Author Topic: weather station in an apartment? which one?  (Read 10762 times)

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Offline Zug

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weather station in an apartment? which one?
« on: March 03, 2015, 03:41:47 PM »
Hi..  I'm new here and found this forum doing a bunch of searches that did not really answer my questions, so here it goes...

I'm thinking about getting a weather station, but I'm in an apartment, top floor (8th floor) facing SW, no roof over my balcony, and no I can't get on the roof because I've asked before trying to get my ham radio antennas of there. (but I'm pretty much inactive as a ham stuff now, but that's a rant for another time and place..)

Am I going to get worth while readings being in an apartment or would it be just a waste of time and money?
I want the main stuff, temperature humidity, barometer, wind speed (I'm guessing wind direction would be pointless) rain fall would be nice too.   

Basically I'm looking for a new hobby, I was always fascinated by weather as a kid, in fact I found the weather book my mother bought me 40 years ago a few nights ago and started reading it again.  And just put holds on a bunch of weather books at the library.  Would have picked them up today, but ironically, the weather was too bad to go.   I've always had a interest in technical hobbies, electronic, computers, model trains, and I tried ham radio but found it to be a 'just us' club in a lot of ways so I've pretty much lost interest there.  I'm disabled, so I'm home 99.9% of the time and playing video games is getting repetitive..

I'm looking at a few on Amazon.ca right now, AcuRite 00589 is the most likely at the moment exact it lacks rain info. "MISOL 1 Unit of Pro Wireless",  AcuRite 01015 would be nice, except the size of the sensor unit will likely get unwanted attention. and Oregon Scientific WMR86A looks good too.  I would like to be able to put it on line with wunderground.com or something lie it.   

So I welcome ideas, suggestions, or if this just a bad idea being in an apartment?

thanks

edit: woops. I just realized I selected the wrong board for this post.. my apologizes..  sorry,  please don't hate me..
« Last Edit: March 03, 2015, 03:46:57 PM by Zug »
Kent

Offline PaulMy

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Re: weather station in an apartment? which one?
« Reply #1 on: March 03, 2015, 04:31:32 PM »
Hi Zug,

I am Paul from Komoka likely only a few miles from you.  We just came back from Oakridge and driving was not pleasant with that icy slick road under that just as slick slushy rain/snow.  Hopefully that is done for now.

I don't have and know very little about the AcuRite so can't give you any recommendation.  I am sure there is someone with a somewhat similar predicament who might give you some ideas.  This is a software thread so you might have gotten a few more reads if you posted in the Weather Station thread but hen many members read them all.  If there is anything else I an be helpfull with just let me know.

I should mention that I was invited and spoke at the LARC meeting last month and was well treated and made feel very welcome.

Enjoy,
Paul


Offline DanS

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Re: weather station in an apartment? which one?
« Reply #2 on: March 03, 2015, 04:37:08 PM »
Hi Kent and welcome aboard.
 Perhaps you could print out an image of the 01015 to show the apartment management when you ask. Maybe they'll think differently about mounting the all-in-one down low close to the roof. Or if roof mount is out of the question see about the 01015 on a mast from your balcony. You could mention to management that they could monitor wx conditions for the apartment area as well with a second console (if the distance works out) and/or by going online to WU (or whoever you upload to).
« Last Edit: March 03, 2015, 04:39:04 PM by DanS »

Offline miraculon

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Re: weather station in an apartment? which one?
« Reply #3 on: March 03, 2015, 04:52:25 PM »
Where I used to work, we installed a wireless Davis VP2 on the roof. Building management insisted that there would be no holes drilled either for mounting or wires. We used cement ("cinder") blocks and mounted the three legs to one block each. It held up through a pretty strong thunderstorm.

The Netatmo weather station is marketed as an "urban" station, this might be a possibility. They started with baro/temp/hum and just recently added a rain gauge. A wind instrument is forthcoming.

There is a really good book, called "The Weather Observer Handbook" by Stephen Burt. This might be a good reference for you.

DanS had some good points. Even if you had a minimal station with baro/temp/hum like the base Netatmo, it might be a good fit for an apartment  installation.

The wind obviously is a big problem, but rain will also be an issue with the nearby outside wall of the building near your deck.

The best bet would be a rooftop mount if you can persuade the building management... Good luck.

