RainWind120 — Setup and User Guide
USER GUIDE · VERSION 1.0.0
Get to know RainWind120
See the weather ahead before your next walk, ride or run. RainWind120 brings precipitation chance, rain and snow intensity, wind and location-relevant weather warnings to your Garmin watch or cycling computer.
You need your own OpenWeather account and an activated One Call API 4.0 key. The app purchase and OpenWeather service are separate.
Rain120: eight precipitation periods, with chance, intensity, location, forecast age and hazard symbols.
In this guide: Set up · Read the rain forecast · Read wind and gusts · Check warnings · Understand the symbols · Choose refresh settings · Troubleshoot
1. Set up your weather access
- Create and verify your OpenWeather account. Start at openweathermap.org.
- Activate One Call API 4.0. Choose its separate pay-per-call subscription. An ordinary free weather key alone is not sufficient. Complete the required billing/payment setup. The first 1,000 calls per day are currently included free; excess usage is chargeable. Check the current pricing.
- Set the provider’s daily limit. In your OpenWeather account, open Billing plans and set the One Call daily cap to 1,000 if you want to stay within its current free allowance. The default may be higher. See OpenWeather’s account and billing instructions.
- Install RainWind120 through Connect IQ. Let installation finish syncing before opening its settings. If settings have not appeared yet, give Garmin time to complete the installation and check again.
- Save your personal API key. In the phone’s Connect IQ app, open RainWind120’s settings, enter the key and save. On-device key entry is also available. Do not add spaces or share the key in screenshots or support messages.
- Open RainWind120 on your device. Keep an internet connection available, usually through the paired phone running Garmin Connect. Outdoors, GPS has a better chance of obtaining a precise fix.
If you move from a beta version, enter your API key again.
OpenWeather account setup: Billing plans and API keys. Personal account details and key values are hidden. The pictured 2,000-call cap must be reduced to 1,000 to match the current free allowance.
Billing plans: after activating One Call, click the pencil beside “Calls per day (no more than)”, change the illustrated 2,000 limit to 1,000 and save. Confirm the new cap appears in the table. This provider-side limit covers the account’s combined One Call use, including other keys and apps.
API keys: open the API keys tab. Create a key with a name of your choice if needed, then copy its full value into RainWind120’s settings. The name is only a label; do not enter it instead of the key. OpenWeather notes that new keys may take up to two hours to become ready. Both key values in this guide’s screenshot are hidden; never use an illustration as your key.
2. Find your way around
Page order: Rain120 → Wind120 → Weather Warning → Legend → Statistics. Statistics is optional; turn “Show statistics” off if you prefer a shorter page cycle.
- On fēnix: select RainWind120 in the glance list and press START/STOP (upper right). Use UP/DOWN to move between pages. BACK/LAP (lower right) exits the detailed view. Other watches use their corresponding select, page and back controls.
- On Edge: swipe left/right to change pages. Tap the native top-left back arrow to exit. The top-right menu opens settings.
- Warning details: when an alert is displayed, press START/SELECT or tap the warning area where supported. Use the page/scroll controls to read more, then Back to return.
- Settings: use your device’s menu control. In version 1.0.0, a supported touch-and-hold also opens the settings menu.
3. Read the Rain120 page
The two rows contain eight clock-aligned 15-minute forecast periods. The first row is labelled 1h and the second 2h. Read left to right, then continue on the second row.
The first cell covers the rest of the current quarter-hour. For example, at 09:09 it covers 09:09–09:15; the next covers 09:15–09:30. The final period therefore ends slightly less than two hours from the current time.
- Large percentage: the precipitation chance for that provider period.
- Number and coloured stripe: the forecast combined rain + snow rate, in mm/h. This is a rate, not an accumulated total or snow depth.
- Next 2–4h: the highest hourly precipitation chance among records overlapping the later two-to-four-hour window. It is not a combined probability for the whole window.
A percentage describes how likely precipitation is; the number and colour describe its forecast rate. The illustration’s 10% with 0.0 is a valid combination of provider values. These are separate fields, not percentages assigned to colours. Each displayed period uses its own provider values; adjacent periods are not averaged.
| Stripe | Combined precipitation rate |
|---|---|
| ● Green | Dry: 0 mm/h |
| ● Blue | Above 0 to below 2.5 mm/h |
| ● Yellow | 2.5 to below 7.5 mm/h |
| ● Red | 7.5 mm/h or more |
| ● Grey | Unavailable; never treated as dry |
4. Read wind speed and gusts
Wind120: speed and optional gust inside each circle; the arrow on its rim points where the wind is blowing TO.
Wind120 uses the same eight forecast periods. Each circle shows the wind speed and, when supplied, the gust in brackets. For example, 12 (22) means wind speed 12 with gusts to 22, in the units shown on the page.
The rim arrow points where the wind blows TO, relative to compass north: up = north, right = east, down = south, left = west. Speeds follow the device’s metric/statute distance setting and display in km/h or mi/h. No gust value is shown when it is unavailable.
5. Check weather warnings
Weather Warning: available alert information, validity and issuer, with the forecast-age clock and snow/ice-risk symbols.
A red exclamation mark indicates a checked warning currently active for the forecast location. The warning page shows available event information, validity and issuer. Read the stated times, particularly if several warnings are available; the summary cycles between them.
- Warning displayed: open the available details using START/SELECT or supported touch controls.
- No warning: the latest successful check returned no relevant warnings. The radar animation is decorative, not a live radar map.
- Check unavailable: a fresh warning check could not be verified. This is different from a successful “No warning” result.
