This is a good discussion of several topics! I have a few points of explanation/clarification to add:
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Adding two (or more) stations to one account is not a problem, as you discovered. We built it so you can add lots of stations to the same account. As @dan.gealt points out, we have had as many as 64 devices (8 Hubs with 8 devices on each), attached to a single account (and streaming data over the same WiFi link). We hope that’s more than enough to satisfy the geekiest home weather geek.
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It is not normally necessary to power down one of the Hubs when adding another. The app is designed to connect to many Hubs at once, and it knows which one to talk to. That said, BLE is weird (especially with Android). You may want to unplug nearby Hubs during setup of another if you are having issues connecting.
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As you also discovered, stations can’t be shared by different accounts, yet. If you add a Hub that’s already used on one account to a station on a different account, it will be removed from the first account.
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We have two features on our roadmap backlog (but are not high on the priority list yet):
- “share station” between accounts
- “move a station” between accounts
There are two procedures we recommend for configuring a friend or family member’s station:
- Use one shared family account and add both stations to it.
- Use one account for each station, then use the “share” page (or third-party software) to see data at the “non-owned” station.
Gary: This project was not designed to have two Hubs at one location.
This is not accurate. It’s true that normally you only need one Hub at one location, but see above and note that having two stations at the same location, while usually not necessary, doesn’t hurt (and if you have a large house like @gizmoev, might be necessary)
This is also not accurate, at least when things are working as designed. Although we did have a bug in early versions of the software that caused this behavior, it is no longer necessary to isolate the Hub you want to configure - it will talk only to the Hub you are configuring (unless we have a new bug!).
Ha. I know Gary’s joking about the density of US homes vs. other countries, but this is definitely not an accurate statement. Although we are focused on the North American, English-speaking market at the moment, every aspect of the Smart Weather Station system is designed for the global market. We have gone to considerable lengths to ensure the hardware is functional and certified to operate in Europe (and countries that follow European standards), Australia/New Zealand (which has its own standards), as well as the US (and countries that follow US standards). Likewise, the hooks are in place in the apps for supporting your native language, units, time conventions, etc. Full internationalization is coming!