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Weather Station Hardware => AcuRite Weather Stations => Topic started by: Nathaniel on November 28, 2019, 07:53:18 PM
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I have the original 5 in 1 WS with Access. I'm considering the Atlas with the BF deal. The 5 in 1 tends to run hot at times in direct sunlight in the AM in certain parts of the year as the sun hits the sensor from an angle that doesn't power the solar panel enough to run the fan. Other than that, the 5 in 1 has been solid.
Considering an Atlas with the display as my existing is not compatible. I could use an old iPad instead. Is the display worth the $90 +/-? Guessing the lightning sensor is not worth it given my location in San Diego.
thanks
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I upgraded from the 5-in-1 to the Atlas and have seen a real improvement in the accuracy of temperature measurements in direct sunlight based on the improved design of the outdoor unit. The indoor touchscreen looks great, but still suffers from some design issues (in my opinion). The most-commonly identified are the lack of a battery backup, the Learning Mode for pressure reading correction, the 48-hour reporting of rain totals, and inaccurate dewpoint readings when the RH is near 100%. If you already have an Access, you may want to stick with it and use a nice user interface device like an iPad, but the outdoor Atlas unit is definitely an upgrade over the 5-in-1.
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Thanks, Neil. Can one use the indoor display and use the Access to talk to Acurite/WU, or does the display have to be the gateway?
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There's no need at all for the display. If you have an Access, you can just view all of the readings on MyAcurite or Weather Underground (if you set it up to send data to WU).
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Ordered without the display. Now on to set up an iPad and choose the best app for display.
Thanks for your quick responses, Neil!
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I too am looking at the black friday deal and thinking of upgrading to an Altas from my aging 5-n-1 which needs work.
One of the things that I want is the Solar radiation and UV, but I see the other thread which seems to indicate some unresolved problems with the UV readings.
I've been looking at nearby stations that seem to use Ambient WS 1002 on Weather Underground. They seem to have better wind gust reporting as well as UV/Solar radiation.
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If you’re going to use. An iPad for your display, WunderStation will give you extremely good data update speed.
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A free app for the iPhone called PWS Monitor is also very good.
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I've been looking at nearby stations that seem to use Ambient WS 1002 on Weather Underground. They seem to have better wind gust reporting as well as UV/Solar radiation.
Be aware that gust reporting on wunderground is pretty bogus. Everybody uses their own definition of "gust".
Acurite implemented the NWS definition of gust but had to remove it due to popular demand. The NWS definition of gusts declares a minimum speed of 16 knots (about 18.4 mph). This meant no gust marks would show for anything less than a fresh breeze. People were constantly complaining thinking their gear was broken, so Acurite relented.
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Not disputing that NWS gust definition....as I haven't looked it up. But NOAA's MADIS Surface Map shows both wind and gusts at all speeds (charts and graphs). So if that is NWS definition then they aren't sticking to it either.
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Not disputing that NWS gust definition....as I haven't looked it up. But NOAA's MADIS Surface Map shows both wind and gusts at all speeds (charts and graphs). So if that is NWS definition then they aren't sticking to it either.
The reason the NWS doesn't use gust as displayed by MADIS/ Mesowest is simply practicality. Stating the wind as 2G4 is useless information in the field so obviously a standard was set. If you'll notice, ASOS's always display the wind via NWS guidelines but RAWS and CWOP sites do not.
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I'm not sure why MADIS is relevant. I'm talking about wunderground and their lack of definition of "gust".
The NWS definition is what it is. Here's the definition from the AMS:
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Be aware that gust reporting on wunderground is pretty bogus. Everybody uses their own definition of "gust".
Acurite implemented the NWS definition of gust but had to remove it due to popular demand. The NWS definition of gusts declares a minimum speed of 16 knots (about 18.4 mph). This meant no gust marks would show for anything less than a fresh breeze. People were constantly complaining thinking their gear was broken, so Acurite relented.
