found the answer to the ping issue:
known bug in one of the recent releases. You can fix it with “sudo chmod u+s /bin/ping”. Then ping should work.
Hi Guys,
Is there anymore information I can gather to find out why this doesn’t work, enable any additional logs?
Hi Bill,
Thanks I’ll try that, but the entire $url works if I paste into a browser window and updates the input correctly, you think its a format issue?
I’ll try and report back.
This inability to post is a pain lol
Hi Bill - no change doing each entry or with POSTFIELDS
Hi Paul - no worries Thank you for the Help
Here is the response from wget:
pi@emoncms:~ $ wget -O - “http://192.168.1.15/emoncms/input/post.json?node=2&json={humidity:93%,pressure:1010,wind:0,temp:0.2,dewpoint:-1,visibility:N/A,rain: 0,windchill:0,feelslike:0,windgust:0,raintoday:0}&apikey=913f557706d069745bfe8dac70040261”
–2016-11-02 07:24:48-- http://192.168.1.15/emoncms/input/post.json?node=2&json={humidity:93%,pressure:1010,wind:0,temp:0.2,dewpoint:-1,visibility:N/A,rain:%200,windchill:0,feelslike:0,windgust:0,raintoday:0}&apikey=913f557706d069745bfe8dac70040261
Connecting to 192.168.1.15:80… connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response… 200 OK
Length: 47 [application/json]
Saving to: ‘STDOUT’
-
0%[ ] 0 --.-KB/s Error: Format error, json value is not numeric
-
100%[========================================================================================================================>] 47 --.-KB/s in 0s
2016-11-02 07:24:48 (620 KB/s) - written to stdout [47/47]
with double quotes around key with script:
Current temperature in Aspen Crescent, Edmonton is: 0.3
Current relative humidity in Aspen Crescent, Edmonton is: 93%
Current pressure in Aspen Crescent, Edmonton is: 1015
Current wind speed in Aspen Crescent, Edmonton is: 0
http://192.168.1.15/emoncms/input/post.json?node=2&json={humidity:93%,pressure:1015,wind:0,temp:0.3,dewpoint:-1,visibility:N/A,rain: 0,windchill:0,feelslike:0,windgust:0,raintoday:0}&apikey="913f557706d069745bfe8dac70040261"{"success":false,"message":"Username or password empty"}
Paul - do you have those parse tests you do, could I get a copy and add it to this script. Thx
Could this be a permission setting somewhere, a file or directory that is hit because it is run locally - I’ll double check permissions
Found it!!!
At some point Wunderground changed the value they send for the “RAIN” attribute. It had leading whitespace — which was starring me in the face when I looked at Paul’s post 
added: $precip_1hr_metric = trim($precip_1hr_metric, " ");
removed: double quotes around apikey - indicated invalid key
and voila!!!
Thank you for the help!!
Would still love to see your validation of attributes Paul -thx