Frequently Asked Questions

Tag 6162-WEATHERBRIDGE

How to Refresh Your Browsers Cache

Clearing Cache Memory

To ensure you see the latest version of a site you need to clear the cache memory. This is done by doing a force refresh by pressing both control and F5 buttons simultaneously on your keyboard (depending on your browser). Most times a simple force cache refresh won’t work and you need to clear the cache by hand. On this site you can find step by step guides for ChromeFirefox 3Firefox 2Internet Explorer 8Internet Explorer 7Internet Explorer 6Safari and more on how to refresh your cache.

Force Refresh

Someone just told you to “force reload” your browser to fix something. Depending on your operating system all you need to do is the following key combination:

Windows: ctrl + F5
Mac/Apple: Apple + R or command + R
Linux: F5

Cache And Privacy

Internet cache can be a threat to your privacy as everyone who has access to your computer can see some personal information by simply opening the cache folder.
Also when the cache fills up, performance can slow down and your hard drive may run out of space.

Internet Service Provider Cache

In the same way that your web browser has a cache of recent web pages, your Internet Service Provider (ISP) may be doing some caching on your behalf.

In some (rare) cases, even though you are using shift-refresh to get new data from a webpage, the pages still seem to be old. This may be because your Internet Service Provider also has a cache and their cache may not be set up quite right, and they are not downloading the latest web pages.

When you encounter this problem you will have to communicatie with your ISP to fix this problem

 

Command Prompt: Ipconfig /Flushdns

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It may be as simple as placing the remote(s) (powered up with fresh batteries) about 10-20 feet away from the console, power down and up the console by removing one or more batteries, disconnecting from AC power (if applicable), wait 30 seconds, and put the batteries back in, then wait several minutes to synchronize.

DO NOT TOUCH ANY BUTTONS and look for the search icon. Wait until the search icon turns off before pressing any buttons.

If you have more than one sensor, make sure they are programmed to transmit on different channels.

If the problem persists, we have a one year warranty. Please visit: www.AmbientWeather.com/rma.html

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There is no reason to cover the rain gauge. The plastic expands with the ice.

The rain collector mechanism can freeze in the Winter and stop updating. As the snow melts, the rain is counted by the rain collector mechanism.

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A solar radiation sensor measures solar energy from the sun.

Solar radiation is radiant energy emitted by the sun from a nuclear fusion reaction that creates electromagnetic energy. The spectrum of solar radiation is close to that of a black body with a temperature of about 5800 K. About half of the radiation is in the visible short-wave part of the electromagnetic spectrum. The other half is mostly in the near-infrared part, with some in the ultraviolet part of the spectrum.

The units of measure are Watts per square meter.

The device is typically used in agricultural applications, and is used in the calculation of Evapotransportation.

Evapotransportation is the potential for evaporation of moisture from the soil (or the reverse of rainfall) and is a function solar energy, wind and temperature.

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The wind speed or wind direction anemometer can freeze when with cold weather and ice. This will not harm the weather station.

Take a broom or similar pole and gently tap the wind gauges to unfreeze them.

You can spray the top of the unit with teflon snow and ice repellent like this:

https://www.amazon.com/DuPont-Teflon-Snow-Repellant-10-Ounce/dp/B0031T82NO

but this is not 100% effective.

Snow and ice is considered normal maintenance.

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Absolute pressure is the measured atmospheric pressure.

Absolute pressure is not corrected to sea-level conditions.

To compare pressure conditions from one location to another, meteorologists correct pressure to sea-level conditions (referred to as relative pressure, or pressure relative to sea-level).

Because the air pressure decreases as you rise in altitude, the sea-level corrected pressure (the pressure your location would be at if located at sea-level) is higher than your measured pressure if you live above sea-level and lower than your measured pressure if you live below sea-level.

The following is the absolute pressure lapse rate as a function of altitude for standard day conditions:

Relative pressure is the atmospheric pressure corrected to sea-level conditions.

