the "development team" already has a prototype LoRa system under test. 

One of the reasons we have changed to the RadioHead library is because it also include support for LoRa radios, like the RFM95, which we are using in the prototype units.
To keep backward compatibility with existing systems, the prototype receiver can simultaneously receive data from 433Mhz and LoRa (868Mhz) transmitter units (it uses two radio receivers, one RXB6 and one RFM95).

[StaLeWaR]

Hi Werk,

The use of LoRa I think is very promising.
Maybe you will give more information about the current results?

[werk_ag]

Hi,

I'm afraid that nothing will come out before Q2 of 2019 or even later. My free time continues to be very short...