Topic: Starting a weather station

[Polkster13]

I am new to the boards and would like to get some advice.

First, I live next to a Lake Travis just outside of Austin, Texas. My wife and I go kayaking a lot on the lake when weather allows. My house had significant hail damage in March of this year and we are getting a new roof with ridge vents. I have installed a Nello 35-foot tower next to the back of the house with rebar reinforced concrete (15 bags of 80 pound concrete) and have it braced about 18 feet off the ground to the house in two places. This was done so I would not have to use guy wires. Currently I have an OTA antenna for local channels and my DirecTV HD dish mounted to the tower. I can provide pictures of the tower if anyone thinks that would be useful.

Second, I am setting up a dedicated server on a UPS that will collect all of the weather data and post to the Internet. I am a Systems Analyst by trade and know how to set up computers. However, I will have some questions at the end of this post about how to set up a lightning detector to this server.

Third, I have pretty much decided to get a Davis Vantage Pro2 wireless weather station. However, I am going to add this last.

Fourth, I have a Kestrel 4000 Pocket Weather Tracker that I use when we are out on the lake. This gives me all of the weather information I need while we are out paddling except for Lightning detection.

What I am wanting to put in first is a Boltek StormTracker Lightning Detector PCI Card on my server so I can find out exactly where and when lightning is in my area. I have read that I will also need a GPS to determine my exact location to be able to accurately determine where the lightning strikes occur. I am looking at the Garmin GPS-16x HVS to connect to the server. Later I will add the Davis weather station.

Question time:

1. Does anyone have any experience with the Boltek PCI Card? If so, are you using a GPS unit? If so, which one and why? How difficult is it to set up this card and what else do I need to be able to accurately determine location of lightning strikes?

2. Does anyone have any experience with the Gramin GPS-16x unit? It comes with a three meter cord. How can I make that longer? I want to mount this to my tower, so what would be the best method to accomplish this?

3. How much space do I need to provide around these different instruments to maintain accuracy?

4. On the David weather station, I am planning on mounting the anemometer at the top of my tower which will put it above the thirty-three foot mark and get it over six feet above the apex of my roof. It appears in the documentation that the cord from the anemometer connects to the rest of the sensor pack. Is this correct? Is it possible to extend this? I am not sure I want to mount the sensor pack to the tower unless I can somehow use a PVC pipe to extend it away from the tower. Also how far above the roof would it need to be to not affect the temperature gauge and rainfall gauge? I don't want to mount anything to the roof. I want everything mounted to the tower if possible. Any advise on this would be greatly appreciated.

5. Has anyone mounted a Davis weather station to a tower? If so, what has been your experience with this type of mounting solution and the accuracy of your unit?

6. Is there anyone that can help me with getting a web site up and running and displaying my data once I get this all installed?

I want to thank anyone for taking the time to answer my many questions.

[d_l]

The Davis anemometer comes with 45 feet of cable and that can be extended up to several hundred feet if necessary.  Long extensions on the anemometer cable will reduce the upper wind speed limit of the anemometer some though.  Nothing serious (I don't have the exact numbers handy), but you might not read full wind speeds if you have tornado or hurricane-level speeds.

You don't want to mount the ISS package above the roof line.  It requires periodic maintenance and excessive height makes that more work. Also the standard height for temperature readings is about 5-6 feet above the ground.

You also wouldn't want the rain gauge of the ISS in a wind shadow of your house.  If you can't get it far enough away on an arm from the house and mast, then you can always add an anemometer transmitter to your anemometer and mount the ISS on a post in an open area nearby.

[SLOweather]

Question time:

1. Does anyone have any experience with the Boltek PCI Card? If so, are you using a GPS unit? If so, which one and why? How difficult is it to set up this card and what else do I need to be able to accurately determine location of lightning strikes?

Yup. Works fine. I use the recommended GPS unit, on a USB-Cat5E extender. The GPS is less for location, and more for timing.
The recommended GPS is fairly inexpensive, and some, especially older GPSes, do not have the timing resolution needed for timestamping strikes.

2. Does anyone have any experience with the Garmin GPS-16x unit? It comes with a three meter cord. How can I make that longer? I want to mount this to my tower, so what would be the best method to accomplish this?

Nope, sorry. If it's USB, you can use a USB over Cat5 extender up to 150' or so, as I recall. The GPD doesn't NEED to be on the tower, a window with a view of open sky where it can receive the satellites is OK, as is eave mounting.

3. How much space do I need to provide around these different instruments to maintain accuracy?

The weather station ISS should be in an open area away from trees and buildings. The ISS 5' or so above ground, the anemometer 33'. There is a lot of siting info available elsewhere in this forum and on the web.

