In early 2023 Davis announced a new 6313 console type for their Vue and VP2 range of weather stations. This new console is a more modern design and has much greater capabilities, but is very different from the older legacy consoles. This topic describes some of the key features, differences and current constraints of the new 6313 console to help understand what this console can do and also what it cannot do, currently at least.
The notes here are intended to supplement the general sales information on the console found, for example, on the Davis website. console and does not repeat a lot of the detail to be found there. We suggest reading the sales brochure first and this topic should then fill in some of the gaps and provide a fuller perspective.
Description
The new 6313 console is essentially a powerful Android tablet, but custom designed and assembled also to include wireless receiver circuitry for all wireless Vue and VP2 transmitters. The console runs only the custom Davis firmware and so is completely dedicated to its role of acting solely as a display console and long-term data store for Davis Vue and VP2 wireless stations. Cabled VP2 ISS units are not currently supported. Key features of the 6313 console include:
- Full-colour display (8 inch diagonal) with touchscreen and multiple data pages selectable from the touchscreen
- Can receive and display data from any combination of sensor transmitters on all 8 wireless channels
- Display of Airlink data is also possible as from firmware v1.3.19
- Bult-in data logging and persistent memory able to store many years’ worth of fully-detailed weather data
- Powerful forecast feature downloading forecasts from a global weather model
- Real-time customisable data dashboard showing all current weather readings in text format (see image above)
- Optional automatic uploads to the Davis weatherlink.com cloud platform are built-in (no separate logger needed)
- A summary/forecast page showing recently logged data, but also blending in forecast data for the next several days
- A graphing page to enabled powerful charting of all stored data
- A review page to browse through all data logged by the console
- A map page showing all public stations uploading to weatherlink.com in your area and allowing simple Bulletin data to be seen onscreen for each station via the touch interface
- Control pages to manage all settings for the console
Note that the 6313 has the same impressive wireless reception capabilities as the Weatherlink Live unit, i.e. it can receive data from ANY combination of transmitters on all 8 wireless channels and so potentially a 6313 station could be fitted with 8 separate ISS units. The 6313 display can be configured to display data from any of the fitted sensors, including data from supplementary temperature sensors to full 0.1° resolution, on the real-time dashboard – at least within the limits of what can sensibly/legibly be displayed on a single screen and with the available display templates. In other words, the limitations of the legacy console in terms of receiving only certain supplementary transmitters and sensors are completely gone now.
The real-time dashboard is based on a tile-based template design with a single central wind rose. The number and resolution of the tiles can be varied extensively according to user preferences and sensor readings can be mapped as required to individual tiles, but, for example, only one central wind rose is allowed in the current templates. Presumably new templates could be added in future if there is user demand. Detailed instructions for customising the dashboard can be found in a separate topic here.
The purpose of the new console is twofold: first, to provide a much more modern console design with a colour touch-screen and with full transmitter flexibility for VP2 transmitters and sensors.. And second, to build more computing power, persistent memory and software features into the console so that many users will not feel the need to run a separate local computer for data storage and analysis, especially if the upload capabilities to weatherlink.com are also enabled.
The launch version of the 6313 console probably works best as a console for a newly-installed station, where data can be logged internally within the 6313 console from day one. The 6313 will also be valuable as an extra console for an existing station, but prospective users should be aware of its limitations in accessing existing historical data, as detailed in the data migration section below.
Davis have now replaced the 6312 VP2 and 6351 Vue consoles in the complete station bundles with the new 6313 bundles in, for example, the new 6242 Vue and 6252 VP2 complete stations. Stocks of the older 6152 VP2 and 6250 Vue complete stations with the previous/legacy consoles are likely to dwindle as time passes and by 2024 may have largely vanished.
One important consequence of this change is that the Vue will in future have an identical console to the VP2 or, in other words, the console supplied with a complete Vue station will no longer have the limitations inherent in the 6351 Vue legacy console. It will therefore be possible to expand a 6242 Vue station with supplementary sensors and transmitters exactly as for a VP2 station.
