Topic: PWS with multiple sensors and data download (eg *.csv)?

[Jeje2]

[NEWBIE]
Looking for a basic WiFi PWS setup (rain, wind, air pressure, outside temp & humidity), that support multiple (min temp&humidity  sensors for indoor use. All sensor data should be able to store locally on the PWS for some time and be downloadable to a PC (eg. CSV file) on a regular basis.

I live in a large old house that I do need to monitor almost room-by-room (Temp & humidity) located in environment that requires any outdoor equipment to handle temps -30C - +50C  (-20F - +120F). Normal wind and other weather conditions.

Is there any ready equipment available?
(Been trying to find one with no luck so far)

[Mandrake]

OK, sounds like the Ecowitt HP2551 with additional temp/hygro sensors (Wh31)
You can have upto 8 additional internal sensors on top of the standard internal sensor and set of external sensors
Here is a link:
http://www.ecowitt.com/weather_station/70.html
Ecowitt are the origin of these weather stations so they have the latest kit and availability but they are based in China so requires an extended delivery.

If you would rather not import via Ecowitt then you can get a rebranded version from froggit (germany) here:
https://www.froggit.de/product_info.php?info=p436_hp1000se-pro-wi-fi-internet-funkwetterstation.html
The extra temp sensor is known as DP50 in Froggit and is here:
https://www.froggit.de/?cat=c40_DP-Series-dp-series.html
You will also find the other sensors available.

You cant directly access the locally stored data but if you add a SD Card to the weather station then you can pop it out and read it on your PC as you wish and its in a CSV format

[Jeje2]

OK, sounds like the Ecowitt HP2551 with additional temp/hygro sensors (Wh31)

If you would rather not import via Ecowitt then you can get a rebranded version from froggit (germany) here:

  WOW 
Been reading about Ecowitt and Froggit (read both manuals also)

A few questions:

• Outdoor unit placement. I live in rural area in Southern Finland - finding a good clear spot is harsh, specially as I don't want it up on the roof as must be able to clean i relatively easy on regular basis. How critical is the spot?
• Outdoor unit pole diameter? what type of pole am I to buy...
• How much data can the unit store in itself? As the backup to SD card is a manual operation? Is monthly download enough? (2-6 logged values/h is sufficient for my need)
• Ecowitt manual states that the extra channels info can be stored to SD card, hops so is for Froggit as well.
• How big is the packet itself? and the extra temp&humiditys sensors units packages? (I have relatives in Germany that might be able to bring them to me also as they visit - if not to big...)

Looking at Ecowitt from china/ca/au there would be apparently significant customs and VAT fees to pay in deliveries to EU/Finland. So the Froggit seems like the best option for me. (Roughly 450 EUR from Ecowitt comapred to 380EUR from Froggit)

[sky_watcher]

OK, sounds like the Ecowitt HP2551 with additional temp/hygro sensors (Wh31)

If you would rather not import via Ecowitt then you can get a rebranded version from froggit (germany) here:

  WOW 
Been reading about Ecowitt and Froggit (read both manuals also)

A few questions:

• Outdoor unit placement. I live in rural area in Southern Finland - finding a good clear spot is harsh, specially as I don't want it up on the roof as must be able to clean i relatively easy on regular basis. How critical is the spot?
• Outdoor unit pole diameter? what type of pole am I to buy...
• How much data can the unit store in itself? As the backup to SD card is a manual operation? Is monthly download enough? (2-6 logged values/h is sufficient for my need)
• Ecowitt manual states that the extra channels info can be stored to SD card, hops so is for Froggit as well.
• How big is the packet itself? and the extra temp&humiditys sensors units packages? (I have relatives in Germany that might be able to bring them to me also as they visit - if not to big...)

My station is on a rigid TV antenna pole off my facia, and the entire area is partially surrounded by houses and tall trees. Hence, it rates as a "bad" location.

There is an airfield about 1km from my place and I compare their readings and my readings as I store my HP2550 readings and the airport readings into a database. Comparing measurements with the same timestamp (average & standard deviation of the reading differences), temperature, pressure and humidity (when temps are the same as well) are good, but wind, as you would expect, is not so good. The wind is slower and the directional match is variable, being very poor with light winds - no doubt because of the trees and houses, but it reflects the wind as it is where we are. Rain is "kind of" the same, but as we have mainly showers, this is also expected as the rain cells don't always pass over at the same time or at all.

