Newby questions

[teancum12]

So I got a new WS-1080 for Christmas and after a bit of work I got everything set up. This is my first real weather station (compared to just an outdoor temperature sensor) and so I have a few questions that I'm hoping I can lump into a "newby" post and that you all will have some patience with me.

1. Right now I have the station mounted on a pole about 7ft off the ground; however, once I make sure that everything is working I would like to move it to the roof of a shed that is about 13ft above the ground. I have a couple of concerns about doing this (even though I think that this will be the best place place for it) and would like your advice. First, once the summer heats up will there be enough heat coming off the roof to alter the temperature noticeably? Second, the same thing goes for the wind, will it reflect off the shed roof to also noticeably impact those readings? Again, I don't know if I have a better spot to put the weather station, but if the consensus is that it will be noticeably impacted on temperature or wind, I would appreciate any advice on trying to minimize it (Ex. maybe put it on a pole higher above the shed roof?).

2. How do I keep snow and ice from interfering with the wind instruments? We had a relatively light snow this morning, but the wind gauges had iced up a little bit and the cups on the anemometer had snow in them...any suggestions?

3. Are there websites that gather and/or are interested in the weather data that our stations measure? And/or what does everyone do with the data created by your station? My plans are to keep it and use it to help guide me in gardening, etc. (and just because I enjoy watching and knowing what the weather is doing).

That's it for now. Again, thanks in advance for the input.

[larrystein]

Firstly: Hello and welcome to the forum!

Secondly: Probably all the information you seek is on this forum somewhere and Yes the surroundings and even the pole it is sited on will alter your readings to some extent. The best possible position for the wind speed / direction sensor is above any surrounding obstacles like buildings and trees. Otherwise you will have currents in the air giving incorrect readings and blocking of the true wind speed by the buildings. The best position for the temp and pressure sensor is about head hight above the ground and well away from any structures that will disturb the air or give off reflected heat. The sender/pressure/temp unit needs to be accessed once every year or two for battery replacement so make sure you get good quality ones to minimise this. Also, the sun-shield supplied with the fine offset type weather stations is frankly rubbish and should see the inside of your bin ASAP. Have you ever seen those white boxes with louvre doors and sides that they sometimes have near to schools, colleges and airport? Well they contain temperature, humidity and pressure sensors and are the best sun-shields you can get. Most of us have built our own versions of these to give the best possible readings. The rain sensor should be positioned a few feet off the ground and again away from obstructions that will bounce rain off and into the receiver giving a false reading. However, unless you are willing and able to do major surgery on your new present you are somewhat restricted by the lengths of the supplied cables. If all you want is a guide to the weather at a glance then you probably don't need that kind of accuracy.

Thirdly: This is always a problem for us. Short of spraying it with antifreeze every couple of hours there is no way of preventing snow and ice build-up on the wind sensors. However, a high enough wind speed should dislodge most of it. We have the same problem with the rain gauge getting covered in snow. Some people have made ingenious devices for melting this snow and including it in there rainfall measurements but that is a complex undertaking and if you get it wrong you could melt your sensor.

Lastly: If you look at the configuration page for the internet (in cumulus of course) you will see 1/2 dozen different ways to get your data on the WWW. Probably the most difficult of these is to put up your own page on your web access supplied by your ISP. Another way is to take a look at the other web sites mentioned in the internet options page and see what one you like and sign-up to one of them. It is probably easier for someone not experienced with HTML and FTP to sign-up with one of them instead of the DIY approach.

Good luck with your endeavours.

Larry

[teancum12]

Larry,

I appreciate the time and effort you put into your reply.

It sounds like for the heat shield I'm going to have to look into it a bit more, though I'm certainly not opposed to making my own.

I'll admit I'm in a bit of a conundrum with records to the anemometer. I live in town and so I have homes and fences around me. For this reason, I thought that it would be good to put the anemometer up on the shed to hopefully get above some of of that interference; however, if I do that I won't have easy access to gently bump the snow off, perhaps next time I'll just see how the wind and sun does at melting/brushing it off. As an aside, I'm not too worried about the rain gauge, though somehow melting it to get the moisture count is an interesting idea. I'm sure others have had this idea, but has anyone tried using one of the teflon or silicon sprays to help the snow slide off/out?

