New member saying hello and seeking advice

[artworksmetal]

I'm so glad I found this site.A bunch of folks that buy something, then start tearing it apart to see how it works and how to improve it!
I had an Oregon rain gauge that worked surprisingly well for 3 years. When it died recently I started looking for an excuse to become more obsessive.
I haven't bought a weather station yet, but I think I've narrowed it down to these 3 Ambient Weather models. Am I right about the differences between them?
1080 - no atomic clock 433mhz touch screen
1090 - atomic clock 915mhz touch screen
2080 - atomic clock ???mhz no touch screen and slightly differerent screen
The price difference between them isn't enough to matter.
I'd love to hear your opinions, suggestions, etc. I'm sure the discussion will lead to more questions.
Thanks in advance!

[Synewave]

I'm so glad I found this site.A bunch of folks that buy something, then start tearing it apart to see how it works and how to improve it!

No, that's only Gina!

Welcome to the forum, it is a very helpul one too.

If you use Cumulus, don't worry about one with an atomic clock, Cumulus doesn't use it.

Hope you find the forum useful (many have including myself), have a look through the topics and Wiki, but if you need any help, just ask.

[artworksmetal]

That's great to know.
Do most of you just leave your PC on and use Cumulus? I recently bought a small PC that's pretty stingy on power.

[Synewave]

I can't speak for everyone, but from what I understand many just use Cumulus instead of looking at the weather station physical console. Many (including myself) also just look at their website updated by Cumulus instead of looking at the Cumulus program interface.

So to achieve this, your PC would need to be on. But if you switch it off, Cumulus will gather the missed data when you next switch the PC on. Mine's on 24/7.

[RayProudfoot]

That's great to know.
Do most of you just leave your PC on and use Cumulus? I recently bought a small PC that's pretty stingy on power.

Hi and welcome,
I bought a Samsung NC10 netbook for its low power consumption and run it 24/7 for my website. I haven't noticed any difference on my electricity bill. Netbooks are ideal for weather sites.

I also run WeatherLink which shipped with my Davis VP2 and use VirtualVP to feed both it and Cumulus. Although I haven't used any WeatherLink webpages so far I may in the future so keeping continuous data since May 2009 is very useful.

[tjaliwalpa]

Hi, and welcome.

I use an EeeBox (Asus) that is similar to a Netbook and runs Win 7 Home. It uses minimal power (12v DC) and I have it running 24x7. As I have a 12v solar system that runs lights in my home, my intention is to run the EeeBox using this system.

Whatever you decide, I'm sure you will have an interesting time. The forum community and the support is great and the software so useful and flexible, especially the website development you can embark on.

Enjoy,

Bob

[artworksmetal]

I like the idea of having my own weather page.
It's ironic - I laugh at my wife because she looks at her weather gadget to see the temperature and weather, instead of just looking out the window at the thermometer. Now I picture us both looking at our webpage instead of looking out the window.
Because I have satellite internet, I have to be careful with my upload bandwidth. But I presume the datastream is a pretty small packet.

I'd be on my way except Ambient Weather appears to be out of stock on everthing.