I love tracking data. This can be in the form of computer and network tracking using Zabbix, personal health data through my Apple Watch and Apple Health, or, as is the subject of this post, weather data. But sometimes getting things working can be really frustrating and I wanted to document what I have found setting up my most recent acquisitions from Netatmo so that someone else can hopefully benefit from it.
I have had a Netatmo weather station for a few years now and have been quite happy with it. I recently acquired another indoor station as well as a rain gauge and wind gauge. Setting those up is where I ran into some issues but finally solved. I received the additional indoor unit first and setting it up using the iOS application went as expected and things started working just fine. I only started having issues when the outdoor rain and wind sensors came.
I tried setting them up using the iOS application and they would never connect to the main unit. No matter how many times, it just failed. Upon searching the Netatmo support site, I found a reference to a Mac application that could be used to add modules. While very finicky and repeatedly telling me it had failed to add the modules, it in fact did.
Unfortunately while the rain and wind sensors worked, the outdoor and additional indoor module now failed to work. So I removed the two units and used the iOS app to add them back. But now the rain gauge and wind sensor failed.
After much trial and error I removed all of the modules and then re-added them all using the Mac application. This is what finally got them all operational at the same time. My theory is that the two methods are subtly different and overwrite data for the other.
So if you have issues (or honestly even if you don’t) I would recommend using the Mac (or Windows) application to add all Netatmo modules.
Now back to enjoying all my data.