New Weather Stations

[Richard]

Whats everyone's thoughts on this
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/weat ... r-stations#/

[Tornado Tim]

This image says it all:

smarthome_hg4qlz.png

If you get temperature spikes because its out of the shade and in full sun then the station really isnt worth buying.

There needs to be be some form of aspiration for the temperature to be accurate, ie: radiation shield where its covered from the elements but allows air to freely flow through past the sensor.

There is really good potential with the station though.....

[TonyT]

It looks very good. Its an evolution of the Netatmo station, whose main limitation appeared to be battery life. If these guys can get 1 year out of a set of batteries thats quite an achievement. Bear in mind its designed for home automation, not professional weather monitoring, but at the price everyone should have one! I think you could easily buy or make a suitable radiation shield (aspirated if you wish Tim!) to bring the temperature readings to an acceptable level. You're never going to get +/-0.1deg (the sensor is rated +/-0.4deg), but it should be good enough for most people with so long as some attention is paid to exposure.

The main issue with these will be the need to replace the batteries, which will compromise where people site them. Eg, if you have to do the batteries every 6 months then putting the wind sensor in a really high location may not be very appealing, so it will end up comprised, and therefore reporting inaccurate winds.

[jamie]

I like it a lot. Huge potential. I would love to get one and compare the readings to my Davis VP2.

[David]

Looks nice, apart from the temperature problems as you mentioned Tim. Great price for what you get though. I've been interested in getting an ultrasonic anemometer one day, sick of the problems that come with the traditional spinning cups. First Davis anemometer had faulty reed switch, this second one has stiffness issues with the cups and does not spin much at all now below around 7 km/h