Warnings depend on provider and agency coverage. Missing warnings do not guarantee safe conditions; use official local advice when conditions may be hazardous.
6. Understand the symbols
Legend: location symbols, precipitation colours, wind arrows, warnings, age clock and snow/ice-risk indicators.
- Golden satellite: a precise GPS location is being used.
- Antenna: an approximate location from a Garmin weather observation or an eligible saved position.
- Snow cloud: snow is present in the next two hours of forecast data.
- Snowflake: a forecast temperature in the next two hours is below 4°C. This signals possible ice risk, not confirmed ice.
- Red exclamation mark: an active, verified weather warning.
- Round clock: forecast age. It is separate from the rain-intensity stripes and blinks while an update is in progress.
| Clock | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Green | Less than 10 minutes old |
| Yellow | 10 to less than 15 minutes old |
| Red | 15 minutes old or older |
| Grey | No saved forecast age available |
The detailed view uses the oldest required successful forecast feed for its age. The external preview uses the last successful rain retrieval. Neither clock is the provider’s model-run timestamp. A failed request does not make old data look new.
7. Use the external glance
External glance: rain percentages and intensity stripes, with age and cached warning, snow and ice-risk indicators.
The external glance gives a quick rain-only preview with eight percentages and intensity stripes. It can also show cached snow, ice-risk and active-warning indicators. Its background follows the Garmin card/theme; it does not activate GPS or request weather just to draw the preview.
The last complete rain forecast can remain visible for up to 30 minutes after successful retrieval, while all displayed periods remain covered. At 30 minutes or older, or when usable coverage is missing, open the app to refresh. This longer preview retention does not extend warning validity.
8. Location and refresh settings
When an update needs a location, RainWind120 first tries GPS for up to 15 seconds. It can then use an eligible weather-observation or saved-location fallback while GPS retry windows continue. Once a precise fix is obtained, it is reused for that open session.
On opening, a forecast aged 10 minutes or more is eligible for refresh. Refresh checks also continue while the detailed view remains open. Valid data stays visible during updating; inside the app it is hidden at 15 minutes. An updating indicator appears while work is underway; a failure or unavailable message is shown separately.
| Refresh setting | What happens |
|---|---|
| On opening | Default; no recurring schedule. The app may still finish an eligible unfinished refresh after you close it. |
| Every 15 minutes | Schedules background rain, snow/ice-risk and warning updates. |
| Every hour | Schedules hourly background updates. Opening still applies the normal ten-minute refresh rule. |
The app’s background operation does not start GPS. It uses an available recent position or suitable fallback. Garmin controls actual background timing, so connectivity, battery and scheduling conditions can delay delivery. Wind and the Next 2–4h outlook are prepared when the full view is opened.
9. Manage API usage
A fresh foreground refresh normally uses three calls. The app’s normal background refresh uses four. Warning details and retries add calls; reusable cached responses can reduce them. Every-15-minute background operation is about 384 calls per day before those additions.
Keep Stop at free limit enabled if you want the local guard. It counts dispatched requests, including failed, cancelled and timed-out requests, for this installation only. Its counter resets by UTC day; guarded requests resume no earlier than 00:05 UTC. It cannot see usage from another device or app, so also set OpenWeather’s provider-side cap.
Only missing or failed endpoints are retried. Each endpoint allows up to three total attempts, including the first, per rolling five minutes. The app does not repeatedly download every successful part because one part failed.
10. Purchase
RainWind120 is a one-time Connect IQ Store purchase with no application time limit. Your OpenWeather subscription and any provider charges are separate.
11. Edge examples
Edge Rain120: the native top bar has a back arrow and menu; the forecast below uses the same eight periods.
Edge Wind120: wind speed, optional gusts and TO arrows for the same forecast periods.
The data has the same meaning on watches and Edge. On Edge, use the top-left back arrow to leave the detailed view and swipe left/right to change pages. On an open warning-details page, scroll up or down, where supported, to read longer text.
12. If something is not working
| What you see | What to check |
|---|---|
| No settings in the Connect IQ app | Wait for installation and syncing to finish, then reopen the app’s settings. Version 1.0.0 has a separate app ID from beta versions. |
| Key saved, but no forecast | Check that the key belongs to an activated One Call API 4.0 subscription and has no spaces. A standard free weather key alone is insufficient. |
| No GPS or approximate-location icon | Try outdoors for a precise fix. Fallback depends on available Garmin weather or saved location; a usable fallback is not always available. |
| HTTP 401 / access problem | Check the key and the required One Call subscription. OpenWeather controls account activation and access. |
| HTTP 429 or a limit message | Check OpenWeather usage/caps and the app’s local counter. Repeated reopening will not bypass the guard. |
| Check unavailable on the warning page | The warning result is not freshly verified. Check connectivity and the optional Statistics page; do not treat this as “No warning”. |
| Old preview while the app is closed | Preview retention and the app’s background schedule are separate. Open the app to refresh. |
Enable Statistics in settings when diagnosing a problem. It shows location age/quality, forecast timing, API results and the local call counter. For support, include the app version, exact device model and visible status/error. Never send your API key.
Support and feedback: vainqueur.studio@outlook.com. The privacy policy is linked from the app’s Store listing.
Guide checked against RainWind120 1.0.0 on 29 October 2026. Illustrations show example values; the realistic watch image is generated artwork, not a hardware capture. Layout and controls vary by model.
Weather data provided by OpenWeather. © OpenWeather — openweathermap.org. RainWind120 is independent and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Garmin or OpenWeather.
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