Quick Start Guide

Quick Start Guide

Introduction

This is the quick start guide to installing the Ecowitt gateway driver extension. It should be used to complete a default Ecowitt gateway driver installation using the WeeWX weectl extension utility. If you wish to install the Ecowitt gateway driver as a WeeWX service to augment loop data produced by another driver, then you should refer to the Installation as a WeeWX service instructions.

Pre-Requisites

The Ecowitt gateway driver requires WeeWX v3.7.0 or greater and will operate under Python 2 or Python 3.

Quick Start

Note: The following instructions are for installation under WeeWX v5.0.0 or later. For installation under earlier WeeWX versions refer to the legacy WeeWX installation instructions.

1. If the Ecowitt Gateway driver is to be installed on a fresh WeeWX installation first install WeeWX and configure WeeWX to use the simulator driver.

2. Install the latest version of the Ecowitt Gateway driver using the weectl extension utility.

   Note: The exact command syntax to invoke weectl extension on your system will depend on the installer used to install WeeWX. Refer to Installation methods in the WeeWX User's Guide.

   For WeeWX package installs:

   weectl extension install https://github.com/gjr80/weewx-gw1000/releases/latest/download/gw1000.zip 
   

   For WeeWX pip installs the Python virtual environment must be activated before the extension is installed:

   source ~/weewx-venv/bin/activate
   weectl extension install https://github.com/gjr80/weewx-gw1000/releases/latest/download/gw1000.zip
   

   For WeeWX installs from git the Python virtual environment must be activated before the extension is installed:

   source ~/weewx-venv/bin/activate
   python3 ~/weewx/src/weectl.py extension install https://github.com/gjr80/weewx-gw1000/releases/latest/download/gw1000.zip
   

3. Test the Ecowitt Gateway driver by running the driver file directly using the --test-driver command line option.

   For WeeWX package installs use:

   PYTHONPATH=/usr/share/weewx python3 /etc/weewx/bin/user/gw1000.py --test-driver --ip-address=device_ip_address
   

   where device_ip_address is the IP address of the gateway device being used.

   For WeeWX pip installs the Python virtual environment must be activated before the driver is invoked:

   source ~/weewx-venv/bin/activate
   python3 ~/weewx-data/bin/user/gw1000.py --test-driver --ip-address=device_ip_address
   

   where device_ip_address is the IP address of the gateway device being used.

   For WeeWX installs from git the Python virtual environment must be activated before the driver is invoked using the path to the local WeeWX git clone:

   source ~/weewx-venv/bin/activate
   PYTHONPATH=~/weewx/src python3 ~/weewx-data/bin/user/gw1000.py --test-driver --ip-address=device_ip_address
   

   where device_ip_address is the IP address of the gateway device being used.

   You should observe loop packets being emitted on a regular basis. Once finished press ctrl-c to exit.

   Note: You will only see loop packets and not archive records when running the driver directly. This is because you are seeing output not from WeeWX, but rather directly from the driver.

4. Select and configure the driver.

   For WeeWX package installs use:

   weectl station reconfigure --driver=user.gw1000
   

   For WeeWX pip installs the Python virtual environment must be activated before weectl is used to select and configure the driver:

   source ~/weewx-venv/bin/activate
   weectl station reconfigure --driver=user.gw1000
   

   For WeeWX installs from git the Python virtual environment must be activated before weectl.py is used to select and configure the driver:

   source ~/weewx-venv/bin/activate
   python3 ~/weewx/src/weectl.py station reconfigure --driver=user.gw1000
   

5. You may choose to run WeeWX directly to observe the loop packets and archive records being generated by WeeWX. If WeeWX is already running stop WeeWX before running the driver directly.

6. Once satisfied that the Ecowitt Gateway driver is operating correctly you can restart the WeeWX daemon:

   sudo /etc/init.d/weewx restart
   

   or

   sudo service weewx restart
   

   or

   sudo systemctl restart weewx
   

7. You may wish to refer to the Ecowitt Gateway driver wiki for further guidance on customising the operation of the Ecowitt Gateway driver and integrating gateway device data into WeeWX generated reports.