Advice sought

[JohnM16]

Hi Folks,

I'm a Newbie, and I'm about to invest in a weather station; I'm planning to use Cumulus software.

If anyone could give me advice on buying one, I'd be most grateful. These are my requirements (which will probably exclude a lot of them):

1. Must record wind speed and temperature. Hours of sunlight would be a useful bonus.

2. Will be mounted (on a barn roof) about 60m from my house with clear line of sight; sensors must be able to communicate with a control system inside the house. Network cable connection would be acceptable, WiFi better, not sure of the limits on distance though.

3. The sensor units must be able to run on a 240V mains supply (or mains stepdown unit), preferably with backup rechargeable battery.

And obviously I'd like it to cost 50 pence...

Also, and I guess this is a long shot, are there any weather stations that can connect via WiFi/network cable direct to a laptop, and thus avoid the extra cost of a screen?

Thanks for reading,

John

[HansR]

John,

If you ask this question like this you won't get an answer because the sensors running on a 240V line (with stepdown) are not what this world uses a lot (that I know of anyway). So I tell you what I am using now with which I am quite happy. You may get many answers like this with many variations.

I use an Ecowitt ecology GW100 with WS80 (wind, temperature, humidity) and WS40 (rain). The outside sensors are on batteries (I use Energizer Ultimate Lithium cells) and I switch maybe once per 18 months. The GW1100 is USB powered (5V). The signals sensor->GW1100 are by radio and should do the 60m line of sight. The data is then transferred to weather sites and/or Cumulus and the Ecowitt.net site through Wifi.

I run CumulusMX on a Raspberry Pi to great satisfaction. You may have to learn Linux for that.
CMX on a PC will work as well.

The whole installation is wireless.

Costs:
Ecowitt: €200 (additional sensors are easily available)
RPi: €100 (or a bit more, prices are fluctuating atm and its playing hard to get)

Ecowitt has many similar stations around under other names. Always check if CMX accepts it.
Davis VP2 is another option but that one is much more expensive (8x Ecowitt?) and is somewhat more complex in setup and maintenance.

[broadstairs]

For all the various Fine Offset/Ecowitt type stations there is an excellent thread at https://www.wxforum.net/index.php?topic=40730.0, essential reading.

Stuart

[AllyCat]

Hi,

Welcome to the forum. The (now numerous types of) Ecowitt stations are by far the most versatile, but you may still need to do a little customisation/tinkering for your "unusual" requirements. So just a few "notes" from me:

Virtually all remote "sensors" are battery-operated, often with a battery life of several years. The Ecowitt (and of course Davis) wind sensors have a PV (solar) supply with backup battery (but still don't assume that means "everlasting"). If a mains supply is an absolute must, then you can probably cobble together a mains-USB adapter with a "USB Power Bank", etc..

Arguably, the most "convenient" access to "most" of the Ecowitt products in the UK is via Amazon (keep a watch for "discount offers"). Most use a radio link of 868 or 433MHz which "should" manage 60 metres line of sight, but building "walls" can always be a problem. Locating the "receiver"/console at a window could be a solution and then "indoors" power/communications is likely to be via USB and/or WiFi. (Mains plug-in) WiFi "repeaters" are now common and usually have a Network socket if you want/need to use a cable somewhere.

IMHO for the level of "computing" required for a weather station, a Laptop should easily be able to do all that's required (perhaps via USB cables/adapters). Again arguably, a low-cost, modern fan-less Windows Laptop with solid state drive may consume no more power than a Raspberry Pi (a 3A, 5V supply is now "recommended"), and with a "screen" and battery backup all integrated!

Cheers, Alan.