Wx Station Queries

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Willoughby
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Wx Station Queries

Unread post by Willoughby »

Well i'm about to purchase the Davis Vantage Pro2 wireless from wdu.com.au with the WMO guidelne rain gauge from davis.
(you can't buy from the states as the US wireless stations operate on the same FM frequencies with the Vodafone network (here))

Gary, you suggested something you guys are switching to from Davis... why would this be of interest to me?

And yes Brian.. at this stage i'd be using your weather-display software with some little alterations.. how would I go about web-hosting?

IS it possible to stick a Stevenson screen on top of the house.. will the Davis sensors/radiation shield be enough for accurate temp readings, even if the roof is metallic?
I'd most likely build one myself.. the home-made one on WZ looks cool...
http://shop.weatherzone.com.au/info_pag ... 5189422e5d

Wind mast will be 5 metres high above the roof towards the W'rn end of the house with the S/screen and so on towards the aerial-side of the roof

Attatched is a 360° view from the proposed Hamilton East weather station site! :D
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Manukau heads obs
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Unread post by Manukau heads obs »

note that the davis VP (i.e the new VP2) has a pretty good built in stevenson screen, and you could even build your own fan into it to improve air flow when there is not much wind...and because the solar charging is on the side of the ISS unit (i.e the whole rain gauge/temp sensor array), then you dont want to put all that into a stevenson screen, but you could extend the temp/hum and ISS from the davis screen to a stevenson screen...i.e the white box with the sealed lid, and the separate temp/hum sensor....thats what i have done at the waikuku site....
the worst thing to watch out for is reflected solar radiation....which can come from places you would not expect ...

re web hosting, you could run a 2nd lower spec pc running linux and then set WD to save the files onto that PC, if you can get samba set up, or just ftp to that pc on a LAN...but i even have a linux verison of WD, which has improved alot of the last year...and i need to work on it more :)
sounds exciting foggy!!

a forum with lots of information on weather stations, housing/equioment, web hosting, etc:
http://www.weather-watch.com/smf/

you will have to add a 1 wire lightning counter too :) (only 40$ or so)
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TonyT
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Unread post by TonyT »

Foggy, FWIW I am using a US model VP2 and also a Vodafone cell phone, and I have no problem with either. YMMV.

As for siting the sensors, if at all possible do not put the temp sensors on a roof. You can get a cable made up (I did) to extend the internal cable from the ISS to the temp sensor, so you can still mount the raingauge and solar panel up high, but the temp sensors at the correct height (1.2-1.5m agl).
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ricky
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Unread post by ricky »

5m above the roof height! thats great :)
I'd say you definately want the screen down at a more standard height in the backyard somewhere away from buidings and paths/walls.. The metal roof will emit a large ammount of radiation when hot and convection will carry up a lot of hot air with no wind..
I see the NIWA monitoring sites have both sensors at around 2m and up on the poles as well..
how long is the iss cable to the wind sensors if you dont have the
separate transmitter? can you split them?
I am going to get VP here too soon so I guess I'll find it all out then :)
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Manukau heads obs
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Unread post by Manukau heads obs »

yes they can be split, Ricky ,and the cable is reasonbley generous, and i would say you could extend it more (i think i have read somewhere where people have dont that OK)
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Manukau heads obs
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Unread post by Manukau heads obs »

oh and let Ricky and I know when you are going to set it up and we can give you a hand (and I have someone else in Hamilton I promised to help as well) 8)
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Willoughby
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Unread post by Willoughby »

TonyT wrote:Foggy, FWIW I am using a US model VP2 and also a Vodafone cell phone, and I have no problem with either. YMMV.

As for siting the sensors, if at all possible do not put the temp sensors on a roof. You can get a cable made up (I did) to extend the internal cable from the ISS to the temp sensor, so you can still mount the raingauge and solar panel up high, but the temp sensors at the correct height (1.2-1.5m agl).
What does FWIW and YMMV mean?
Anyway sticking the temp sensors and so on on top of the house are the only realistic options for me. Would laying a big layer of astro turf or something help to minimise the effects of the heat build from the roof?

Cheers, thanks for that info Brian and Ricky ;)
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ricky
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Unread post by ricky »

Could paint the roof white... lol
Don't you have any land around the house there?
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Unread post by jrj »

For What It's Worth
Your Mileage May Vary
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Manukau heads obs
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Unread post by Manukau heads obs »

there is a web site somewhere that spells out all those acronyms...cant remember now the url ;)
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TonyT
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Unread post by TonyT »

Foggy Hamilton wrote:Anyway sticking the temp sensors and so on on top of the house are the only realistic options for me.
Well, if its your only option then its your only option, but try seriously to explore any other possibilities - its not just the reflected heat (which will be considerable), its the height above ground level. You wont measure frosts up there, and your daytime maximums will be quite distorted. I respectfully suggest that you will be very disappointed with the results if you do go with roof mounting (for temp). TTFN :)
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Unread post by jrj »

http://www.computerhope.com/jargon/chat.htm
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Fujita Phil
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Unread post by Fujita Phil »

Try for the open spaces Foggy if you can. I built a wooden Stevenson screen a while ago and kept it beside the house under the deck aboot 3m of the ground.