Greg H.


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Offline Zug

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Re: weather station in an apartment? which one?
« Reply #4 on: March 03, 2015, 05:00:02 PM »
Hi Zug,

I am Paul from Komoka likely only a few miles from you.  We just came back from Oakridge and driving was not pleasant with that icy slick road under that just as slick slushy rain/snow.  Hopefully that is done for now.

I don't have and know very little about the AcuRite so can't give you any recommendation.  I am sure there is someone with a somewhat similar predicament who might give you some ideas.  This is a software thread so you might have gotten a few more reads if you posted in the Weather Station thread but hen many members read them all.  If there is anything else I an be helpfull with just let me know.

I should mention that I was invited and spoke at the LARC meeting last month and was well treated and made feel very welcome.

Enjoy,
Paul

I was out early today, it was just starting to get "interesting" driving by the time I was getting home, hence the aborted trip to the library.. ABS brakes and snow tires are a great thing..
Last I was at a LARC meeting was about 4 years or so ago, it's a long drive for me being on the south end, I average going across town about once a year now.  I still have radios set up, I just don't use them very often.

I'm hoping some kind moderator will move this to the right board...  I had about ten browsers open at the same time when I posted the original message, and hit the wrong browser..  I've done worse.. :)
Kent

Offline Zug

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Re: weather station in an apartment? which one?
« Reply #5 on: March 03, 2015, 05:32:06 PM »
Where I used to work, we installed a wireless Davis VP2 on the roof. Building management insisted that there would be no holes drilled either for mounting or wires. We used cement ("cinder") blocks and mounted the three legs to one block each. It held up through a pretty strong thunderstorm.

The Netatmo weather station is marketed as an "urban" station, this might be a possibility. They started with baro/temp/hum and just recently added a rain gauge. A wind instrument is forthcoming.

There is a really good book, called "The Weather Observer Handbook" by Stephen Burt. This might be a good reference for you.

DanS had some good points. Even if you had a minimal station with baro/temp/hum like the base Netatmo, it might be a good fit for an apartment  installation.

The wind obviously is a big problem, but rain will also be an issue with the nearby outside wall of the building near your deck.

The best bet would be a rooftop mount if you can persuade the building management... Good luck.

Greg H.
The local library doesn't have that book, but I put in a 'suggestion to buy' for it, and they've bought books I've suggested in the past. 

I'm thinking the AcuRite 00589 sense would be smaller enough I could mount it are the front edge of the balcony railing at the top, which is about 5.5 feet off the floor.  I won't have rain, but it's be out in the open more.    The building is owned by some faceless company in another city..  So I don't hold much hope for roof access.    I'm thinking above my satellite dish is a pretty good mount, it's on a tripod that screwed down to the cement with tapcon screws, it came with the apartment left be the last tenant..

Kent

Offline Bushman

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Re: weather station in an apartment? which one?
« Reply #6 on: March 03, 2015, 05:37:39 PM »
Acurite 3-n-1 would get my vote.  But you should really check with the condo board/apartment mgmt. since most places won't allow such things.
Need low cost IP monitoring?  http://wirelesstag.net/wta.aspx?link=NisJxz6FhUa4V67/cwCRWA or PM me for 50% off Wirelesstags!!

Offline Dr Obbins

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Re: weather station in an apartment? which one?
« Reply #7 on: March 03, 2015, 08:03:49 PM »
Another option may be to use a combination of data from your instruments and from another local station depending on how close it is. For example you may know Weather Display software outputs data for personal websites. It can gather data from your equipment (temp, hum, baro the apartment folks won't see) and data from a local METAR (wind, wind dir, rain that would be unsightly in the apartment folks eyes) and then send it to your website. Just an idea.

Offline Zug

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Re: weather station in an apartment? which one?
« Reply #8 on: March 04, 2015, 12:01:38 AM »
Another option may be to use a combination of data from your instruments and from another local station depending on how close it is. For example you may know Weather Display software outputs data for personal websites. It can gather data from your equipment (temp, hum, baro the apartment folks won't see) and data from a local METAR (wind, wind dir, rain that would be unsightly in the apartment folks eyes) and then send it to your website. Just an idea.
I'm not sure what a METAR  is, yet, but I look in to it.  I'm way behind in what;s out there.  all I have for weather gear right now is an 20 year old Radio Shack indoor outdoor digital thermometer and a 40 year old Springfield barometer (which, from what I can tell is still working perfectly, except it's pretty hard for me to read now..

