Recommend a weather station

IMC042 · 27-09-2010 10:07pm

Fionagus wrote: »

I'm using a Fine Offset WH1080 from Maplin and running Cumulus software. It's a relatively cheap and cheerful option with a number of known issues, specifically an inadequate solar shield and a temperamental wind vane. However, with a bit of patience these can be overcome - eventually :rolleyes:.
Some of the others on the forum are running much more salubrious equipment and maybe they can give you some advice on those.

Whether or which, there's lots of really useful information on setting up your own weather website here and the forum is also a mine of information regarding chosing and running a weather station.
Good luck!!

Thanks Fionagus, I'm considering buying the Davis Vantage Vue now. Bit pricey though!

NIALL D · 07-09-2011 10:35am

hi.
which of these would be best anyone know ?
jus something basic for starters like ..
i might buy one with rain gauge and wind direction at a later date , but could someone tell me if one of these would be fairly good/accurate for temp and pressure..??

all are cheap enough really but someone might know the best make/model to go for ..

presume the first one the oregon one for 79.99 would be the best ?? if so id go for that !!

http://www.argos.ie/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Search?storeId=10152&catalogId=13352&langId=111&searchTerms=weather&authToken=

cheers

TskTsk · 07-09-2011 1:21pm

Not sure how convenient it is for you, but Maplin in Blanchardstown had this on special offer at the weekend....

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

I've been using it for about a year now and it's perfect for beginners.

gbee · 07-09-2011 1:44pm

http://www.wimo.de/framesetp_e.html

Assuming post is equal to importing from the UK ~ apporx €50 cheaper for the same station.

EDIT: one has to find weather station in the products section, it won't link directly

whitesands · 07-09-2011 1:58pm

I got one of them maplin usb wireless ones last year & thought it was good.

I have a question about weather stations in general, can anyone help.

At the moment I'm living in an apt so my weather station is more or less useless, or is it.

Can I take the temp guage off & stick it on my balcony & still get pressure & dewpoint readings from it? I'm assuming it gets these readings from the temp guage? Anyone know?

TskTsk · 07-09-2011 2:16pm

whitesands wrote: »

I have a question about weather stations in general, can anyone help.

At the moment I'm living in an apt so my weather station is more or less useless, or is it.

Can I take the temp guage off & stick it on my balcony & still get pressure & dewpoint readings from it? I'm assuming it gets these readings from the temp guage? Anyone know?

The accuracy of the temperature measurements will be affected by its proximity to the building, but yeah, you'll get a roughly accurate reading all right.

NIALL D · 07-09-2011 2:28pm

TskTsk wrote: »

Not sure how convenient it is for you, but Maplin in Blanchardstown had this on special offer at the weekend....

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

I've been using it for about a year now and it's perfect for beginners.

gbee wrote: »

http://www.wimo.de/framesetp_e.html

Assuming post is equal to importing from the UK ~ apporx €50 cheaper for the same station.

EDIT: one has to find weather station in the products section, it won't link directly

the 2 above are the exact same model are they ???

NIALL D · 07-09-2011 2:57pm

this looks to be the same one again on ebay..
cheaper than both of the above..

http://cgi.ebay.ie/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200649202851&fromMakeTrack=true&ssPageName=VIP:watchlink:top:en

if this is a good one ill buy it....

gbee · 07-09-2011 2:59pm

NIALL D wrote: »

the 2 above are the exact same model are they ???

Depends on stock age TBH. This WS is marketed with several different names but the stations are identical.

There have been improvements to newer runs but nothing that a picture would show. Mine was a Maplin sold as a Maplin WS but it is a WH1081 and it's the older model.

If you open the software link in the Maplin it identifies the station as a WH1080 ~ whilst this is NOT a reliable indicator, it refers to an even older model.

There are many comments about this station in this thread, but the newer units are more accurate and have a better screen overlay on the monitor unit.

gbee · 07-09-2011 3:03pm

http://www.foshk.com/ Fine Offset is the manufacture or main distributor of the WS in the above post

Min · 08-09-2011 2:05pm

Where is the best and cheapest place to buy Davis weather stations?

gbee · 08-09-2011 2:16pm

NIALL D wrote: »

http://cgi.ebay.ie/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200649202851&fromMakeTrack=true&ssPageName=VIP:watchlink:top:en

if this is a good one ill buy it....

