New station at South Laois

Danno

I have finally got my VP2 Station up and running.

Many thanks goes out to Snowbie for his help and advice.

I have a web page going (sort of) here: http://www.wtcs.ie/weather/Current_Vantage_Pro.htm

The station is currently indoors as the concrete base around the pole has to set. I hope to be putting the station outdoors on Monday. So any current data is indoors only until then!!!

Hope you enjoy it!!!

Kind Regards
DANNO!

Mothman

Well done!

When set up outside and settled, I'd advice resetting the console to clear it of the indoor data.

Darwin

Congrats Danno, nice to have some local data to look at. I had a fairly basic weather station (no PC connectivity) but the Anemometer took a hammering in one storm and that was the end of it! I tempted to give it another go with a better station. For now I use my Suunto watch which has a pretty accurate barometer and storm alarm!

Paddy.1

Nice one. Good to have some real time data from the south midlands. Hope it goes well

Hoping to set up another one for North Galway around September. Thinking of going with an Oregon Scientific.

Snowbie

Danno wrote: »

I have finally got my VP2 Station up and running.

Many thanks goes out to Snowbie for his help and advice.

Your very welcome Danno.:)

If you like, we can use this thread if you need any more help in setting it up. Like MM said, do a complete dump of your readings before setting it outside so by the start of May you be under way to accurately record your data for your area.

As you know, there is a few of us here that have the same station so there is more than one voice to help you out.

Danno

Currently preparing a 24-hour PC for the shed so as to continually upload every minute to the site. I am considering purchasing a dedicated website. Anyone got suggestions? Or what good free ones are around? I am currenty using a website belonging to a friend.

Concrete set nicely around the pole for the station. I put the ISS up on it this evening. It is exactly 80 inches from the ground to the base of the Radiation Shield. Is that enough? The site is fairly open. I will take a photo in the morning and upload here.

I think I might gloss white paint the pole in case the summer sun heats it up too much and gives a false temperature reading.

@snowbie - I will clear the data at midnight on 30 April so as to start a fresh month with new data.

nilhg

Danno wrote: »

Currently preparing a 24-hour PC for the shed so as to continually upload every minute to the site. I am considering purchasing a dedicated website. Anyone got suggestions? Or what good free ones are around? I am currenty using a website belonging to a friend.

Most of the ISP's give a small amount of webspace free with your subscription, if you are going to continually upload I'm guessing you have broadband. Give your ISP a shout.

Danno

Danno wrote: »

Currently preparing a 24-hour PC for the shed so as to continually upload every minute to the site. I am considering purchasing a dedicated website. Anyone got suggestions?

I'd recommend weather display,the one snowbie and I use.

Uploading every 5 minutes to a main page is plenty by the way.Every one minute can be a tad inaccurate as it might take one minute for the upload to complete depending on your connection.

With weatherdisplay you can use weatherdisplay live which is the flash supported almost live feature.That will accurately put the info up every 25 seconds.Thats much better than attempting to upload to a main page every minute.

http://www.weather-display.com/index.php

They have an exstensive forum with a lot of helpfull advice in their supporting the software and weather stations in general.

http://weather-watch.com/smf/

Brian is the head guy,he's very helpfull

Though I must admit,I've been slow myself in updating versions.
Sigh some day when I've time.

Mothman

Danno wrote: »

Concrete set nicely around the pole for the station. I put the ISS up on it this evening. It is exactly 80 inches from the ground to the base of the Radiation Shield. Is that enough? The site is fairly open. I will take a photo in the morning and upload here.

Standard height for temp sensor is about 48 inches. If there are solid fences etc to disrupt the airflow at this height, then raise it. But it does depend what air you want to measure.

Danno wrote: »

@snowbie - I will clear the data at midnight on 30 April so as to start a fresh month with new data.

Don't leave it till then, something will not work out right.
Clear it as soon as its settled. About an hour after installing would be fine.

It starts every month fresh anyhow.
If you don't want to see any April data, then you can delete the appropiate data file in the computer.

Danno

Got the PC setup and uploading every 5 minutes to Weather Underground.

http://www.wunderground.com/weatherstation/WXDailyHistory.asp?ID=ICOLAOIS2

Or click on my signature!

