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Author Topic: Weather Stations  (Read 9681 times)

jid

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Weather Stations
« on: January 21, 2015, 01:59:19 AM »

For years, I've had a weather station at the house, and it's powered by my Maplin weather station and Raspberry pi.

Unfortunately, it's not quite the quality it once was - and so I've decided to upgrade to something more upmarket. So i've ordered one of these Davis weather stations:
http://www.vantagevue.com/products/product.asp?pnum=06250#

If anyone is interested I'll post updates here on the quality of it, and how it's set up - http://www.bridgendweather.co.uk/

Going to be using WeeWX for the Raspberry Pi to be able to provide online updates - as well as "Rapid Fire" updates every 3 seconds to Weather Underground.

Should be a fun project, the past years data showed some interesting trends - wind speed on the old station wasn't at all accurate, so this will be a welcomed upgrade.
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Jamie

BT FTTP - 75meg | Sky Q |  Bridgend Weather

broadstairs

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Re: Weather Stations
« Reply #1 on: January 21, 2015, 09:17:25 AM »

I've had a Davis Vantage Pro for some years now and it is still going strong. Currently I use Weather Display run 24x7 on a W7 laptop and this also runs WXSim a weather forecasting program. You can see my weather data on my website (see here ). I'm sure you will find a Davis station an order of magnitude better than your previous one.

Stuart
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ISP:Vodafone Router:Vodafone Wi-Fi hub FTTP

ardsar

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Re: Weather Stations
« Reply #2 on: January 21, 2015, 09:30:07 AM »

I have also had a Davis Vantage Pro for several years and run Weather Display 24/7  on a Microsoft surface to keep power usage down. I've learnt a lot from doing this especially with php scripts etc. My site is www.bearsbythesea.co.uk Have fun with your new toy.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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silversurfer44

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Re: Weather Stations
« Reply #3 on: January 21, 2015, 10:03:36 AM »

Sorry to be a bit of a fly in the ointment, but I would update your order to the Vantage Pro 2. I had the exact same model as you have ordered. It worked fine for a few months and then I started getting low battery warnings on the ISS. It is a well documented problem with the vue model. The battery is not the problem it is the unit itself. The only way to clear the error was to take the unit down, remove the battery and cover the solar panel. Leave it like that overnight so the power drained completely. Doing this meant all collected data was inaccurate. If you can afford the extra it may be worth changing to the Pro2. Good luck, and I mean that.
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Colin II : It's no good being a pessimist, it wouldn't work anyway.

jid

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Re: Weather Stations
« Reply #4 on: January 21, 2015, 12:59:26 PM »

Thanks all for the replies - I'm hoping to have a good tinker around with all of the weather functions - notably my wind speed readings are currently completely inaccurate, so that will be a welcomed change!

Anyone any advice for the best mounting position, I was thinking of putting it on a high fence in the open at the back of the garden, the current one is mounted on a line post!

If you can afford the extra it may be worth changing to the Pro2. Good luck, and I mean that.

Unfortunately with the wireless system and logger in the region of £600 - it's too far out of my price range  :( However, I was recommended the Vue by a friend of mine who has a weather station nearby, he's had it nearly 6 months without any trouble - so I think I shall see how it goes, if I had the extra budget I would have purchased the Pro 2.
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Jamie

BT FTTP - 75meg | Sky Q |  Bridgend Weather

broadstairs

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Re: Weather Stations
« Reply #5 on: January 21, 2015, 01:15:30 PM »

The problem with the Vue is it is all in one, so I'm not sure what to say. With my Pro(1) I have anemometer and solar sensor on house roof and rest of the station on a fence post.

Stuart
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jid

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Re: Weather Stations
« Reply #6 on: January 21, 2015, 01:16:32 PM »

The problem with the Vue is it is all in one, so I'm not sure what to say. With my Pro(1) I have anemometer and solar sensor on house roof and rest of the station on a fence post.

Stuart

This is true - the Vantage Pro 2 is very expensive though - I'd love to get it, but £600 is a lot of money for "tinkering"!
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Jamie

BT FTTP - 75meg | Sky Q |  Bridgend Weather

broadstairs

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Re: Weather Stations
« Reply #7 on: January 21, 2015, 03:13:24 PM »

With the Vue if you place the thing on the roof for good wind then your rain will be not good, then place it where you get good rain the wind will not be good.. I guess if you have an open aspect garden with no trees close by then on a post in the middle of the open area would be a good compromise but the wind will still be a bit low. Even with my anemometer on the roof my wind speeds is probably between 10-20% low!

Stuart
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jid

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Re: Weather Stations
« Reply #8 on: January 21, 2015, 03:17:36 PM »

Thanks for the advice Stuart, I'll have to have a think about this one, a post in the middle of the lawn is an option, but it would be annoying for mowing, depending on the range, I'd like to mount it on the back fence.

Shall keep you all posted on how it goes.
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Jamie

BT FTTP - 75meg | Sky Q |  Bridgend Weather

jid

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Re: Weather Stations
« Reply #9 on: January 25, 2015, 09:11:48 PM »

All fitted yesterday, time for tinkering!

No problems with wireless communication and all working well, now just need to update all the website with the new settings. Using weewx with a plug in to allow it to output Weather Display data files.

Should produce some nice Web pages!



Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

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Jamie

BT FTTP - 75meg | Sky Q |  Bridgend Weather

NewtronStar

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Re: Weather Stations
« Reply #10 on: February 05, 2015, 07:37:47 PM »

ooh money to burn yet could afford this if i gave up the cigs and it's deffo an incentive as have always wanted a Davis weather station the Bees-an-ees  :love2:
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jid

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Re: Weather Stations
« Reply #11 on: February 05, 2015, 07:54:53 PM »

ooh money to burn yet could afford this if i gave up the cigs and it's deffo an incentive as have always wanted a Davis weather station the Bees-an-ees  :love2:

It's a great piece of kit, downside for me is I haven't quite got the Raspberry setup right with weewx yet, the NTP settings are sometimes a bit too slow to update.
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Jamie

BT FTTP - 75meg | Sky Q |  Bridgend Weather

William Grimsley

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Re: Weather Stations
« Reply #12 on: April 17, 2016, 05:06:00 PM »

Forgot to add mine to this thread, I have a Davis Vantage Vue set up at around 8 m above the ground. My website is on my profile.
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aesmith

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Re: Weather Stations
« Reply #13 on: April 26, 2016, 11:49:01 AM »

We have a relatively cheap Maplin all in one unit.  Not ideal as we should really mount the anemometer up high to clear the buildings.

https://www.wunderground.com/personal-weather-station/dashboard?ID=IUNITEDK456
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