Message Board - Weather: Weather stations
3 May 2011 by Monty
Hi Guys,
I'm a groundsman at a secondary school which is looking to a weather station for the students to use, can anybody recommend a good station that's easy to use has good graphics and is capable ongoing on to a computer network.
Cheers
It's a lot less bother with a hover!
4 May 2011 by Mike
There is one in the pc shop which I got earlier this year - quality bit of kit, but you may find that you need to 'beef up' the antenna mountings.
Mike
4 May 2011 by sipho
Mike do you use the Easyweather program ?
sip
Gogga International Affairs Officer
4 May 2011 by Mike
Yes and no, Sip. It is uploaded on our pc, however, given the weakness in the mountings, we are waiting to have a contact make up something a bit sturdier for us. For the moment, if I want to use it, I have to send my assistant up to the top of the fire escape to hold it above his head!!
Mike
4 May 2011 by sipho
hahahah - I use the cumulus software which can be downloaded off the net.
IMO assembled info is a bit better to read and you can have printable reports. You can also upload all the info to a web page for others to view.
sip
Summary for April 2011
Temperature (°C):
Mean (1 minute) 13.5
Mean (min+max) 13.7
Mean Minimum 6.1
Mean Maximum 21.4
Minimum 0.8 day 13
Maximum 30.5 day 23
Highest Minimum 11.2 day 01
Lowest Maximum 12.6 day 05
Air frosts 0
Rainfall (mm):
Total for month 0.3
Wettest day 0.3 day 05
Rain days 1
Wind (km/h):
Highest Gust 29.5 day 30
Average Speed 1.6
Wind Run 1116.8 km
Gale days 0
Pressure (mb):
Maximum 1028.8 day 12
Minimum 1004.4 day 22
Days with snow falling 0
Days with snow lying at 0900 0
Gogga International Affairs Officer
6 May 2011 by Martin H
I use a Davis Vantage Pro2. Possibly the best piece of kit on the market and comes with software to run via computer (also has a console to view outside of a pc). Big benefit is the range of extras you can add on to get soil temps, leaf wetness etc. Comes in wired or wireless flavours as well.
Have a look at weathershop.co.uk who are based in Eastbourne, East Sussex. They also offer some good advice
6 May 2011 by Monty
Hi Martin, I've been looking at the vantage pro 2 the price is high but if the kit works well then that's a small price to pay. What extras do you have on yours?
Cheers
It's a lot less bother with a hover!
7 May 2011 by leestrutt
Hi Monty
Just to echo what Martin H was saying, I have had two Davis Vantage Pro 2 weather stations and they are in deed worth there money.
Best regards
Lee
7 May 2011 by Monty
Hi Lee,
Did you have any extras added on to your Davis weather station?
Cheers
It's a lot less bother with a hover!
7 May 2011 by Martin H
Monty, I've got solar radiation. ultra violet and soil temp sensors added. Mines a wireless version but when bought as a package the anemometer comes as wired to the wireless station, so I've converted that to be wireless also so that I could place it in a more open space to get better readings without having a cable trailing from it.
Most distance I've ever got is about 180 metres (this was into a building with fairly substantial walls as well) but you can get repeater stations to further the wireless capability as well.
The unit comes with 'Weatherlink' software and is really easy to setup on a pc and also get the info onto the web..... I'm no HTML code expert and managed to get it running quite easily....here's the info that I have on display:
http://www.hastingsweatherwatch.co.uk/Current_Vantage_Pro_Plus.htm
I've had the system about 4 years now and only had one issue when the temperature sensor needed replacing last year (apparently there were some problems with older sensors but they seem to have updated them now and are more reliable).
7 May 2011 by Monty
Hi Martin, many thanks for all your help the more I see and hear about this system the more I like it.
Cheers
It's a lot less bother with a hover!
8 May 2011 by leestrutt
Hi Monty,
I had the solar radiation fitted as this enabled me to measure ET. As Martin H mentioned it's so much better wireless and does a pretty good job of transmitting the data without having to have it permantly wired.
Cheers
Lee
8 May 2011 by Monty
Hi Lee, how far are your instruments away from the main unit? With the ET where is it located for the best results and the soil moisture sensor?
Thanks for all your help
It's a lot less bother with a hover!
8 May 2011 by leestrutt
Hi Monty,
When I was based in London, the weather station had to travel across a car park to my office (through two thick walls) this must have been about 90 meters away and no problems, now i'm based in scotland and the unit is situated about 30 meters away but must go through 3 walls in a new mordern metal clad building, so lots of chance for interferance but problems as such. But as martin mentioned, if it is a long distance you can get repeaters that will get the signal to you but its all very simple.
As for the ET, this is a simple calculation carried out by the software to work out the potential ET. It's not necessarily decimal point accurate but more than accurate for me and calculating the ET loss. I have never used the soil moisture meters so can't really comment.
Hope this helps? if your looking for other suppliers? I used MJ Abbotts as they offered a good price and have good techincal back up.
Not sure where your based? but if your local you can pop over and have a look.
Cheers
Lee
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