Advice on home weather station..

SpitfireIV

Hi guys, thought I'd ask you guys as ye are the ones 'in the know' . I'm looking to get a simple, dummy proof, home weather station so I can keep an eye on, and record the basics (I'd like to have something to record the 'great winter of 2007/08!! )

Anyway, I'm looking to spend in or around the €150 mark and had my eye on this one:

http://www.ukweathershop.co.uk/acatalog/info_2_ES_WS2300.html

Its basicaly does:

• Wind speed and wind direction by compass rose
• Temperature inside & outside
• Humidity inside & outside
• Barometric pressure and trend
• Animated forecast symbols
• Rainfall recent, daily and total quantity
• Wind chill and dew point calculations
• Includes PC serial connectivity cables and HeavyWeather software
• It has max and min memory functions, high and low alarms, rainfall memory
• Radio controlled clock for UK or European time


Is this a good piece of kit, or is there anything else, for that price range that ye can recommend?

Cheers

Snowbie

Started out with something similar when i went the way of wireless AWS.
I didnt have a wind vane with mine and this looks like an upgrade from the one i had.

Good piece of equipment to start out with but i found the signal dropping a couple of times in the winter months.Apparently the sensors(3) didnt like the cold damp mornings even though they where sheltered and housed.

But that was a long time ago and id say the tech has been improved somewhat.

SpitfireIV

Cheers Snowbie

I did hear about the signal possibly being poor on very cold days, I think I read it in one of the online instruction booklets for another La Crosse weather station. Just been out scouting about and I'll probably put the sensors on a shed which is about 25m from where the base station will be, the range is 100m so I'm hoping that it wont be too bad.

Maybe a silly question concerning the outdoor Thermometer-Hygrometer Transmitter. In the instruction booklet, it doesnt say where this should be placed, ie 'on a north facing wall' etc, all it says is that it is best placed under a roof overhang where it is out of severe weather. So does that mean, with the type of cover thats on it, that direct sunlight is not a problem? Or should I make up a housing to put it in so that it is protected from sunlight?, I dont have an overhang availible to fix it under.

Thanks

Snowbie

Thermometers are generally placed out of direct sunlight as direct solar will give abnormally high readings.Also placing under eaves of houses aint good either as houses omit heat too.

You can actually buy stevenson screens(small ones) and make them up nowadays.But at the time i made a few shelters(nothing fancy)to keep sunlight and moisture away from the sensors.Just remember if builing from wood that its white or paint it white to reflect heat so it doesnt make temp too inaccurate and also place as far as you can away from structures.

In the instruction booklet, it doesnt say where this should be placed, ie 'on a north facing wall' etc, all it says is that it is best placed under a roof overhang where it is out of severe weather. So does that mean, with the type of cover thats on it, that direct sunlight is not a problem?

Thats terrible instructions imo.What that is telling me is to place the sensor as close to the console as possible as they have trouble over distance with the signal.Try find out the frequency in which they transmit and let me know.

Edit:Oops i see it uses 433MHz which is the same frequency as the one i had.
Have you looked at the Oregon WMR's? or do you know of anyone else on this forum using La Crosse to see if the signal drops.Winter was sketchy for this equipment but again was a long time ago when i had mine,probably improved since.Try and get some more feedback on this.

SpitfireIV

You're a gent Snowbie, thanks for the info so far

With regard to placement of the outdoor thermometer/transmittor I'm just wondering if the cover that comes with it, is a 'shield' as such from the sunlight etc (ie, does it need another housing) or perhaps the cover is just for protecting the connection ports etc. See below:

The thermometer/transmitter without its cover:



The thermometer/transmitter with its cover:






The transmitter works on the 433 mhz frequency.

Snowbie

No probs croppy.

You got to hand it too La crosse,always full marks in their stylish designs.
It is way different to what i use to have and it does seem like the sheild is for both uses.Protecting from sunlight and moisture.

If i where you id use my guidelines above ,set it up out of sunlight 4 feet or over off the ground if possible to register better results,as with the radiation sheild, doesnt look like to much windflow can penetrate the chamber on the calmer,sunnier hot days in summer.Otherwise it looks the job.Id still try and get more feedback on the signal though.

Weather BOFH

I just purchased a 2308 a few weeks back so far so good! I had some initial problems with direct sunlight on the temp sensor in the late evening so I had to relocate it and make a screen.

The only other issue I have is when the wind speed is under 10m/s it only updates once every two minutes using wireless which causes it miss wind gusts and as such the wind speed recordings are not great. If you use the cable, it updates every 8 seconds. My signal reception has been fine so far, although my base is only around 20-25 meters away and positioned beside the window.

There is a good group at Yahoo! and the people are rather friendly and helpfull and some good tips there too.

I've setup the base station with my old Sun server running Open2300 and wrote some code to generate graphs and such which you can see here.

SpitfireIV

Thanks again Snowbie for the help and info, appreciated. Cheers too nemonoid for the info and the links, very interesting, I hadnt really considered a web page, but its definately something to look into!