So, if you are wanting to get readings that would match what an official station would give, then type of location is very important. If you want to know what is actually happening in your local micro-environment, no so much.

Remember that different countries use different frequencies to communicate with the radio sensors, so best to check before buying, otherwise you may have problems when buying additional sensors later.

[Mandrake]

OK, sounds like the Ecowitt HP2551 with additional temp/hygro sensors (Wh31)

If you would rather not import via Ecowitt then you can get a rebranded version from froggit (germany) here:

  WOW 
Been reading about Ecowitt and Froggit (read both manuals also)

A few questions:

• Outdoor unit placement. I live in rural area in Southern Finland - finding a good clear spot is harsh, specially as I don't want it up on the roof as must be able to clean i relatively easy on regular basis. How critical is the spot?
• Outdoor unit pole diameter? what type of pole am I to buy...
• How much data can the unit store in itself? As the backup to SD card is a manual operation? Is monthly download enough? (2-6 logged values/h is sufficient for my need)
• Ecowitt manual states that the extra channels info can be stored to SD card, hops so is for Froggit as well.
• How big is the packet itself? and the extra temp&humiditys sensors units packages? (I have relatives in Germany that might be able to bring them to me also as they visit - if not to big...)

Looking at Ecowitt from china/ca/au there would be apparently significant customs and VAT fees to pay in deliveries to EU/Finland. So the Froggit seems like the best option for me. (Roughly 450 EUR from Ecowitt comapred to 380EUR from Froggit)

You can put fairly large SD cards in the console. I have a 32Gb card and that will last years...probably the life of the console/station I should think!
It stores all the values that the station transmits and you can choose the logging period that you want to store.
You will also get a years data stored in the cloud on the Ecowitt.net servers (for both suppliers)

I use a TV aerial mast for my sensors as that's the perfect pole size and easy fixings.
If you are worried about accuracy then you could go for separate sensors (separate rain and a separate wind sensor setup) This will allow you setup the sensors in more optimal locations. Ie high for wind and low for rain. This option however will only be available from Ecowitt.

The sensor sizes (WH31 - Temp/Hygro) are small, about size of a small torch
The package with the console and the all in one sensor array (WH65) comes in a box about the size of an old VHS Video player[/list]

[galfert]

Forget the SD card for data backup. Sure it doesn't hurt to do it as a backup. But what you should really do is is add a GW1000 and then run some 3rd party weather software to have all the data locally. There are several of these software to consider. Cumulus MX, Weather-Display and WeeWX. You can also consider a Meteobridge which will save to mysql database.

[Jeje2]

Forget the SD card for data backup. Sure it doesn't hurt to do it as a backup. But what you should really do is is add a GW1000 and then run some 3rd party weather software to have all the data locally. There are several of these software to consider. Cumulus MX, Weather-Display and WeeWX. You can also consider a Meteobridge which will save to mysql database.

I looked at the GW1000 and I'm just confused 
So will the GW1000 be connected to PC USB port? Then it is connected to teh measurement devices.
And can I get the data for myself? (some outside services are just optional for me) I need to get the data for my use... Specially outside temperature that I then compare to the daily electric use (our home is heated with electricity)

-----------------
EDIT: Read parts of the manual. So USB is just for power feed, not a connector to PC.
Then GW1000 pushes the data to some cloud (Weather Underground, WOW, Weather Cloud or Ecowitt Weather)
So based on this I hav to conclude that GW1000 ain't what I'm looking for

[Mandrake]

The GW1000 is a matchbox sized device and USB powered that is all.
The USB port does not allow any direct connectivity to a PC for instance
It is essentially the same as a weather station in that it gathers the data from its external sensors (and its internal ones) and transmits these to the Internet (Ecowit.net and others)
However it also has an API which certain software can interrogate for live data via the local network.
So what many folks have done is build servers or in my case a Pi which runs weather software that interrogates the GW1000 and builds up the logs of weather data
I use CumulusMX on my Pi but others use WeeWx and other software
You can also use a Meteobridge device which can interrogate the GW1000 and build a log of data.
Once you have the data you can do all sorts of things. Its more advanced than using a CSV file from the SD Card.

By the way if you have not already done so I recommend that you create an account on Ecowitt.net and take a look at the public data. It may be that this is enough for you and that you don't need to have local data for analysis. Both the HP2550/1 and the GW1000 send their data to ecowitt.net for free if you wish.