question: Acurite Access - does it contain a barometer sensor?

[mrneutron42]

I recently bought an Acurite Atlas. Yesterday, I learned that the outdoor Atlas sensor unit does not include a barometer sensor. Acurite puts the barometer sensor inside their indoor display units. I had been hoping to use the weewx-sdr to catch all the data (including barometer).

I wonder if the Acurite Access unit has a barometer sensor inside?

[rct]

Yes, the Acurite Access box has the barometer sensor inside. None of their outdoor weather stations have a barometer in them.

[mrneutron42]

Thanks for this information! I never found it detailed in any of Acurite's documentation (manuals, website) - frustrating.

My goal was for weewx to receive the data from an Acurite Atlas using rtl_433. I now have that rtl_433 system working and capturing data from the Atlas. Unless there is a 433MHz barometer sensor, I could add to the weewx system, it appears that if I want barometer data in weewx, I need to buy an Acurite Access unit.

[rct]

Personally, I wouldn't purchase an Acurite Access just for pressure(*)

With the Access you get 5 minute reports instead of the real time updates you are seeing now with rtl_433.

I haven't seriously looked for a 433mhz barometer in a while. I've seen a bunch of people that just connect a pressure sensor (bosch IIRC) to an RPI.

(*) - I do have an Access, because I got that cheap upgrade from the old smarthub, so I do get pressure from it. (The Access and the Smarhub because I got them early were helpful to me in figuring out Acurite decoding.)

Interestingly the Access gives pressure readings that are close enough to what I get from the closest airport. Where having a local sensor wins out is when the readings are changing quickly, which usually only happens if some sort of big storm is coming in.

[mrneutron42]

Interesting thought - grab the local airport pressure. How can you import local airport barometric pressure readings into weewx?

I still like the idea of having a local barometric pressure sensor. I did some searches and didn't find any USB barometer or pressure sensors. I did find several Adafruit PCBs with pressure sensors on them.  But, they have i2c or SPI interfaces, not USB. https://www.adafruit.com/category/114

[rct]

How can you import local airport barometric pressure readings into weewx?

Sorry for the confusion, the above screenshots are from Home Assistant for showing how close the readings are over an interval.

I'm using weather integrations in Home Assistant to poll the US National Weather Service for the closest airport observations (and forecasts). I'm also pulling some other weather data from Open Weather Map and Dark Sky (until it goes away).

Home Assistant pushes data to MQTT and InfluxDB. However I'm not currently publishing to WeeWX, I've been using Home Assistant as my primary real time console. I also have rtl_433 publishing directly to MQTT, which is how I get that data to Home Assistant and anything else that wants to consume it. I thought I saw there may be an MQTT option for weewx, but not sure if that is for consuming data or publishing data.

Yes, the sensors that I've seen connected to an RPI use I2C or SPI. I haven't seen a USB interfaced version. I think I picked up one of the Adafruit sensors but never got around to hooking it up to a RPI. Looks straightforward, but I'm currently getting pressure in 5 minute updates from the Acurite Access, though I'd like to eliminate the dependency on that some day.

[mrneutron42]

I just put together a barometer that can feed WeeWX, using a BMP280 pressure sensor + ESP-12F dev board + Tasmota firmware + MQTT + MQTTSubscribe add-on for WeeWX! Getting MQTT and MQTTSubscribe set up were the hardest parts.
I got crucial advice on the weewx-user Google Group and that me over the hump!