Understanding the 6313 console
Firmware and potential future features
The operation of the 6313 console is controlled by the firmware version currently installed. The firmware can be set to update automatically, provided an Internet connection is available; Davis are therefore able to introduce new features and bug fixes into existing 6313 consoles via a firmware update. The features itemised below therefore describe what is offered by the current firmware version (See the firmware page for details of the latest firmware released.). New features are almost certain to be added in the coming months and years, though of course these will be software features – changes for example to physical connectivity obviously cannot be made in this way.
Display and power consumption
The 6313 console is effectively a powerful Android tablet and so has a full-colour, touch-screen display that is fully controlled by software. This is in marked contrast to the legacy display console which used a fixed monochrome LCD display.
The new display is hugely more flexible and attractive of course, but has one significant and inevitable consequence – the tablet display technology and relatively powerful CPU consume a lot more power than the legacy console. So whereas the legacy console could run on internal batteries for several months (provided the display backlight was not used), the 6313 unit is relatively power hungry and so does need an external DC power supply. It does have a back-up battery (an internal automatically-recharging Li-polymer battery, rather than replaceable C cells) but this only provides power for maybe 12 hours operation.
So for any application where full continuity of data is important then it would seem highly desirable to power the console through a UPS. The 6313 power jack is a USB-C type so in principle a suitable USB power bank could be used. If console power is completely lost then the console will stop receiving transmitter data and so reception of new data will be lost for as long as the power outage continues (though existing logged data will be fully retained).
ISS and WiFi Connectivity
The 6313 console is wireless-only in two important senses. First, the 6313 can only receive data from Vue and VP2 wireless transmitters. There is no socket to allow a cabled ISS to be connected, at least in the current 6313 version. So, certainly for the time being, the 6152C etc cabled VP2 models will continue in production with the 6312C console. Connectivity for DavisTalk transmitters is excellent, but note that there is currently no retransmit option on the 6313 console.
For the record, the Davis VP2 wireless specification has remained unchanged since the original VP2 was launched in late 2004. The 6313 console should therefore be able to receive from ALL ISS and supplementary transmitters, whatever their age.
Second, the 6313 console is Wi-Fi-only for network/Internet connectivity. There is currently no option for a wired Ethernet connection.
In fact, other than its USB-style power jack, the 6313 console has no other external sockets. This means that there is also no socket for an external data logger.
Memory
The 6313 console has a substantial chunk of persistent memory fitted. (‘Persistent’ meaning that the memory is non-volatile, such that if power is lost then all data already logged and stored will be fully retained.) Davis do not specify the memory size, but state that it is sufficient to store ‘many years’ worth’ of weather data. How long in principle will depend on how many sensors and transmitters are fitted to a given station – obviously the storage will last longer for a station with a single ISS compared to one with several supplementary transmitters and potentially multiple ISS units.
But, in practice, as of firmware v1.4.14, the console’s data storage capacity was enhanced still further by the tactic of automatically summarising archive records older than 180 days into hourly records (for any records previously of shorter duration). This has absolutely minimal impact on the quality of information in the older records and means that for most practical purposes data storage is now effectively unlimited. Archive records with the original full time resolution are still available on the weatherlink.com cloud platform (assuming the upload option was enabled and subject to a Pro subscription).
Wireless sensitivity
Note that the wireless antenna for transmitter reception is a fixed horizontal internal antenna in the 6313 console and not an external antenna on a swivel as in the legacy consoles. Davis state that the official VP2 reception specifications should still be fully achievable with the 6313 console but, perhaps inevitably, the sensitivity and hence maximum reliable range may not be quite as good with the 6313 unit. In particular, when the console is sited at the same level as the transmitter, the familiar vertical position of the transmitter antenna may not be optimal and so range may be slightly compromised. (In this scenario it may be worth experimenting with a horizontal transmitter antenna.) But configurations with more of a vertical separation between console and transmitter might possibly perform better.
