Author Topic: $4,500 Gill MetPak Base Station w/ Windsonic Installation Story/Photos  (Read 5792 times)

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Offline Carbon

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Hello WXForum users!  :grin:

I know that you guys like weather station pictures, so here I am today showing you a recent installation I partially oversaw at my local park. Our little town that lies along Cayuga Lake has an extremely interesting climate, and many people are interested in the weather. One day, I was ecstatic to find as a weather enthusiast that there was a fundraiser going in order to get a weather station for our park, Myers Park. There were three options for a station ranging from $750 (Davis) to $4500 (MetPak Base Station). Amazingly, our town raised $4,900 out of our $4,500 goal with tremendous support. The most expensive option was purchased - the Gill MetPak Base Station with Windsonic M. This is a professional grade station and costs about six times your average Davis station. It is made of marine grade stainless steel and is equipped with heating equipment to keep components de-iced and working year-round no matter what, and has no moving parts. The anemometer uses an acoustic array (ultrasonic anemometer) similar to newer ASOS systems to measure wind accurately at high speeds. Now that the success story is out of the way, on to the pictures! Just note that I will not embed using BBCode in worry of high-res pictures clogging the post. :)

Here is a photo of the full setup. (http://imgur.com/kZitiOp) The station is placed completely to NWS measurement standards except for one unusual limitation - believe it or not, the temp/humidity sensor. The anemometer is posted at 32' AGL and is 10'+ over all obstructions, including the lighthouse. Now, the temp sensor is posted at about 15' AGL, not the usual 4'-6'. This was a limitation because this is a public park area, and it needs to be higher to prevent tampering. I'm just glad it won't be messed with, and it doesn't change things very much at all in reality.

You might be thinking the same thing as me - why is this mounted on a 32 foot pole without a guy-wire setup?! I was worried too at first, especially in the windy conditions this area is subject to. However, once I saw how it was being mounted and put into the ground, and the material and thickness, I wasn't as worried. I've observed it myself in 40mph+ wind gusts and looking straight up from the bottom, the sway is almost unnoticeable. Also, yes, the pole is level, even though it might not look so in the photo. :)

Here is a photo of the mounting at the base of the pole: (http://imgur.com/uXW75bx A truck and some heavy machinery got this job done, especially putting up the pole. Yes, as you can see, there is some notable flooding going on. The water is normally about two feet below that metal ridge, but we have flood warnings for Cayuga Lake right now. Yikes!

Now for some of the equipment. Here is a photo of that wonderful ultrasonic anemometer at 32' AGL: (http://imgur.com/yvzqqUe) I'm very happy to have this placed to measurement standards, because you get some awesome wind readings right here that are comparable to airport stations/official readings to see what really happened locally. The anemometer can accurately measure winds up to 134mph. The anemometer is heated to prevent ice and water from freezing and jamming/snow buildup, which I have seen happen in consumer grade cup anemometers. This is a very rugged unit and is built to withstand falling ice and hail and harsh marine conditions.

Here's a picture of the temperature/humidity sensor and other equipment. (http://imgur.com/xlhmX40) As previously mentioned, one drawback was that this is located at around 15' AGL to prevent tampering as it is sited in a public park. This is a high quality MetSpec Multi-Plate Radiation Shield. It provides excellent protection to the temperature and relative humidity sensor with its rugged double louver housing. It allows for excellent response to quick temperature changes while protecting the sensors from salt, dirt, hail, etc. Yes, it is naturally aspirated, which reduces the need for maintenance as a result of less moving parts. These sensors report to the hub box (located below, the small box under the mount arm) along with barometric pressure, which is located on the circuit board inside the hub box. The larger box about a foot below the shield houses the heater interface box, communications equipment, and other various types of power equipment and supplies.

Finally, here is a nice picture from afar viewing the awesome setup!  \:D/ (http://imgur.com/CgnUUG1)

All of this stuff is on a UPS backup to record and report weather data during the most important times - harsh weather conditions where no power is present. So far, we've had some impressive readings in the 4 months it has been up. It also went through the Northeast Blizzard (2017) on March 14th/15th/16th last month without a hitch, despite losing power for a while. Winds were consistently over 30mph with about two feet of total snowfall. Graph sample with max wind during snowstorm: (http://imgur.com/93tAyCH)

Also, the station's first high wind warning - sustained winds of 43mph and a peak gust of 57mph. Impressive speeds, with no issues at all. Graph showing winds/stats: (http://imgur.com/lsXRb0k)

