ECOWITT WITTBOY Weather Station Review (Inc Home Assistant Integration)

[@bradleyensor4902]

Thanks

[@smart_home_australia]

Thanks Bradley. Much appreciated.

[@simonsayshomeassistant]

Looks like a great weather station!

[@smart_home_australia]

Thanks Simon. If you are in the market for a weather station I’d highly recommend. 😊👍

[@kgeorg1979]

If I set it up in HA can my wife still set it up in the app or is it an either/or thing? What about using the TFT dashboard they sell?

[@smart_home_australia]

Both, I run in HA and the App, and soon to will be on the panel also, watch out for that video coming shortly. :)

[@BigBird2202]

Interesting little product great video thank you very much

[@smart_home_australia]

Hi BB, If you are a data lover then this little product is a must have. Even for accurate weather and creating automation based on the weather its super handy.

[@Terry-rd8bh]

Nice video, relaxed attitude compared to some of the shouting people out there. Thanks for making it. As I'm interested I have downloaded the WS90 manual and it mentions on the top of page 12 that "3.The extension cord can also power the entire sensor, not just melts the ice!" contrary what you say in the video. Which would be awesome at the higher latitudes during winter!

[@smart_home_australia]

I checked for you and yes you are correct. If the power cord is used it can power the whole device. But I guess it also charges the internal capacitor just in case of power cut. But if you install the 2xAA batteries you get double redundancy. Thanks for pointing that out. As you say it’s an important feature.

[@loganabbott9150]

You should make a video about creating a beautiful weather dashboard based on all the sensors in that bad boy!

[@smart_home_australia]

It’s on the plan but only so many videos I can put out a week 😊

[@gerryf7015]

Have you looked at WeatherFlow Tempest weather station. Similar to the Ecowitt but more measurements - 15, I think. Lightning is an important one for me. Also has HA integration. Ecowitt also has soil humidity sensors and other air quality and temperature sensors that might make a fun gardening or sprinkler project.

[@smart_home_australia]

Hi Gerry. Yep. Very happy with the Ecowitt. Hasn’t missed a beat since I got it. And heaps of sensor information (check out next weeks video 😉) I’ve seen the Tempest and it looks great also. I’ll see if I can get partner approval to purchase on 😊🙏

[@cyclemadkiwi]

I received mine 2 days ago, setup was simple and loving it! Can't wait for my iSG display to get HA running and the weather cards! 😊

[@smart_home_australia]

Agreed, so much data you cant ask for much more.... although hold that thought as I have something coming for review that you are going to WANT around this topic... trust me !!

[@cyclemadkiwi]

I've now got my ISG and entering the world of HA. I've got all my tuya devices in HA. In this video, to connect to whitboy, are you plugging the hub into the laptop to get access to its wifi? Just got a little lost there. And, if I do reset the hub, will it keep connection to rhe weather station or upset the app link etc?

[@smart_home_australia]

@@cyclemadkiwi Well done Glen !! I've got a press release version and am planning a my video currently. So you know more than me :) Keep an eye out for the video shortly.

[@cyclemadkiwi]

@@smart_home_australia good luck, I'd suggest waiting until the end of the month for the next update in firmware, this will fix a myriad of issues, but more importantly will update HA to 2024.4 as currently it's 2023.10 I'll be waiting with baited breath!

[@smart_home_australia]

@@cyclemadkiwi Yep, LnL already told me that HA migration will come in the May firmware and thats going to be a HUGE deal. I know you setup from scratch but the majority of people have instances already and will want to migrate across. Also the 6 supported protocols sounds too good to be true, but LnL assure me thats this is 100% solid. Its just a shame they didnt put in ZWave as this is huge in the American market, but these are all scripting ideas :) so watch out for the video (released to member first ! :))

[@franciscor9527]

Hello. Can you indicate how to pass the data from the Ecowitt WittBoy weather station to influxdb?

