PERSONAL WEATHER STATIONS: Queries and Advice

Our man in Havana

I am looking to get a weather station soon and I am looking for suggestions please. Would like to do wind and pressure readings.

Thanks in advance.

tylercollins

I bought one this time last year from Maplin. Was like £60 but it does the job. Wind speed, temperature, pressure.

Matt Simis

This is one of the Maplin ones (the "PC USB one" based on the Fine Offset) running Cumulus, a free weather station App and Web uploader:
weather.netcessible.com


Its ok, but I rigged it up to run from an old DC poweradapter instead of the batteries as it was eating batteries and I have it mounted 5m in the air on a big pole which was getting super annoying to take down every 6weeks. I get better (consistant) readings running from DC power too.

joujoujou

Exactly the same as above.

http://www.ebay.ie/itm/190717691315 (auction ended, but it's just for reference what I'm talking about).

The one from maplin is quite good, but hungry on batteries. So (if you decide to buy one) make AC adapter, or at least think about lithium batteries.

Another option is to spend a bit more and buy the same, but with solar panel - one German fellow sold one for me. 2 years now on one set of rechargeables.

Here's mine: http://www.ebay.ie/itm/390511461231

Cheaper alternative: http://www.ebay.ie/itm/170923849016

Penname

I got the Davis Venture Vue from Santa.

It has a barometer, rain fall indicator, wind direction/speed, temp, forecast, etc. It also gives you data trends in the form of graphs. I think my ISS is in a bad position though. The wind was fierce last night and the anemometer was only reading max gusts of 32 kms/hr. I haven't a huge garden so am limited to where it can go.

Best of luck with your choice but I definitely recommend the Venture Vue.

pad199207

Penname wrote: »

I got the Davis Venture Vue from Santa.

It has a barometer, rain fall indicator, wind direction/speed, temp, forecast, etc. It also gives you data trends in the form of graphs. I think my ISS is in a bad position though. The wind was fierce last night and the anemometer was only reading max gusts of 32 kms/hr. I haven't a huge garden so am limited to where it can go.

Best of luck with your choice but I definitely recommend the Venture Vue.

Vantage Vue

gbee

Penname wrote: »

Best of luck with your choice but I definitely recommend the Venture Vue.

Is it not the Vantage Vue?

IMO, this is the minimum piece of kit for anyone serious about weather, it's about €400 for the basic unit and can be the same again for the data logger and specialist cables.

Location is important, the cheap weather stations are fun and challenging and are not consistent so one is constantly adding adjustments as it gets warmer or colder, high wind, high barro and low barro etc. They do have sweet spots, right when everything is medium.

Penname

gbee wrote: »

Is it not the Vantage Vue?

IMO, this is the minimum piece of kit for anyone serious about weather, it's about €400 for the basic unit and can be the same again for the data logger and specialist cables.

Location is important, the cheap weather stations are fun and challenging and are not consistent so one is constantly adding adjustments as it gets warmer or colder, high wind, high barro and low barro etc. They do have sweet spots, right when everything is medium.

Yes, Vantage - apologies. Can't seem to get that right. :rolleyes:

It's a little too close to the house so it will be trial and error as to where it goes. I've a couple of options.

pad199207

Its a great station, but a horror to get it in the right position especially if you live in a suburban garden like mine! Its great on batteries too, my ISS ran for two years without changing batteries, albeit with a little help with the solar charging!

for a weather station it looks great too!

whitebriar

I've both a vantage vue and a vantage pro 2 now.

The vue is much smaller but every bit as good.I've mounted it on a Davis tripod which is secured very well but in an exposed area which became a problem yesterday.
The slight swaying in the gusts last night was enough to tip its rain spoon wildly,so rain totals were skewed wildly upwards.
Slight half inch movement's were enough to do this.

The pro 2 didn't have this problem.

I'm not sure how to cure this,other than bolt the vue to something more sturdy than its own purpose built tripod.

The vue console is smaller and neat but rounds temperatures on its display.Is there a way out of that? Its a nuisance especially for dew point.
The vantage pro 2 console will read the vue signal and display the exact temp to the decimal point.
Neither are currently connected to a PC/weather link as I am waiting on a USB adapter for my data loggers.Presumably the software shows decimals with the vue?

I've had the pro 2 with a good few years now.
I like the mobility of the vue on the tripod.
Obviously make sure its level and facing south so your wind directions are OK.
The unit has a spirit level built into it and by the way is simple to set up.

