Recommend a weather station

Snowbie

Sorry Danno,just checked my DHL vat bill and it was 73 euro for duty and vat.
When i got my second detector in June the exchange was 1.21 now its 1.46 so another saving there.

Also the nexstorm software costs (seperate) at about 100euro and the CVM (custom vector map) at around 45-50 euro.There is a nexstorm lite version which is cheaper

http://www.astrogenic.com/products.html

Relko is the developer from Sweden and is a sound bloke.

This weather business is costly i tell you.

Danno

http://www.provantage.com/davis-instruments-vantage-pro-2-weather-stations-accessories~110DAVS.htm <- What do I buy on that page? Seems like alot of choice!

Snowbie

What are your needs mate.
I have the VP2 plus with FARS.
The standard is much cheaper.
Cabled/wireless, is your decision

I started out with the bog standard VP2 (after the VP1) and upgraded it and added until it transformed to VP2 plus etc etc.

Danno

Don't really know Snowbie! I suppose wireless straight to my Buffalo router would be handy. My wireless router has a booster aerial in the attic meaning my home network can be picked up almost 100m away! (I was planning ahead!) I have power to back garden which is 45m by 20m.

What I want from my weather station is:

Low maintainance - set it up down there at the back of the garden, fence her off from kiddys playing about and pretty much have my router take care of the data putting it online etc... - or is that possible - do I have to download from the station first to my PC before putting data on the net?

I am a TOTAL novice here! - Sorry!

Mothman

Danno wrote: »

http://www.provantage.com/davis-instruments-vantage-pro-2-weather-stations-accessories~110DAVS.htm <- What do I buy on that page? Seems like alot of choice!

**Important**
There are different versions of wireless vantage pro for US, UK and continental Europe market.
Differences between UK and European is the plug, but the US version differ by using a totally different transmission frequency range. Using them here could interfere with vital equipment here and is probably illegal as well.
No idea of the likelihood of issues with using such a setup though.

Not applicable to cabled versions

Danno

Well I am no where near hospitals or airfields here - what other vital equipment can these interfere with? Are the channels not selected like a normal wireless internet card on a laptop? Hmmm, time to investigate this a bit better so! [/Puts back the credit card in wallet/]

Mothman

Mothman wrote: »

**Important**
There are different versions of wireless vantage pro for US, UK and continental Europe market.
Differences between UK and European is the plug, but the US version differ by using a totally different transmission frequency range. Using them here could interfere with vital equipment here and is probably illegal as well.
No idea of the likelihood of issues with using such a setup though.

Not applicable to cabled versions

Only likely to be an issue if near a communications site of some description, or anywhere that uses equipment that's sensitive to radio frequencies (extremly low risk imho) more likely that your system will be knobbled by strong radio signals from a legitimate source.

It you're out in the sticks you can forget the above, just have the legal issue to deal with.

Snowbie

The wireless is radioed straight to the console for the station.The cabled is obviously cabled to the console at different cabled lenghts.

NB what MM said about wireless.

No problem like that with the lightning equipment though.

Danno

http://www.provantage.com/davis-instruments-6152~4DAVS045.htm wrote:

PROVANTAGE cannot ship Davis Weather Products to the following countries: Argentina, Australia, Chile, Finland, Germany, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Peru, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, and the UK

Does that include Ireland?

Danno

This is harder work than I had envisaged! Never mind setting one up when I get it! LOL!

Thank all you guys for the advice! I think I will get that lightning kit Snowbie - but if I can get it and the weather station from the one website then thats what I am going to do.

Villain

I was going to do the same Danno but I decided to go with a cheap La Crosse for starters and see how I get on, plus I'm meant to building a house this year so splashing €600 or €700 on a weather station when I only really have an interest for a few months isn't the best idea. Best of luck.

Danno

Danno wrote: »

Does that include Ireland?

Uk & ireland have similar radio spectrum regulations

Danno

Feck - there goes that Idea. Hmmm, I might get the wired version so - I can put a hub in the out-house as I already have a 50m patch cord coming from the attic to there - and it works!

Always have a plan B lads!

Danno

Hmmm, I am confused now - the site seems it can't ship their cabled versions to the UK either!

Mothman

Danno wrote: »

Does that include Ireland?

Ireland is not mentioned, so no. All the above probably have official Davis importers.

You can get a UK spec direct from Davis.
http://www.davisnet.com/weather/products/stations.asp
€50 more, but it's legit.
If you do go this route, you may have to gentle remind them that you are not in UK and so are not covered by the UK importer.

Danno

Cheers Mothman - what one would you reccomend from them?