EDIT: Just an hour ago, winds gusted to 60 during a severe thunderstorm. No issues once again - new record! :D Graph showing winds: (http://imgur.com/zi9ndk5)

EDIT: Another new wind record as a bout of gusty winds occurred. 63mph! No issues. Graph and stats: (http://imgur.com/8sCy455)

Now, of course, here are sites where data is viewable!
Wunderground: https://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=pws:KNYLANSI4
Note that Wunderground is currently not receiving gust data from the station, which makes maximum wind data useless there as it stands now. However, I prefer going to WindAlert, the next site I am linking you to. I greatly prefer its layout for wind anyway, as that is its primary purpose. Wind gusts and sustained winds report accurately here.
WindAlert: http://www.windalert.com/spot/166152

I hope you enjoyed the story behind this amazing weather station, and were not irked by my (hopefully decent) writing and explanations. If I find any issues with this post, I will edit it afterwards. Overall, I'm extremely happy that I'm lucky enough to be located within a mile and a half from this, and use this data to supplement my own PWS and weather-watching needs. :)

Thank you to the Community of Lansing for funding this project. New additions coming soon as well!

-Ethan

Offline CW2274

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This is a professional grade station and costs about six times your average Davis station.
Very nice. Once again, one usually gets what one pays for. =D>

Offline PaulMy

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You've done a very good installation and a great write-up...  Congratulations to you and your community =D>


Enjoy,
Paul




Offline DaleReid

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A wonderful write up.  And for you to get the community support without government backing for a weather project is great.

I am curious as to the ultrasonic sensor, and the snow you receive.

I'm impressed about how well those work, when it is above freezing, and wonder if you can comment on how it manages with blowing and drifting that one would assume could plug up the works to until things melted.

Thanks again for the photos.  Dale
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Offline CW2274

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Naturally aspirated to boot, with a caveat. "A further benefit of the MetSpec shield design is that the measured temperature is now even closer to reference temperature measurements made using artificially aspirated motors without the drawbacks of such systems
(power and the maintenance of moving parts)"

No fan? Until passive shields measure up completely to aspirated, it's a waste of the best sensors in the world.
I'll stick to my fan needing replacement every 7 years.

Offline Carbon

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A wonderful write up.  And for you to get the community support without government backing for a weather project is great.

I am curious as to the ultrasonic sensor, and the snow you receive.

I'm impressed about how well those work, when it is above freezing, and wonder if you can comment on how it manages with blowing and drifting that one would assume could plug up the works to until things melted.

Thanks again for the photos.  Dale

Thank you for the kind words!

I will need to do some further research, however I can tell you that it definitely works well. The March 15/16/17 Blizzard was one of the worst snowstorms I've seen. As you can see by the wind data, the readings were flawless despite over two feet of snow. I believe that the roof above the anemometer stops most of the direct downward snowfall. Presumably, once the temperature reaches around 37°F, the heater turns on, heating up the anodized aluminum that makes up the anemometer. This leads to snow not having much time at all to build up on the sensors as the surface is already warm - the snow melts almost on contact, flake by flake. However, the sensors are made for these harsh environments, and that seems to have been proven. :)

Offline Carbon

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Naturally aspirated to boot, with a caveat. "A further benefit of the MetSpec shield design is that the measured temperature is now even closer to reference temperature measurements made using artificially aspirated motors without the drawbacks of such systems
(power and the maintenance of moving parts)"

No fan? Until passive shields measure up completely to aspirated, it's a waste of the best sensors in the world.
I'll stick to my fan needing replacement every 7 years.

Let me simply begin with saying that I agree with you on the fact that radiation shields without aspiration will not be as accurate as shields with aspiration. However, I'd also like to point out that multiple case studies have been done and are easily retrievable. I believe you might be surprised with the results, but passively aspirated Gill/R.M. Young shields performed with little to no error with artificially aspirated ASOS shields.

There are many consumer grade radiation shields that hit the mark quite well with keeping temperature accurate during the day, as long as they are placed properly. In my case, I own an Ambient Weather WS-1001-WiFi. Call me cheap, but the radiation shielding on it has been excellent. 80-85 degree relatively calm days so far have yielded readings at or lower than official stations, and from that I can only conclude that the radiation shield from Gill on a $4500 station is quite well engineered.

