WeatherFlow PiConsole

[peter]

WeatherFlow PiConsole is a Python console that will display the data collected by a WeatherFlow Tempest or Smart Home Weather Station. The console uses the WeatherFlow REST API and websocket to stream data from your station in real time via the internet. As soon as the data from your station reaches the WeatherFlow servers, it is pushed immediately to the console, including the 3-second rapid wind updates.

The console is compatible with Raspberry Pi 3 and 4 running Raspberry Pi OS with the Official 7 inch touchscreen or equivalent. It can also be run on a PC with Ubuntu 18.04 LTS (it is not currently compatible with Ubuntu 20.04 LTS) or Raspberry Pi OS.

Code and Instructions: The code and instructions about how to get the PiConsole up and running can be found on GitHub

Latest Version: v4.0.2 (10th January 2021)

Features

• Wind speed and direction including three second rapid wind updates
• Outdoor air temperature/humidity/feels Like
• Indoor air temperature (requires an indoor Air module)
• Daily maximum and minimum outdoor/indoor temperature
• Daily maximum wind gust and daily averaged wind speed
• Atmospheric pressure, pressure trend, and expected conditions
• Daily maximum and minimum pressure
• Current rainfall rate along with today/yesterday/monthly/yearly totals
• Time and distance to latest lightning strike
• Lightning strike frequency
• Last 3 hours/today/monthly/yearly lightning strike totals
• Solar radiation and UV index
• Sunrise/sunset information
• Moonrise/moonset information
• Location specific forecast from WeatherFlow
• Location specific Sager Weathercaster Forecast
• Settings screen to change display units and other options

The console layout is fully customisable, allowing you to personalise how you display the data from your WeatherFlow station.

Screenshot

Minimum Raspberry Pi hardware/software requirements

• Raspberry Pi Official 7 inch Touchscreen and case or equivalent (Note: screen that attach to the GPIO pins (SPI) are not compatible)
• Any Raspberry Pi model (except Raspberry Pi Zero or Zero W). Raspberry Pi 3 Model B/B+ or Raspberry Pi 4 recommended
• 5.1 volt 2.5 amp (Pi3) or 3 amp (Pi4) power supply
• Latest version of Raspberry Pi OS (Desktop version) with Python v3.5-3.7

Recent Version History and Changelog

v4.0.2

• Fixed bugs in rain accumulation calculations
• Fixed bug when Air or Sky data is missing
• Fixed bug when pressure data is missing

v4.0.1 (8th November 2020)

• Fixed bug in autostart that caused the console to start too quickly
• Improved scaling for extreme aspect ratios
• Fixed text clipping when using alignment
• Fixed bug in forecast when precipitation type/probability missing
• Fixed bug in forecast when changing units

v4.0 (20th October 2020)

• New forecast panel showing daily and hourly forecast values
• Console now compatible with arbitary screen sizes
• One line installer now compatible with Ubuntu and Raspberry Pi OS on PCs
• New font to improve display

Full change log is available on GitHub

Credits
Credit and thanks to @Weather34 and his Home Weather Station template.

[GaryFunk]

This is great. Congratulations!

[eric]

great

I was looking at a little screen for one of my pi’s and how to get data from the station on there as a desk console … think I just saw the solution

@GaryFunk : time to update your wiki post

[spacesnow]

I love those iniatives!

[GaryFunk]

I’m going to order the 7" screen just for this.

[vreihen]

Silly question - Why is the wind reading in MPH when everything else is metric?

Since I have the required official screen on a Pi3 just waiting for a killer app like this, I’ll be the first person to ask for a download link to try it out…

[peter]

That’s not a silly question! It’s what comes from living in the UK. We still doggedly stick with MPH whilst everything else is metric.

Check your inbox for instructions. Still haven’t decided the best way to distribute them!

[GaryFunk]

I hate you.

With all my love,

Gary

P.S. Where did you order your screen?

[GaryFunk]

Still haven’t decided the best way to distribute them!

If you don’t have your own website, GitHub is good for distribution. You can write a shell script to handle Installation.

[peter]

A shell script for installation is a great idea. Didn’t think of that! The code is already on GitHub, but I think I need to utilise the README.md a bit more for sharing the instructions…

[vinceskahan]

ooooooooohhhhhh that is really nice…

[sunny]

my station is in customs, but in anticipation I already bought some batteries, and I’m about to buy a ladder, to be able to mount it, and now I might be tempted to buy a raspberry pi with screen. This looks great.

[vreihen]

P.S. Where did you order your screen?

I picked it up from Amazon in 2016. I did not find the display particularly useful, and only use that Pi tucked in a corner as a test mule for weewx and Homebridge driver development. Given the price and resolution, I’m still a firm believer in the use of a cheap 7" Android tablet because they are thinner and have higher resolution.

As I said, I’m hoping that this is the killer app that will finally make the “meh” official Pi display useful for something…

[GaryFunk]

the “meh” official Pi display

That’s my issue. The display isn’t good and for the resolution it is overpriced.

[peter]

I agree - I don’t understand why they designed the screen with such a low resolution, and with non-square pixels to boot!

On the upside though, I find the display increases the versatility of the Pi enormously, and the resolution is not too bad. It certainly doesn’t look pixelated from any sensible distance. It also allows me to run a console, your Archiver (when my station arrives in the mail!), a VPN, and whatever else comes in mind in the future in a single, compact, low energy system.

I’d highly recommend this stand for the screen as well - https://smarticase.com/collections/all/products/smartipi-touch. Getting the angle right made the single best improvement to the quality of the display.

[coley.curtin]

I’d love to give this a whirl - where can I download?
Thanks
-Coley.

[gazzasbees]

Wow that is nice, great work.

[Weather34]

firstly well done i hope it becomes a useful feature for weatherflow hardware .

i did not realise you were mixing up elements from stuff I did two years ago or more for ws1001 console screens .

if you need cleaner weather icons for the darksky data let me know i can easily batch convert the original SVG current stuff I use into png .not knowing at all about pi raspberry stuff i dont know if it would support SVG image/icons .if so I have all this stuff in original AI /Sketch formats mostly at 1024x1024 dimensions which makes scaling for more cleaner. anyway well done wish I had some knowledge of Pi stuff but i dont so i take my hat off too you and wish you lots of success and Im sure it will evolve …it always does…

[vreihen]

I agree - I don’t understand why they designed the screen with such a low resolution, and with non-square pixels to boot!

Three words…price point engineering. Every hardware decision made by the Raspberry Pi Foundation has to consider price over everything else, since their products are developed as throwaway education tools and not as a replacement for more powerful devices…

[peter]

You make a good point - it is easy to forget that the Raspberry Pi was designed as an educational tool!