What to purchase

Edkop · Post by **Edkop** » Wed 21 Oct 2015 2:16 am

I've always been intrigued with the weather...A friend uses an older set up, forget the name, but it connects to Cumulus and the gauge feature is amazing. I'm looking to spend under $400 USD for a set up. I have a dedicated computer and Internet access. I have two kids (11 and 13) and I want to do a family project that they can learn from and I think this would be Great..just not sure where to start. Any help is appreciated.

Thanks!

Post by **steve** » Wed 21 Oct 2015 8:30 am

Within your budget, you could get a Davis Vantage Vue and a USB Weatherlink adapter (you'll need the adapter to connect the console to a PC). When looking at Davis prices online, make sure you get the discounted price - you may need to create an account, or request the discounted price to be sent by email. The discounted price of a Vue and a USB WL at Scaled Instruments (whom I highly recommend from personal experience) is $396 (RRP is $530).

Post by **water01** » Wed 21 Oct 2015 10:27 am

Steve do they ship to the UK as it doesn't mention that on the web site?

Post by **steve** » Wed 21 Oct 2015 10:33 am

Yes, they do, I've had a few spare parts over the years. They can't supply UK-legal wireless kit, of course.

bnwrx · Post by **bnwrx** » Wed 21 Oct 2015 11:48 am

Davis is the standard for sure. As another option, there is this from Ambient Weather: http://www.ambientweather.com/amws2090.html

I've had one of these since August when my 6 year old FineOffset died. I've been satisfied with the results. As with the Davis Vue, its an "all in one" so placement is somewhat restrictive, but nonetheless it will work. Nice to see you would include your kids in the project!
The weather buff community always accepts new members....

Edkop · Post by **Edkop** » Wed 21 Oct 2015 1:19 pm

Thanks for the replies, thats a big price difference between the units. I did a little reading up on the features AMWS2090 and for the price it seems really good. Do you need anything additional to connect to Cumulus and WU ?

I found a price for the Davis Vue (not including the USB link) for $269 online at a plce called Pricefalls but I never heard of them. https://www.pricefalls.com/product/davi ... m/53569977

Thanks for the welcome, I'm a weather buff for sure and always have been. Used to fall asleep listening to my NOAA weather radio when I was a kid anytime there was a mention of snow

I plan on mounting the unit on my shed, approx 130 feet from my house where the console would be. The shed has power if any unit needed it. In the future I was thinking of adding a webcam as well. I'd imagine that connection would be independent of any WX station and somehow tie into Cumulus?

PaulMy · Post by **PaulMy** » Wed 21 Oct 2015 1:49 pm

Scaled Instruments have a great reputation and you can talk to them (Ryan I think it is) if needed. Most users with a Davis Vue speak very highly of it but as an all-in-one unit mounting location may be a compromise.

As a family weather observation project it may expand to uploading to weather services like CWOP, Weather Underground and others, putting up a website and webcam, and reporting to CoCoRaHS, etc. Lots of things to do and show. But first thing is getting your weather station up and running and then connecting it with Cumulus... and the fun begins.

Enjoy,
Paul

bnwrx · Post by **bnwrx** » Wed 21 Oct 2015 1:53 pm

Edkop wrote:Thanks for the replies, thats a big price difference between the units. I did a little reading up on the features AMWS2090 and for the price it seems really good. Do you need anything additional to connect to Cumulus and WU ?

I found a price for the Davis Vue (not including the USB link) for $269 online at a plce called Pricefalls but I never heard of them. https://www.pricefalls.com/product/davi ... m/53569977

Thanks for the welcome, I'm a weather buff for sure and always have been. Used to fall asleep listening to my NOAA weather radio when I was a kid anytime there was a mention of snow

I plan on mounting the unit on my shed, approx 130 feet from my house where the console would be. The shed has power if any unit needed it. In the future I was thinking of adding a webcam as well. I'd imagine that connection would be independent of any WX station and somehow tie into Cumulus?

My Ambient station had no problem connecting with Cumulus. Steve has done a terrific job achieving that! No additional things needed for the Ambient station, but the Vue needs the data logger+the station for use with Cumulus. That 130' should be OK, but you'll never really know until setup.....

