Home Weather Station

dublincelt

Hi all. I am hoping some of you may be in a position to recommend a weather station for home use. I recently purchased an Aercus WS3083 weather station on Amazon however I have had noting but trouble with it. The receiver kept on dropping out and having spent a lot of time fault finding I have organised to return it. So, with a budget of around €150 is there a better alternative to this weather station? Any help or advice would be very much appreciated.

Meteorite58

Hi dublincelt, the thread here http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057106322 has a lot of useful information that might be helpful to you. I have a Davis station myself which has worked fairly well although did need to get a new temp/ humidity sensor and the rain gauge needs a bit of calibration. Have enjoyed having it now for a number of years, it is great having that extra connection with the weather as an enthusiast.

I would recommend getting a manual rain gauge as well if you dont have one, it is a great way of checking it against your station to see how accurate it is and there is something very pleasing about seeing and pouring out the daily rainfall . There is a relatively inexpensive one available in the skyview shop see here https://www.skyview.co.uk/collections/rain-gauges/products/climemet-professional-manual-rain-gauge-cm1016. I dont actually have this one , I sourced a rain gauge from the USA Designed to U.S. National Weather Service & Environment Canada Standards see here https://www.weathershack.com/product/productive-alternatives-stratus.html. Have it for a few years and as tough as the day I bought it, inexpensive also.

Best of luck with your purchase and look forward to seeing your data in the forum.

dublincelt

Meteorite58 wrote: »

Hi dublincelt, the thread here http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057106322 has a lot of useful information that might be helpful to you. I have a Davis station myself which has worked fairly well although did need to get a new temp/ humidity sensor and the rain gauge needs a bit of calibration. Have enjoyed having it now for a number of years, it is great having that extra connection with the weather as an enthusiast.

I would recommend getting a manual rain gauge as well if you dont have one, it is a great way of checking it against your station to see how accurate it is and there is something very pleasing about seeing and pouring out the daily rainfall . There is a relatively inexpensive one available in the skyview shop see here https://www.skyview.co.uk/collections/rain-gauges/products/climemet-professional-manual-rain-gauge-cm1016. I dont actually have this one , I sourced a rain gauge from the USA Designed to U.S. National Weather Service & Environment Canada Standards see here https://www.weathershack.com/product/productive-alternatives-stratus.html. Have it for a few years and as tough as the day I bought it, inexpensive also.

Best of luck with your purchase and look forward to seeing your data in the forum.

Many thanks Meteorite58! Plenty of information there, much appreciated.

Oneiric 3

Meteorite58 wrote: »

I sourced a rain gauge from the USA Designed to U.S. National Weather Service & Environment Canada Standards see here https://www.weathershack.com/product/productive-alternatives-stratus.html. Have it for a few years and as tough as the day I bought it, inexpensive also.

Very interesting Meteorite58.

May I ask, in your experience, how does a high quality manual like this compare with any electronic gauge you may be using?

I have noticed myself that my weather station (Davis Vantage Pro 2) seems to understate readings on a monthly basis in comparison to readings to an aul mug I have set nearby, by as much as 10 - 15 mm per 100mm.

I recently purchased the new styled 'AeroCone' to replace the older style bucket on the DV2:

https://www.davisnet.com/aerocone-aerodynamic-rain-collector/


but am not seeing much in the way of difference in readings so far to be honest, but would really need a wet month to test it to full rigour.

Meteorite58

May I ask, in your experience, how does a high quality manual like this compare with any electronic gauge you may be using?

I should have added in the post above that I did get spurious readings for rainfall for a time a few years back, having contacted Davis and re set the station ( did need to change a connection as well ) It has been working quite well although I have noticed it has drifted to recording less then the manual rain gauge, I had calibrated it but must do it again. I think the way I see the AWS as being an indication of the rainfall but the manual as the actual amount. The problem with that is the AWS records are out and I haven't been disciplined enough ( yet ) to record the daily totals from the manual rain gauge. I would in time like to also get good quality thermometers.

I built a Stephenson's screen a couple of years ago and have the AWS thermometer / humidity sensor in it , see below

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=101828570&postcount=303

The cone looks like a very good idea.

Oneiric 3

Meteorite58 wrote: »

I should have added in the post above that I did get spurious readings for rainfall for a time a few years back, having contacted Davis and re set the station ( did need to change a connection as well ) It has been working quite well although I have noticed it has drifted to recording less then the manual rain gauge, I had calibrated it but must do it again. I think the way I see the AWS as being an indication of the rainfall but the manual as the actual amount. The problem with that is the AWS records are out and I haven't been disciplined enough ( yet ) to record the daily totals from the manual rain gauge. I would in time like to also get good quality thermometers.

I built a Stephenson's screen a couple of years ago and have the AWS thermometer / humidity sensor in it , see below

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=101828570&postcount=303

The cone looks like a very good idea.

Thanks for the info M58. Very interesting.

On the subject of thermometers. Invested in a "Davis 7346.070 – Pro2 Digital Temperature Humidity Sensor (Sensiron SHT31)" sensor earlier this year

https://www.scaledinstruments.com/product/davis-7346-070-pro2-digital-temperature-humidity-sensor-sensiron-sht31/

and have noticed it has seems to have higher sensitivity than earlier models, and is very accurate overall. What I have noticed even more is that the humidity readings are also far more accurate than my previous sensor, which tended to overestimate readings and broadly speaking, was not particular sensitive to small scale changes. This current sensor measures RH values far more realistically and for my region, are 99% of the time in line with the nearest met stations in any given hour.


Given your excellent run down on the manual rain gauge, I think I will take the plunge and purchase one later this year to measure monthly, rather than daily rainfall (I too am not that disciplined + won't have the time!).

If I can ask one more question, would this gauge prevent daily evaporation from heat/sun etc of accumulated rainfall from within it so as to not skew the monthly readings?

Meteorite58

If I can ask one more question, would this gauge prevent daily evaporation from heat/sun etc of accumulated rainfall from within it so as to not skew the monthly readings?

Not too sure about that. I think daily evaporation would not be too much of a problem. Do you mean leaving the water stand for a month before measuring or perhaps empty it after a week or so . I have noticed that the water can get quite warm in summer so I presume there is some evaporation taking place.

Good to see the Davis sensors come down in price, I looked into getting one from England but found the price a bit over the top , got a compatible one from a guy in Cornwall off ebay, cant seem to locate him atm . Seems to be accurate, again it would be good to calibrate against a good manual thermometer.

Maybe Danno might know where I could pick up Max -Min thermometers like the ones in the pic in the post below that wouldn't break the bank ( Met Eireann issue I presume as is a Climatological Station ).

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=104573025&postcount=44

Meteorite58

A couple of pictures of the rain gauge in situ . It needs to be cleaned quite regularly ( just done for the pic ), can get a build up of algae type slime, not to mind insects, slugs and bird droppings

You can see the opening is quite small so perhaps minimizing evaporation.

Oneiric 3

Great stuff M58. Thanks for those pics. Very useful

I had that Cornwall guy bookmarked but he seems to have vanished. Pity as I did get a sensor off him a few years back and it worked a treat.

gomamochi1

sorry to burst into your thread though I am also after a new weather station. Have had an oregon Scientific solar powered RMR500ES for the past 8 years though the outdoor hydro and temperature sensor has recently stopped working and appears not to be replaceable. So Iw as looking for a new set up.
Many thanks