Now it's out in the open above the grass, aboot 1.3m off the ground and at least 5m away from the nearest tree and 10m away from the nearest concrete structure. I feel a lot more confident that I'm getting accurate readings.

Of course it just added to my partner thinking I'm completely nuts
There is no such thing as bad weather, just the wrong clothes.
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Willoughby
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Unread post by Willoughby »

Not much in the way of open spaces on the ground here.. will have to lay some sort of material on the roof.

Brian, I am continually being impressed by the weather-display live feature, and especially the MML! I love the one on ricky's one showing the North Island..

With those wind arrows, can you make them bigger for higher wind speeds, or speed them up?

Still some over-lapping problems on ricky's main live page i've noticed
http://www.portunus.net.nz/weather/live.html

Cheers
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ricky
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Unread post by ricky »

lol, thats just me being slack.. because it's totally customisable with all kinds of different 'instruments' that you can position anywhere, I just threw it together thinking.. I'll come back to that and make it look nice.. yeah right! lol
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ricky
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Unread post by ricky »

But I've fixed it now ;)
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Manukau heads obs
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Unread post by Manukau heads obs »

the stand alone MML is even better foggy...you can add mutliple maps...i.e for zoomed in, or the whole country, etc
and it has barometer too , with the full blown one
note that I am not the author of the live stuff, but the author is always open to ideas and is always improving and adding new stuff... check out the WD forum
;)
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Gary Roberts
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Re: Wx Station Queries

Unread post by Gary Roberts »

Foggy Hamilton wrote:Gary, you suggested something you guys are switching to from Davis... why would this be of interest to me?
Dunno. What did I suggest would be interesting to you? As far as I recall at the time I made any suggestions you hadn't decided upon a station make/model at that point.

We have a Davis VP+ which is a good station but we're upgrading to something a lot better for only a little extra, in relative terms. We find the cost of the Davis hard to justify.

Anyway, good luck with it, it'll be great to see data from Hamilton.
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Willoughby
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Unread post by Willoughby »

:D Well it finally arrived today and have it outside on the deck just for preliminary temp/humidity and rain readings for now until it gets fully installed up top.

Not all that impressed by the quality of the wind vane, cups and rain bucket- for that price, but okay...
I noticed weatherdownunder.com.au get sent the product from France where the value is apparently AUD$200 :?

All I just need is UV and solar radiation sensors and broadband!

But that UV one looks REALLY expensive. Is it useful at all to you Brian?

Cheers
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Manukau heads obs
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Unread post by Manukau heads obs »

they are good cups and wind vane, dont worry
although probably not quite as good as a maximum/nrg type

the rain gauge works well, nice and big, so a bigger sampling area
there is a bit of a delay with rain values showing up though

must be like an early xmas though getting it :)

solar and uv are much cheaper if you get them at the same time
but you can add a cheap 1 wire solar sensor if use the wd software (about 70$ or so), and the lads are working on a 1 wire UV sensor too
ricky even has a night time cloud sensor working (via a labjack)
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Willoughby
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Unread post by Willoughby »

Manukau heads observer wrote: solar and uv are much cheaper if you get them at the same time
but you can add a cheap 1 wire solar sensor if use the wd software (about 70$ or so), and the lads are working on a 1 wire UV sensor too
ricky even has a night time cloud sensor working (via a labjack)
Are they better than the Davis ones?

Where are these 1 wire things?

Thanks
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Gary Roberts
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Unread post by Gary Roberts »

Foggy Hamilton wrote::D Well it finally arrived today and have it outside on the deck just for preliminary temp/humidity and rain readings for now until it gets fully installed up top.
Keep us posted!
Not all that impressed by the quality of the wind vane, cups and rain bucket- for that price, but okay...
Yup. Hard to justify the expense when the sensors on far less expensive stations were as-good-as-or-better.
I noticed weatherdownunder.com.au get sent the product from France where the value is apparently AUD$200 :?
Yup again...as usual Kiwis are ripped-off on almost all things, and weather stations and software are no different. I used to think NZ$449 for the Oregon Scientific WM-918 (DSE price) was outrageous but we've installed and maintain six of those now and not one has ever had a failure, and the data they provide is more than good enough, especially when our Davis station cost so much more and is not a lot better.

Oh well, at least the software is excellent and free! :D
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Manukau heads obs
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Unread post by Manukau heads obs »

the davis wind sensor is much better than a wm918 gary, i cant believe you are putting them into the same sentence
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Willoughby
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Unread post by Willoughby »

Manukau heads observer wrote:the davis wind sensor is much better than a wm918 gary, i cant believe you are putting them into the same sentence
hey hey hey boys... [-X
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Gary Roberts
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Unread post by Gary Roberts »

Manukau heads observer wrote:the davis wind sensor is much better than a wm918 gary, i cant believe you are putting them into the same sentence
The WM-918 cost $449, DSE retail price: the Davis Vantage Pro Plus cost approximately $2,500 (from memory). The Davis sensors aren't $2,000 better than the WM-918 sensors.

So believe what you like Brian. ;)
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