Topic: Just rain gauge and temps station

[Palandium]

I started looking for a simple wireless rain gauge and have found my search for a quality device isn't so simple.

Cheap wireless gauges have widespread quality issues.  Quality gauges need to be hooked up to an expensive console.  Introductory weather stations have quality issues and seem to skimp on the rain gauge, which is the sensor I'm most interested in.

This is my conundrum.  I'm looking to spend around 150$ and I'm just not finding anything that matches my needs of bang for the buck.  I have a backyard wine garden that I want to more accurately water, (which I've found my various berries tend to like.)  I am really just starting off with monitoring temps and rainfall.  I'm sure I'll get the bug and want to add different sensors for soil moisture and such later on, but that won't happen this year unless I find a mound of cash.

The more I looked into rain monitoring, the more it makes sense to start off parting into a quality weather station.  Problem is starting off with the rain sensor instead of wind, which most weather stations seem to center around.

Life would be grand if I could ebay a Davis or otherwise quality console and start adding sensors to that, but I thought it might be a good idea to ask all of your kind souls to help me out with some advice.

I hope that I've covered my needs completely enough, with the addition that I am a computer geek and would love to be able to graph the data on the computer, hence a usb or serial option.

I know that I am asking a lot out of very little money which is why I am asking for some advice.  (I'd say wired isn't a problem, but it appears to save little money going wired over the cost of wirelss.)

Thanks!

[SlowModem]

I started looking for a simple wireless rain gauge and have found my search for a quality device isn't so simple.

Option 1

Option 2

If you can get #1 for $100 or less, that's a good buy.  They're not absolutely great units, but I'm happy with mine and think they're a good deal for the money.

They come with software (heavy weather) but most feel it's a resource hog.  Many of us go with WUHU which is free and does a good job (IMO).

I have a 4" CoCoRaHS manual gauge that I calibrate my tipping bucket gauges with and they're spot-on unless there's a downpour.

There's my $0.02 worth.  Good luck!

[tomcj2]

If soil moisture information is sufficient for your needs you may find something that meets your needs at IRROMETER  http://www.irrometer.com/.  I use their WaterSwitch to control my lawn irrigation.  Davis uses their sensors.

[Cool Games]

I just started this week accumulating data with a LaCrosse WS-2310 that I had for 3 years with a dedicated XP Home PC system locally running Heavy Weather.
 I never liked the PC and separate upload requirement and this week I found some free MAC software  WVIEW .
 It works with wunderground but with only two days use I have no real opinion.
 It is working on a iMac G5 with a Keyspan adapter to connect station to USB.
I had to manually create some directories and symbolic links so it may be a little technical to get up and running on a MAC for some.
 So far I like it !

I like the mentioned weather station (Option 2) which I have so it was just adapting to Mac G5.
It is now running on it's own MAC WebServer until I later enable the steps to wunderground.

Good luck
Lee

[Palandium]

Thanks for all of the input, especially the soil moisture sensors.  I was seriously considering the Fine Offset 1080 from ambient, but the build quality and lack of upgrade ability was really eating at me.  I'm sure it's a fine option for some, but reading all of the various reviews around the net gave me an indication of its limitations.  The rain gauge was especially troubling with false readings due to wind and the small collection area.  I was about to resign myself to buying the 1080 and make due with mods, but have changed my mind.

I believe it is time for me to hack together a 1-Wire/Arduino setup.  I figure this way I can start with a rainwise gauge and temps sensor within my 150$ budget and get the quality and resolution I'm after, not to mention hackability.  If I decide to go the Davis route in the future, I can use the sensors I'm acquiring (thanks tomcj2!) with some vantage variant.

My idea is to eventually end up learning 1-Wire/Arduino to the point where I can have it all hooked up and displaying on a touch lcd picture frame and mimic some of the Ventus designs:

http://www.ventusdesign.com/products/

I may be a geek, but I also have roots in graphic design, so I'm all about the making pretty.

This is obviously an undertaking not for the faint of heart, but should be more fun than just out of the box ready.  So I'm quite sure that I'll be on the boards a bit asking for help and showing the progress.

Thanks to all y'all, present and future!

[Bushman]

I assume you've looked at the 1-Wire kits from www.aagelectronica.com ?

[Palandium]

I've scoped out aag and read that they are hit and miss.  Again, the aag kit seems to focus on the anem., which I'll add last as a luxury sensor.  (I've read the temp sensor is unshielded and integrated.)  Just not as interested in wind data yet, even though it is the one sensor that people really associate with a weather station. 

Really just starting simple with a Rainwise and temp gauge, then building out with pressure, soil or leaf sensors, maybe integrating an auto weep-watering system, and topping off last with an anemometer.

Right now I'll probably be dealing with hobby-boards.com unless I find a better supplier.  Once I figure out how arduino fits into this whole mess I'll find a supplier. 

I used to solder surface mount components according to milspecs for an old job, so I'll be building from component kits.  Should be challenging and fun.  Wish me luck along with my frustration...

[Palandium]

Well...

Just pulled the trigger on the start of my 1-Wire/Arduino weather station project.  Initially only temps will be data logged as I learn what the hell I am doing.  Rainwise gauge will work with its own counter until I learn more, but should follow within a month.

For those who wish to follow the path of the cheap, expandable and frustrated, follow my progress on these arduino and wxforum threads:

http://www.wxforum.net/index.php?topic=7904.0
http://www.arduino.cc/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1273725520


This thing is going to make me wanna throw things in the beginning...