Migrating to Tempest from Air and Sky

When we receive our new Tempest systems, what would be the best way to replace our existing hardware (i.e. Air/Sky), without having to create NEW station numbers, etc.

Would it make sense to re-use and link the new device to our existing hubs?

I’m not sure if anyone has tackled this topic, but it would be nice to have a document to follow, or some other guidance to minimize downtime and disruption. I would rather not upset the existing links I have to WeatherFlow, and all of the services I’m feeding with my Meteobridge.

Thanks in advance!

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Hi Tony. Yes, there are at least three options for existing owners to migrate to Tempest:

  1. keep the two stations completely separate (two hubs)
  2. pair your old devices (AIR / SKY) to your new hub (keep your old hub as a spare)
  3. pair your new device (Tempest) to your old hub (not optimal, but possible)

There will be pros and cons to both and we’ll provide a guide soon!

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Thanks David…

I’m really looking forward to my shipment arriving (I’m in PA, so you can imagine the lockdown we’re under!)

Stay safe!

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@dsj many of us existing users have been waiting for the Tempest only option so didn’t back the campaigns to avoid having an extra hub for no reason, and now you are saying using the old hub will be sub-optimal? Or do you just mean the pairing process?

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Good question, Dave. I wrote “sub-optimal” because the latest Hub supports a couple features that the older one doesn’t. You don’t need those features, but having them would be “optimal” :slight_smile:

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With these features will a user notice any performance or capability differences when using Tempest on a new vs. old hub?

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The only new feature a user might notice is the ability to adjust the brightness of the LED, although we haven’t built that into the apps yet, so it’s not something you’d notice at all yet.

The other significant feature in the latest Hub is the ability to update the firmware on the Tempest device. This was super helpful during the field test but now that the firmware is mature, it should not be an issue going forward. Note that the AIR & SKY have not needed a firmware update since they were released. In the unlikely event that we need to update the firmware on your Tempest, but you don’t have the latest hub, we’ll figure out a different way to take care of you!

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Thanks @dsj - appreciate the further explanation as you made me quite curious there :slight_smile:

LED really doesn’t bother me, more lights the merrier as far as I am concerned, saves me putting Christmas lights up :smiley: but the firmware update could certainly be useful, so nice to hear there will be a solution, if necessary. No idea why I even questioned it now, I should have know Weatherflow would step in to resolve any issues from past experience! :+1:

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I believe this still falls under Migrating to Tempest;

I ran into a few problems with my new hub… I couldn’t get past the setup screen for the new hub originally, because part of the process requires that you link at least one device. It would be helpful if either:

  1. Allow for the setup of the hub first, before linking sensors…
  2. Offer a ‘replace/swap’ hub in the app capability.
  3. Allow for the possibility of ‘transferring’ existing devices to the new hub without physical re-pairing. (I’m not sure if this is possible)

Another thing (not related to WF directly) is that the new Tempest seems to have a new schema that Meteobridge doesn’t understand.

Meteobrige has support for Air/Sky, but when I have my Tempest connected to the hub (my original hub), the data logger recognizes it as the Sky device, and times out when it doesn’t see any Air sensor values come into it.

I reached out to Boris, the developer of the Meteobrige, and he sent me back a rather terse message basically saying “why are you trying to connect an unsupported device? Just plug back in your Air/Sky, (and essentially, ‘Don’t bother me, silly boy!).

To say that I was completely taken aback by this response was ridiculous.

I did ask him, very politely to ‘consider’ adding support for Tempest… it can’t be THAT difficult…

Does anyone have a ‘relationship’ with Boris, that could inquire on behalf of our community?

Thanks!

3 posts were merged into an existing topic: Meteobridge device

It actually does not. I set up the Hub and skipped the part that added the Tempest.

Hey Gary, thanks for adding in…

I may have missed something, but… however ugly, I do now have my Tempest (and older Air, inside) linked to my new hub. I did wind up going roof hopping, hopefully for the last time.

Sadly, short of a better migration process, I had to abandon my older site, and migrate to the new site created by the new hub.

(And for what it’s worth, it was your recommendation on the UDI ISY forums that brought me to WeatherFlow back in 2017! Thanks again!)

Tony

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Hi, Tony,

I just set up a new station. The good news is your data is safe and given time WeatherFlow can help restore you old data.

Boris has shown little interest in WeatherFlow except to initially support the Sky/Air. He has ample time to ask questions and receive the necessary information to add support for Tempest.

As for “hanging your dirty washing out in public” don’t give it a second thought. If Boris is the type to abandon an entire group of supporters because of one comment, well, everyone can form their on opinion. Just beware of those here that do as they accuse of you.

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Thanks for your kind comments! I really do appreciate them…

I guess I need to be a little more patient, as like many, I’m like a kid on Christmas morning!

Tony

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I too, at times. The Tempest is a neat device and I think it’s going to do well when all the ancillary applications are finalized.

Hang in and keep your stick on the ice. We’re all in this together.

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I know this is an old thread, but I’m replacing air and sky with a tempest. How would I keep my historical data while also removing air and sky from my account? Ideally I’d like tempest to simply take over the readings.

You will need to ask support to see if there is a way to bring the data over. I don’t think there is a way but WF may have come up with one. This is something they would have to do on their end of things since there is no way to “Replace Device” moving from SKY/AIR to Tempest.

Remember that you can still keep your SKY and AIR linked to your hub. You might consider putting the SKY down low to get a low rain reading and maybe your AIR could be moved indoors if you want indoor information. Just make sure you mark it as Indoor in the app so WF doesn’t try to calibrate it to outside. Doing this would keep your historical data for sure. Just ask WF support to mark your Tempest as the primary device so your forecast and such work the way you want.

If you aren’t going to keep your SKY or AIR there are probably people who would be willing to buy them. Just realize that there are two versions of them with different radio frequencies to accommodate different countries’ requirements.

Thanks. I’ll contact support. I probably won’t keep the air and sky since one device is going to better serve my purposes now. Thank you.