Author Topic: Romote area bluetooth weather station sensor beacon suggestions?  (Read 1124 times)

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Offline Aussiezak

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Hi Everyone.

I have a unique weather station question and seeking your suggestions...

I am looking at putting a few weather station sensor beacons in a remote area that has no wifi or mobile/cell reception. I frequently pass through the area for work and looking for something that is good value, battery powered, weather/waterproof, low key, has memory, that I can download the data via Bluetooth and upload to the cloud or online app when i get back into an area with internet. I only really need Temperature, Humidity and maybe barometric pressure.

I have looked into a few different products but unsure how easy and usability of them are and suitability for loading details to the cloud on an online app.

One is BlueMaestro's Tempo DiskL: https://www.bluemaestro.com/product/tempo-disc-bluetooth-temperature-humidity-pressure-data-logger/

The other is Ruuvi Ruuvitags: https://ruuvi.com/personal/

Does anyone else have any other ideas or suggestions? :?:

I used to have a Bloomsky weather station which was great (It was obliterated in a Cyclone unfortunately) but it needs a constant wifi connection and i don't need as many features, the app and it's automatic online view ability is fantastic though.

Thank you in advance for any help.  :grin:

Offline pfletch101

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Re: Romote area bluetooth weather station sensor beacon suggestions?
« Reply #1 on: August 29, 2018, 11:12:25 AM »
The BlueMaestro device looks as if it would do what you want, assuming that it will stand up to use in an outdoors environment. At a quick glance, however, it wasn't clear to me that the Ruuvi devices had logging capability - all their examples seemed to assume that you wanted real time on-line measurements. Depending on your skills and knowledge, something Raspberry Pi based could also work for you within a similar budget, though powering it would be a bit more of an issue.

A significant further issue with any of these approaches, however, would seem to be how and where you would mount the sensor beacons - both in terms of physical security (not getting damaged by passing animals or stolen), and in terms of getting sensible results for temperature and humidity. Ideally, they would need to be mounted in ventilated enclosures off the ground and a bit away from big expanses of stone or rock.
Vantage Pro 2+ connected to Raspberry Pi running weewx by means of Meteo-Pi - data incorporated in domestic energy production (PV) and use monitoring system.

Offline Aussiezak

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Re: Romote area bluetooth weather station sensor beacon suggestions?
« Reply #2 on: August 29, 2018, 08:36:16 PM »
Hi pfletch. Thank you for your help.

Yes it seems like the BlueMaestro and Ruuvi are close but not quite what i'm looking for. Which Raspberry pi based sensors would you recommend?

Mounting the sensor is not an issue this is for a large rain forested area wiith lots of places to position and hide the sensors from the variables mentioned.

What about this one? The pocketlab weather: www.thepocketlab.com/store/PocketLab-Weather-p79012259 although I dont know if it is weatherproof.

Offline pfletch101

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Re: Romote area bluetooth weather station sensor beacon suggestions?
« Reply #3 on: August 30, 2018, 01:37:36 PM »
My (somewhat) relevant experience is with the use of a Pi to store data retrieved wirelessly (433 MHz) from a couple of Ambient WH2C sensors located in my home. While these sensors are supposedly suitable for outside use, I would not recommend them for that purpose without some protection from direct impact by the elements - particularly in the (I take it) Australian rain forest. Most people who use Pis for temperature/ humidity and/or weather monitoring do not use them under climatic conditions as adverse as you are probably facing, but there are a host of compatible sensors available. Enclosing and mounting the devices would remain a significant issue. It also looks as if the PocketLab device might work for you (if it is real - I was having a lot of problems navigating their site today), though its battery life looks somewhat limiting, even in 'logger' mode.
Vantage Pro 2+ connected to Raspberry Pi running weewx by means of Meteo-Pi - data incorporated in domestic energy production (PV) and use monitoring system.

 

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