Data wise so far( running for a week) its mirroring temp wise etc the pro2 data,except for last nights wind/rain spoon issue.

pad199207

Im not sure what year you got your vue in or if they have changed the console, but my Vue console does have decimal values for temps,, you can change it to be rounded or decimal or Fahrenheit.

Although you are right about the DP values being rounded!

whitebriar

Thanks Pad,fixing the temp was too easy..doh!

Does the Dp appear in decimals on your weather software? Its rounded on the pro 2 console too so no difference there.

pad199207

No Problem lol!

Yeah on the software it does appear in decimal form

Fuh Q

Mrs Fuh Q asked me earlier, what would you like for your birthday ?
After realizing a hotel room full of Escorts and Viagra was not an option Im considering a weather station instead.

I have some questions first,
Ive been reading other threads about weather stations and their ability to show information on websites, would I be able to set something like that up with very little experience ?
Does it require a pc to be running 24/7 or can it transmit info via wifi to the site ?
Can anyone recommend a cheap weather station, or reliable make, or where is safe to buy from ?

Thanks..

Rougies

Fuh Q wrote: »

Mrs Fuh Q asked me earlier, what would you like for your birthday ?
After realizing a hotel room full of Escorts and Viagra was not an option Im considering a weather station instead.

I have some questions first,
Ive been reading other threads about weather stations and their ability to show information on websites, would I be able to set something like that up with very little experience ?
Does it require a pc to be running 24/7 or can it transmit info via wifi to the site ?
Can anyone recommend a cheap weather station, or reliable make, or where is safe to buy from ?

Thanks..

Any consumer level weather station would require a PC running 24/7 to relay data to a website from the station.

As for experience to set it up, you'd need a fairly good level of knowing your way around a computer but it depends on the weather station and the software/web interface it uses.

As for a cheap weather station, I couldn't recommend one because they are exactly that, cheap
As for reliable, Davis are the stations of choice for amateur weather stations. http://www.barryelectronics.ie/7_davis-weather-instruments
You can see by the prices why we all don't have one!

CDSM101

Rougies wrote: »

Any consumer level weather station would require a PC running 24/7 to relay data to a website from the station.

As for experience to set it up, you'd need a fairly good level of knowing your way around a computer but it depends on the weather station and the software/web interface it uses.

As for a cheap weather station, I couldn't recommend one because they are exactly that, cheap
As for reliable, Davis are the stations of choice for amateur weather stations. http://www.barryelectronics.ie/7_davis-weather-instruments
You can see by the prices why we all don't have one!

Aha that's where your wrong! I got mine from these guys http://www.vantage-vue.com/epages/62168832.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/62168832/Products/6152EU

Saved a fortune so I did

joujoujou

Fuh Q wrote: »

[...]
Can anyone recommend a cheap weather station, or reliable make, or where is safe to buy from ?

Thanks..

What price range you're thinking about?

Tactical

A little of an "old fashioned" approach, but have you considered manual collection of data with individual instruments?

You could collate and present the data using something like the spreadsheet application on Open Office or MS Excel.

The data could be presented to many websites.

I guess it depends on what you're looking to achieve as a manual station requires a lot of effort and the automatic stations really only require a bit of theought in their set up and commissioning, thereafter a little bit of regular maintenance.

Like all things in life, you generally get what you pay for. Weather stations are no exception.

Irish Steve

Yes, the Davis range are great stations, but they are NOT cheap.

A fair number of people on here are using the stations from Maplin, and when they are on special offer, they are around the €60 mark, and the offers come round several times a year. They are made by a company called Fine Offset, and can be run without being connected to a PC 24/7, and will store readings for upload to a PC. The Sandaysoft forum has software that is more capable than the standard software that comes with the station, and for amateur home type use, where nothing absolutely depends on the results, the combination of the 2 is not bad.

No, they're not as reliable as the Davis, and they can have problems with reliability, but the spares are cheap, and the end result is pretty close to the results that the Davis will give, with a bit of DIY care with the set up and a few tweaks, the results are very similar, its all part of the learning curve.

You will get several Maplin stations for the price of 1 Davis, the end result may well be that you've not saved much, and there are some specialised sensors that are only available on the Davis, they are not essential to weather watching, depending on your success and how long you stay weather watching, the initial outlay will be a lot less, which may make it more attractive.

talkabout

Irish Steve wrote: »

Yes, the Davis range are great stations, but they are NOT cheap.