[@smart_home_australia]

Sure can, leave it with me, I'll add it to the video production schedule. :)

[@TJHOW1]

This should work with GW1100? When I setup in HA I get a 172.18.0.2 address instead of 192. and never connects

[@smart_home_australia]

The GW1100 is older technology but still should be able to communicate with the WittBoy. The 172.18.0.2 sounds like it is an internal IP address, an address thats used to communicate between the GW1100 and the WittBoy. The 192.168.x.x. address is the external address thats used for the user interface. I think you might need to put a call in with EcoWit to talk through the specifics, sorry I cant be of any more help.

[@TJHOW1]

@@smart_home_australia ok thanks, I am running it in windows docker container

[@smart_home_australia]

Same should apply for Docker. Put a call in with Ecowitt (very helpful tech!) and ask the question.

[@samza9]

How to connect from outside the network.

[@smart_home_australia]

When connecting to the Witboy from inside or outside the network you are connecting to the EcoWitt cloud servers, so there should be no difference. When connecting to your Wittboy from Home Assistant, then you are viewing the data that is in HA that was obtained from the EcoWitt Servers. I hope that explains the different access methods.

[@wifjones5464]

What about Amazon Alexa? Does it work with it? You show the logo but you seem not saying anything… am I wrong?

[@smart_home_australia]

Yes you can, but, (isnt there always a but in Smart Home stuff :)). Link your EcoWitt to your Home Assistant, then link you Home Assistant to Alexa and everything works. The measurements are exposed and you can ask Alexa what the outside temperature is etc. Unfortunately there is no direct integration. I've reached out to EcoWitt to see if this is on the cards and will let you know what they say.

[@wifjones5464]

@@smart_home_australia thank you! So in practice I need both assistants (Home Assistant +Alexa) at the same time. A bit disappointing. I guess they will have it on the roadmap. But perhaps in the next product… Then Tempest is my only choice, I am afraid, although very expensive and not officially on sale in Europe.

[@smart_home_australia]

If you don't have HA then yes, i'm afraid that EcoWitt doesn't support Alex directly. I've not reviewed a Tempest, yet, not when I do I'll make sure to be explicit about the integration. Thanks again.

[@smart_home_australia]

Hi, I checked with EcoWitt and they confirmed that they do not have any plans to introduce an Alexa skill for integration. Sorry.

[@rrrrrrrr290]

Just ordered one from ebay, was a little cheaper there.

[@smart_home_australia]

Good for you. I’m sure you’ll be super happy about your purchase and all amazing data you get from it.

[@johnelliveps8002]

This model is the worse ever one regarding rain inaccuracy. I have a friend who has been testing them all ,and he would NOT recommend the WITTBOY to anyone until the Ecowitt engineers can provide a proper Firmware for the rain data. All the other sensors are very accurate but unfortunately the rain let this model down completely .Customers better buy the latest WS85 3-in-1 Solar Weather Sensor, Measures Rainfall Wind Speed & Direction..

[@smart_home_australia]

Thanks for your feedback. I've not had this issue personally, and have asked EcoWitt to comment on your feedback, which I will add to the thread when they respond.

[@smart_home_australia]

Hi John, I reached out to WittBoy and they comments below: "Our Wittboy is equipped with a piezoelectric rain sensor. Due to the different measurement principles, the rainfall data it records may have some discrepancies compared to the WH40. This is a common issue resulting from the differing strategies and principles of the piezoelectric sensors. Our engineers are continuously working on optimizing Wittboy’s rain monitoring algorithm, and our team is actively addressing this matter. Please trust ecowitt and we will keep working on this issue. We conducted a rainfall comparison test between the WH40 and Wittboy. The link is provided below. Ref: facebook.com/ecowittsupport/posts/pfbid02LErRbzmpHMuq9X1Xhrz8Vn3stkyxWTsPui5BH3zXbQqP5wF2Gk5PsME9R3cgJGvQl"