Weather Station Hardware > Remote Weather Monitoring
Remote weather monitoring
johnd:
I guess I'm the guilty party for suggesting this new forum section, so maybe I should just outline why I believe this new section could be valuable:
Many people people here will be hobbyists who monitor weather from their own home, where there will usually be services available like mains power and a broadband Internet link. But some users may also be able to site stations at locations which are distant from towns and other properties. These 'remote' locations can be excellent for weather monitoring either because the site is very open and so sensor exposure can approach the ideal much more easily or because the weather at the site may be plain interesting, like a hilltop site or perhaps a vacation home or cabin that you have.
The weather sensors at a remote site don't usually need to be any different from usual, so the standard Davis, Oregon etc stations should still be perfectly suitable. But what very often does have to be different is how you get access to the weather data. Actually, if you're able to visit the site with a laptop at eg weekly or monthly intervals simply to download blocks of logged data to the laptop, then there are no special issues involved. But what if you want live weather data from the remote location or daily downloads or you just can't get to the site very often? Then you need some sort of data link to the remote site and issues around how best to set up these links will I guess be the staple diet for this forum section.
I'd suggest that weather data links from remote sites set two main types of challenge:
1. Electrical power: Although the weather sensors and loggers can usually run pretty well on batteries and/or small solar panels, data links typically create a challenge of a different magnitude. A Davis VP2 system plus USB logger will run quite happily on about 24mAh a day. But introduce a cellular modem into the setup to stream live weather data back to base and the power requirement can rise to 5-10Ah/day. And while it's not too difficult to generate this amount of power from eg a solar panel in summer, what can be much more tricky - especially if you live in more northerly or southerly latitudes - is to keep the system running over the winter when the available solar energy may be only 5-10% of the summertime level. Wind power is obviously another option but a combined solar/wind installation can start to become expensive.
2. The nature of the data link back to base, which will typically take some form of cellular, other wireless or satellite connectivity.
Of course, professional wx station installers have been grappling with these various issues of remote installations for many years now, but typically their solutions are expensive and often don't offer live data. I think what many of us here are interested in are solutions that are as affordable and cost-effective as possible and, where feasible, do offer live weather data. Hopefully this forum section will offer some ideas and answers for affordable remote weather monitoring.
d_l:
The 6620 Vantage Connect appears to solve all these problems providing the Davis system is within range of a cell tower.
Bushman:
--- Quote from: d_l on March 13, 2011, 01:36:24 PM ---The 6620 Vantage Connect appears to solve all these problems providing the Davis system is within range of a cell tower.
--- End quote ---
But is is $895 MSRP and you need a cell plan etc. That will limit the market IMO except for the really, really remote (within range of a cell tower). Likely better cost effectiveness to run a wifi stick on a netbook.
johnd:
--- Quote from: d_l on March 13, 2011, 01:36:24 PM ---The 6620 Vantage Connect appears to solve all these problems providing the Davis system is within range of a cell tower.
--- End quote ---
Yes it's an interesting product certainly with a huge amount of potential, though not due for launch for another 3-6 months AIUI. I foresee four challenges for the VC:
1. The maximum update frequency is going to be 5 minutes, and so anyone that wants literally live data (eg individual wind gusts with eg 3sec (or even 10- or 60-sec updates) is going to be disappointed. But I agree that a 5-min frequency is plenty enough for many purposes.
2. Although the details aren't clear yet, I'm not sure whether there will be a free choice of network. In any event, I'm guessing that the price won't be the same for each network. And the price, especially if you opt for the more costly 5min rather than 15min or 60min updates, may not appeal to everyone.
3. I hope that the solar panel has been specified as large enough to carry the VC through a gloomy winter at say 55N latitude, but I'm a little concerned about this part of the specification - I hope unnecessarily.
4. I suspect that the data will be in WL-only format and won't be easily compatible with 3rd-party software (or at least any software that doesn't use the Davis WL DLL).
I could be wrong about all of these points - time will tell of course.
d_l:
1. The update intervals are not necessarily the same as the archive intervals because the Vantage Connect stores data between updates. So archival granularity apparently can be at more frequent intervals than the update frequency. Admittedly there will not be real-time capabilities for the data; however, alarms are real time.
2. Using the Davis catalog as a source, there is only one monthly price listed for the Vantage Connect service at each update interval. It is possible that Davis will only contract with one cell service provider for their connections and this might preclude the use of this service outside of the US.
3. It looks as though they have re-purposed the 7707 Solar Power Kit for Cabled Vantage Pro to house and power the cell transmitter. They have a recommended tilt angle for the various latitude ranges.
The kit's solar cell is rated at 2.5 Watts. It provides about 300 mA of current in bright sunshine (1000 W/m2). In 2 hours it will provide enough power to operate a cabled console or Envoy station for 48 hours.
The kit is designed to use the 12 Amp-Hour battery provided, but any 6-volt rechargeable battery may be used. The 12-Amp-Hour battery, when fully charged, can supply power to a cabled Vantage Pro2 station or Weather Envoy station for 12 months assuming an average temperature of 68°F (20°C), or 10 months at 32°F (0°C), or 8 months at -4°F (-20°C).
In order to increase the efficiency and life of the battery, the kit's regulator circuit limits the voltage to which the battery is charged, and it adjusts this voltage according to the temperature at the rate of negative 7.5 mV per °C. This ensures that the battery is fully charged for the conditions, but never over-charged.
4. Each Vantage Connect subscription will include a WeatherLinkIP account. Because the Vantage Connect will use the WeatherlinkIP's servers as a storage medium, it is almost a certainty that the data format will be Weatherlink standard.
One thing I find interesting is that the Vantage Connect is apparently not attached by cable to the various Davis sensing devices, i.e., ISS, etc. I guess this means that the Connect can be optimally sited to connect to the nearest cell tower even to the point of having relay repeaters between it and the Davis sensors.
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