Author Topic: Weather Station for Under £200  (Read 603 times)

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Offline Matello

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Weather Station for Under £200
« on: January 16, 2021, 07:06:00 AM »
Hi All,
I'm very new to this but have had a keen interest since someone bought me a very cheap weather station for a present a few years ago. Needless to say the weather station didn't last long.

I have two questions. I hope this is allowed under one post.

I'm looking for suggestions and am looking to be able to upload to a site like WeatherCloud.
I've seen a few that look good e.g. Watson W8686 Weather station and some YOUSHIKO ones.
What should I be looking out for and does anyone have any recommendations?

The other question I have is locating the weather station.
My garden backs onto a public park and one side of my garden fence is alongside a public footpath so I don't want to fix it to the fence. The other side would be shhleterd by trees and the neighbours shed. I have no shed to fix the weather station to.
I have been looking into purchasing an aerial pole 6-8tf (1.5-2in diameter) and putting that into the ground. However I have no idea whether these weather stations can be fixed to a straight pole.
Has anyone done something like this?

Many Thanks
Dave


Offline Mandrake

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Re: Weather Station for Under £200
« Reply #1 on: January 16, 2021, 07:59:25 AM »
Go for the Watson station which is a clone of the Ecowitt HP2551.
The HP2551 and its clones are incredibly versatile and will allow you to grow your hobby around the weather station if you wish with lots of additional sensors or if you prefer leave it with a simple all in one sensor.

There is a big following for these stations and they are probably the most successful in the World for Hobbyists alongside Davis stations (for those with deeper pockets). The Youshika will do the job but has little support and is not a favoured station for those who know.

Take a look at the Ambient/Ecowitt forum where you can learn all about the HP2551 and its optional sensors and configurations. The Watson station uses 868Mhz which will make it compatible with the Froggit (German Clone variants) sensors, assuming Brexit ever allows UK folks to buy from Europe again. Failing that though you can buy spares and extra sensors direct from Ecowitt in Shenzen and technical support is excellent, both from Forums and from Ecowitt themselves.

I meant to say that placing the primary all in one sensor on a pole is no problem. I have mine on a aerial fitting on the side of my garage. My profile pic is old and shows a very old station setup but you get the idea.
« Last Edit: January 16, 2021, 08:01:27 AM by Mandrake »
G1ZFO

Ecowitt HP2551A + WH65 Tri-Wing (Wunderground: IGUILDFO67)
Ecowitt GW1000 (Wunderground: IGUILDFO68)
Ecowitt GW1000 (Mk2) test environment driving CumulusMX on a RPi 3b
Ecowitt GW2000 (Test)
Ecowitt WS90 Wittboy - Test
Ecowitt WH51 (x6) Soil Moisture Sensor
Ecowitt WH41 PM2.5 AQM Sensor
Ecowitt WH31 (x8) Thermo/Hygro Sensor
Ecowitt WS80 Ultrasonic Anemometer (pre-prod test)
Ecowitt WH57 Lightning Sensor -test
Ecowitt WH32-EP (SHT35) + Davis 7714 Screen
Ecowitt WH45 CO2/PM2.5/PM10 -Test
Ecowitt WN34 Soil Temp Sensor -Test
Ecowitt WN34 Water Temp Sensor -Test
Ecowitt WN35 Leaf Moisture

Offline Matello

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Re: Weather Station for Under £200
« Reply #2 on: January 16, 2021, 08:18:47 AM »
Thanks Mandrake. That's useful to know re the Watson being a clone of the Ecowitt.
I'll take a look over at the Ambient/Ecowitt forum too.

 

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