Danno

Photos as promised:



and

Deep Easterly

Bitchin' Danno, and some great pics of thunderclouds thrown in to:)

Some non-expert advice, I would throw some earth and grass seeds over the concete base to prevent heat and radiation reflecting from the concrete in under the screen. I may be wrong about this as well, but I wouldn't paint the pole white as this also might reflect some excess solar radiation into the screen as well.

Snowbie

Good location.Nice and exposed to the elements Danno.

As your station was recording indoors, the HI/LOW readout on your console will obviously have gathered higher readings to what you would experience outdoors. Clear the yearly data for Hum, Temp so that you can start fresh.

All other data should be fine.

Like BB, I'll also second Weather display and weather display live as a program for uploading the data too, not neccessary right away (one for the future) but is a fine program that incorporates several different stations and also the lightning detector.

Have you checked if you have webspace from your ISP?

Snowbie

Deep Easterly wrote: »

Some non-expert advice, I would throw some earth and grass seeds over the concrete base to prevent heat and radiation reflecting from the concrete in under the screen.

Yep that is true, aswell as cutting grass short around the station but i think the height of the station located off the ground may eliminate this.:)

I may be wrong about this as well, but I wouldn't paint the pole white as this also might reflect some excess solar radiation into the screen as well.

The radiation shield will counteract that too.:)

Danno

Thanks guys. I will be putting the soil back over the concrete. The lawnmower will be brought out next weekend for it's first cut!

Digiweb don't give free web space with the Homewave BB product. I am looking at the www.athost.net site and currently awaiting aproval. :rolleyes:

Also have this page too: http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/wxpage.cgi?call=DW0427

The data was cleared Snowbie, cleared it all (the 6 second countdown) this afternoon round 4pm.

From the photographs-the location is perfect Danno.
You should get some very warm temps in summer there and cold in winter compared to other stations.
Your results will indeed be very interesting.

You'll be disappointed with your wind speeds though.
At that height even in such an exposed location,you won't get a true reflection of the gusts recorded elsewhere,though they will be better than that height in an urban location.
I have the same problem as I left the wind vain beside the rain bucket-I'll move it at some point.
Most wind vains are located 10 metres up off the ground.
You mightn't think it but although the wind speeds will be higher in that exposed location than at a similar height in an urban location-they will be tempered by the nearby tree and ditches being higher.
That could be sometimes by 15 or 20 mph in storms.

Danno

My valley location further dampens wind speeds also BB. I don't think a 10m post would be permitted at the location by herself :eek:

I purchased a new network card for the Shed PC today and installed it this evening. The USB->Network adapter was overheating and causing the Shed PC to crash! (probably all the FTP work)

So hopefully no more downtime! http://durrow.athost.net/ should be live within the hour.

Danno

Finally have the website sorted: http://durrow.athost.net - I like this free hosting site as there are virtually no advertisements on it. For anyone else setting up their Weather Station to upload - make sure check the "passive mode" box!!! (a few hours were wasted figuring it out not to mention the Fecks and Blinds)

Supercell

Congrats Danno, great to have a station in your area, I bet loads of us will be comparing stats on warm and cold days!!

You can pretty decent hosting for very little. I'm with blacknight.ie and its only 35 euro a year and theres loads of stuff they include with the hosting thats pretty cool.

Mothman

Supercell wrote: »

I'm with blacknight.ie .

Me as well, with both weather site and MothsIreland in the cheapest package. No issues.

Snowbie

Mothman wrote: »

Me as well, with both weather site and MothsIreland in the cheapest package. No issues.

Likewise here too. Using them over a year and problem free.
Great support from them when called upon for guidance.

Danno are you happy enough for me to include your site on the weather station thread?

Danno

Sure Snowbie. You can use both as is on my sig. The Wunderground is ideal for history.

Danno

A question lads - anyone know how to get raw METAR data from the weatherlink software. I upgraded it to V5.80 also.

I see WUnderground are using my data for the defunct Kilkenny Station here: http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=Kilkenny+Ireland

Snowbie

I dont know if you can Danno without using a third party software application/program.
One program Weather display lets you decode Metar and reproduce them on a map showing conditions at various airports and cities around the country and your own data for your area.