No measurement will ever be perfect, and fan aspirated shields may perform better than passively aspirated. However, I believe that the difference is very minimal in this situation, and as a contributing factor, the wind is almost always blowing through the sensor as well.

Offline CW2274

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Well put. I'm just a little surprised a station of this price range wound not come aspirated, however I completely get the "no moving parts deal" too. Nonetheless, it's a beautiful station, and as you state, lack of wind will probably be few and far between there anyway. ;)

Offline Carbon

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I originally would have thought that this station would include fan aspiration at first glance, but it turns out none of Gill's stations have FARS. Like I previously stated, it's placed how it should be and radiation shields passively have proven to be getting quite close to FARS setups. I think it would be interesting to put a Davis VP2+ w/FARS next to it and see how they each fare.

Enjoying the exchanges on here!  UU

Offline CW2274

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I think it would be interesting to put a Davis VP2+ w/FARS next to it and see how they each fare.
Been done ad nauseam, but not with this passive shield that I'm aware of, but obviously the designers have in some form. In calm wind the fan always wins, and I see no difference here, albeit the error proclaimed less. At this price point, I would certainly expect this shield to perform more accurately, with less wind, than passive shields available for much less money. Not saying it wouldn't perform well, but bring one here to Tucson and sit it next to my VP2 in 110F+ temps with no wind and lets see how it does! =D>

Offline Bashy

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Re: $4,500 Gill MetPak Base Station w/ Windsonic Installation Story/Photos
« Reply #10 on: April 11, 2017, 05:54:28 AM »
To be honest, the heat that the temp is placed at will easily be on par with a FARS, the height helps a lot in this scenario, there is a station not far from me with a Vue (no fan) and thats placed quite high too due to location and his temps are on par with my FARS that is at the "correct" height. and deffo on par with the 2 RAF bases nearby, Lakenheath and Mildenhall.
Sometimes his temps are lower than mine so in effect, its prob working better being higher.

I think folks can forget that, yes, in your garden a FARS will out perform a normal shield side by side, but then you place that normal shield higher at say 10ft and i bet the difference will be a lot different, less radiant heat for a start... I have thought about placing my temp on my mast but i fear there could be some radiant heat from the summer house.
Kind regards
Bashy

Offline CNYWeather

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Re: $4,500 Gill MetPak Base Station w/ Windsonic Installation Story/Photos
« Reply #11 on: April 11, 2017, 06:18:44 AM »
Very cool Nathan and great write up.

Beautiful area there also. I'm a "neighbor" to the east of the Finger Lakes.  :-)
Tony





Offline miraculon

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Re: $4,500 Gill MetPak Base Station w/ Windsonic Installation Story/Photos
« Reply #13 on: April 11, 2017, 09:26:44 AM »
Looks great. Thanks for the write-up and links to the photos. The pole is pretty stout looking, I would not think that it needs guy wires either.

Greg H.


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Offline Carbon

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Re: $4,500 Gill MetPak Base Station w/ Windsonic Installation Story/Photos
« Reply #14 on: April 11, 2017, 10:57:26 AM »
Nice station, WU does have a better page for looking at data here: https://www.wunderground.com/personal-weather-station/dashboard?ID=KNYLANSI4#history

Here is the March 15th history: https://www.wunderground.com/personal-weather-station/dashboard?ID=KNYLANSI4#history/s20170315/e20170315/mdaily

Of course, I use that for checking min/max for temperature stuff all the time. I prefer WindAlert for checking wind because the gusts report properly. :)

Offline tshattuck

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Re: $4,500 Gill MetPak Base Station w/ Windsonic Installation Story/Photos
« Reply #15 on: April 12, 2017, 04:14:26 PM »
Nathan:
Congratulation on the success of getting the great weather station. Nice write up on the forum.  =D>

I am also a neighbor, I live in Clay, NY, just north of Syracuse. My wife and I love the Finger Lakes.

Tom S.

Offline Carbon

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Re: $4,500 Gill MetPak Base Station w/ Windsonic Installation Story/Photos
« Reply #16 on: April 12, 2017, 08:45:36 PM »
Nathan:
Congratulation on the success of getting the great weather station. Nice write up on the forum.  =D>

I am also a neighbor, I live in Clay, NY, just north of Syracuse. My wife and I love the Finger Lakes.

Tom S.

Awesome! So happy to have neighbors so close by in places I've been to that are fellow weather enthusiasts! Thanks for the kind words.

