Weather Station Hardware > Remote Weather Monitoring
DIY Cellular Weather Station?
colemanmorris64:
Hello everyone! This is Cole from Savannah, GA. I'm very interested in setting up my weather station network on cellular service. If anyone has any tips/trick/concerns about some of my ideas below, I'd love some feedback, especially if anyone has attempted anything like I detail below.
Power/Internet service at my home has been spotty, and I often lose power/internet during severe weather (the times I'm most interested in recording weather measurements), and I want to put my weather sensors on a cellular network to record/report weather data. To do this, I know I need backup power (solar, battery, etc.), as well as a cellular-capable wifi device. I tried to make a block diagram to explain my intended setup.
Power:
- Considered solar panels, but due to size, am leaning towards a UPS Battery Backup. Based on quick calculations, the below UPS could power my devices for over a week.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01HDC236Q/ref=ewc_pr_img_3?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1
Data/Internet:
- Reporting to WeatherUnderground and Ambient Weather on most frequent reporting intervals would use less than 250MB of data per month by my estimates.
- Considering a device like SkyRoam to act as a dedicated cellular transmitter for my weather network.
- https://www.skyroam.com/solis-lite
- With Skyroam's pay-as-you-go plan, I'd use 3GB of data a year (only $24/yr).
- https://www.skyroam.com/wifi-pricing
I'm currently using the AmbientCWOP service to send my data to CWOP, however I'm considering adding a WeatherBridge to my network which would handle reporting to CWOP.
A few notes:
- I have considered the Ecowitt WS6006 to do all of the above, but I don't know how the data from that station can be reported to CWOP.
- If the WeatherBridge arrangement works in my block diagram, I would strongly consider replacing my Ambient Osprey sensor array with Ecowitt sensors (so that I can mount my rain sensor and anemometer separate). Ecowitt also appears to have a few more durable sensors (I'd like to measure water temperature from my dock).
Any insights would be appreciated!
CWOP: FW7647
WU: KGASAVAN162
chief-david:
This may be an option
https://rainwise.com/mk4-c
colemanmorris64:
Thanks, chief-david. I actually did look at the Rainwise model as well. At $1,300, the RainWise MK4 it is a little hard for me to stomach, which is why I'm attempting to configure a network that is expandable, compatible with my existing sensors, and capable of supporting any future sensors I might buy.
- UPS Battery Backup: ~$75
- SkyRoam Solis Lite: $119. $24/year for data
- Weatherbridge (if desired): $144
What I am unsure about is more on the networking side. I've never used a Weatherbridge before, and don't know if it can be used with a hotspot like my block diagram shows. Is the ethernet port on the Weatherbridge needed only for setup of the WLAN, or needed continuously?
colemanmorris64:
Well, I decided to go ahead and purchase a WeatherBridge. After it arrives later this week, I'm going to attempt to have both the WeatherBridge and my GW1000 use the mobile hotspot feature on my cell phone. If that works, then I'll probably pursue a permanent mobile hotspot and UPS.
I'm the unfortunate person that has two cell phones (personal and work), and just trialed the mobile hotspot concept out on the GW1000. With my 1st cell phone acting as the mobile hotspot I was able to use my 2nd cell phone to configure the GW1000 to use the SSID/Password of my 1st cell phone. When I tried using the 1st cell phone to configure the GW1000, nothing appeared to work (I guess because the 1st phone isn't "connected" to the same network, even though it is acting as a router). This appears to confirm that a dedicated mobile hotspot would work.
davidmc36:
I renamed and changed password on my phones mobile Hotspot to match my home network.
If I need to take network down, devices connect to my phone and don't know what even happened.
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