I haven't installed V5.8, any fixes or add on's from it?

Danno

The V5.80 allows for USB to be selected for the datalogger. Probably more stable I guess than the virtual ones they were using. I see there is a firmware update out for the datalogger too.

StratoQ

Congrats Danno. I think it's great to see stations now cropping up all over the country. It wont be long hopefully before we have one in every county.

It's a bit ironic that while our national weather observers (Met E) are going thru major chopping and changing - the amateurs are stepping up to the mark.

Danno

It is interesting allright StratoQ. I wonder are they becoming more relliant on the NRA data now that major roads are being built across the country.

In other news, DHL delivered a Boltek lightning detector here today! So I'm off up to the attic to install her. Hopefully I will have it up and running before the thunderstorms that are forecast for tomorrow!

Mothman

NRA data is useless from a met office perspective.

None standard, changing sites and equipment irregularly serviced. They serve a purpose for the NRA and as an object of interest for us, but nothing more.

Supercell

Danno wrote: »

In other news, DHL delivered a Boltek lightning detector here today! So I'm off up to the attic to install her. Hopefully I will have it up and running before the thunderstorms that are forecast for tomorrow!

Danno I feel there will be a lot of jealous heads around here soon:) (especially a certain weather mod thats currently probably monitoring localised thunderstorms in his head and seems to be m.i.a. lollers).

Danno

Supercell wrote: »

Danno I feel there will be a lot of jealous heads around here soon:)

:eek: Ah no, I doubt that. Everybody on here seems sound out.

Supercell wrote: »

(especially a certain weather mod thats currently probably monitoring localised thunderstorms in his head and seems to be m.i.a. lollers).

He he! Would that have been caused by a few too many Irish Mist or pints of Guinness???

Snowbie

Supercell wrote: »

Danno I feel there will be a lot of jealous heads around here soon:) (especially a certain weather mod thats currently probably monitoring localised thunderstorms in his head and seems to be m.i.a. lollers).

Localised and very severe:D

He he! Would that have been caused by a few too many Irish Mist or pints of Guinness???

Aint all this sunshine just brillo:p

About time they delivered the detector Dan, took longer than usual. If any questions about your detector post them here too in case anyone else purchases one in the future, they can look over this thread for some info. Remember alot of patience needed. I will give you a dig out at any stage.:)

Danno

Cheers Snowbie!

Where is the best place to purchase NexStorm as the "Lite" version included does not generate maps or upload to a webpage like weatherlink.

If I purchased Weather-Display instead can it take the data from the Boltek PCI card, put it on a map and upload the data?

Or would I be better off just purchasing NexStorm for the Boltek now and consider Weather-Display at a later stage - I am happy for the time being with WeatherLink and WeatherUnderground.

Ah, the dillemas of decisions decisions!

Snowbie

What you need is the map in BMP format. I use the full Nexstorm software (with Lightning 2000 being another less popular software with the Boltek detector).

The developer, Relko can do the map for you.Register on the forum first.

Weather display works with Nexstorm for lightning also.(you must have nexstorm in order to upload lightning to WD).

Check out my weather display live and click the lightning tab on the end.
This is the two software working together.

Also on my webpage you will see Stormvue and the map capture stats. This is nexstorm FTP'ing directly to the webpage without the use and seperatly to Weather display.

So basically, weather display can be purchased at a later stage.Weather display is FTP'ing from my datalogger on my VP2 to my webpage, WD just lets you integrate your lightning capture into the WD program if you so wish to down the road.

Danno

In other news, my weather webpage - http://durrow.athost.net will feature a second weather station located 2 miles north of Durrow by mid-June. This station belongs to my cousin and is far far more advanced than my Davis station. It measures sunlight, UV, leaf wetness, maximum growing conditions etc...

Interesting times ahead. As his station is totally rural it will be interesting to see the difference between town edge data and rural data.

Danno

Just to add to the last post. I was speaking to my cousin and this is his weather station: http://www.adcon.at/english/produkte_sensoren_en.html - Anyone on here have experience with this stuff?

Supercell

Looks pretty high end, interesting, their pro temp sensor for example claims accuracy of +/- 0.2°C which is very impressive.