A fair number of people on here are using the stations from Maplin, and when they are on special offer, they are around the €60 mark, and the offers come round several times a year. They are made by a company called Fine Offset, and can be run without being connected to a PC 24/7, and will store readings for upload to a PC. The Sandaysoft forum has software that is more capable than the standard software that comes with the station, and for amateur home type use, where nothing absolutely depends on the results, the combination of the 2 is not bad.

No, they're not as reliable as the Davis, and they can have problems with reliability, but the spares are cheap, and the end result is pretty close to the results that the Davis will give, with a bit of DIY care with the set up and a few tweaks, the results are very similar, its all part of the learning curve.

You will get several Maplin stations for the price of 1 Davis, the end result may well be that you've not saved much, and there are some specialised sensors that are only available on the Davis, they are not essential to weather watching, depending on your success and how long you stay weather watching, the initial outlay will be a lot less, which may make it more attractive.

I have the above station and its great value, my first station lasted about two years and i just replaced it in November, but for €60 you can't go wrong. Long term i would like to get a Davis but the Fine Offset is a good start and spare parts are easy to come by.

tylercollins

Another person using the Maplin station here. Have it connected to the computer to upload data to my website (http://www.derryweather.co.uk/weather - currently in early development stages) But I haven't had a days bother in the year that I have owned it and I haven't had to change the batteries on the station yet either!

I'd recommend the Maplin one for starting out, but as talkabout as said above, long term I want a Davis

Fuh Q

joujoujou wrote: »

What price range you're thinking about?

As cheap as possible without being a complete wast of money.

Fuh Q

Thanks guys, Ive had a look at the Maplins website and there are a couple of weather stations, can someone post a link to the station you are using please ?

tylercollins

This is the one I'm using

http://www.maplin.co.uk/usb-wireless-weather-forecaster-223254

Fuh Q

tylercollins wrote: »

This is the one I'm using

http://www.maplin.co.uk/usb-wireless-weather-forecaster-223254

Think Ill have to go to Maplins during the week.

talkabout

Fuh Q wrote: »

Think Ill have to go to Maplins during the week.

They usually offer it on special for around £60 , may be best to hold off for a few weeks as this normally happens 4 or 5 times a year.

Irish Steve

There are some B grade units on the web site at the moment,

http://www.maplin.co.uk/b-grade-usb-wireless-weather-forecaster-683950

Under £50, which is good, still have 12 months guarantee. Not sure what the Euro price will be, or if they have them in the Irish Stores

A tip for delivery, depending on where you live, I've used them a lot recently, Parcel Motel, as they are a UK delivery address that bring things to the Republic (lots of locations) for €3.50.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/b-grade-usb-touchscreen-wireless-weather-forecaster-682792

Similar item

http://www.maplin.co.uk/usb-touchscreen-wireless-weather-forecaster-228825 is a full price one, but the offers come round pretty often, so unless you are desperate for one, this is too much to pay.

The important aspects are USB, as that's how it connects to a PC, without that, there's no data capture facility.

joujoujou

There is another option - not to go to maplins.

http://www.pjboner.com/products-page/signatrol/wh3080-low-cost-weather-station-with-solar-panel/

Above one is also a fine offset device, no price mentioned, but presumably price would be even better than maplins.

Already bought some stuff from pjboner, can recommend them.

Otherwise - ebay.

http://www.ebay.ie/itm/170923849016

Irish Steve

joujoujou wrote: »

There is another option - not to go to maplins.

http://www.pjboner.com/products-page/signatrol/wh3080-low-cost-weather-station-with-solar-panel/

Above one is also a fine offset device, no price mentioned, but presumably price would be even better than maplins.

They may well be advertising it on their site, but if you try to find it in their on line shop, it's not listed, which makes me wonder if they've given up selling them.

Fuh Q

Thanks, Im thinking Maplins maybe the better option as they stock replacement parts.

What does "B Grade" mean ?

tylercollins

Q: What is B-Grade?

