Author Topic: First time user needs advice for what kind of weather cam and station to buy  (Read 994 times)

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Offline Thundercloud47

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I'm an old guy who lives just out of the floodplain of the Missouri River.

https://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo147/thundercloud47/Mokane%20Flood%202013/da53111a-b788-447d-9d64-be5af3cac79b_zps6aeb1222.jpg

The great flood of 1993 provided an excellent opportunity for pics. Unfortunately mine are on VHS.

Any advice or info that you folks can give me here will be appreciated.

Do the batteries in personal weather stations really last a year?

How are the weather cameras powered?

I do have wifi that I'll be upgrading, it's not fast enough to properly handle TV through Amazon but works most of the time.
« Last Edit: January 11, 2019, 03:39:05 PM by Thundercloud47 »

Offline Theo

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Personal Weather Stations generally use solar panels and capacitors to operate the station.  The batteries are there to bridge periods of time without sun or long winter nights.  My Acu-Rite 5in1 only needed the batteries changed once in 2 years, but we get 290 days or so of sun where I am.    Weather cameras can be powered by battery, DC or AC depending on application and device.  What are you looking to do with the camera?

Offline Thundercloud47

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Thank you Theo for responding!

I'd like to aim the camera towards the downtown area of our little village. The business area is located in the 100 year floodplain.

If that does not work I'd like to mount it where it gets a good view of River Street. You can't actually see the river from my home but in 1993 the waters covered the street in front of my house.

All sorts of interesting things go floating by when the river is rising.


Offline Theo

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Just about any outdoor camera will work as long as is supports FTP or a url to serve up current images.  If you have easy power and network to your desired location, it will be a snap.  If you don't have network, it will be hard, since you would have to get some sort of cellular access for the camera. 

Offline Thundercloud47

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Thank you!

 

anything