[DEPRECIATED] Network Connected Ambient Weather Station V6

@kurtsanders I have been informed that if you already have app key you can share that since it links to SmartThings already. We would only need our API key then.

Thanks @SGrayban.

Let me verify that with Ambient technical support, and if that is the case, I can embed the APP key in the build and users would only have to enter their API key in the SmartThings App’s properties for their weather station data.

It’s easy enough to obtain an app key from Ambient via email, so I would still encourage you to pursue this while I double check.

Sure… I was told this by another developer that it’s better to use the APP KEY the developer already uses. They just need to let tech support know that… then all we need is our API KEY and our MAC address for our WS.

Be alot easier to sell this to other Ambient users here.

BTW I email support a week ago and still haven’t heard back yet.

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I just posted this question to the Ambient Network API facebook group, hopefully the page’s admin will get back an answer as I assume that other developers have this same question. I agree, only adding the API key by end users would be easy since one would not have to ask for an APP key. I would be happy to share, but I want to verify that I am not violating the terms of use, and get it revoked?

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Techs have to make a change with the APP KEY to allow more then just your MAC address. I think they open it to global use.

For instance this guy has weather templates you can download that have his APP KEY in the settings…

https://saratoga-weather.org/

# DO NOT CHANGE SWXAWNAPPID -- this is the Saratoga Template Application ID on api.ambientweather.net
$SITE['SWXAWNAPPID'] = '53dd79cd6a1348319e7cc04af033effe24d1bdc82e52468ebfa33e93b96e7ef7';
# 

All the user has to do is add there API key and MAC

$SITE['AWNdid']   = '-your-device-id-'; // your xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx device ID on Ambientweather.net
$SITE['AWNkey']   = '-your-apikey-';    // your apiKey for access to Ambientweather.net

I agree with you, not having to proceed with the extra step to ask Ambient’s tech support for an APP key is optimal, but I am overly cautious not to violate a terms of use somewhere in the hundreds of legal pages that I failed to read thoroughly when I acquired my Ambient APP key.

In my SmartWeather Ambient Weather APP, at least one does not have to enter their Weather stations MAC key, ha!

BTW:

  1. What happens when you this developers’ Ambient APP key and your Ambient API key in my SmartThings Ambient Weather APP?
  2. What version of SmartThings Weather Ambient Weather APP are you using?

I can’t get my app key… They did create it but I can’t expand (application key) in any browser. Not sure what to do now. I even tried getting it on my cell phone.

NM They don’t explain correctly on the account page… They have the app key listed as a API key column.

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So looking at the tiles there are issues in readability and measurements.

First Illuminance(light) I prefer lux measurements and you are using the default which the US doesn’t use.

And some of the info you can’t read because of the coloured circles so text outside that circle is hidden.

Dear @SGrayban,

  1. The Ambient API returns the measurement of “Solar Radiation” as W/m². I shortened the Tile label from Solar Radiation to “Light” to allow the short name to be displayed on one line. As far as the value, there is no simple conversion….it depends on the wavelength or color of the light. However, for the SUN, there is an approximate conversion of 0.0079 W/m2 per Lux and I could add a preference option to display the Light Tile in Lux in a future version, possibly V3 that I am working on. Would that be of interest?
  2. I wonder if you are using the Android version of the SmartThings mobile client, as the iOS version of the ST mobile client, which I only have access to, shows all the weather data within the color tiles (See below). If this is the case with the Android ST Client, I do not have a easy solution for ST’s decision to display Tiles differently on their supported mobile platforms.

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  1. Yes !
  2. Yup Android.

Yes on 1 too…

I’m using Smart Lighting to trigger some lighting based on luminance and the smart app doesn’t allow for a decimal value so ‘lux’ gives me more detailed control of when it triggers…

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Ok, I just updated the V2 version of Ambient Weather Station in my STAmbientWeather GitHub repository to allow the following new features:

  1. Select the units of measure for displaying and reporting Ambient solar radiation value as either ‘W/m²’ or ‘lux’ in the SmartApp preferences (requested by @MongoNash and @SGrayban)
  2. Additionally send the Ambient Weather Station’s windspeed data as a supported ‘power capability’ for displaying a numerical value in Action Tiles. (Requested by @carlk1956)

Please update both the ‘V2’ versions of the SmartApp and Device using the ‘Update from Repo’ button in the ST IDE if these new features warrant.

Please note that STAmbientWeather V3 (alpha version testing which supports up to 8 remote temperature/humidity sensors) has yet to include these same features as V2.

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I would edit the lux setting to show k/lux that lux is really 1000 x 1.0 lux = k/lux or 1000

Some people in the US seem to think that k/lux is non-metric and it isn’t. Coders dumb it down to lux for the idiots.

Otherwise this is great !!

Now to get the color circles fix or remove them… can you colour the entire cell instead ? Or maybe the text ?

BTW my rain totals aren’t correct. Tile says. .01 inch but I had .07 inches.

image

Any updates on Ambient Weather Station V3 to handles remote values from the WH31B? I see you created some of the code. I have added solar radiation and wind speed using kWh. To bad AT can not get this kWH on wind speed fixed.

Dear @carlk1956

The STAmbientWeather V3 (2019) beta version is ready for early testing and now supports up to 8 remote sensors like your Ambient WH31B. The install and instructions are here.

You NOW ONLY need your Ambient API key from your https://dashboard.ambientweather.net/account and some fortitude to install V3 in SmartThings IDE and mobile client.

Dear @SGrayban,

SmartThings software engineers made a decision to only display decimal values in a tile with ONLY one place precision. When passing a number like 0.04, SmartThings rounds down the result to 0. Because of this masking of small decimal numbers, I have a formula in the code that looks at the value of the weather number, like rain, and if it is greater than 0 but less than .1, I rounds up to .1.

I have made some additional bug fixes and changes to calculation of totals in V3 which is now available at GitHub - KurtSanders/STAmbientWeather: Hubitat Integration for Ambient Weather Station. Please update from the STAmbientWeather Repo

Dear @SGrayban,

I wish that the SmartThings mobile Legacy client on Android performed at the same level of the same client on Apple iOS. As it turns out, the Android mobile client errors out on the V3 version but installs perfectly on iOS.

I am researching a means to set a device preference boolean value to allow the user to turn on/off the background colors, but I have not been successful in early testing.

I really do not want to have two development streams for Android and Apple plus I do not own a Android device to even test for bugs.