Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Weather Stations - For The Home

Bill in Missouri asked me about home weather stations. One that is of good quality and will broadcast to the web.

Not to pass the buck, but this isn't really an area I am good with. I only own old fashioned, manually checked weather instruments.

One of our fellow CoCoRaHS'ians is a HUGE weather nut, and owns something like 3 different weather stations at his home. He has a website called weatherbuff.comand is really in the know about home weather stations.

Check out his website, and drop him an email. His name is Steve Hamilton.

13 comments:

  1. 3putt, I remember reading a blog entry about this a while back. It may not be the answers you are looking for, but... it's a place to start. Davis Instruments is a preferred brand name.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for the info, I emailed weatherbuff and hopefully I will hear from him. I was looking at the Vantage Pro2, but then found out it was $500, maybe someday but not now. I don't mind spending a little money, but I was thinking more along the lines of about half that much. :) Thanks again!

    Bill

    ReplyDelete
  3. I compared the La Crosse WS_3610U and the Oregon Scientific WMR968. I then bought the WS361 and operated it for a few days. Very attractive but the display was a little cluttered for my taste and it didn't give hourly rainfall rate which I wanted. So I sent it back and got the OS968 which is more 'utilitarian' looking and simpler display w/ rainfall rate feature. I've come to find out I rarely use the feature and trust/use my manual rain gauge much more than the wireless gauge. Both were around $225 to $300. The Vantage Pro looks to be very nice but....$$$$

    ReplyDelete
  4. This guy, Athelstane Weather, has an amazing set up. Take a gander and click around. I love his webcams. They are everywhere. I am excited to start putting my webcam shots into a daily movie! I am currently in the testing phase.

    Anyways, he talks about his weather station setup and has a link at the bottom of the home page describing it.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I got an Oregon Scientific solar powered wireless weather station for Christmas. It has temp, humidity, barometer, wind speed/direction and rainfall. It's not very user-friendly, and only measures rainfall rate. I've compared it to other local weather stations and it seems fairly accurate (although I've decided I'm going to have to relocate my anemometer for better readings). Had I researched weather stations myself, I might have went with another brand.

    Also, I am currently looking at software that is compatable with the weather station. I don't know if all weather stations are computer compatable, but that might be something you want to consider, too.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I've used a LaCrosse 2317-el for a while now and have been pleased with it. Believe I have about $130 in it.

    You can read more about it at my blog...

    www.cookevilleweatherguy.com

    ReplyDelete
  7. I ended up getting the Honeywell TN924W for $249. It is supposed to be delievered tomorrow and hopefully I will get it setup Saturday. After I have used it for a month or so I will post on here and let you know what I think about it. Thanks everyone for all the advice.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I have two Lecrosse 2310 , one I've had since 2002 and the other 3-4 months. I have also a Oregon Scientific WMR968 and use Virtual Weather Station.
    The WMR 968 wirless and the Thermo-Hydro are 200 ft or so from display and haven't had a problem. All work well and read with 2-3% of each other and nearby Airport.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Bill said: "The WMR 968 wirless and the Thermo-Hydro are 200 ft or so from display and haven't had a problem. All work well and read with 2-3% of each other and nearby Airport."

    About a week or so ago I installed a Free WX software program on the computer to go with my WMR968 and started sending data to the internet. When I started trending the temperature, I noticed a swing in the temperature of 4 to 8 degrees, but only during the daytime. Also, my humidity has always been running very low compared to surrounding weather stations. I either have a bad temp/hum sensor, or the sunlight is affecting the sensor, and the temperature swings when the sun goes behind a cloud. I am going to install some "shielding" today to see if the sunlight is causing the problem. I'll keep y'all posted.

    ReplyDelete
  10. 3/21/08 update (as promised):

    I have added shielding, aluminium foil, and am considering a small fan to try to correct the temperature and humidity fluctuations. It shouldn't have to be this complicated, but I guess that's why they call it a hobby! Also, my wind instruments died yesterday for some unknown reason. I'm really starting to dislike the OS 968. :(

    ReplyDelete
  11. Good quality home weather stations found at Wind and Weather.....!

    ReplyDelete
  12. I opted to buy the shield for my OS968 and it seems to work nicely...compares well to another, independent wireless temp. sensor nearby. The wind gauge is still doing fine...9 months since purchase but I need to get it higher off the ground (now @ 5 feet). After a 'shakey' start, all is working okay except the Barrometer. Can't get it set ('zeroed')to the local barrometric reading. The OS 'Help' line wasn't much help.

    ReplyDelete
  13. OS968 update: It's been a while since I posted last. I have 5 acres here, and I guess I've had my sensors on nearly every square foot looking for a good place! :) After several calls to OS, they determined that my temp/hum sensor was bad, but that it was still under warranty. Unfortuately, they don't have any more to replace it. They did put me on a waiting list, though. I ended up buying another sensor on ebay (sad, huh?) and it works great. So I guess now I'm a happy camper.

    One of the challenges of my place here is that I have 500 KV power lines running across the lot. I had my wind speed/direction sensor under the lines (because it was free from obstructions). However, the EMF from the power lines made the sensor really wacky. I tried to ground it and it just died completely. I have moved the sensor away from the power lines and it works very well now.

    After much consideration, I ended up putting a 4-foot fence post on the end of a 12-foot 4X4 and mounted the wind sensor on the fence post. That might be a cheap solution for you to consider (if you have a place to put it. With 2 feet of the 4X4 in the ground, it gets the sensor up to around 14 feet.

    Just my two cents worth.

    Good luck@

    ReplyDelete