Author Topic: Another "what weather station" question!  (Read 799 times)

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Offline Brutha

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Another "what weather station" question!
« on: January 01, 2022, 11:32:03 AM »
Hi All,

My current weather station, an Aercus Instruments "WeatherRanger" that I bought around 3 years back seems to be on the brink of giving up the ghost, the temperature has been pinging back and forth between -40 and +60 for the last few weeks, the rain measurement has been a bit intermittent over recent months, and today I've had some silly wind gust measurements.

In some ways I've been quite happy with it: it has wind, rainfall, temperature (inside and out), pressure, humidity and light all the stuff I'm interested in seeing. And until recently it's been pretty reliable and the measurements have been close to other local official weather stations when I've looked.

In other ways it hasn't been so good: it only connects to Wunderground, and they don't seem to understand that some countries use a mix of measurement units (being from the UK, I want to see wind strength in MPH and temperature in C, but Wunderground won't allow me to see both without switching units). Also, ideally I would have a way to easily retrieve (or store my data on a NAS etc) in the first place.

So, I'm looking for a replacement. I'm open to doing something a bit custom, e.g. using a Raspberry Pi and doing a bit of setup / coding, but generally I would like to achieve the following:

- All of the measurements I currently have, as mentioned above.
- A reasonable display showing current conditions / trends
- A choice of weather sites to connect to.
- The ability to store data on a local server over WIFI (if possible)
- Ideally something pretty robust - we get plenty of strong winds where I live (think gusts up to 100mph every now and again, but 60 mph gusts quite common)

The original weather station cost around £250 at the time of purchase I think - I'm happy to spend quite a lot more than that for the right station though.

Does anyone have any thoughts on the way to go?

Thanks for any thoughts!

Brutha


Offline broadstairs

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Re: Another "what weather station" question!
« Reply #1 on: January 01, 2022, 12:28:34 PM »
Well if you really want robust a Davis VP2 is the answer as you can mount the wind separately from the rain etc but your budget will need to stretch to somewhere around £700-£1000 at a guess. My VP1 lasted close to 15 years! I now have an Ecowitt GW1003 because being retired (or retarded as my son says  #-o ) my budget has been somewhat reduced!

Stuart
Ecowitt GW1003 with ultrasonic wind gauge, lightning sensor and PM2.5 sensor with Personal Weather Tablet as a console.

Offline johnd

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Re: Another "what weather station" question!
« Reply #2 on: January 01, 2022, 02:07:44 PM »
Well if you really want robust a Davis VP2 is the answer as you can mount the wind separately from the rain etc but your budget will need to stretch to somewhere around £700-£1000 at a guess.

Just for information, a standard VP2 wireless station in the UK is currently on offer for £599 (including 20% VAT and 3y warranty). That's without a logger (ie computer or cloud upload interface); with eg WiFi logger the price rises to £729.

If you want data handling but are less bothered about a console then a wireless VP2 ISS (the main sensor assembly) plus a Weatherlink Live data unit is £649.

NB Davis raised prices by (IIRC) 5-10% a few months back and we're still offering the pre-rise prices, but that situation can't last too much longer now.
« Last Edit: January 01, 2022, 03:07:25 PM by johnd »
Prodata Weather Systems
Prodata's FAQ/support site for Davis stations
Includes many details on 6313 Weatherlink console.
UK Davis Premier Dealer - All Davis stations, accessories and spares
Cambridge UK

Sorry, but I don't usually have time to help with individual issues by email unless you are a Prodata customer. Please post your issue in the relevant forum section here & I will comment there if I have anything useful to add.

Offline Brutha

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Re: Another "what weather station" question!
« Reply #3 on: January 02, 2022, 05:27:33 AM »
Well if you really want robust a Davis VP2 is the answer as you can mount the wind separately from the rain etc but your budget will need to stretch to somewhere around £700-£1000 at a guess. My VP1 lasted close to 15 years! I now have an Ecowitt GW1003 because being retired (or retarded as my son says  #-o ) my budget has been somewhat reduced!