To compare pressure conditions from one location to another, meteorologists correct the measured pressure (referred to as absolute pressure) to sea-level conditions. Because the air pressure decreases as you rise in altitude, the sea-level corrected pressure (the pressure your location would be at if located at sea-level) is higher than your measured pressure if you live above sea-level and lower than your measured pressure if you live below sea-level.

Relative pressure is larger than absolute pressure unless you live at or below sea-level.

You can check your local airport’s pressure here:

https://www.wunderground.com/

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Because lightning is so unpredictable, we cannot make important decisions about your individual installation.

If you are installing the weather station on your roof or structure, consult a licensed electrician that specializes in lightning for advice.

Because weather stations are not hardened against EMP damage (it is very expensive), your weather station will likely not survive a direct or indirect lightning strike.

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Weather Underground only provides indoor data in their iPad application Wunderstation.

However, AmbientWeather.net fully supports indoor and multiple channel sensors.

Here is a complete list of weather stations that work with AmbientWeather.net:

https://www.ambientweather.com/ambientnet.html

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On September 5, 2018, AmbientWeather.net moved the website to a different hosting service.

This may cause updates to cease if the DNS is cached on your device, network (router) or the Internet.

One symptom is the dashboard stops updating, but the graphs continue to update.

To resolve this issue:

  1. Reboot your device:
    – Remove AC power
    – Wait 10 seconds
    – Plug AC power back in
  2. Roboot your router (remove and reconnect AC power).
  3. Give it time for your network to resolve the DNS cache issue.
  4. If the problem persists, restore your device to factory default per the use manual.

The reasons we updated hosting services:

  1. We moved to a service that provides for a static IP address. This means no more DNS issues in the future.
  2. The new hosting service is faster, better supported with tools, and scalable to the rapid growth of users.
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We use Cloudflare for our SSL, and the minimum security they now offer is TLS 1. We’ve requested the WeatherBridge author upgrade the SSL minimum requirements to TLS 1 to prevent any future security vulnerabilities.

Please upgrade to Meteobridge 4.1 to resolve this issue. The simplest way to upgrade your WeatherBridge is power it down by disconnecting the AC adapter, and then re-apply power.

Note: Each WEATHERBRIDGE license comes with 2 years of initial update support. When 2 years have passed and you still want to have access to the most recent updates, this update license gives you additional 2 years access to updates.


If you are unable to upgrade because your upgrade license has expired, please visit:
https://order.shareit.com/cart/new?vendorid=200281929&PRODUCT[300915163]=1
WEATHERBRIDGE, WEATHERBRIDGEPRO or NANO-SD firmware history: https://www.meteobridge.com/wiki/index.php/Forum


 

 

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This is a very common complaint with weather station owners, regardless of model numbers or manufacturers (from the low cost $100 weather station to $1000+ weather stations). Many of the units returned to us meet their accuracy requirements based on a constant speed fan test.

Here are some things to look for on how wind speed and wind gust are defined, proper installation techniques and wind speed perception in general.

  1. In general, if you are getting some drag or bearing failure, the cups will come to an abrupt stop in low winds. If the wind cups coast down to zero wind speed, this signifies your bearings are fine.
  2. Most weather stations average the wind speed over the update period and provide the peak gust in the update period (defined as wind speed and wind gust). Average wind speed, from a perception stand point, is much lower than wind gust, because wind speed is never a constant. Most customers identify with wind gust (when branches fall down for example). Thus, it may be beneficial from a perception stand point to focus on the gust and not the speed.
  3. Most weather stations have a lift off speed (overcoming static friction). This lift off speed can be about 2 miles per hour. This is rarely an issue, because the average wind speed tends to average out through sampling wind speeds less than 2 miles per hour.
  4. Proper installation is very important. The wind gauge should be mounted four times the distance of the differential height of the tallest obstruction.

    Example: House = 20 ft tall, pole = 5′ tall.

    Distance = 4 (20 – 5) ft = 60′ away from house.