Snowbie

All VP2 do the same job but the frequency they use in the wireless versions are different as was mentioned in previous posts.

Some can be bought fully upgraded or you can buy the standard version at much lower cost.Id start out on the standard first and upgrade later if needed.

Danno

http://www.provantage.com/davis-instruments-6152c~7DAVS043.htm <<< good one to start off with then?

The wireless will make no odds as I will just link it to a hub which will be on my network.

Mothman

UK version for starters
Cabled is more reliable, but the option for adding on sensors, or a separate anemometer transmitter is not available.
The wireless can suffer interference from other wireless paraphanalia about the house. A bad one is DECT portable phones.
My Dad rang to say say his console was not picking up data. He had just installed a portable phone in the same room. Once it was removed, everything was fine. my Dad's is a VP1, and although the VP2 is better in this regard, it can suffer.
Once cabled/wireless decision is made, then its whether you go for the "plus" version with UV and Solar Radiation. Note Solar Radiation does not give you sunshine hours, though Weather Display and probably other software will will do a calculation, but its more likely to be wrong than right.

While I haven't digested all the thread, I don't see mention of a datalogger.
This is NOT standard and is needed to store the data. The computer will then download from the datalogger. Its costs quite a bit and weatherlink software comes with it.

In case this is a misunderstanding, while I have a VP1, this is nothing to do with Met Eireann and is not good enough equipment for standard obs. I also have manual instruments from which I take once a day readins, and it is these readings that I submit to Met Eireann.

One would need to spend at least £5000 (and maybe much more) for a Met office approved AWS

Mothman

Danno wrote: »

http://www.provantage.com/davis-instruments-6152c~7DAVS043.htm <<< good one to start off with then?

As its a US version, the transformer plug will be rated for 110v, so you'll need to get a 220-240v equivalent.

The cabled version means, that you need to permanently have the ISS (integreted sensor suite, ie. the AWS) cabled to the console, and the computer cabled to the console

Snowbie

Yes thats true about the datalogger MM,but if you have the weather dispaly or ambient weather and have the console on 24hr,there is no need for a datalogger.BUT i recommend a datalogger in any case,the safer option i suppose in the end in the event of power failure.

Danno

My understanding with this equipment: http://www.provantage.com/davis-instruments-6152c~7DAVS043.htm is that I run a cable from the site at the end of the garden to my PC over the in-house network

So what is this gear that I am linking to going to do for me then? Sorry if I am coming across as a total flute! - but I am a total beginner here.

Thanks to everyone for their patience so far!

Danno

Here is my list of what I have so far!

- greenfield site (end of garden - up to 30m from house!)
- in house PC
- in house network cable running to part of house that is closest to the site
- Digiweb homewave plus (1mb down 256kb up internet broadband)

Mothman

Snowbie wrote: »

Yes thats true about the datalogger MM,but if you have the weather dispaly or ambient weather and have the console on 24hr,there is no need for a datalogger.BUT i recommend a datalogger in any case,the safer option i suppose in the end in the event of power failure.

I wasn't aware, that one could run it without datalogger, but in the event of a power cut, one would be scupperred regarding getting data to computer?

EDIT, I see you answered the last 6 words to answer Q

Danno

Mothman wrote: »

I wasn't aware, that one could run it without datalogger, but in the event of a power cut, one would be scupperred regarding getting data to computer?

EDIT, I see you answered the last 6 words to answer Q

Is that a serious problem or would I just loose data for as long as the ESB was down?

ESB is fairly reliable here - just one 10sec outage so far in 2008! LOL!

Mothman

Danno wrote: »

Is that a serious problem or would I just loose data for as long as the ESB was down?

ESB is fairly reliable here - just one 10sec outage so far in 2008! LOL!

Once in a lifetime event, a huge storm, power outage and you've no data for it on your computer....

The console would have basic data though, such as daily max and a very sinple graph function, so not all would be lost

Danno

Sure I could live with that or I could invest in a small UPS!

Is that product I linked to enough to get me started then?

Mothman

Danno wrote: »

Is that product I linked to enough to get me started then?

Give me a chance, I'm doing Moth identifications at the moment as well, and I'm not even keeping an eye on weather....

Danno

Fair play Mothman! Just you know yourself - the excitement of getting all this stuff! (A big kid at heart here LOL!)

Snowbie

Lol Danno,were just bigger kids as we have it already.
Seriously Danno why dont you do a bit more research and read up on the sites before buying anything for the minute.

We are here to give you advice and all but have a look at what you might need before splashing.
It is all very expensive as you can see.Give it a day or two untill your accustomed and then see where you are.