I had noticed some of the internet configurations on cumulus' setup, but as a newby I was wondering how everyone else did, so I'll also have to look into that a bit more.

One last question, do most people leave their cumulus software up and running and attached to the inside unit all the time? If so, how have some of you set it up to do it economically and practically? I've searched around a little and seen the idea of hooking it up to a laptop, but it just seems like that would soak up a decent amount of electricity.

Thanks again,
Brian

[GraemeT]

Hi Brian,

Re- power question, I run a home server pc 24/7.

The machine consists of an old EP35 mbd, E8400 cpu, low-end video and 4 hard disks.
It's measured power usage is 70-83 watts.

A laptop will have a considerably lower power requirement.

Cheers.

[philcdav]

Hi Brian and a very big welcome to the Forum.

re the 24/7 ops, I also use an old laptop. In full 'energy mode' it runs with no hard drive or screen after a couple of minutes. Consumption is about 20W/h

Instrument placing is all a compromise but there is plenty of advice on National weather sites like our UK Met Office or here ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weather_station#Exposure

My thought is that you might need to get at the instruments sooner rather than later so be sensible about access. At 63 years i dont bounce well now !!

As for using the data, apart from the Cumulus network there are many others. you might find WOW interesting http://wow.metoffice.gov.uk/

There is also http://www.ukweatherworld.co.uk/

Good luck and call if you need help. We've all been their !

http://www.philcdav.webspace.virginmedi ... ather.html

[hills]

Hi Brian

Like the others I also have dedicated laptop running 24/7. Laptops are great as they have their own built in UPS.

Welcome to the forum

[GraemeT]

The only reason I'm not using a laptop is not many have a serial port these days and my LaCrosse weather station needs serial to connect reliably.

[Ukwoody]

Hi Brian and welcome.

We all like to get the most accurate readings we can, and some of us do go to great lengths to achieve them, but in reality it's all about compromise.

My sensors are mounted on a long scaffold pole (I got it free by talking to a scaffolder, I took and old rusty one and Hammerited it.) attached to a 6' tall 4" post in my rear hedge, giving me about 14' of height. I have bungalows behind me so that isn't too bad, but NW of the sensors and about 15 -20 feet away is a ruddy great Laylandii. I cant do anything about that, and it lowers the wind reading when coming from the NW, so that is where the compromise comes in. We all have them so few are ever perfect.

Now as for access to the unit, I've been a bit clever -(my own words, lol) and you may be able to adapt my idea a little possibly.
I have drilled three holes through the pole, and bolted to pole to the post, starting just above ground level. The top two bolts are tight. The bottom bolt has several washers on it and a double nut which acts as a lock. When I wish to lower the pole, I pull out the two top ones, and then just pivot the pole on the lower bolt. I also use an old log just to act as a rest when the pole is down to give the sensors ground clearence. It takes about 3 mins to lower the pole and about 4 to get it back up again. I do however smother the nuts and thread of the bolts in grease to prevent rusting and enable easy tightening.

The higher you can get the wind sensor the better, but don't panic, same for the screen if keeping it above the shed roof.

As regards the cups and snow, certainly silicon spray would do no harm and would be worth a try. As stated it is an issue and there is another compromise!

Edit - Just to add. regarding length of cable. I bought an rj11 -rj11 connector, and a 15mtr length of rj11 male to rj11 male cable from Kenable (on ebay, great service) for less than £6 and moved the rain guage, works fine! on the pole it swayed so much I had 633mm of rain in one day,lol.

Hope this helps,
regards
Woody

[teancum12]

Thanks to everyone, your responses have been informative and I appreciate your time and expertise (especially Larry and Woody). I'll definitely implement some of the ideas here and put others on the wish list.

Cheers,
Brian