I work for an NFL team (didn't want to advertise that too much but the pictures might give it away), and as the resident weather nerd in the video department I've been tasked with replacing and relocating our old weather station - a Davis VP2 that has seen better days, and it's located in a less than ideal spot on the roof of our building.
We have our very own Thor Guard lightning detection system and horns at our complex, so you can tell weather monitoring is important to us. I've been asked for about 3 options to run by the higher-ups to see what we can get. Option 1 and 3 felt pretty obvious to me (very open to suggestions), but option 2 is a little muddy as a whole solution.
1. Davis VP2 Plus Wireless, Ambient Weather Weatherbridge (if that's still supported?), upgraded anemometer if possible
2. Vaisala WXT536 (with ??? logger and ??? software and ??????)
3. Weatherhawk 621 Wireless with Heater
There is a new, large mast in the middle of our complex that is likely the best location to get the best readings for our application:
Here is my list of priorities and needs:
1.
WIRELESS - It's likely that I would have no problem getting power to the top of the mast as it already has it and is hollow, but highly unlikely I'd have the pull around here to run any kind of data line. Therefore, it must be wireless. There is a network switch and box located in the video tower (thing with steps in the left of picture above) so it wouldn't need to reach very far at all. I've considered the video tower for the station, but the slanted roof poses a lot of installation challenges and might disturb the wind.
2.
WIND - My personal highest priority is accurate and reliable wind readings. We are the guys that have to go up fully extended in a scissor lift for 3 or 4 hours a day sometimes, and we need the warnings to be accurate. If anything, I'd prefer to blow the budget just on that and go basic with everything else...
3.
INTERFACE - another huge element is ease of access/useful and clear views of all the data for everyone around the building. Trainers, turf, operations, equipment, video - we all monitor the station before practice to know what to expect. It's crucial to have a locally viewable page of some sort that we can "fave" and pull up, and potentially insert as a slide for our message boards around the building.
Between the need for wireless and a good distributable interface around the building, it's easy to see why I just keep coming back to the Davis as the best solution. But.... You know... WEATHER NERD.
I really like the price and quality of the Vaisala, but after that it gets a little daunting. Finding the right serial cables, power, data logger, wireless solution, software, and distribution of data on a nice-looking page is something I've been researching for weeks now, and it still feels way above my pay grade. I'm willing to consider putting it somewhere where wireless wouldn't be needed, but my brain tells me that mast is just too perfect of a location to pass up.
As far as anemometers go, I'm looking at some RM Young ones as a potential addition.
Alpine Wind Monitor:
https://www.ambientweather.com/rmry0510345.htmlUltrasonic Heated:
https://www.ambientweather.com/rmry86004.htmlObviously, the huge hurdle here is what to do with either the 0-5 VDC or 4-20 mA outputs.... I can't seem to find many simple resources on that. Curious to know if there's any hacks to make it compatible or at least talk to a Davis Envoy8X or something. Or even just on the back-end/with software (can/could VWS aggregate the different devices?)
Apologies if these are some novice questions... just wanted to reach out to others before settling and going with the Davis. I'm also not opposed to a fully custom setup, parting out all the different sensors I would like to use. I'm just afraid I'd need to take some serious electrician/Linux crash courses, which I may not have time for.
So my questions for you all:
- What are your suggestions here/what are your dream setups for around $2-3k?
- Any advice on the best way to reliably get data from the Vaisala distributed for my needs?
- Is there a better anemometer option for the VP2, or possible to convert serial/analog data from an RM Young device to integrate with the Davis system?
- Any suggestions of other stations/solutions that might be better suited? (Orion, Lufft, ???)
- Did any of you even make it this far in this post?
