Personal Weather Station - Suggestions?

ArlyA · Nov 19, 2018

Like you, we'd like a weather station without the use of a phone. Actually, just outdoor temp and humidity would be fine for us.

Oaktree said:
My wife was mentioning that she'd like a PWS for Christmas and I was wondering...do you need to use a smartphone ap to program/access them? I see a lot of posters mentioning that here, and none of the descriptions online were clear on that. I ask because neither of us has one.

Ford850 · Nov 19, 2018

ArlyA said:
Like you, we'd like a weather station without the use of a phone. Actually, just outdoor temp and humidity would be fine for us.

I've bought some basic AcuRite weather stations at Lowes, for both my own use and for gifts. They've all worked well and are simple to set up, providing indoor and outdoor temperature and humidity. Lowes carries a few varieties, and I think they normally cost $20 - $35. Here's one they have on sale for $10, but this model might be a promotional model for the holidays. https://www.lowes.com/pd/AcuRite-Digital-Weather-Station-with-Wireless-Outdoor-Sensor/1075631

dragoneggs · Nov 27, 2018

OP here... figured I should chime in after 1 month operation with my Ambient PWS. Everything working great. Really enjoying the wind and rain measurements and the graphical data. Today has been our most significant weather... 2.5in of rain so far and almost 3hrs to go! That is a lot for a day around here! People think it rains a lot in the Seattle area but it usually doesn't come down this hard!

oosik · Nov 27, 2018

HA - - dragoneggs - they don't call "your side" the wet side for no reason. I lived in Seattle(U of W) for five years. But you are right - its a gentle rain, most all the time- ha, ha. We are FINALLY getting some rain over here also. It's about time. We are just on the brink of freezing up hard also. The inch and a half of snow we got three days ago is all but gone.

ArlyA · Nov 27, 2018

Our older gauge just pooped out so we ordered this, indoor/outdoor temp and humidity guage on Amazon. It sure got very good customer reviews there and we will report on its use, if anyone here is interested.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075QBRR6S/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

tractorgp · Nov 27, 2018

Wind speed is the most important bit of info that I need but I've had a heck of a time getting anemometer system that will give what I need over long periods of time. Just took this photo showing just some of the units that have not made it.
I've had the Vantage Pro 2 for about 7 years and it performed good for most of that time but over last few years the wind speed has been reading low or zero even when the wind is way up there. This is a wireless unit. One peculiar thing is that the outside temp/humidity comes and goes in terms of the display.... but when the temp/hum is working right on the display (and when it is working it is accurate) the wind speed drops down to much lower than actual wind and at times will read zero even when the cups are going crazy. Anyway too early to be overly critical at this time as I am still evaluating the situation. That's an inexpensive La Crosse station that I'm using to show what is going on relative to the Vantage Pro. I am collection video clips on all of this and will get something done up for Youtube eventually.

Oaktree · Nov 27, 2018

dragoneggs said:
People think it rains a lot in the Seattle area but it usually doesn't come down this hard!

I learned that when I spent a couple years living there in the mid-70s. It's a little more than mist, but not quite drizzle.

DieselBound · Nov 28, 2018

Update on my end...

I discovered that the rain collector had debris in it, resulting in slowly dispensing water when no rainfall was occurring (and failing to show meaningful amounts when it was raining). Head slap for me. BUT, I'm getting precip rates showing up that are ONLY divisible by "0.07." I look back to just after I'd installed this unit and it was doing the same thing. Went ahead and installed a new sensor only to find that it too is only doling out precip rates divisible by "0.07." I'm struggling to get an answer from Ambient as to why this is so: is "0.07" the lowest reportable measurement?

dragoneggs · Nov 28, 2018

DieselBound said:
Update on my end...

I discovered that the rain collector had debris in it, resulting in slowly dispensing water when no rainfall was occurring (and failing to show meaningful amounts when it was raining). Head slap for me. BUT, I'm getting precip rates showing up that are ONLY divisible by "0.07." I look back to just after I'd installed this unit and it was doing the same thing. Went ahead and installed a new sensor only to find that it too is only doling out precip rates divisible by "0.07." I'm struggling to get an answer from Ambient as to why this is so: is "0.07" the lowest reportable measurement?

Diesel, which Ambient PWS do you have? With my 2902 I am getting much smaller measurable increment on rain and not fixed.

dnw64 · Nov 29, 2018

Our house came with a weather station, which was really cool since I've always wanted one. But, it wasn't working - the transmitter wasn't transmitting. A neighbor who had done some work around the place said he thought the solar panel wasn't recharging it*, as he had to keep replacing the battery. So I hadn't done anything about it.

Posts such as this one make me want to buy one.

Then as I was reading down through I thought I recognized the name of the one I have, so I checked it out. Yes, I have a Davis Vantage Pro 2. So I guess I will figure out what's wrong with it, even if it means buying some new parts for it.

*after doing some research it turns out that the solar panel charges a capacitor, and the non-rechargeable battery is only for backup in case you don't get enough sun.