A: B-Grade includes used and unused returned products, end of line, slightly marked or refurbished products. To ensure peace of mind each product comes with our 12 month guarantee having been fully tested by our team of in-house technicians. What's even more attractive, all of the B-Grade products are reduced in price! B-Grade is only available via the website, sales line and mail order Related Links: B-Grade Search

talkabout

Currently on special with Maplins.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/usb-wireless-weather-forecaster-223254

Macy0161

Can I just ask, does it come down a bit more, or was it people getting their €60 and £60 mixed up? Want to get one, but not necessarily in a rush if it's sometimes a bit cheaper again?

missfarmer

Macy0161 wrote: »

Can I just ask, does it come down a bit more, or was it people getting their €60 and £60 mixed up? Want to get one, but not necessarily in a rush if it's sometimes a bit cheaper again?

Just bought this today Macy0161. The same station was in Maplin in Cork in January for 209 euro.

Rooy

talkabout wrote: »

Currently on special with Maplins.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/usb-wireless-weather-forecaster-223254

This is the UK site , and advertised in Sterling ,if I reserve on the website what price can i expect to pay in store when i collect it ? , someone mentioned it being over 200 euro in Irish stores recently.

joujoujou

More than likely you can't reserve in UK and collect in Ireland.

If you're able to collect in Belfast (for example), you'll pay discounted price.

missfarmer

I bought it online on the UK website. Cost - 70 pound sterling including delivery.

Fuh Q

missfarmer wrote: »

I bought it online on the UK website. Cost - 70 pound sterling including delivery.

Ive just ordered from the website too..

missfarmer

Fuh Q wrote: »

Ive just ordered from the website too..

Here’s to the start of a new adventure

feet of flame

Just a quick word of warning, i ordered the B grade USB touchscreen wireless weather forecaster £44.99 and got it delivered to parcel motel in northern ireland. However parcel motel just emailed me saying the package is oversized and i can either collect it in the nightline depot in Finglas or have it delivered to my address for an extra €10.50. Collecting it in Finglas is fine if you live in dublin, but i live in waterford so its going to cost me €10.50 plus the €3.50 normal motel charge. Just something to be aware of.
Its cheaper to pay maplins £8.50 delivery charge.

feet of flame

Let me quickly correct my last post, i rang parcel motel this morning and a very nice very helpful lady told me they now forward over sized parcels to your nearest Nightline depot for collection, it would have cost €7 but she only charged me the initial €3.50, maybe because it was the second of my free stays, anyway i'm a happy customer.

irishgeo

how big is the maplin weather station?

anyone care to post a picture. i love to get one but i dont want a huge weather station.

talkabout

This is mine attached to my garden shed.

mountainy man

I just bought one of these am very excited, I hope it can cope with the storms.

Rooy

talkabout wrote: »

This is mine attached to my garden shed.

thanks for sharing that Talkabout , i presume most/all of the pole is your own though and didnt come supplied?

talkabout

Yeah, i bought a pole in Homebase but you do get a small two piece pole (about 2 ft) with the station that i used to attach to the main pole. This is my second station, the first lasted two years and started playing up. For the money you pay its a great starter station but i would eventually like to get a Davis Weather Station. It will provide you with enough stats to keep any geek happy

Rooy

talkabout wrote: »

Yeah, i bought a pole in Homebase but you do get a small two piece pole (about 2 ft) with the station that i used to attach to the main pole. This is my second station, the first lasted two years and started playing up. For the money you pay its a great starter station but i would eventually like to get a Davis Weather Station. It will provide you with enough stats to keep any geek happy

Thanks for all the info , think im going to pick one up.

Fuh Q

Mine arrived today . I wont get a chance to set it up until the weekend.

How far away from the house does it need to be ?
How high does it need to be ?

(No, I have not read the instructions yet):rolleyes:

riffmongous

Here's my weather station :P

Obviously I don't own it, I use it and am responsible for it so it's as good as mine



there is actually more out of shot too

missfarmer

Fuh Q wrote: »

Mine arrived today . I wont get a chance to set it up until the weekend.

How far away from the house does it need to be ?
How high does it need to be ?

(No, I have not read the instructions yet):rolleyes:

Still waiting on mine

joujoujou

Fuh Q wrote: »

[...]
How far away from the house does it need to be ?
How high does it need to be ?

[...]

It's important to have temperature unit couple of meters apart from building (IMO at least 3 meters) to have proper readings. Not higher than 2 meters above ground level.

But wind gauge should be as high as possible (well, reasonably high ).

They're all wired up together, so out-of-a-box cables are quite short tbh.

I've wind gauge 1.7m above roof, temp gauge and rain gauge on the pole in my garden. Bought 25m of standard telephone cable and cable coupler to have them connected.

Everything works perfectly.