Author Topic: Looking for Weather Station to meet a few requirements:  (Read 3640 times)

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Offline thoffman

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Looking for Weather Station to meet a few requirements:
« on: November 01, 2011, 11:22:44 AM »
Hello everyone,

First post here.  I am looking to purchase my first "real" weather station.  I am currently in the process of getting a broadband connection out to my farm (finally) and thought it would be a pretty neat idea to take advantage of some of the perks that come along with that.

I want a weather station that can:

- Be linked via wifi to my broadband connection
- Still have an indoor display / control panel
- Be able to include data from my unit to a personal webpage
- General basic sensors, though a UV / soil sensor might be nice since it is a farm and all.

Price is not a major issue as long as its not anything too crazy (10,000) dollar range.  Though, I am sure there is  a solution that would come in under that budget.

Thanks in advance for the suggestions!  Looking forward to getting this up and running and sharing with everyone as soon as 1)the broadband is installed 2)my weather station :) 3) I incorporate it into the site I am building www.thehoffmanenterprise.com

Offline SlowModem

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Re: Looking for Weather Station to meet a few requirements:
« Reply #1 on: November 01, 2011, 11:53:50 AM »
Hello everyone,

First post here.  I am looking to purchase my first "real" weather station.  I am currently in the process of getting a broadband connection out to my farm (finally) and thought it would be a pretty neat idea to take advantage of some of the perks that come along with that.

I want a weather station that can:

- Be linked via wifi to my broadband connection
- Still have an indoor display / control panel
- Be able to include data from my unit to a personal webpage
- General basic sensors, though a UV / soil sensor might be nice since it is a farm and all.

Price is not a major issue as long as its not anything too crazy (10,000) dollar range.  Though, I am sure there is  a solution that would come in under that budget.

Thanks in advance for the suggestions!  Looking forward to getting this up and running and sharing with everyone as soon as 1)the broadband is installed 2)my weather station :) 3) I incorporate it into the site I am building www.thehoffmanenterprise.com


Welcome to the forum!  :)  Where are you?

It sounds like you need a Davis VP2 with the WLIP (some of you techies help me out here).  You can get the additional sensors that you mentioned.  A lot of people here use WVS for software for their webpages.  They can help you out with that as well.

While contemplating all the details of installing a weather station and internet, you should consider sensor placement.  A lot of times we can't get the "perfect" setting, so compromise is the name of the game.  Here is everything you wanted to know about sensor placement (and then some!):

http://home.comcast.net/~dshelms/CWOP_Guide.pdf

Good luck and keep us posted on your developments.  :)

Greg Whitehead
Ten Mile, TN USA

Offline thoffman

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Re: Looking for Weather Station to meet a few requirements:
« Reply #2 on: November 01, 2011, 12:00:36 PM »
Thanks for the reply!

The farm is actually located in Southern Maryland, specifically the Hughesville area.  Pretty much from what you see from 15000 back is us. http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=38.570725,-76.780325&spn=0.007373,0.016512&t=h&z=17&vpsrc=6

I am on the technical side of things too so any of that I am okay with (I am a computer nerd by profession :) )

Placement can be open for discussion.  I am pretty limitless in general, it just may require a few outdoor wireless access point to get optimal placement.
« Last Edit: November 01, 2011, 12:02:58 PM by thoffman »

Offline smorris

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Re: Looking for Weather Station to meet a few requirements:
« Reply #3 on: November 01, 2011, 01:32:21 PM »
Welcome, T!

It looks like you have plenty of room for optimal placement! And it sounds like the flexibility of the Davis Vantage Pro 2 is ideal for your situation. If you go that route and think you might want the solar and UV sensors, get the Plus version of the Vantage Pro2. It is less expensive than adding them both later. And if you are concerned about having the sun effect your temperature readings, get the model with the 24 hour FARS (fan aspirated radiation shield.) You can add a daytime only FARS after the fact, but the 24 hour FARS is not an add-on.

If you need, you can have multiple sensor units and repeaters to spread stations all over the farm.

Archer Trading Post seems to have some of the best prices and shipping available. http://bit.ly/v0K2Ks

Have fun. It will be interesting to watch your station grow.
Steve
« Last Edit: November 01, 2011, 01:35:17 PM by smorris »
Steve - Avon, Ohio
Davis Vantage Pro2 Plus w/FARS, Leaf & Soil Station

CWOP • WU • AWEKAS • CoCoRaHS • Skywarn • MWWN • UK Met • PWS • WeatherBug • TwitterFacebook

Offline SLOweather

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Re: Looking for Weather Station to meet a few requirements:
« Reply #4 on: November 01, 2011, 02:42:09 PM »
How big is the farm?

