Hi all,
So I’ve configured and setup the new weather station now.
For anyone who’s interested I used a TV aerial pole and bracket that you would usually use for mounting an aerial to a chimney. I fixed the bracket to the concrete block supports under our oil tank - it worked out great.
The initial setup of the station is really easy and the instructions are good. It comes with different mounting options (horizontal, vertical and pole which I used).
The base station (screen) is plugged in on our kitchen counter and it connects via RF 868Mhz to the outdoor weather station.
In terms of SmartLife app setup it couldn’t have been easier.
When I powered on the base unit it was already in AP Wireless config mode so was advertising itself as a sensor. I simply opened the SmartLife app and without doing anything it found the device and asked if I wanted to register it. No different than adding a bulb or socket!
Tapping on the new device/sensor in the app brings up the sensor readings. You also get a history screen with trend graphs for data over the past day, week, month.
This is a screenshot from SmartLife from Christmas Day - The rain gauge was put to the test as we had over 50mm of rainfall that day within a few hours!
The only downside is that the app is missing one important piece of information which is the forecast for the next 12-24hrs (e.g. cloudy, rain, sunny etc.). This is displayed as a graphic on the base unit screen.
This is obviously calculated by algorithms in the base unit screen itself but it’s a shame that Bresser didn’t push this data as an output via Tuya so that it would show up in the app along with all of the other data values.
In Apilio the device showed up no differently to any other device.
Here you can see some of the available sensor values which are all available in Apilio for use in conditions. They all are part of the single weather station device but are available to select individually via the device dropdown when you configure a condition.
So far, I’m just using the UV lux reading to determine if it’s a dark day (cloudy) outside and if I should have Apilio turn on some lights. It’s working well and just needs a bit of tweaking to get the right lux level.
Here’s the condition I setup to check if it’s dark outside using the UV reading from the weather station.
Overall I’m pleased with the unit and it seems to be reading accurately and giving a reasonably accurate 12-24hr forecast also based on data readings. I might contact Bresser to see if they have any future plans of making the forecast data available via SmartLife/TUYA which would be of use.
Rgds,
Joe
!