This looks like the newer version that I refereed to earlier. Of the three, this one is both as good value and had some updates which are desirable for this range.

Lumi · 08-09-2011 2:21pm

Min wrote: »

Where is the best and cheapest place to buy Davis weather stations?

I purchased one a few months ago Min and recommend that you have a look at both Prodata and Weathershop
They both have some good deals at the mo

Drop me a PM if you want specifics on price etc

Min · 08-09-2011 5:18pm

Fionagus wrote: »

I purchased one a few months ago Min and recommend that you have a look at both Prodata and Weathershop
They both have some good deals at the mo

Drop me a PM if you want specifics on price etc

Thanks, it is what I am looking for, saw American sites but the delivery fee was high.

Pangea · 12-09-2011 11:46am

What sort of station would one recommend for measuring wind speeds?
Would love to have one for todays event.

mac80 · 12-09-2011 12:08pm

The more you can afford the better the quality http://www.weathershop.co.uk/shop/collections/best-sellers.html

Davis would be considered the best.
Best to do a Google on any station you intend to buy to see what the general opinion is.

mac80 · 12-09-2011 12:16pm

Sorry forgot to say, before buying make sure and ask how often the station logs the windspeed.
I had a WMR 88 and it is a fine station but only records the wind speed every 40 or 50 secs.
The Davis reports every 2.5 secs

gbee · 12-09-2011 12:17pm

If you are serious, you MUST, and I mean MUST get the Davis Vue as a STARTER ~ it's close to €500/€600.

I was afraid to sepend that kind of money TBH ~ but you won't get ANYTHING accurate under that.

Chaeap ones can be Fine, one may, like I do keep adjusting the readings but the cheap WS suffer from anomolies and spikes and disconnections and clogging up and I could go on ~ but there is fun in this cheap WS game too.

But for the serious weather person you must start at the top ~ Davis Vantage Vue as a minium started kit.

DOCARCH · 12-09-2011 2:13pm

The Davis Vue is a good deal cheaper than E500/E600 - the Vue is good but has it's limitations in my opinion, given that all the instruments are grouped together so not all instruments will be in their optimum positions (e.g. you want your anaeomometer up high but not necessarily your rain gauge and thermos).

You should get a Davis Pro/VP2 for around the E600 to E700 mark if you shop around. I have one on order!

I have a LaCrosse station at the moment that cost around E350. When I got that I soon realised I should have gone with a Davis!

Min · 14-09-2011 12:16pm

My Davis VP2 arrived today, I feel like a child on Christmas morning

rhonin · 14-09-2011 12:40pm

Min wrote: »

My Davis VP2 arrived today, I feel like a child on Christmas morning

Sweet

Hoping to get the vantage vue myself in a few weeks.

Lumi · 14-09-2011 8:56pm

Min wrote: »

My Davis VP2 arrived today, I feel like a child on Christmas morning

Great news Min! Well wear

The Davis pro2 is a brilliant piece of kit and here's hoping you get some decent weather to record with it!

Min · 14-09-2011 11:58pm

rhonin wrote: »

Sweet

Hoping to get the vantage vue myself in a few weeks.

Yeah, very sweet, took me a while to get it all working as there was a setting wrong which didn't allow the console to display information from outside, but got it fixed via the datalogger and software.

That will be great, you'll have it before the snow

Fionagus wrote: »

Great news Min! Well wear

The Davis pro2 is a brilliant piece of kit and here's hoping you get some decent weather to record with it!

Thank you, you saved me a lot as I got the datalogger and software for £75 which was a big saving. Over £200 for that if buying on it's own at the weathershop.

I will be installing it tomorrow, before the rain comes...

eskimocat · 19-09-2011 10:39pm

The one thing i would advise anyone about getting a weather station is to watch out for meddling neighbours... very suspiciously on Sept 11th, my station recorded what must be a record low for Dromahair in Sept...
MINUS 13c :rolleyes: me thinks there was an icecube involved... it was either that or i had a very significant localised weather event!!:P

Funny enough, that same morning at the same time... it was literally raining buckets of water!