I found listings for a Oregon Scientific WMR86A and a Meade MEA-TE827W, that have the wind and rain and aren't all-in-ones so not bulky, so I could spread the sensors out a bit and make them less noticeable.  THe rain gauge could be made to look lie a planter and the temp hidden behind my satellite dish..
 Just got to figure out of they have computer/internet abilities yet.  Other wise I'm probably going to go withe the Acurite 0589.

So much to learn and figure out, a bit of overload but still interesting figuring it out :)



Kent

Offline Bushman

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Re: weather station in an apartment? which one?
« Reply #9 on: March 04, 2015, 12:41:56 AM »
Just noticed that you wanted to post to Weather Underground.  If you go Acurite, be sure you have a USB equipped console or an Aculink bridge (and a PC or another device like a Meteobridge attached to either).  As you can see we are happy to spend your money for you...  :)
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Offline Dr Obbins

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Re: weather station in an apartment? which one?
« Reply #10 on: March 04, 2015, 07:13:55 AM »
Another option may be to use a combination of data from your instruments and from another local station depending on how close it is. For example you may know Weather Display software outputs data for personal websites. It can gather data from your equipment (temp, hum, baro the apartment folks won't see) and data from a local METAR (wind, wind dir, rain that would be unsightly in the apartment folks eyes) and then send it to your website. Just an idea.
I'm not sure what a METAR  is, yet, but I look in to it.  I'm way behind in what;s out there.  all I have for weather gear right now is an 20 year old Radio Shack indoor outdoor digital thermometer and a 40 year old Springfield barometer (which, from what I can tell is still working perfectly, except it's pretty hard for me to read now..
So much to learn and figure out, a bit of overload but still interesting figuring it out :)
A METAR is "a format for reporting weather information. A METAR weather report is predominantly used by pilots in fulfillment of a part of a pre-flight weather briefing, and by meteorologists, who use aggregated METAR information to assist in weather forecasting." Even small airports publish METAR info. These station's METAR data in my local area are displayed

Offline Bushman

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Re: weather station in an apartment? which one?
« Reply #11 on: March 04, 2015, 09:57:58 AM »
This is an outstanding METAR reader:  http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/mweather.html  No install etc.  Simple.  Great.
Need low cost IP monitoring?  http://wirelesstag.net/wta.aspx?link=NisJxz6FhUa4V67/cwCRWA or PM me for 50% off Wirelesstags!!

Offline miraculon

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Re: weather station in an apartment? which one?
« Reply #12 on: March 04, 2015, 10:13:18 AM »
This is an outstanding METAR reader:  http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/mweather.html  No install etc.  Simple.  Great.

That is a nice program, I downloaded it and installed it. Thanks.

Greg H.


Blitzortung Stations #706 and #1682
CoCoRaHS: MI-PI-1
CWOP: CW4114 and KE8DAF-13
WU: KMIROGER7
Amateur Radio Callsign: KE8DAF

Offline Zug

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Re: weather station in an apartment? which one?
« Reply #13 on: March 05, 2015, 09:38:01 AM »
I grabbed that software too, should come in handy.

I've cut the list down to the Acurite 3-n-1 or an Ambient Weather WS-2080 (would have to get it on ebay since it saying they on ship to USA on their website, and worse they only use UPS..)

The WS-2080 has all the sensors and not in a one part blob, so it would be easier to hide then the Acurite 5 in 1.  And seen to have all the computer and internet feathers built in.  any comments on it are of course welcome.
Kent

Offline Bushman

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Re: weather station in an apartment? which one?
« Reply #14 on: March 05, 2015, 09:46:38 AM »
The Ambient station is a Fine Offset (mfg.) clone.  Without going into it much  :evil: - you can search for my comments on that brand! - I'd go Acurite.  You might find them at a Cabela's or Lowes or Basspro if you are in Canada. Acurite ships to Canada via Fedex but the all-in price was OK
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Offline nincehelser

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Re: weather station in an apartment? which one?
« Reply #15 on: March 05, 2015, 02:59:54 PM »
You might check what bloomsky.com is going to offer (I'm not sure if they're shipping yet).