Ross · Post by **Ross** » Wed 21 Oct 2015 7:11 pm

Edkop wrote: I have two kids (11 and 13) and I want to do a family project that they can learn from and I think this would be Great..

What about the WeatherDuino Pro2? This looks like a project that all could learn from. I'm seriously thinking about purchasing one as a second unit and also to learn more about the actual workings of the weather info gathering/processing/reporting process.

Edkop · Post by **Edkop** » Thu 22 Oct 2015 1:01 pm

Ross wrote:
Edkop wrote: I have two kids (11 and 13) and I want to do a family project that they can learn from and I think this would be Great..
What about the WeatherDuino Pro2? This looks like a project that all could learn from. I'm seriously thinking about purchasing one as a second unit and also to learn more about the actual workings of the weather info gathering/processing/reporting process.

Pretty neat, I did some reading here, there's is a thread on it, as well as on WeatherDuino site. At this stage with the limited amount of time we have before winter (our most fun season for weather watching) I think I need to go with a ready made solution. However, it might be something to do after we get our first system up and running. Thanks for the input.

Question:
I love the gauges on this site: www.dane-burns.com. Is that a special templete or a standard Cumulus display?

Post by **steve** » Thu 22 Oct 2015 1:10 pm

Edkop wrote:I love the gauges on this site: http://www.dane-burns.com. Is that a special templete or a standard Cumulus display?

Those are Mark's 'SteelSeries' gauges, see this section of the forum - https://cumulus.hosiene.co.uk/viewforum.php?f=21

They're an option for Cumulus 1, but I've used them as the standard gauges in Cumulus MX.

Edkop · Post by **Edkop** » Thu 22 Oct 2015 9:37 pm

So I ordered the Ambient WS2095. I should have it tomorrow and the mount should be here Saturday. I was going to go with the Davis Vue but figured let me start out with something lower priced and see how it goes. Looks like we'll get to play around with it this weekend. I'm sure I'll be posting some questions as we go.
Thanks for the help.

ace2 · Post by **ace2** » Fri 23 Oct 2015 6:00 am

That's how it starts, "I'm just going to play around with it" or "it's handy to check the weather"
Next minute, BAM, you're got a fully blown weather site with cam running on a dedicated PC.

I blame Steve for his brilliant software!!!!!!!

Edkop · Post by **Edkop** » Sun 25 Oct 2015 5:48 am

Steve,
Today we're going to install your software. Was poking around with V1.9.4 and got a few things to work. It's been a while since I've used an FTP program and edited HTML but it comes back little by little. Should we bite the bullet and go with MX Beta or install the 1.9.4? I've beta tested software in the past, such as point of sale systems and web browsers (Netscape..lol).
Thanks
On another note, the scrolling forecast on the web page ...where does that come from? Wasn't ale to get it to work and also on my main Cumulus page there is a blank 6 inch box that says Current:

Post by **steve** » Sun 25 Oct 2015 7:57 am

It's probably best to go with 1.9.4 in initially. My assumption with the beta has always been that testers are familiar with Cumulus 1 and its documentation, such as the help file. Some people have jumped straight in with MX, however. So it's up to you.

the scrolling forecast on the web page ...where does that come from?

If you mean on the SteelSeries gauges page, it comes from the <#forecastenc> web tag via the realtimegauges.txt file. How that is generated depends on the type of weather station you are using; with Fine Offset stations like yours, Cumulus should be generating it using the "Zambretti" algorithm. The forecast should also be displayed on the main screen. See the readme.txt file for the SteelSeries gauges for information on how to configure the scrolling forecast.

also on my main Cumulus page there is a blank 6 inch box that says Current:

Yes, it will be blank unless you put something in there. See the help section "The Displays - The Main Window".

If you have any further questions about Cumulus (that aren't answered in the help, the FAQ or the wiki) it would be better to post them in the Cumulus sections of the forum, where I am guaranteed to see it. Note that there is a separate section for the SteelSeries gauges.

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