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Weather Related Organizations => CWOP Forum => Topic started by: DWEBB on July 07, 2020, 05:18:13 PM

Title: Weather Station
Post by: DWEBB on July 07, 2020, 05:18:13 PM
I can usually find a good thread to any question I have but can't seem to find one this time. If someone can point me to one that would be great. Or give opinion. I've had fairly cheap weather stations for years but would like to upgrade to a good system that would report to CWOP. I've been part of CoCoRahs but this is much more intriguing. I've looked at several, like the Davis 6250 but can't decide.
Title: Re: Weather Station
Post by: CW2274 on July 07, 2020, 06:28:00 PM
Firstly, what's your budget and do you want/need an all-in-one PWS or one that can separate it's components?
Title: Re: Weather Station
Post by: DWEBB on July 07, 2020, 09:47:00 PM
Sorry for being green. An all in one would probably work. Whatever I get I would need to put it on a telescoping pole to get it as far above structures as possible. Trying to stay below $700.
Title: Re: Weather Station
Post by: CW2274 on July 07, 2020, 10:08:49 PM
Sorry for being green. An all in one would probably work. Whatever I get I would need to put it on a telescoping pole to get it as far above structures as possible. Trying to stay below $700.
Your budget gives you pretty good choices. By far, the most important part of "responsible" ownership of a PWS is called "siting". Please look over these links and see where you fall. This will give everyone here a better idea of what may or may not work for you. Mind you, these are best scenario guidelines, most of us have to usually compromise one way or another.

https://www.weather.gov/media/epz/mesonet/CWOP-Siting.pdf

https://weather.gladstonefamily.net/CWOP_Guide.pdf
Title: Re: Weather Station
Post by: DWEBB on July 08, 2020, 08:16:15 PM
Thank you. This will take a while to look at and think about. I live on a 180' by 60' lot. I have an old house with twelve foot ceilings so it's fairly tall. I have tall Sugar maple trees on one side. My two current temp gauges are on a north facing wood fence that seem to read pretty accurate. My CoCoRahs rain gauge is on the side of the yard 50 feet away from the trees and house and I believe is accurate. The anemometer I was going to put on a tall poll 40 to 50 feet away from trees and house but will be a compromise from what I read. I want to replace all that I have with units that will report to one console and report through software to CWOP. I've read the siting pdf but not the GladStonefamily guide yet. It looks like it may be quite helpful.
Title: Re: Weather Station
Post by: CW2274 on July 08, 2020, 09:10:47 PM
Don't go overboard with these links, especially the second. Make it reasonable for yourself and what you have to work with. Remember, your choice of PWS (basically whether it's all-in-one, or separate components) will have a very large effect on how you sit it.
Title: Re: Weather Station
Post by: DWEBB on July 12, 2020, 12:26:59 PM
Thanks for the info. I have read all of this and would like recommendations on a personal weather station that uses separate components that report to one console that has software to report to CWOP. I'm going to try to put the anemometer on a pole at 33' if possible. Hopefully telescoping so I can maintenance it  if needed. I would like shielded temp and humidity sensors on a separate pole in the middle of the yard. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Title: Re: Weather Station
Post by: galfert on July 12, 2020, 12:46:49 PM
Ecowitt GW1002 (add HP2551-C display if desired).

Ambient Weather WS-5000 (add Ecowitt GW1000 to get data to software for direct to CWOP uplaod).

Davis Vantage Pro 2. There are several variations with essentially different radiation shields (with or without fan aspiration and with or without UV and Solar Radiation). You'll need a logger and there are several to pick from
https://www.wxforum.net/index.php?topic=39751.0

There are several ways to get data to CWOP. Some methods are more direct and allow for greater frequency of 5 minute uploads. For example an Ambient WS-5000 can utilize the upload to Ambientweather.net to then be picked up by AmbientCWOP.com to then send it to CWOP. That is indirect and requires all those connections to stay up and reliability can be a factor. Then take Davis and uploading to Weatherlink.com and then having that upload to CWOP. Also not direct and limited to 15 minute frequency on free plan, but has advantage of not needing anything but basic WLL logger. With alternative (Non-Davis logger) you can upload directly to CWOP. These loggers are WiFiLogger, Meteobridge NANO, Meteobridge Pro, or Meteobridge standard getting data from WLL logger. You can also run your own software off using WLL to then upload directly and these software are Cumulus MX, Weather-Display and WeeWX. All of these software; Cumulus MX, Meteobridge, Weather-Display, and WeeWX would be the method used to get data from the Ecowitt GW1000 directly to CWOP if you got an Ecowitt or Ambient station. The software in the case of Meteobridge is a dedicated little device (very reliable), or in the case of the others can be a Raspberry Pi or whatever computer you have (recommend a dedicated weather computer though but not absolutely necessary).

You'll find that there is going to be a considerable budget difference between Ecowitt / Ambient and Davis Vantage Pro 2. They each have their pros and cons besides pricing. But these pros and cons may be different for different people.
Title: Re: Weather Station
Post by: CW2274 on July 12, 2020, 03:57:04 PM
Thanks for the info. I have read all of this and would like recommendations on a personal weather station that uses separate components that report to one console that has software to report to CWOP. I'm going to try to put the anemometer on a pole at 33' if possible.
Granted at even greater expense, the very nice thing about the VP2 is you can completely detach the anemometer from the ISS (Integrated Sensor Suite, the main outdoor unit) and place anywhere you desire with a remote transmitter which is then picked up by the console on a separate channel. Many here use this, including myself.

http://www.scaledinstruments.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/63321.jpg
Title: Re: Weather Station
Post by: ocala on July 12, 2020, 04:20:50 PM
Keep in mind this just the weather station. If you want to send data to CWOP then you will also need a data logger. There are several options to do this but I would suggest the wifi logger.
You can read about it here.  https://www.wxforum.net/index.php?board=143.0
It has an UI built into it that allows you to send data to CWOP without a PC. Does it all via wifi.