There's no wind sensor.  It detects rain, but I don't think amounts.

It looks to be very discrete, though.

Offline Bushman

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Re: weather station in an apartment? which one?
« Reply #16 on: March 05, 2015, 03:07:45 PM »
There's this little guy to add rain to  the 3-1.  http://www.rainsensors.com/
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Offline Garth Bock

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Re: weather station in an apartment? which one?
« Reply #17 on: March 06, 2015, 09:27:11 AM »
Another option may be to use a combination of data from your instruments and from another local station depending on how close it is.

Just be sure when you use data from another station it provides public data and that they allow the use of their data on other websites....there was a case here or on another forum years ago where weather graphics were being poached and posted on a persons' weather website which turned out to be a blog with no weather station. I think the person got banned.

Offline Zug

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Re: weather station in an apartment? which one?
« Reply #18 on: March 07, 2015, 01:43:37 AM »
Just be sure when you use data from another station it provides public data and that they allow the use of their data on other websites....there was a case here or on another forum years ago where weather graphics were being poached and posted on a persons' weather website which turned out to be a blog with no weather station. I think the person got banned.

I'd never use anything from another website with out checking it was ok first.  Years ago I ran a Star Trek fan site and had some twit do that to me, linked to all the pics, copied my text and put it on his own site as his own work.  When I found out I replaced the pics with something "interesting" for him to show.. And then started  branding all pics with my URL.

I have looked are some of the websites you guys have, I'd love to do something like that when I get my new weather station.  haven't ordered it yet, but looks like my best bet is to get the Acurite 3 in 1 direct fro their website to be sure I'll actually have a legit warranty  for it.
Kent

Offline Dr Obbins

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Re: weather station in an apartment? which one?
« Reply #19 on: March 07, 2015, 08:40:22 AM »
Another option may be to use a combination of data from your instruments and from another local station depending on how close it is.

Just be sure when you use data from another station it provides public data and that they allow the use of their data on other websites....there was a case here or on another forum years ago where weather graphics were being poached and posted on a persons' weather website which turned out to be a blog with no weather station. I think the person got banned.
I was mainly referring to the METAR data which usually comes from a local airport that is government funded and therefore available to the general public for use. But yes, you make a very good point about not "stealing" others data.

Offline PaulMy

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Re: weather station in an apartment? which one?
« Reply #20 on: March 07, 2015, 09:24:59 AM »
Hi Kent, make sure the station you get is compatible with software to upload to other sites, as well as to your own website if that is what you would like to do.  Some weather programs are free, donation ware, and purchase versions.  And that you know what or if other hardware is needed.
 
Enjoy,
Paul

Offline Zug

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Re: weather station in an apartment? which one?
« Reply #21 on: March 14, 2015, 08:47:58 AM »
Thought I'd post a follow up..  I got an AcuRite 01301CDI amd the 3 and 1 sensor up and running now

If yoyu want to see how I set or the sensor on the apt balcony, here's a link to my twitter post:
http://t.co/XZsquiPZpp

And thanks to Acurite have a bundle on the AcuLink and the rain gauge, I have that ordered and should be here monday.  I know I will only be able to see the rain amounts online, but that's ok.  SO I think I'm going to be happy with this set up, thanks again for all the comments and suggestions.

Kent

Offline Bushman

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Re: weather station in an apartment? which one?
« Reply #22 on: March 14, 2015, 11:56:10 AM »
Looks great.  But if the HOA  allows sat dishes and antennae, why not a full weather station?
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Offline Zug

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Re: weather station in an apartment? which one?
« Reply #23 on: March 14, 2015, 03:48:59 PM »
It's a regular apartment, no HOA..  They allow satellite dish as long as you don't mount them to the railing and I doubt it's strong enough to handle the load anyway.  The tripod and dish came with the apartment, the previous tenants left it behind and I said I'd rent it of they left the dish and tripod.  A couple years later I got my ham license then the antenna kind of quietly grew above the dish :)    but it does say in the original rent agreement no antennas, but I think that was mainly so people won't hang full size TV antenna out there.  So I just figure it's safest to keep it low profile as I can.  And I don't think wind direction would be very accurate because of the building.

Then again, I may win the lottery tonight and got build a house to my specs that I an have all the gadgets and stuff that I like :)



Kent