19-09-2011 11:02pm

Someone must have a can or two of this :pac:

gbee · 19-09-2011 11:04pm

eskimocat wrote: »

The one thing i would advise anyone about getting a weather station is to watch out for meddling neighbours...

Funny you should say that, In an effort to get more reliable readings I've raised my own weather station another three feet ~ I'm apparently getting more consistent readings ~ but it is strange when one can see the same time that episodes occur ~ either birds, cats or ........ zing, zing, zing .. :eek:

Lumi · 19-09-2011 11:17pm

eskimocat wrote: »

The one thing i would advise anyone about getting a weather station is to watch out for meddling neighbours... very suspiciously on Sept 11th, my station recorded what must be a record low for Dromahair in Sept...
MINUS 13c :rolleyes: me thinks there was an icecube involved... it was either that or i had a very significant localised weather event!!:P

Funny enough, that same morning at the same time... it was literally raining buckets of water!

Data spikes like that happen from time to time with Maplin/FineOffset stations

Have a look on the Cumulus forum http://sandaysoft.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=5605
http://sandaysoft.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=5841&p=49883&hilit=rainfall#p49883

Afik there's a tool you can download from Cumulus to remove & correct the offending data or I'll sort it for you when I'm doing the other stuff

The neighbour is probably innocent

:D

EDIT: Just had a look at your data Cat - that's definitely neighbour-related!!
Kill the fecker

:D:D

19-09-2011 11:34pm

Fionagus wrote: »

Data spikes like that happen from time to time with Maplin/FineOffset stations

Have a look on the Cumulus forum http://sandaysoft.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=5605
http://sandaysoft.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=5841&p=49883&hilit=rainfall#p49883

Afik there's a tool you can download from Cumulus to remove & correct the offending data or I'll sort it for you when I'm doing the other stuff

The neighbour is probably innocent :D

I had a funny rain event once, 100mm in five minutes or something like that, found the neighbour* scratching it's arse on the fence post that was also holding the rain gauge. :rolleyes:

*horse

oswaldcobblepot · 21-09-2011 10:32am

Hey,

I'm looking for a cost effective (CHEAP!) weather station for around the hundred euro mark. I want to measure rainfall, air temp (max, min, mean) solar radiation, windspeed and direction. However one of the most crucial to me is soil temp. The reason I want to monitor these parameters is to determine the optimum timing for mineral and organic fertiliser application and utilisation, to reduce the inciddence of soil structural degradation in the form of soil compaction, and to monitor the microclimate on my farm in general.

I have found several weather stations on amazon:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/NKA-Professional-Wireless-Weather-Station/dp/B0049ATRBA/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1316597128&sr=8-4

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pro-Wireless-Weather-Station-interface/dp/B002LSEN52/ref=pd_cp_ce_1

The thing is neither log soil temperature. It seems to me that the only other option I have, without spending too much money, is to use a usb temp logger and bury it in the ground. However this is a bit of a pain in the ass and if I had a weather station that does soil temp too then that would be ideal. Secondly I'm dubious about the quality and accuracy of these weather stations.

Anyone have any advice on this?

Cheers.

vicwatson · 21-09-2011 6:09pm

this looks to be the same one again on ebay..
cheaper than both of the above..

http://cgi.ebay.ie/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?...tchlink:top:en

if this is a good one ill buy it....

I bought this one last year from Waters and Stanton in England - don't buy from them anyway unless you have the rest of your life to spare

I had a problem with the unit and eventually they took it back to check it out. They eventually sent it back to me saying it was fixed. It was fixed for about a day and the same problems. Now I understnad sh1t happens and thats why I allowed them try make a repair, but their lack of communication is deplorable to say the least. I must had sent them around 10 e-mails before I got a reply to my initial complaint, another 10/15 before I sent the unit for repair, and about another 20 after it trying to get my full refund, which I did, but only after another 5 to 10 e-mails.

An absolute distaster, I even e-mailed the owners and they never bothered replying.

Just saying, they are cheapest on the web that I could find - the above is the reason for it. They were a disaster customer relations wise.

Up to you.

I am off to start looking for a new one now myself hence me coming across this thread.

Recommend a weather station

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