Weather Stations

[SylvainG]

If you can connect your station to a computer for raw data reading, take a look at Weewx. This is what the wind data looks like for a day here on Weewx. That vector graph is what I like the most. It shows direction and speed over time.

 

[txdon]

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.

I think not. I have my hub and the internet WIFI connected to a UPS. I did this because I lost electricity and the tempest went off line during a power outage, but then both the hub and wifi were powerless. I didn't test just unplugging one at a time.

 

[cqaigy2]

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?

Sorry if i missed this, but you don't have some sort of Internet access at your home?

 

[Industrial Toys]

The Internet that comes in via radio at the tower goes into a Eithernet to 75 Ohm Coax Media Converter, and goes 500 feet down the hill to the house to be reconverted to Eithernet. I love the simplicity and robust nature of COAX. You can put way more information down a coax than CAT 5 or 6. Not that my speeds are anything approaching that.

It would be nice to have a small computer display in the living room continuously showing weather data. I would take that over the I-Phone actually. But I wouldn't want to need a PC running just to run that screen. And an expensive proprietary screen isn't to my liking either. Can't it show up on a Tablet?

 

[Industrial Toys]

Why so much focus on retaining data? Sure, I wouldn't mind knowing how cold it got last night or how high the winds got during a storm, but beyond that, have no need or want of data being stored. Of course if you loose power during a storm and don't have backup going, you have nothing. Actually I do have a UPS up at the shack to backup the Internet Radio.

I am getting that sense of confusion again though.

 

[tibadoe]

Been a Davis Weather stations fan for 35+ years. Went through 4 or 5 stations starting with the cabled and now currently Wireless 6162 Vantage Pro2 Plus. I replace not because they broke, I just replace on average every 7 years so I don't loose collecting & downloading data. Station transmits to 3 consoles inside the house. You can get them from other sites for hundreds less if you shop around.

Just replaced my station last week with another 6162. Wanted to give the new tipper bucket a shot. Will be checking against the CoCoRaHS guage. Station base is located 6' above ground:

Anemometer is 17' up.

For the price these are about as accurate as you gonna get. I upload my data to CoCoRaHS, WeatherUnderground & Davis Weatherlink

The Weather Flow Tempest reviewed in another post is no where accurate enough for my collection needs.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I guess anyone that has a weather enthusiast near them is quite lucky. I just clicked on the name of my local underground station and did get a lot more information. And the wind chill was working, but not on the abreviated page. Any way, I can change the temp to C? Doesn't mean much to me in F at the lower temps.

Any way I can access that detailed page easily with my I-Phone? I don't have a clue how to save fav. sites or anything like that.

 

[tibadoe]

Click on the gear located in the upper right corner of the page to change from *F to *C.

Also, in WU - click on the Maps & Radar in the top menu bar and select WunderMap to see all the stations reporting in to WU.

 

[sodamo]

Why so much focus on retaining data? Sure, I wouldn't mind knowing how cold it got last night or how high the winds got during a storm, but beyond that, have no need or want of data being stored. Of course if you loose power during a storm and don't have backup going, you have nothing. Actually I do have a UPS up at the shack to backup the Internet Radio.

I am getting that sense of confusion again though.

An example: a few years ago a neighbor had the access to his property wash out, private property and the owner wasn’t willing to fix or allow fix. Neighbor found alternative route but it crossed state owned stream. He had to get permission for a crossing, not a bridge. Both County and State wanted rain data, he was able to get it from my weather station. There was no governmental station in proximity. He felt the requirement was based on his not being able to get the requested info. He eventually, 2 years, got his permits.

Ex2: we are on water catchment. Handy info for planning.

Ex3: potential new neighbors wanting to build. I provided month by month data for them to plan.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Tibadoe. AWSOME, THANKS. Made my day!

 

[sodamo]

Is it me or has Wunderground lost features? Definitely not same display of info. When I look for historical data I don’t get my PWS.
Only on the free level, but also didn’t find a comparison of what is available at higher membership.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Kind of watching the Data from the nearby site for a few minutes. I have an issue right off the bat. So you want to see wind Data to know if it's safe to go outside. One minute it says 10KPH, gusting to 15, then a couple of minutes later 15, gusting to 25. Shouldn't it have some time window to notify you what you can expect when you walk outside? Like, the highest gust within the last half hour or so?

