Cumulus Support

After more than a year of development, I think is time to share with others the WeatherDuino Pro2 project.

The goal of the WeatherDuino Pro2 project is allowing you to build a full weather station.

The WeatherDuino Pro2 is developed with flexibility in mind.
It's designed to be able to use sensors and measuring instruments widely available in the market, such as rain gauges and anemometers used in popular Fine Offset weather stations, (commonly known as PCE 20, Watson, Maplin and other brands).

Additionally, if you have a RF rain gauge from an old or unused Auriol H13726 or Ventus W155 Weather Station you can use it with WeatherDuino Pro2, the RX unit will be able to receive data from it.

Supports the use of ordinary DHT22 temperature and humidity sensors, but also the most accurate SHT2x or SHT1x from Sensirion.

Supports custum made Solar Radiation and UV Sensors.

It's compatible with Cumulus by emulating a Davis VP, or via easyweather.dat

To see more info and constant updates, please visit the support pages of this project at: http://www.meteocercal.info/forum/Forum ... Duino-Pro2

Note: Because I'm just starting to share this project, available info is not yet complete.

Looks interesting. I might give it a try at some point.

Thank you. Any question, please use our support forum.

The first public release of WeatherDuino Pro2 software is now available to download.

Thank you for reading.

If it didn't require a login, I might have downloaded a copy.

My apologies to you for that little inconvenience. Perhaps sometime latter I will provide a download link.

Cool Werk! My latest weather station has issues and I was just thinking the other day that I may look into building one, as I'm sick to death of all the problems the La Crosse and Fine Offset have.

I'd love to get a Davis, but the cost is prohibitive in the chief of finances eyes.

Building an WeatherDuino Pro2 system is really easy, cheap and fun. You can even reuse some of your Fine Offset equipment, like anemoter, vane and rain gauge.

Are they like the ones in image below?



If at any time you decide to build an WeatherDuino Pro2 system count on me to help.

Werk_AG wrote:
Are they like the ones in image below?

Exactly, but unfortunately the cups have completely disappeared from my anemometer . I think a bird flew off with it.

Can you use La Crosse parts?

Werk_AG wrote:
If at any time you decide to build an WeatherDuino Pro2 system count on me to help.

Werk, I think I'm going to take you up on that offer as I don't know where to start

At least you have the vane and rain gauge to start...

Theoretically, you can use any anemometer or rain gauge that uses a reed switch, but you have to know its specifications: Wind factor, rain factor.
I do not know the characteristics of La Crosse parts, so it will be very difficult for me to help you with those parts.

If the bird will not return your anemometer cups , a new one from Fine Offset not cost you more than 15 Euros, I think!

Deleted by UB

Hi,

Werk_AG wrote:If the bird will not return your anemometer cups , a new one from Fine Offset not cost you more than 15 Euros, I think!

Yes, at least in the UK, the replacement anemometers are so cheap (£2.50) that one doesn't even consider repairing them (except perhaps the reed switch at 50p).

However, the cups do appear to be exactly the same size as a half ping-pong (table tennis) ball*, so you could try these if spares are not easily/cheaply available. But I guess they would need plenty of coats of "paint" to survive long-term daylight (particularly Australian). *I wonder if FO were "lazy" when building their prototypes.

Alternatively, note that the FO anemometer generates two pulses per revolution (but appears to have an unusually low "anemometer factor"), if you are substituting a La Crosse part.

Cheers, Alan.

AllyCat wrote:Alternatively, note that the FO anemometer generates two pulses per revolution (but appears to have an unusually low "anemometer factor"), if you are substituting a La Crosse part.

Some time ago I read a discussion on this matter. Not intend to open a new discussion about this, and I also do not know if the FO has more than one type of anemometer. I am convinced that all the units I have used, produce one pulse per revolution.

According to this datasheet, the wind factor is 1.492 MPH.

The WeatherDuino Pro2 wind readings are based on the routines published here.
By how these routines work, no matter if the anemometer produces one or two pulses per revolution, the only thing you need to know is the value of the wind factor (wind speed per each pulse per second) for a given anemometer.

Hi,

AFAIK the Fine Offset Anemometers are all the same: They use a magnetic reed switch which closes when the magnet passes either end of the reed switch. There's a picture about half way down the page (2) of this thread.

But don't take my word for it, see Gina's post here.

Yes, the data sheet is correct, 1 pulse for 1.5 mph (26.4 inches per second) or 2.4 km/hr (66.7 cm/sec). However, the circumference is about 50 cms (radius of arms 8 cms) which (for one pulse / rev.) would imply an anemometer factor of 1.33. However it is normally between 2 and 3+, see Wikipedia Cup Anemometers , so a pulse must occur each half turn.:

"When Robinson first designed his anemometer, he asserted that the cups moved one-third of the speed of the wind, unaffected by the cup size or arm length. This was apparently confirmed by some early independent experiments, but it was incorrect. Instead, the ratio of the speed of the wind and that of the cups, the anemometer factor, depends on the dimensions of the cups and arms, and may have a value between two and a little over three..."

BTW, I've modified a few FO anemometers so that the two pulses are generated "asymmetrically". Then, if a small "tab" is attached to one of the cups, it's possible to determine also the direction of the wind without an additional "vane" (the tab speeds the rotation when moving "downwind" and slows in a "headwind") !

Cheers, Alan.

I've replaced several broken reed switch on these anemometers, and the design and position of the magnet always led me to think it would just be a pulse per turn, but it is not. You are absolutely right ! They produce TWO pulses per turn.
A simple test with a multimeter was enough to verify this.

BTW, I've modified a few FO anemometers so that the two pulses are generated "asymmetrically". Then, if a small "tab" is attached to one of the cups, it's possible to determine also the direction of the wind without an additional "vane" (the tab speeds the rotation when moving "downwind" and slows in a "headwind") !

Interesting! Can you say more about this?

Cheers, Werk_AG