Danno

Five months on, and some interesting data to pour (litterally - after THAT summer) over...

http://durrow.athost.net/weather/NOAAYR.TXT <--- Data from here:

MONTHLY AVERAGE TEMPERATURES:
May - 13.2
Birr Avg - 10.4
KK Avg - 10.3

June - 13.6
Birr Avg - 13.2
KK Avg - 13.3

July - 15.4
Birr Avg - 14.9
KK Avg - 15.2

August - 15.6
Birr Avg - 14.6
KK Avg - 14.7

September - 12.7
Birr Avg - 12.6
KK Avg - 12.6

May and August stand out as two months much higher than nearby climate station averages. Interestingly, my highest day was 23.7c which would be considered a poor return for a summer max.

http://www.met.ie/about/weatherobservingstations/kilkenny.asp wrote:

The maximum daily rainfall recorded at Kilkenny station was 66.4 mm on 17 July 1983.

On August 16th a total of 63.8mm was recorded here - very close to Kilkenny's all time record.

The 5th of August saw a dewpoint of 20.0c recorded.

Danno

Was busy down the end of the garden today altering the weather station. I have seperated the Wind Vane from the rest of the setup. The wind vane is now 5 metres north of the previous site. The rest has been reduced in height to 45 inches above ground level.

I suspected that the last 6 months temperature and rain data may have been slightly incorrect as the whole station was lofted 2m overhead. One thing that surprised me was how immaculate the interior under the rain bucket was. Only two spiders made it home!

Here is a photo of my afternoons labour which included digging a new 2ft deep hole to accomodate all the concrete I put around the wind vane pole. I dug a trench 5m long and buried the cable from the wind vane inside some wavin pipe and connected it back into the ISS.



All appears to be working nicely. Brrr, it was a cool afternoon out there.

Danno

Earlier this week I noticed that the console had stopped transmitting to the PC and i was wondering would http://www.provantage.com/davis-instruments-7764~7DAVS028.htm be a good investment?

Snowbie

For how long Danno? could it have been something else to do with your PC knocking off by itself recently(i think you posted that somewhere recently)

Danno

Very rarely happens. Sometimes there is the grey box with the yellow exclamation mark saying connection lost!

Though it probably is the crappy PC

BTW, am I right in saying that there is no 24hr FARS available for my Davis system?

Just a footnote to add: if anyone has a Dell Optiplex desktop (not tower) for sale please advise me.

Snowbie

Danno wrote: »

BTW, am I right in saying that there is no 24hr FARS available for my Davis system?

Correct, you can only modify it by adding the daytime FARS unit. The 24hrs FARS(fan aspirated radiation sheild) is a VP2 unit you have to buy seperately unfortunately.

Danno

Hmmm, I am seriously considering running a fan inside the shield. My previous DIY job failed.
If I were to run a cable down the garden taking power off the motherboard in the PC... sounds a bit mad, but do-able. The only worry would be rain water shorting the fan and then blowing the shyte out of the PC.

Snowbie

What about the linky i sent you before?
Yer man uses a transformer to power that fan from a mains.

Danno

Is that the one where he uses flower pots to create a shield?

Villain

Why are you looking for an optiplex in particular danno is for low noise? If so some simple mods to most pc's can deliver that

Danno

The business desktop (not mini or midi tower) were a fantastic build (even for a Dell) with low heat, low noise and low power consumption. A decent second hand one would suit my weather station down to the ground.



This is the KIND OF one I am on the look out for. Something capable of running a 40gb or a 80 gb HDD and 512mb RAM.

Villain

Oh I know that one, stripped a few down and rebuilt them over the years don't have any around at the min though.

I do have a self contained PC in a wooden box that I use and its actually very quite, as there is now fans except for the small fan on the heatsink, I have it in my bedroom and I can sleep with it on without a problem.

Heres a pic:

Danno

Very creative Villain! Why two PCs?

Villain

Well I use one for downloading my linux Torrents and what ever crap and I just re-image it every couple of months to rid it of any crap and the other was be to used for streaming movies and music to my XBOX360 through media centre but I only use the one now, its very quite

Danno

One year old today! New website to celebrate... www.laoisweather.com