Stuart

Thanks Stuart!

Looking at the VP2, I was initially quite tempted at the £600 price. Then I realised that you need to add a solar sensor for £200, and north of another £100 just to be able to send the data to a computer, which seems a bit cheeky! Also, I wasn't that impressed with the console display either.

In the end, after a bit of back and forth I've gone for the same weather station as you! Well, the GW1103 which just has the slightly newer version of the gateway. Then I'll hook it up to a raspberry pi to do the logging, and add a cheap little display to the Pi if I feel the need.

Cheers

Brutha

Offline Brutha

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Re: Another "what weather station" question!
« Reply #4 on: January 02, 2022, 05:31:17 AM »
Well if you really want robust a Davis VP2 is the answer as you can mount the wind separately from the rain etc but your budget will need to stretch to somewhere around £700-£1000 at a guess.

Just for information, a standard VP2 wireless station in the UK is currently on offer for £599 (including 20% VAT and 3y warranty). That's without a logger (ie computer or cloud upload interface); with eg WiFi logger the price rises to £729.

If you want data handling but are less bothered about a console then a wireless VP2 ISS (the main sensor assembly) plus a Weatherlink Live data unit is £649.

NB Davis raised prices by (IIRC) 5-10% a few months back and we're still offering the pre-rise prices, but that situation can't last too much longer now.

Thanks John. In the end I decided against a Davis station, the cost was just too high to justify.

Offline broadstairs

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Re: Another "what weather station" question!
« Reply #5 on: January 02, 2022, 05:49:14 AM »
Thanks Stuart!

Looking at the VP2, I was initially quite tempted at the £600 price. Then I realised that you need to add a solar sensor for £200, and north of another £100 just to be able to send the data to a computer, which seems a bit cheeky! Also, I wasn't that impressed with the console display either.

In the end, after a bit of back and forth I've gone for the same weather station as you! Well, the GW1103 which just has the slightly newer version of the gateway. Then I'll hook it up to a raspberry pi to do the logging, and add a cheap little display to the Pi if I feel the need.

Cheers

Brutha

If you have an unused Android tablet then you can use Personal Weather Tablet as a console which is what I do, works well. If you want a ready made logging application to run then worth looking at CumulusMX which runs under Linux and handles the GW1100 well, I still use Weather Display but that is because I used it with my VP1 so have not bothered to change. I have tried CumulusMX and it works well although I've not used it on an RPi, it is free BTW. My issue with changing is I still need Windows to run WXSim  :-(

Stuart
Ecowitt GW1003 with ultrasonic wind gauge, lightning sensor and PM2.5 sensor with Personal Weather Tablet as a console.

Offline weatherman96

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Re: Another "what weather station" question!
« Reply #6 on: January 02, 2022, 02:37:10 PM »
Hi.

I have just bought a Bresser 5in1 station, which has the usual features (rain gauge, wind measurement, Temp). I only installed it last Thursday. I originally installed it on an outhouse which was between the house, (I live in a 1900s terrace so you can imagine the garden size). When my step-dad came to visit and have a look he looked rather confused to why i had installed this between my house and the outhouse, he then mentioned i should stick it by the back gate at the end of the garden, So i have now mounted it on the wall on a small piece of wood to give it that extra height. I digress, So far the Bresser weather station has done well. It predicted rain fall within 24 hours from 12pm yesterday and low and behold rain arrived at 12pm this afternoon, the forecast section on the base unit also flashes when rain is only a few minutes away, or it has started to fall, for 80 pounds i think this is a bargain for a great piece of kit, which has just gone up in price to 120. The instructions are very limited and not much use so be careful when referring to something. on the other hand i feel this is more of a review of it.

EDIT:
I have placed more screws in the wood as the unit was quite wobbly when touched and now nice and tight and very secure no wobble at all. ( im no good at diy)
« Last Edit: January 03, 2022, 08:55:14 AM by weatherman96 »

 

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