Author Topic: Station and placement (Australia)  (Read 2678 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline The pen is blue

  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 8
Station and placement (Australia)
« on: July 10, 2012, 05:51:19 AM »
Medium latitude (south), temperate climate.

Measurement Needs: Temp, Humidity, Wind Speed, Wind Direction, Barometer, Precipitation
Station Needs: To be able to be connected to computer for logging, ideally ability to separate components of sensor unit (for ease of access to precipitation bucket for cleaning etc).

Two storey building so I'd guess the roofline is about 8m.

----
Assumptions (quite a bit of rounding involved):

House is about 12m by 12m at ground level.
Roof is slanted from from edges, to an ~3m long top to bottom peak in the centre.

Left side faces ~NW
Left side has a 2m metal outcrop beyond roofline, level with top of first storey for full length of building.
Left side has ~8m clear between roof and trees.
Trees at bottom half would be much higher than roofline, top half would be at or below.

Right side has a 2m metal outcrop beyond roofline, level with top of first storey for full length of building.
Right side has pretty clear line of sight

Top side has no metal outcrop, but only has ~1m between roof and trees.
Trees would go a few metres above roofline,

Bottom side has about no metal outcrop and has 8m between roof and trees.
Trees would go maybe 1m-2m above roofline.

----

I was looking at the Vantage Pro 2, but the Australian prices are quite steep compared to those in the US.
Placement I was thinking of the bottom edge somewhere.

----

So over to the pros (you guys).
Tips? Hints? Gotchas?
« Last Edit: July 11, 2012, 12:03:03 AM by The pen is blue »

Offline The pen is blue

  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 8
Re: Station and placement (Australia)
« Reply #1 on: July 14, 2012, 09:38:31 AM »
Attaching an image to try and help

Offline DanS

  • Chiang Mai weather
  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 5434
    • ThaiWx
Re: Station and placement (Australia)
« Reply #2 on: July 14, 2012, 07:43:38 PM »
It's a little difficult picturing your environment for an installation. Perhaps a lower cost station with separable sensors like an Oregon Scientific or a LaCrosse This way you can move the individual sensors around to where they best read what they're designed for, rain sensor near the ground, wind high above the roof, temp/humid sensor out away from the house ~2 meters high, etc.

Offline The pen is blue

  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 8
Re: Station and placement (Australia)
« Reply #3 on: July 16, 2012, 08:00:26 AM »
Thanks for the pointer to Lacrosse DanS.

The one that most suits my needs with them is the 2355, which appears to have a separable anemometer and can be connected to the computer (despite appearing to have a relatively slow update rate compared to the VP2, but should be more than enough for anything except wind gusts).

One thing I neglected to mention before (because it had slipped my mind) is that powering the sensor units (if not using batteries) is not a trivial process.
The non-anemometer sensors would be easy enough to manage regardless of the system used (I think) if batteries are available and the wireless version of the VP2 looks to have a solar power supply.
As far as the anemometer is concerned, a solar power supply looks to be purchasable albeit at a heavy price (eek) for the VP2 anemometer (being on the roof would make it difficult to get batteries sorted, and the nature of the building makes hardwiring almost as hard) which doesn't seem to be available for for the Lacrosse unit.

Do you know of any solar power supplies that could be used with the Lacrosse system to allow it to requires less physical interaction?


Offline DanS

  • Chiang Mai weather
  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 5434
    • ThaiWx
Re: Station and placement (Australia)
« Reply #4 on: July 16, 2012, 06:53:49 PM »
If I'm understanding your concerns correctly, the LaCrosse 2800 series use solar powered wind sensors with rechargeable Alkaline batteries, all sensors wireless. My 2810 has been running since Dec. 2009 with no battery/solar charge problems. The inside console and the thermo/hygro sensor out in the yard use regular Alkalines but easily replaced when needed.

Offline The pen is blue

  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 8
Re: Station and placement (Australia)
« Reply #5 on: July 17, 2012, 07:07:30 AM »
If I'm understanding your concerns correctly, the LaCrosse 2800 series use solar powered wind sensors with rechargeable Alkaline batteries, all sensors wireless. My 2810 has been running since Dec. 2009 with no battery/solar charge problems. The inside console and the thermo/hygro sensor out in the yard use regular Alkalines but easily replaced when needed.

Awesome.
That looks exactly like what I need.
In regards to the 2810/2811 (from what I can tell the only difference is the the console) how easy is it to mount the anemometer? The photo seems to imply it mounts into square tubing, is that right?

Offline DanS

  • Chiang Mai weather
  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 5434
    • ThaiWx
Re: Station and placement (Australia)
« Reply #6 on: July 17, 2012, 08:04:11 AM »
You are correct with the differences between the 2810 and 2811 being console cosmetics.
The wind sensor is mounted on a square tubed mount but the base of this mount is made to connect to a round mast with "U" bolts.

Offline The pen is blue

  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 8
Re: Station and placement (Australia)
« Reply #7 on: July 19, 2012, 04:09:08 AM »
Thanks DanS.
That's helped my research a lot.