Topic: help with placement of ambient observer

[johny3]

hi all
Planning on getting a PWS, likely the ambient observer wds-1001.  I did some reading on placement and wondered how anyone could ever fit all the ideal conditions. 50-80 ft from paved surface, 50-80 feet from body of water, variable distance from trees. (These may be wrong, please correct me.)  I made a map of our lot using google maps. Love the measure distance it has now!
Anyway,  http://imgur.com/a/UyDW0

Red is the house and patio, green splotches are trees. The square body of water is the pool. The black is the driveway. Yellow is a swingset. The water on the right is a usually dry drainage creek but likely would add to humidity.  Distances are 240 feet from the road (house), lot is 160 wide (using creek as border not edge of picture like it shows.) [ You are not allowed to view attachments ]

My initial thought would be to place the PWS on the top of the roof on the highest portion (house is 2 stories). My concern is proximity to the pavement and the pool. Any thoughts? I can raise the pws above the roof no problem.
Hope the image works!  I can clarify any distances with google maps or a tape measure.
thanks for the help.

[miraculon]

You might want to keep it away from the trees on the left side (under the "50 ft" label). They would cause a rain shield and possibly drop water caught on the leaves if the wind is from the left direction.

These "all in one" weather stations are always a compromise. As you note, nobody living in "suburbia" has an ideal location. Myself included.

Greg H.

[johny3]

You might want to keep it away from the trees on the left side (under the "50 ft" label). They would cause a rain shield and possibly drop water caught on the leaves if the wind is from the left direction.

These "all in one" weather stations are always a compromise. As you note, nobody living in "suburbia" has an ideal location. Myself included.

Greg H.

thank you. do you think the upper right corner of the house would work? would have to be on a long pole since that part of hte house is lower.

[miraculon]

That might work OK. You might want to consider the inevitable maintenance of batteries, cleaning out rain collector and other issues. I'll attach a photo of my prior installation at another house I owned. I placed the tripod so that the two "hinged" legs would pivot down when the bolt from the third leg attachment was removed. I could pivot the whole works down.

I had a side bracket giving it support to the upper section. I have to work it out of this bracket's clamp to lower it for maintenance.

Just an idea. My current house has something similar. It was a bit tricky locating the side bracket vis-a-vis the tripod. This time, I used a PVC conduit as a temporary lightweight guide and located the wall bracket first. Then, I located the tripod so that it lines up with the wall bracket clamp. This time I used better grade Rohn masts/tripod/bracket which was heavier gauge. The tripod straddles the lower roof peak.

Make sure that whatever you do, the mounting needs to be very secure.

Greg H.

[johny3]

awesome, thank you! I can easily get on the roof thru a window, so not too big of an issue unless we have 7 feet of snow here in the Buffalo area

[SpringHillWeather]

The height is for wind speeds, according to the book 33' is standard but for the other gauges its recommended at 4-6' (Rain/Temp) so I think mounting it lower where its easier to maintain may be better solution imo.   I have the AW-1001 and originally mounted it higher but found it works just as well at 10-12', still a compromise for the other gauges but thats the price of the all-in-one stations.  Its also easier to maintain at that height which you will need to do at least twice a year since the rain gauge gets clogged.

Here is the siting guide as a reference.
http://weather.gladstonefamily.net/CWOP_Guide.pdf

[johny3]

thank you very much!

[SpringHillWeather]

I just realized the link I sent earlier was for the CWOP guide, sorry.

Here is the link for PWS siting guide.  Both are good.

http://weather.gladstonefamily.net/CWOP-Siting.pdf

[johny3]

no worries. thank you.

Not sure if we are allowed to talk deals but I thought there was an ambient weather coupon from weatherunderground? cannot seem to find it now.

[SpringHillWeather]

no worries. thank you.

Not sure if we are allowed to talk deals but I thought there was an ambient weather coupon from weatherunderground? cannot seem to find it now.

I haven't seen a coupon for the Ambient Weather but there is one for the Bloomsky.

https://www.wunderground.com/weatherstation/buyingguide.asp

[johny3]

thanks I think that was the one I was thinking of.