I'm in the midst of a similar project for a client on a 350 acre ranch here along the central California coast. You can read the progress to date here: http://www.wxforum.net/index.php?topic=13367.0

They are interested in microclimates, so we are installing 5 wireless Davis Vantage Pro 2 Plus stations. I recommend Davis for a project like this.

For you, on a farm, you might also be interested in the extra Davis stations: temperature only, temperature/humidity, and soil moisture/temperature/leaf wetness/temperature.

Davis also has solar powered repeaters to extend the distance of the stations to the console. A single console can receive data from up to 8 stations in differing configurations. We are using one repeater now at the ranch, and will be deploying a long range one one when we install the station on the ocean terrace.

Instead of WLIP, we are using WeatherElement data hubs for the Internet connection, so each station will have a page like this:
http://www.weatherelement.com/missioncollegeprep

Right now I'm waiting on a solar power quote for the data hubs and Internet connection, as there is no mains power yet at the ranch.


Offline thoffman

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Re: Looking for Weather Station to meet a few requirements:
« Reply #5 on: November 01, 2011, 03:44:11 PM »
The farm is only 114 acres.  Which is small compared to farms out west, but is decent sized for Maryland (Southern Maryland at least).  I really do not think I need any other devices at the moment (but I am putting a pond in and perhaps they have some type of device for such and application.)  Other than that I envision this to be utilized on my site mostly for information purposes only.  I dabble in local weather predictions and in the near future I am getting things prepared to have an area setup so people can rent out to have weddings / receptions on the farm. Thus I thought having such data on the web would be a nice resource for people planning on attending / and or renting the venue.

Offline thoffman

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Re: Looking for Weather Station to meet a few requirements:
« Reply #6 on: November 01, 2011, 03:54:36 PM »
How big is the farm?

I'm in the midst of a similar project for a client on a 350 acre ranch here along the central California coast. You can read the progress to date here: http://www.wxforum.net/index.php?topic=13367.0

They are interested in microclimates, so we are installing 5 wireless Davis Vantage Pro 2 Plus stations. I recommend Davis for a project like this.

For you, on a farm, you might also be interested in the extra Davis stations: temperature only, temperature/humidity, and soil moisture/temperature/leaf wetness/temperature.

Davis also has solar powered repeaters to extend the distance of the stations to the console. A single console can receive data from up to 8 stations in differing configurations. We are using one repeater now at the ranch, and will be deploying a long range one one when we install the station on the ocean terrace.

Instead of WLIP, we are using WeatherElement data hubs for the Internet connection, so each station will have a page like this:
http://www.weatherelement.com/missioncollegeprep

Right now I'm waiting on a solar power quote for the data hubs and Internet connection, as there is no mains power yet at the ranch.



Is there a way to get that information (from the station) on your own website as opposed to having it hosted by another company ?

Offline SLOweather

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Re: Looking for Weather Station to meet a few requirements:
« Reply #7 on: November 01, 2011, 05:18:55 PM »
Is there a way to get that information (from the station) on your own website as opposed to having it hosted by another company ?

Considering that I'm the "other company", not at this time. But, I'm always looking for value-added services for WeatherElement. :) If you are interested, let's talk.

We will soon be offering weather conditions graphics similar to this mockup that can be placed on other sites. The background image can be different.


Offline thoffman

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Re: Looking for Weather Station to meet a few requirements:
« Reply #8 on: November 02, 2011, 09:24:08 AM »
After doing a bit more research it appears there is an appliance that I can utilize the HauteSpot HR-IXP-Wind

I found a package deal here: http://www.ambientweather.com/dain61wiplwi.html

Info on the hauteSpot: http://www.ambientweather.com/haipandwiwes.html


Thoughts?


Offline Weather Display

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Re: Looking for Weather Station to meet a few requirements:
« Reply #9 on: November 02, 2011, 02:04:36 PM »
Atom based Net PC's draw a comparable amount of low power
Brian
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Offline SLOweather

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Re: Looking for Weather Station to meet a few requirements:
« Reply #10 on: November 02, 2011, 02:40:33 PM »
Thoughts?


I checked HauteSpot's web site and the HauteWind is no longer listed there. Tried Live Chat and it went to email. Here's the response I got:

Quote
The HauteWind has been EOLd, but it can still be purchased from Ambient Weather. http://www.ambientweather.com/haipandwiwes.html

It will be supported by our tech support team and warranted for 1 year, but no upgrades are available.

So, there ya go....

Offline NDRancher

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Re: Looking for Weather Station to meet a few requirements:
« Reply #11 on: November 09, 2011, 12:32:56 PM »
I installed a wireless Davis Vantage Pro2 w/24 hr. fan, UV sensor, etc.  The information is uploaded to my web site every 5 minutes.  (nokotaranch.com/nokotaranch/weather.php)  The wind sensor is located high on a butte 300 feet from the monitor.  The remaining sensors are about 300 feet away, at ground level.  Programming was fairly simple.