Ok, thanks, learned something new.
I also see my description wasn't very, well, descriptive.
I'm seeing gust marks on WU but there is no difference between the gust and the regular speed. Is that typical of acurite's reporting of the 5-n-1 or is that something particular to me?
My wind for 12/2/2019 (there was a bit of a storm in the northeast)
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Here's the wind from an Ambient station in the neighborhood.
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If you look at the data table you can see that the wind and gusts are different. But WU is not graphing it correctly. I believe this is a problem with WU in regards to the Acurite stations. I've noticed this too and I find it baffling. It just takes forever for WU to fix anything. Why this doesn't happen to other stations probably has to do with WU having different ways of dealing with each station type.
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Acurite is sending instantaneous wind speed. Gust is derived from the highest instantaneous wind speed. That's why the gust and windspeed often match.
Ambient is likely sending an average wind speed, which is why it is lower than the gust. I can't tell what Ambient is doing for gust... it could be either defined gust parameter.
These are the documented parameters that can be sent to wunderground:
windspeedmph - [mph instantaneous wind speed]
windgustmph - [mph current wind gust, using software specific time period]
windspdmph_avg2m - [mph 2 minute average wind speed mph]
windgustmph_10m - [mph past 10 minutes wind gust mph ]
Wunderground doesn't deal with different brands differently... at least not on purpose. In the past there has been confusion over what update host name to use under different conditions (e.g. normal updates vs rapid fire updates). I don't know if that's ironed out yet.
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Acurite is sending instantaneous wind speed. Gust is derived from the highest instantaneous wind speed. That's why the gust and windspeed often match.
Ambient is likely sending an average wind speed, which is why it is lower than the gust. I can't tell what Ambient is doing for gust... it could be either defined gust parameter.
Thank you, that makes a lot of sense I'll have to dig into the data more closely.
The console that came with my 5-n-1, I think the model is 1512, shows a higher max that I usually see on WU. I'm not sure how long it of an interval it uses for determining the max, which probably explains that.
Currently I'm letting My Acurite post to WU, even though I'm running Acuparse. I've left it that way because I *think* the Access is sending rapid fire updates to WU. I believe Acuparse can only intercept the 5 minute updates sent to the acurite atlasapi server.
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I got my Atlas all set up today and added to MyAcurite. I'm confused about WU, though. It seems I can't add the WU info in the MyAcurite webpage as the Add button under Sharing to Weather Underground is grayed out. Can I only share one sensor at a time? My 5 in 1 is still online and in the yard.
I found this article (https://kbase.myacurite.com/web/content/share-follow/share-weather-underground.htm)
Does this mean I'd have to get another Access to share both sensors?
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I got my Atlas all set up today and added to MyAcurite. I'm confused about WU, though. It seems I can't add the WU info in the MyAcurite webpage as the Add button under Sharing to Weather Underground is grayed out. Can I only share one sensor at a time? My 5 in 1 is still online and in the yard.
I found this article (https://kbase.myacurite.com/web/content/share-follow/share-weather-underground.htm)
Does this mean I'd have to get another Access to share both sensors?
Yes you can only " share " one device per access to WU . You can change it to your Atlas but only the Atlas will share with WU . You would have to get another Access to also share your 5-1 to WU . I may be wrong but for that Access you will need a whole new account set up plus a new account from WU to share it .
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Thanks. Got the new one set up with WU. [tup]
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If one wanted to have both stations report to WU
- using only one access, my acurite could do one station, and you could setup acuparse to handle the other. Since the Access’s URL can be changed easily, it isn’t that hard to to have it intercept the Access traffic. You don’t have to mess with two network cards and/or router rules. In this configuration, acuparse serves as a proxy for the access.
it is possible there is similar weewx interceptor that serves as a proxy but I haven’t looked.
- rtl-sdr and rtl_433 is also a very flexible option that requires a lot more software setup