  5. Compare your weather station to other stations in your area.

    An excellent guide is to visit:

    wunderground.com

    And enter your zip code. Compare your wind speed and gust with other stations in the area by scrolling to the bottom of the search results page until you see “Nearby Weather Stations”.

  1. Here is a general guide in what occurs on land as a function of wind gust:

 

Wind Gust (mph) WMO Classification On Land
< 1 Calm Calm, smoke rises vertically
1-3 Light Air Smoke drift indicates wind direction, still wind vanes
4-7 Light Breeze Wind felt on face, leaves rustle, vanes begin to move
8-12 Gentle Breeze Leaves and small twigs constantly moving, light flags extended
13-18 Moderate Breeze Dust, leaves, and loose paper lifted, small tree branches move
19-24 Fresh Breeze Small trees in leaf begin to sway
25-31 Strong Breeze Larger tree branches moving, whistling in wires
32-38 Near Gale Whole trees moving, resistance felt walking against wind
38-46 Gale Twigs breaking off trees, generally impedes progress
47-54 Strong Gale Slight structural damage occurs, slate blows off roofs
55-63 Storm Seldom experienced on land, trees broken or uprooted, “considerable structural damage”
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If the wind direction is incorrect, it is likely a calibration issue. You must calibrate your wind vane to true north using markers on the wind vane. This procedure is described in your product User Manual.

Some other common mistakes.

  1. Wind direction appears 180 degrees out of phase. Note that wind direction is based on the direction the wind is coming from, not going to. For example, you will hear on news reports that ‘the wind is from the North”.
  2. Calibrate your direction to true north, not magnetic north.Declination is the difference between true north and magnetic north (compasses measure magnetic north).
    To determine declination:

    http://magnetic-declination.com/

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To connect your WeatherBridge or WeatherBridgePro to AmbientWeather.net:

  1. Find your WeatherBridge on the network:

How Do I Find My WeatherBridge On My Network?

2. Select the Weather Network tab on the WeatherBridge:

3. Make sure a timer is set. Make sure the MAC address matches the MAC address you entered on AmbientWeather.net by going to the following link:

https://ambientweather.net/devices

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If the Status/Reset light is flashing rapidly, it has not made a connection to the Internet. Make sure the WeatherBridge is plugged into your router and the router is connected to the Internet.

If the problem persists, perform a factory reset:

To restore the WeatherBridge to factory default, plug the WeatherBridge into your router, press and hold the status light until it blinks five times, then let go. The WeatherBridge will reboot and wait until the status on the WeatherBridge transitions from blinking rapidly to a solid.

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To find your WeatherBridge on your local area network:

  1. Make sure the status/reset LED is solid and not blinking rapidly. This means it has made a connection to the Internet.

  2. With a web browser on the same network, go to:

    http://magicip.meteobridge.com/

  3. Click on the IP address of your device.
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It is not possible to connect to WeatherLink.com which is proprietary.

However, consider AmbientWeather.net which is included.
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To remotely access your WeatherBridge and WeatherBridgePro, from a computer on your local area network (LAN), open a web browser and type:

http://magicip.meteobridge.com

Select the System Panel and check the box:

Next, click on this URL to view this link. Your web browser will open and display the encrypted link. Your browser address bar will look similar to this:

https://admin.meteobridge.com/049e91e656d4a58ea6f2ffb15ede0b75/

If you need tech support, email this encrypted URL (copy and paste it into an email) to:

info@meteohub.de or support@ambientweather.com

with your password.

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The Trash Can allows you to remove sensors that are no longer operating properly in your weather station system, to prevent data corruption on the hosting sites.

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  1. Make sure the date, time and time zone match on the WeatherBridge and display console. If there are different, then the rain increments will be different.
  2. To set the Time Zone and Annual Rain starting month (default is January), click on the System tab.

3. The WeatherBridge calculates rain totals independent of the console. To adjust the rain totals, go to the Live Data Panel and click into the field you wish to adjust and enter the corrected rain total(s).

 

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