 

[sodamo]

Tom, unless you are looking for something predictive this looks pretty good. It was current at the time

Not my station, just one in the neighborhood.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Not really predictive. Well I guess if you want to know what to expect of the wind when you head out, it sort of is.

As much as temp, wind is everything. From cutting trees, spraying, blowing snow, to folding a tarp or just going for a walk. No sense it reading 10KPH gust as you leave the house to be greeted by 30K wind gusts. A half hour wind gust high would suffice, I think. To display the gust info from only the last reporting cycle is quite useless if you ask me. Usefull certainly for recorded Data. And to have to look up history is a bit too cumbersome.

 

[sodamo]

3 hours of data and it was 2 taps on the screen. And I had no clue what to do. You just being a bit contrary, Tom?

Seems that would be equal or better than just looking out the window.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I get that. I'm just not a fiddler. I like the information there in front of me. Like a clock on the wall. Not hold, this and press this four times kind of guy. lol

I would like that graph up always, along with temp. I also notice there is no up or down arrow showing trends. Sure its -3.5 c. Is the temp going up?

Believe me, I see the irony in it. I want it simple, yet am the first to say I want it programable. Would be nice to customize/build ones own display to pick just those parameters that are of interest. Precipitation, sunlight, UV, watts per meter are of no interest to me at all.

Curious though. Sites say no video connected. I assume this is in conjuction with IP cameras and no provision for composite video inputs.

 

[sodamo]

Been a Davis Weather stations fan for 35+ years. Went through 4 or 5 stations starting with the cabled and now currently Wireless 6162 Vantage Pro2 Plus. I replace not because they broke, I just replace on average every 7 years so I don't loose collecting & downloading data. Station transmits to 3 consoles inside the house. You can get them from other sites for hundreds less if you shop around.

Just replaced my station last week with another 6162. Wanted to give the new tipper bucket a shot. Will be checking against the CoCoRaHS guage. Station base is located 6' above ground:

Anemometer is 17' up.

For the price these are about as accurate as you gonna get. I upload my data to CoCoRaHS, WeatherUnderground & Davis Weatherlink

The Weather Flow Tempest reviewed in another post is no where accurate enough for my collection needs.

Joe, would mind expanding on your last comment?
Perhaps find a station close to you and look at the live data and let us know the short comings? Map Tempest Station Map

At this point, I’m between tweaking my VP2 and eventually replacing or just getting the Tempest. I’ve noted that Davis has changed their internet interface from the Weatherlink dongle I current have to more a Hub like the Tempest.

 

[tibadoe]

Hey David - The Tempest station rain detection can be off with not only birds (bird poop) or other bugs landing on surface, but heavy rains. A friend of mine has one and did notice it is off, sometimes a little -- sometimes a lot. Not a deal breaker if you have a regular gauge to confirm. Even my Davis is off sometimes but not as much as we compare notes time to time. Other than that I see no other issues. Hope that clarifies what I meant.

 

[sodamo]

Thanks Joe. Appreciate it.
Guess what I was evaluating was whether any discrepancy was worth the price difference. Considering both Davis and Tempest can error, I’m thinking replacing Davis at 2x the price of Tempest likely not worth it to me. Often with items subject to not aging well I choose to replace before reaching EOL. The internet connection is important to me and most likely my Davis link is suspect. I had trouble with it years ago and Davis tech support was worthless.

I’m not that interested in a separate rain gauge. One thing of interest is the Solar radiation as I’m completely off grid, Solar electric so I’ve often been tempted to add the expensive solar sensors to VP2, but are included in Tempest.

 

[Popgadget]

I am currently running both a Davis Vantage PRO 2 and a Tempest in the same location, so far they correlate nearly perfectly, but the Tempest has only been up for a day. It will be interesting to see how they compare on rain. I have had trouble with the Davis rain collector over the decades that I have used them, originally adding stainless welding wire sticking up to repel birds and a screen on the bottom, both of which were incorporated by Davis over the years, but the the bucket still requires regular maintenance to keep it flowing free. and because mine is sited in a field away from power it does not have a heated bucket, so it does freeze and stop recording as well.
As I said it will be interesting to see how they compare going forward.