I went ahead and ordered the ws2300 anyway, feck it, sure whats €162 to a man made of money

I'll let ye know how I get on with it.

morgana

Thats excatly the weather station I have. It is working well now but I had issues with interference with another wireless thermometer. I could not install the outside sensors in the most ideal location (north-facing) as the wireless signal was not reliable. Now its rock-steady. Temperature readings are spot on, rain does not pick up very light drizzle and wind is underreading by approx. 1 F due to the sheltered location of the anemometer (couldn't be helped).
I used old styrofoam packaging to make a little shelter for the temp probe - works well.

SpitfireIV

Cheers Morgana, glad to hear another good report . I'm eagerly awaiting the delivery now...I hate waiting :rolleyes:

Snowbie

How's the DIY skills.This chap made a FARS or fan aspirated radiation sheild for his temp station.You wouldn need to include a fan(optional) but it allows a passive airflow into the chamber for better accuracy regardless.But the fan helps by aspirating the airflow to achieve optimum results.

Ive a daytime FARS on my VP2 which works by way of a solar panel when the sun is out.(Sun heats the air and standard radiation plates under VP reflect heat and maintains a near accurate temp/humidity with an airflow if windy, but the FARS fan makes sure the air is drawn up and through the chamber regardless of windy or calm conditions and consistently measures air temp/humidty.Standard sheild without FARS on the hot calm conditions can create inaccuracy due to too much heat build up on the sheild plates in the prolonged sunnier peroids.

Some stations have a 24hr FARS like Longfields.Works by way of batteries during darkness and solar during the day.This is most effective during summer nights when air is still and warm and gives a constant airflow through chamber for better accuracy.

Might be of help to anyone this

http://www.weather-watch.com/smf/index.php/topic,23736.0.html

SpitfireIV

That looks like an interesting, and not too hard to do project Snowbie! I'm tempted .

I was also thinking of having a go at a Stevenson Screen, you wouldnt, by any chance, have a link to a DIY Stevenson Screen would you? Been looking about but cant find any ie just looking for details like the angle of the slats etc.

Mobhi1

Discussion on buidling/buying (Stevenson) Screens here:
http://www.ukweatherworld.co.uk/forum/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=11017&start=1&highlight=stevenson+screen&highlightmode=1

SpitfireIV

Cheers for the link Mobhi1, I started making a small Stevenson Screen today, its only going to be 230mm square (plus the slanted roof). Finding somewhere to put it now is another thing :rolleyes:

Heres a pic of a couple of sides...

Snowbie

Looking well croppy.Good job.:)

Supercell

CroppyBoy1798 wrote:

Cheers for the link Mobhi1, I started making a small Stevenson Screen today, its only going to be 230mm square (plus the slanted roof). Finding somewhere to put it now is another thing :rolleyes:

Heres a pic of a couple of sides...

Fair play CroppyBoy1798, that's pretty nice handiwork!

I tried to make something similar when in transition year woodwork classes many moons ago and failed miserably, just couldn't get the slots to slide into the grooves neatly like yours. Very impressed!

SpitfireIV

Thanks Longfield . All thats required to make such a thing is patience

Anyway, I got the weather kit and have the most of it mounted, think I made a boo boo with the wind sensor, I put it on quite a thick post, so winds coming from the west may be affected :rolleyes:, darn, should have got a metal post for it! Other than that there are no other obstructions in the way really to affect it.

I had no where really out of the way to put the rain sensor, the garden aint that big and I wanted it up somewhere out of the way so I mounted it on the post too, its out away and up from the roof....might still be too close though?

The stevenson screen is coming along nicely, still have to fit a door, but its got its first coat of white a little while back, a couple of pics of that too.

Snowbie

Hows the stevenson screen coming along?

SpitfireIV

Hey Snowbie,

The Stevenson is up and active now , seems to be water proof anyway (even after all that rain the other night!). I have a small garden thermometer in it also, the readings on that are pretty consistant with the digital sensor.

I went with the wired connection, so it updates every 8 seconds, the wireless was just too slow (128 seconds) and it seemed to drop at times.

Anyway, heres the screen...

Snowbie

Thats a brilliant piece of work croppy.
Only concern with your station temp today is due to the location of the screen on the wall there.It might be reading higher because walls will warm the air around them when reflecting light on a sunny day like today.

As you said you have a second thermo reading consistantly alongside the digital.Try placing the second thermo out of the screen in a sheltered location at the same height as the screen and see if there is a difference in temp.

At this time of the year the sun is starting to weaken,so you will need a similar type of day like today soon to see if this is true regarding temps with the 2 thermo in different locations, otherwise your temps might be reading higher than they should during the day in any sunshine all year round.

I had the exact same problem starting out with my first screen donkey years ago when placed on the wall then to find the temps where inaccurate measured against dry bulbs in different locations on a warm sunny day.I stuck a pole in the ground and attached the screen to it in the middle of the garden and results faired much better.