Weather Stations

[Industrial Toys]

Wind howling here today with weather advisories. Would love to get a system, but most don't do real time wind speed, just samples, not good for gusts, which are responsible for property damage.

And honestly. I am becoming more adverse to bringing yet another hellishly complicated technology into my life. How much time do we spend learning it, getting it to work, reading the FAQs and forums, then troubleshooting it when it quits, updating it, and making it work when you make network changes? I'm just not sure the benefits are there anymore.

 

[kenmbz]

Paul,
has this setup affected wind to the Davis with the pole in the wind path?

 

[sodamo]

Put the tempest up, and it’s online now.
Seemed to correlate to the Davis pretty well. I used 1” PVC to make the stand off mount because that’s what I had. Sees like it will be OK.
View attachment 688301
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The tees that were sliced in half are secured to the existing pole with 4 hose clamps. The pole is about 200 feet from the house where the hub is. It seems to communicate just fine. Here’s a link to its data-

Tempest

Tempest Weather System

tempestwx.com

That’s looking good.
Wife liked your data screen.

 

[sodamo]

Question to Tempest:
Looking to upgrade from Davis Vantage Pro ll. Is it possible to transfer any year to date historical data from my VP2 to the Tempest? Didn’t see it in the FAQs. I know a few others looking to make this switch so I will share answer.

Answer:
Since they are two different devices from two different manufacturers, there is no direct way to integrate the data into one device. However, if you have a Weather Underground account under the Davis Vantage device, you can use the same PWS ID and key which will append the new Tempest Weather System data to the Davis (or any other device's) data. That way, you can view both the new and old data all under one account on Weather Underground.

Hope this helps!
Kind Regards,
Rawan Hammad
WeatherFlow Support

 

[Oaktree]

Wind howling here today with weather advisories. Would love to get a system, but most don't do real time wind speed, just samples, not good for gusts, which are responsible for property damage.

And honestly. I am becoming more adverse to bringing yet another hellishly complicated technology into my life. How much time do we spend learning it, getting it to work, reading the FAQs and forums, then troubleshooting it when it quits, updating it, and making it work when you make network changes? I'm just not sure the benefits are there anymore.

I wouldn't call it "hellishly complicated technology". I found the Ambient we bought to be easy to set up. Mine doesn't have network connectivity, didn't need or particularly want it. It's way less complicated than trying to figure out a smart phone.

As far as not operating in real time...I'm sure that's to give better battery life in the outside unit...only needs to transmit every :15 or so. It's not like I sit and stare at it for hours...

 

[Popgadget]

Paul,
has this setup affected wind to the Davis with the pole in the wind path?

Not as far as I can tell. I did place the pole to the southwest of the Davis wind sensors, as our wind very rarely comes from that direction as a consideration though. With the present NW winds its correlating perfectly to the Davis

 

[Industrial Toys]

I think that is correct. It couldn't be that hard to have the windspeed thing transmit on a higher than average speed gust. Or some crafty algorithm.

The place I want my data collected is on a tower five hundred feet or so from the house, up a steep hill and through a pine forest. This is where my Internet comes in, so it would be the obvious choice to have IP connectivity. I just have little interest in becoming IT proficient. AND then keeping up on it! I have never put an AP on my Phone, have no account, won't ever let it do an update, after the first time, I had to relearn my phone. Just plain, not interested in any of that.

I really only want temp, humidity, pressure, wind speed (Especially GUST) and direction. Delivered to an I-Phone (that I don't know how to use) via the house Wifi. Everytime I go looking, I get confused almost immediately, and shelve the idea.

 

[Popgadget]

You could always look for a nearby station and use their data. Not as good, but its already set up for you.
Here is a map of Tempest stations,

Tempest

Tempest Weather System

tempestwx.com

And here's Weather Underground

WunderMap® | Interactive Weather Map and Radar | Weather Underground

Weather Underground’s WunderMap provides interactive weather and radar Maps for weather conditions for locations worldwide.

www.wunderground.com

 

[Industrial Toys]

Quite Interesting, Thanks for that. First one, no one really close. Second one closer but odd DATA. Says 12F and we have strong winds. Says Gusting 22MPH , but temp feels like the same 12F.

Can you watch anyones Data on an AP, or do they have to allow/enable it?

EDIT: There is actually a close one on the second brand. Funny, how neither party switched to celcius. Other station also says wind speed of 5 but temp still feels like ambient.

