weather stations

[jake]

hi everyone,i am just wondering where is the best place to get an anemometer from?or in fact any weather station equipment.i have a rain gauge and a barometer.i am on an appreticeship wage and have a young daughter so nothing to expensive or my partner may not be too impressed.any info will be very much appreciated.

[TokWW]

First of all Welcome along to the forum!!

Check out the weather station sales links in the "LINKS" section - chain icon at the top. Scientific sales have a cheap unit -WS1081, and then so also do La Crosse with the WS 2308, but Sicentific sales also sell the La Crosse as well.

The La crosse has a few shortcomings but as a hobbyist, with a few minor expenses and some 2nd hand components, you can improve the accuracy and reliability of data. I would also like to point you to weather display software for monitoring and for sending to the internet either to your own website, or to major networks that host for free and build a website for you such as Weather Underground. I have one there too:

Weather Station History : Weather Underground

Sometimes its easiest to build and spend slowly as you improve the site. You would still be looking at between $300 and $500, although you can purchase direct from US as I did for US$149, and I can help with that.

[NZMacka]

I started off about 5 years ago with a Lacrosse 2310, and it performed ok. It did have some seriosu flaws however with the supplied cabling and also with the sensitivity of the sensors. Seeing as you already have the rainguage and barometer, perhaps it may be worthwhile looking at 1-Wire Sensors? The software to read them is free on the internet and they work well with WD as TokWW has posted above. The beauty behind the 1-Wire technology is you can continue to add additional sensors to your network ranging from lightning to soil moisture and temperature. The 1-wire anenometer is a nice piece of kit, well made and is far superior IMHO to the Lacrosse unit (especially the "fan" type anenometer that some Lacrosse stations come with). IIRC in WD, 1-Wire windspeed is updated much faster than Lacrosse stations, and therefore records better wind and gust data overall. Teh 1-Wire kit can be purchased from Scientific Sales in NZ, or direct from Hobby Boards in the US, which I prefer (you can then talk directly to Eric Vickery the owner of HB).
Hope this helps.

[TokWW]

I do agree with you NZMacka - I have added a solar sensor this last week from Hobby Boards and Weather-Display can read then all in. I used a PC PS fan with plumbing ducting to the hygro/field hub just as you have shown me about 12 months ago and it has made an impressive improvement to the reliability and accuracy of the temp and the humidity.

Hobby Boards : Complete 1wire Solutions

[Paul Brookbanks]

Tok,
How/where can I access max/min temps for the past 2 months?
Paul

[Jim Edwards]

Originally Posted by NZMacka

I started off about 5 years ago with a Lacrosse 2310, and it performed ok. It did have some seriosu flaws however with the supplied cabling and also with the sensitivity of the sensors. Seeing as you already have the rainguage and barometer, perhaps it may be worthwhile looking at 1-Wire Sensors? The software to read them is free on the internet and they work well with WD as TokWW has posted above. The beauty behind the 1-Wire technology is you can continue to add additional sensors to your network ranging from lightning to soil moisture and temperature. The 1-wire anenometer is a nice piece of kit, well made and is far superior IMHO to the Lacrosse unit (especially the "fan" type anenometer that some Lacrosse stations come with). IIRC in WD, 1-Wire windspeed is updated much faster than Lacrosse stations, and therefore records better wind and gust data overall. Teh 1-Wire kit can be purchased from Scientific Sales in NZ, or direct from Hobby Boards in the US, which I prefer (you can then talk directly to Eric Vickery the owner of HB).
Hope this helps.

would you say this is better than the davis equipment? or would they be close too the same.....

Chr Jim

[TokWW]

In general, the 1-Wire equipment is inferior to the Davis equipment and the Davis is integral from the start. (That also has some disadvantages trying to comply with best practice for location of individual equipment). There is also an IROX PRo station that works well and Oregon Scientific stations that would be better than the 1-Wire - partly because they come with a console that has a memory datalogger unit and can store data without the PC being attached or on.

However, in saying it is inferior, you may find that some components are made in the same Chinese factory... I wouldn't know, and that they may have equivalent accuracy and performance. The IROX pro unit is Swedish I think and well respected by Windy - the Weather Display software Owner/Developer.

[TokWW]

Originally Posted by Paul Brookbanks

Tok,
How/where can I access max/min temps for the past 2 months?
Paul

Paul, you may have to wait for RWoods to reply, he has his fingertips on years of data from lots of stations in NZ c/- NIWA releasing the libraries of data. It may also help if you say which location you wish to see data from.

[Geyserland]

Originally Posted by Jim Edwards

would you say this is better than the davis equipment? or would they be close too the same.....

Chr Jim

Hi,
I would say the Davis Weather Station is better, but you pay more for it too, I own a Davis Vantage Pro2 plus still have added extra one wire sensors, from Hobby Board in the US, all controlled by WD software and this system is working very well.

Just my 2 cents,
Cheers, Rolf