Topic: need help building my weather station.

[92b16si]

Hi group, new member, long time lurker, trying to figure out how to build my weather station, of if what I'm trying to do is possible; based on YouTube videos I think it is.
I want to control an anti-frost irrigation system in an avocado orchard with a weather station. I currently have a analog thermometer when temperature drops below 3c it would turn on and shut off when temperature reached 12c. It worked well for the winter frost m but the spring frost (from what i understand is that frost happed due to low due points and wind, not necessarily temperature drop) regardless system never turned on and all my trees suffered frost damage or complete loss. So that's when i started researching more about the topic. I also want to use the weather station along with AI to help me predict ideal conditions for fungus growth send me an alert so i can prepare to spray fungicide or let me know ideal conditions don exist so i should spray considering fungicide is expensive and don't want to flood the soils with cooper products.
Wanted to see if you guys can help build my set up since i think this is way over my head but want to learn as i go. so far i have a raspberry pi5 , just ordered ai hat and meteo pi.  but i don't know how to go about or the difference between the Davis vantage pro 2 stations. i search   https://www.scaledinstruments.com/product-category/davis-instruments/complete-weather-stations/vantage-pro2-series/wireless/ i dont know the difference . i know i will probably need a temperature sensor wind speed  due point, uv ( would also like to use ai to mesure or predict tree transpiration during hot days) and https://www.scaledinstruments.com/shop/apogee-instruments/radiation-frost-detector/apogee-sf-110-ss-radiation-frost-detector/ maybe this sensor might work. but i dont know where to start. and looking for some guidance. thanks and sorry for the confusing post.

[R.Sidetrack]

I suggest taking small steps, get the most critical part working properly, then that gives you some time to explore the options for the less immediate issues.

So I see the frost / water control & alerts as the most pressing need.  While Raspberry Pi are great, you don't need to go there to address the water control issue.

A modest investment in Ecowitt devices can control the water, and send you all kinds of alerts.  There are various stations / price points, but this is a reasonable starting point: https://shop.ecowitt.com/collections/weather-station/products/gw1103

and add a water Timer / valve: https://shop.ecowitt.com/products/wittflow-smart-water-timer?_pos=2&_psq=water&_ss=e&_v=1.0&variant=44443745812642

With that combination, you don't need to set up the Pi initially. Just use ecowitt.net to set up scenarios to turn on the water at certain conditions.

Then you can explore your AI desires in a more relaxed manner.

FYI: that WFC01 valve can be exposed to the weather, but it CAN NOT survive temperatures that freeze water if there is water in the WFC01 valve. You will need to have the WFC01 valve in an area/enclosure that does not freeze. 

[Wooks61]

More info on Ecowitt products here:
http://meshka.eu/Ecowitt/dokuwiki

[92b16si]

thank you so much but i dont think the water valve might work. my irrigation system is on 5 hectares. and irrigation pump is a 7.5 2 phase 220v pump. plus a 5 hp pump for the water well which i also need to turn on. but let me look into that weather system. seems to be much much cheaper
 

[R.Sidetrack]

It is possible to control heavy duty pumps / motors with the Ecowitt weather stations.

Ecowitt also has a "Smart Plug", which could be used to control a relay / contactor that has a 120VAC coil.
https://shop.ecowitt.com/products/ac1100-smart-plug

The Smart Plug can have a "plan" that is similar to the one that would operate the Water Timer device. The "plan" input conditions are data reported by the weather station getting to limits that you would set.

Use the Ecowitt Smart Plug to activate one or more contactors connected to the pump circuit(s).   For example, something like this: https://www.automationdirect.com/adc/shopping/catalog/motor_controls/definite_purpose_contactors/definite_purpose_contactors/wdp40-3l-120

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Similarly, you could set up the Raspberry Pi to run CumulusMX weather station software.  In the course of its normal functioning, the weather data from the Ecowitt weather station goes into a CumulusMX SQLite database: https://www.cumuluswiki.org/a/Your_Own_Server#Web_server_and_database_server_built_into_Cumulus_MX

Setting up CumulusMX to receive data from an Ecowitt weather station is pretty straightforward. CumulusMX even offers a Pi "image" file that makes it easy to get started on the Pi. Somewhat more technical would be to create/program another application running on the Pi to process data from that Cumulus SQLite database and activate the pumps (through relays) given the appropriate weather conditions.  My suggestion would be to use Python to create a program to control the pumps, but there are other options as well.
https://projects.raspberrypi.org/en/collections/python

[jpochmara]

To me it sounds like you need a automation system that will take input form a weather station and then make decisions about what to do.

I use Home Assistant to control various things around my house and one of the inputs is my Ecowitt weather station.  HA has integration with Ecowitt gateways, so all of the Ecowitt  weather stations and sensors could be used as inputs.

On the control side HA has integration with a number of wireless controlled relays, just pick the one that fits your need.

[92b16si]

To me it sounds like you need a automation system that will take input form a weather station and then make decisions about what to do.

I use Home Assistant to control various things around my house and one of the inputs is my Ecowitt weather station.  HA has integration with Ecowitt gateways, so all of the Ecowitt  weather stations and sensors could be used as inputs.

On the control side HA has integration with a number of wireless controlled relays, just pick the one that fits your need.

yeah this would be great  im really newat this where should i start reading about this? or how should i set it up?

[jpochmara]

I would do some searching for Home Automation software.  I choose Home Assistant because it met my needs,  has a large following, and supports a lot of devices.
 
There is a lot of info about home automation on the web, can be kinda of overwhelming, but just keep reading and it should start to come together.  Setting up home automation is not a quick project, but you can do small pieces, you don't have to do everything at once.

This is kind the order I got HA working:

• Setup weather station
• Setup HA
• Interrogated weather station into HA
• Found some wifi based relays
• Setup controlling pool filter with HA
• Setup controlling patio lights with HA
• etc

And just continue adding stuff as needed.

Note: I had my weather station before I decided to do home automation.

[Wooks61]

To me it sounds like you need a automation system that will take input form a weather station and then make decisions about what to do.

I use Home Assistant to control various things around my house and one of the inputs is my Ecowitt weather station.  HA has integration with Ecowitt gateways, so all of the Ecowitt  weather stations and sensors could be used as inputs.

On the control side HA has integration with a number of wireless controlled relays, just pick the one that fits your need.

yeah this would be great  im really newat this where should i start reading about this? or how should i set it up?

If you're new to Home Assistant, tke a look at the Home Assistant Green. It comes already installed and easy to set up.

I had my weather station first and then wanted to get into Home Assistant. I chose the HA Green because I wasn't too sure about setting up the Raspberry Pi etc. I just plugged it in, set up an account and the HA Green soon detected all my systems (Smarthings, Homematic, ecowitt, PC's. etc.).
Since then I have set up my own tabs to control/monitor various systems (Heating, Lighting...), using the HA Green as the contol system to interface with my other devices.

Take a look here:
https://community.home-assistant.io/
https://www.home-assistant.io/docs/
(Edit: Links added)