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Weather Station Hardware => Remote Weather Monitoring => Topic started by: jas340 on December 05, 2017, 02:27:22 PM

Title: Help me design this remote weather station with a cellular connection!!
Post by: jas340 on December 05, 2017, 02:27:22 PM
Ambient weather sells a Meteobridge Pro + Davis Vantage Vue combo for $580.00. https://www.ambientweather.com/am6357weatherbridgeprokit.html

I have a 40 acre parcel located 3km from my house that I would like to monitor. I  will use a 10ft mast with a cement base to hold/secure the components. I believe with the above kit I need a weather proof housing to hold a battery + the Meteobridge pro. I will need solar panel and charge controller. Very important will be the USB cell modem. I need the most inexpensive plan since I am only updating weather data. I can use Verizon or Sprint out here in the boonies.
   I am looking for a kit to assemble that will be pretty much plug and play once I order the components. The electronics are the hard part. Anybody want to look into this??? It could become the go to "kit" that WX forum members use for "economical" remote monitoring. Thanks
Title: Re: Help me design this remote weather station with a cellular connection!!
Post by: Mattk on December 05, 2017, 08:16:05 PM
Some thoughts for you.

"Economical" in this instance may infer a % of capability which you may be happy to accept but others may not so I don't believe one design fits all in this area. 100% availability may never be totally possible but one can come close depending. The question then is what availability are you expecting?

Primary effort has to be power supply, batteries, solar & regulator etc with 1 of each being a single point of failure especially with a combined MBPro and USB modem. Split the modem and MBPro unit/power wise and the capability then exists to manage the power, that is if your battery is going down for some reason, say failed panel, regulator or no sun for extended period, all tied together with battery capacity etc then with a separate Modem one could auto switch the modem off while giving the MBPro longer run time while maintaining data/logging etc, of course up to a point where the MBPro would need to be auto shutdown to protect the battery.

Once the modem is shutdown then this can become a flag that something is wrong and gives a chance to rectify the condition without loss of data etc as the MBPro will still be running, for a period of time anyway? A combined unit once powered off is 100% loss for the time involved.

A combined MBPro/USB modem could draw 500-600ma which is getting up there without a fairly hefty battery & panel to provide some backup contingency. Another thing to consider with a combined setup is remote access to the SMB data area, that is if you require such access?

       
Title: Re: Help me design this remote weather station with a cellular connection!!
Post by: tavis on August 26, 2018, 02:23:55 PM
How did your project pan out ? I'm investigating converting my existing APRS weather station into a GPRS weather station.
Title: Re: Help me design this remote weather station with a cellular connection!!
Post by: jas340 on August 26, 2018, 11:00:40 PM
I never got beyond the pre-planning stage. Cost to benefit was not worth it for me.
Title: Re: Help me design this remote weather station with a cellular connection!!
Post by: Mandrake on July 03, 2019, 10:57:01 AM
I know this is an old thread but wondered if the OP was aware that Ecowitt sell a standalone solar powered Cell weather station.
take a look at www.ecowitt.com
I have seen a video of it being used/tested in Norway
Title: Re: Help me design this remote weather station with a cellular connection!!
Post by: galfert on July 03, 2019, 11:01:57 AM
FYI - Ambient Weather has not sold the Meteobridge Pro is quite some time. They do sell the regular Meteobridge (called WeatherBridge) and the Nano. At the time of the OP the Pro was available. 

Title: Re: Help me design this remote weather station with a cellular connection!!
Post by: Bushman on July 03, 2019, 12:13:39 PM
I know this is an old thread but wondered if the OP was aware that Ecowitt sell a standalone solar powered Cell weather station.
take a look at www.ecowitt.com
I have seen a video of it being used/tested in Norway
The only thing is they use WCDMA and that really limits its use around these parts.  If I was doing my own, I'g grab an LTE cellular modem for under a hundred bucks and use that.
Title: Re: Help me design this remote weather station with a cellular connection!!
Post by: galfert on July 03, 2019, 12:51:44 PM
Well Ecowitt's cellular modem console also supports GSM in addition to WCDMA.  It is unclear what they mean by GSM. It could be HSDPA or it could be EDGE or GPRS. But if they are referring to HSPA+ then that is 4G but not quite LTE.

AT&T is shutting down 3G in 2022 and Verizon at the end of 2019.
Title: Re: Help me design this remote weather station with a cellular connection!!
Post by: ValentineWeather on July 03, 2019, 02:24:54 PM
If cellular is the only option Dyacon makes a living with these stations. They won't break the bank either, and very high quality, but that's relative to what you want or can invest. 

https://dyacon.com/stations/

I would also look at the Davis long-range repeaters if even a remote possibility to reach an internet connection.  Any obstruction, however, reduces the distance by about 2/3 of advertised range between repeaters and they aren't cheap. 
Title: Re: Help me design this remote weather station with a cellular connection!!
Post by: Bushman on July 03, 2019, 04:56:22 PM
My bank must be pretty fragile. https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B06ZYD81Z7/ref=dp_olp_new_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=new  This is the lowest end station with solar.
Title: Re: Help me design this remote weather station with a cellular connection!!
Post by: Mandrake on July 04, 2019, 05:51:14 AM
Just to confirm Ecowitt's WH6000 series weather stations cellular modem is UMTS/GSM and as such is 3G
It does not support LTE which is a 4G technology.
I have asked if there are plans to update or develop a 4G/5G modem and I will update here as and when I have an answer.

So I guess for the USA market this might be an issue if 2G/3G networks are going to be shutdown in quick order though one could take the view that a relatively inexpensive solution purchased now could be easily replaced in 3-5 years with newer technology when its available. If you were investing big bucks then the expectation is it would be more future proof. Just something to consider if you want a solution now and don't want to pay big bucks.
Title: Re: Help me design this remote weather station with a cellular connection!!
Post by: Mandrake on July 05, 2019, 04:03:01 AM
I have confirmed that Fine Offset/Ecowitt will be developing a 4G modem in the near future to replace the current one in the WH6006 model.
Unfortunately no timescales.