Data logging
Also, the only current route for data export is via uploads specifically and solely to weatherlink.com. In other words, no local API is currently available, and so a connection to a local PC or other computer is not currently possible. If you need more local data logging and analysis than is provided by the 6313 console itself then consider the Weatherlink Live unit instead of or as well as the 6313 console. (Remember that any number of receiver devices like consoles can listen simultaneously to the signal from VP2 transmitters.)
However, if you simply wish to upload data to third-party platforms such as WOW, Weather Underground etc then this is certainly possible, but it would be done by data forwarding from weatherlink.com (which is part of the free/Basic level feature-set) rather than direct from the console. Note that it is perfectly possible to retrieve your 6313 data from the weatherlink.com website (ie rather than direct from the console) for further custom processing via the rich v2 API and a compatible program, but depending on the data required this may require the subscription plan for weatherlink.com. Further information is available in the v2 API topic.
Data migration
Let’s deal with two aspects of possible migration of previously logged archive data – into the console itself and/or to the 6313 station account at weatherlink.com. The bottom line is that neither of these options is available at the time of writing, but this may change in the future. Let’s explain the issues in a little more detail:
6313 console itself
Given that the 6313 can hold several years’ worth of historical data, there is a temptation to think that it may be possible to migrate previously-collected data into the console memory. Users tend to think of doing this in one of 3 ways:
- Moving the rudimentary historical data from an old 6312 VP2 console or 6351 Vue console into the new 6313 console;
- Moving data from locally stored historical data files (Weatherlink .wlk files, for instance) into the 6313
- Moving data stored at weatherlink.com into the 6313 console
Certainly data is too sparse inside the VP2 or Vue console itself (as opposed to data held within a legacy logger) to imagine that this would ever be worthwhile to implement. But migrations from data stored in Weatherlink for Windows or weatherlink.com could be more feasible at some future date
6313 station account at weatherlink.com
The 6313 console can easily upload data to weatherlink.com of course – this is one of its primary capabilities. But users still need to be aware of how weatherlink.com operates with different upload devices. Although the 6313 is similar in capabilities for uploading to weatherlink.com to a Weatherlink Live unit, the 6313 still needs to upload into its own station type. So you can add a 6313 upload to an existing weatherlink.com account, but it cannot simply take over the identity of an existing station; instead it becomes a new station within your main weatherink.com account.
The obvious question then arises as to whether it is possible to transfer existing historical/archive data into the new 6313 station at weatherlink.com. Although this is possible for other station types at weatherlink.com such as Weatherlink Live (as described in the Data Import section in the ‘Migrating between upload devices’ topic), this capability has not yet been made available for the new 6313 console. Hopefully this option will be added before too long.
Weatherlink.com interface
Communications from weatherlink.com back down to a 6313 console seems more limited than for for a Weatherlink Live unit. So, for example, it is not possible to reconfigure a 6313 console from weatherlink.com. Perhaps a downlink for this will be added in a future firmware revision. However, current weather data for other stations can be passed down to the console, for example on the map screen or (for stations listed in your weatherlink.com account) on the main data screen.
Airlink data
As from firmware version v1.3.19, the 6313 console is able to display data from the Davis Airlink air quality sensors. (To be visible on the 6313 console the Airlink sensors need to be attached to the console station at weatherlink.com. Details of how to achieve this and to move Airlink sensors between stations at weatherlink.com are given in the Airlink topic.) Note that Airlink readings are sourced from Airlink data uploaded to weatherlink.com and not directly from the sensor via the local API.
Console hardware details
There is apparently nothing that can be fixed either by the user or by dealers inside the 6313 console in the event of any fault or other issue. And so there will likely never be any need for users to access the inside of the console. However, if anyone is curious about exactly which components are to be found inside then details can be found on the FCC website (the US agency that approves wireless products for sale) in PDF documents that can be download from https://fccid.io/IR2DWW6313U .
This topic is still being updated as new insights come to light with the 6313 console.
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