You may have gotten it from the above poster, but my name is Ethan (Nathan is cool too!)

Ethan

Offline AMSFC

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Re: $4,500 Gill MetPak Base Station w/ Windsonic Installation Story/Photos
« Reply #17 on: August 15, 2018, 06:49:22 AM »
Wonderful description... Thanks  UU

Offline AMSFC

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Re: $4,500 Gill MetPak Base Station w/ Windsonic Installation Story/Photos
« Reply #18 on: August 15, 2018, 08:57:34 AM »
Naturally aspirated to boot, with a caveat. "A further benefit of the MetSpec shield design is that the measured temperature is now even closer to reference temperature measurements made using artificially aspirated motors without the drawbacks of such systems
(power and the maintenance of moving parts)"

No fan? Until passive shields measure up completely to aspirated, it's a waste of the best sensors in the world.
I'll stick to my fan needing replacement every 7 years.

Let me simply begin with saying that I agree with you on the fact that radiation shields without aspiration will not be as accurate as shields with aspiration. However, I'd also like to point out that multiple case studies have been done and are easily retrievable. I believe you might be surprised with the results, but passively aspirated Gill/R.M. Young shields performed with little to no error with artificially aspirated ASOS shields.

There are many consumer grade radiation shields that hit the mark quite well with keeping temperature accurate during the day, as long as they are placed properly. In my case, I own an Ambient Weather WS-1001-WiFi. Call me cheap, but the radiation shielding on it has been excellent. 80-85 degree relatively calm days so far have yielded readings at or lower than official stations, and from that I can only conclude that the radiation shield from Gill on a $4500 station is quite well engineered.

No measurement will ever be perfect, and fan aspirated shields may perform better than passively aspirated. However, I believe that the difference is very minimal in this situation, and as a contributing factor, the wind is almost always blowing through the sensor as well.

Carbon, you are quite right ... furthermore, any noticeable difference between a brand new (calibrated) fan aspirated thermo-hygrometer and a naturally aspirated, will be lost after 2 or 3 months due to contamination.

I'll stick to my fan needing replacement every 7 years.

CW2274 > You replace the fan every 7 years... in that same period, how often do you replace/calibrate your thermo-hygrometer?
 
Rgds,
Alex

Offline CW2274

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Re: $4,500 Gill MetPak Base Station w/ Windsonic Installation Story/Photos
« Reply #19 on: August 15, 2018, 03:45:33 PM »
Naturally aspirated to boot, with a caveat. "A further benefit of the MetSpec shield design is that the measured temperature is now even closer to reference temperature measurements made using artificially aspirated motors without the drawbacks of such systems
(power and the maintenance of moving parts)"

No fan? Until passive shields measure up completely to aspirated, it's a waste of the best sensors in the world.
I'll stick to my fan needing replacement every 7 years.

Let me simply begin with saying that I agree with you on the fact that radiation shields without aspiration will not be as accurate as shields with aspiration. However, I'd also like to point out that multiple case studies have been done and are easily retrievable. I believe you might be surprised with the results, but passively aspirated Gill/R.M. Young shields performed with little to no error with artificially aspirated ASOS shields.

There are many consumer grade radiation shields that hit the mark quite well with keeping temperature accurate during the day, as long as they are placed properly. In my case, I own an Ambient Weather WS-1001-WiFi. Call me cheap, but the radiation shielding on it has been excellent. 80-85 degree relatively calm days so far have yielded readings at or lower than official stations, and from that I can only conclude that the radiation shield from Gill on a $4500 station is quite well engineered.

No measurement will ever be perfect, and fan aspirated shields may perform better than passively aspirated. However, I believe that the difference is very minimal in this situation, and as a contributing factor, the wind is almost always blowing through the sensor as well.

Carbon, you are quite right ... furthermore, any noticeable difference between a brand new (calibrated) fan aspirated thermo-hygrometer and a naturally aspirated, will be lost after 2 or 3 months due to contamination.

I'll stick to my fan needing replacement every 7 years.

CW2274 > You replace the fan every 7 years... in that same period, how often do you replace/calibrate your thermo-hygrometer?
 
Rgds,
Alex
The fan was rated for 7 years of service til I got it wet and killed it after 3 years running full tilt 24/7. I now have another that's rated about the same.
I don't calibrate my sensors, merely replace them. My current SHT31 has about 7 months of service on it and will most likely replace it this winter, with what though is the current dilemma.