 

[cqaigy2]

Wind isn't much of a concern for me, as i sit behind two bluffs that pushes it up and over me so unless i want a tower a few hundred feet tall, im not going to see the wind. I am interested in hi/low temps and heat units, evaporation rate would be neat too. Just record locally on the cornputer and don't need to put it up on the Internet.

 

[sodamo]

Wife and I tend to watch the rain mostly
Ours temps don’t vary that much (58°-82°) but we check more when at the extremes.
Watch wind more during storms. Can read gusts on the VP2 would assume same on Tempest but now I’m curious

Can’t say running as wx station is all that complicated. Closest thing the regular maintenance is changing the batteries.
That said, when it does act up, it’s usually a head scratcher, but usually time to change batteries or my knocking around caused a loose connection.

Having the data readily available on my iPhone/iPad

 

[Complete Turf Care]

I used 1” PVC to make the stand off mount because that’s what I had. Sees like it will be OK.

Is a 1" pvc strong enough to hold it up in strong winds? How heavy is it?

How heavy is the Davis? How long is the pole you have the Davis on? What is the pole you have the Davis on? Is it pvc also?

 

[SylvainG]

This is my AcuRite 5in1 that I have at home. It's not the top end weather station but works well. I have it for almost three years now and have the same lithium batteries in it.

AcuRite 01512 Pro Color Weather Station with Rain, Wind, Temperature, Humidity and Weather Ticker: Amazon.ca: Home & Kitchen

It's connected to a Raspberry Pi 2 running Weewx under Raspbian and also sends its data to Weather Underground and my Home Assistant installation (running on a Raspberry Pi 4)

 

[Popgadget]

Is a 1" pvc strong enough to hold it up in strong winds? How heavy is it?

How heavy is the Davis? How long is the pole you have the Davis on? What is the pole you have the Davis on? Is it pvc also?

The Davis is on a stainless pipe approx 1-1/4” OD and about 10 feet off the ground. My choice of PVC was based primarily on the fact that I had the pipe and fittings. It was reinforced by seeing that the optional mounting kit uses PVC.

Simple Installation Kit Instructions

Be sure to read our Siting & Installation guide to help you decide the best location on your property to install your Tempest. The Simple Installation Kit, available in our online store, can be...

help.weatherflow.com

 

[Popgadget]

Watch wind more during storms. Can read gusts on the VP2 would assume same on Tempest but now I’m curious

Here’s the main Tempest screen showing the wind speed and gusts.

If you click on the wind line you get a graph showing much more. You can click on any point in the graph and get the data points at the top of the screen.

One thing that I haven’t found is if the Tempest will display wind direction in a numerical bearing rather than just cardinal directions such as “NNW’.
Keep in mind that I have only had the Tempest up since this afternoon, and the Davis has been running for well over a decade, so myTempest experience is comparatively limited.

 

[Popgadget]

The place I want my data collected is on a tower five hundred feet or so from the house, up a steep hill and through a pine forest.

I really only want temp, humidity, pressure, wind speed (Especially GUST) and direction. Delivered to an I-Phone (that I don't know how to use) via the house Wifi. Everytime I go looking, I get confused almost immediately, and shelve the idea.

The tempest might just check all your boxes. The only question would be the distance between the sensor and the WIFI hub.
The way it works is the outdoor sensor makes a radio link (not WIFI) to the hub that connects to your WIFI network. That distance for my installation is about 200 feet, with the hub inside the house which is sheathed with foil backed foam board that generally messes up RF.
But the setup was effortless and required no technical skills.

 

[sodamo]

Thanks for the screenshot Paul.
i can see where you might be more comfortable with the numeric winds, but those days are long in past for me. I suspect most civilians prefer the alpha, likely many would have to think twice if numeric.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Nice. I would have preffered everything hard wired and no batteries, but you have to make concessions I guess. There is a shack at the tower site where I guess I would have to install a wireless router to communicate with the weather gear up the tower.

What kind of money? Is it all inclusive for sensors?

 

[tbk5]

Can you still access data from the Tempest weather station if your internet connection is down?

 

[Popgadget]

Can you still access data from the Tempest weather station if your internet connection is down?

Yes, but obviously not remotely. You have to be in proximity of the indoor hub with your device. Not sure if you have to be near the actual hub or just the network that the hub is connected to via WIFI. You do need internet for the initial setup. Keep in mind that I have had my Tempest for less than 24 hours and I haven’t verified this by testing, just by research in the Weatherflow site and forums.