 

4. On the David weather station, I am planning on mounting the anemometer at the top of my tower which will put it above the thirty-three foot mark and get it over six feet above the apex of my roof. It appears in the documentation that the cord from the anemometer connects to the rest of the sensor pack. Is this correct? Is it possible to extend this? I am not sure I want to mount the sensor pack to the tower unless I can somehow use a PVC pipe to extend it away from the tower. Also how far above the roof would it need to be to not affect the temperature gauge and rainfall gauge? I don't want to mount anything to the roof. I want everything mounted to the tower if possible. Any advise on this would be greatly appreciated.

As stated in another response, the anemometer can be extended with cable or wirelessly. The ISS is best put at ground level, for accuracy and ease of service. You don't need to use PVC for the ISS to extend it from the tower.

5. Has anyone mounted a Davis weather station to a tower? If so, what has been your experience with this type of mounting solution and the accuracy of your unit?

Yup, for a fire station client. The tower will cause a rain shadow for rainfall from that direction, and also perhaps create its own rain from fog condensation. Also, if you get the Plus model with solar and UV sensors, put the ISS on the south side of the tower (if you are in the N hemispere) . Else the tower will shadow those sensors.

6. Is there anyone that can help me with getting a web site up and running and displaying my data once I get this all installed?

You'll need a 24/7 computer with a serial port (don't get Davis USB WeatherLink), and an open PCI slot, web hosting, probably your own domain name, and some software. There's plenty of help here on WxForum.

Now for the unasked question: Where to mount the Boltek antenna...

Not on a side arm off the tower. The tower will cause reflections that will screw up the strike detections. Based on your descriptions, the best place for the antenna is above the top of the tower on a PVC or fiberglass mast. Else, as far away from the tower as you can get it.

[SLOweather]

As far as out on the lake, get a SkyScan or maybe a Thunderbolt handheld detector...

[Polkster13]

As far as the anemometer, I was planning on putting it on a pipe that would extend well above the OTA antenna that I have mounted on the tower. I like the idea of having the rest of the unit in the middle of my yard and using the wireless communication with the main unit inside the house. I want it at least 33 feet off the ground. That should not be an issue with the tower. How does one go about getting the anemometer transmitter that d_l mentioned. Does Davis make one of these for their Vantage Pro system? I cannot find anything like that on their web site. Or would I need to go with a different weather unit?

I was thinking of putting the lighting detector on a PVC pipe and mounting that to one of the three legs of the tower and making sure the detector is also above the OTA antenna. Should the lightning detector be above the anemometer or the other way around? I have also read where people have mounted the lightning detector in their attic. I would really like to get it way up to increase the range. I also have another spot I could put it that would also be easily accessable that would have it about 20 feet from the tower. Would that be far enough?

SLOweather mentioned they had the recommended GPS unit. What is that and where can you buy one? How much are they?

And yes I will have a dedicated server running 24/7 just for the lightning detector and weather station.

Thanks for all of the responses so far. This is really helping.

[Polkster13]

Found the anemometer transmitter kit on the Davis web site. So I have my answer for that that question .

[offroadjosh]

Don't buy off the davis site. Go to ambient weather and get the low price quote(the email it to you) You will save a lot of money doing that.


Josh

[George Richardson]

I purchased and installed a Boltek PCI detector last month. After spending a lot of pre-purchase time deciding on an installation location, I read my User's Manual and found this nugget:

"One of the most common questions asked is that of proper antenna placement.

Many users are under the impression that a very high antenna placement is necessarily a better one. This however is not the case.

A very high (>10m or 30 ft.) antenna placement can cause some unusual problems . . ."

FWIW
George

[Polkster13]

George,

Very interesting. I had read that the higher up the antenna is placed the greater the range. What sort of unusual problems did they list? Did they say anything about putting it in the attic?

Josh,

Yes, I found the information I needed on the Davis web site and then went to the Ambient Weather site to check the prices. That is where I purchased my Kestrel 4000 pocket weather system last year that I use when I am out paddling.

[George Richardson]

Polkster13,

"A very high antenna tends to be very sensitive to the low amplitude electrical impulses produced by a storm. An unusually high number of low amplitude strokes cause the range determination algorithms . . to produce somewhat less accurate results. In effect, the averages are 'thrown off'."

"Most installations are well served by a moderate antenna height - 15-20 feet (5-7 m) is just fine. For those users without metal roofs, an antenna placement in the attic is sufficient to detect storms hundreds of miles away. Such a placement has been observed to enable the detection of storms over 600 miles away at night."

FWIW
George

[Polkster13]

Thanks, George. That information gives me the exact location of where I am going to mount the antenna. And it won't be on my tower.