Weather station question

[dendrite]

I think we're focusing on the Vantage Vue, which is an all-in-one.  The Pro 2 does have add-on ability though I'm not sure if non-Davis components can be added.

I haven't heard of using a 3rd part temp/hum sensor, but I know there are some compatible anemometers including ultrasonic. Analog 3V output sensors can be added to the Envoy and some 3rd party vendors have made VP2 compatible visibility (back scatter) and depth sensors as well.

[famartin]

I haven't heard of using a 3rd part temp/hum sensor, but I know there are some compatible anemometers including ultrasonic. Analog 3V output sensors can be added to the Envoy and some 3rd party vendors have made VP2 compatible visibility (back scatter) and depth sensors as well.

Snow depth sensors?  That would be so cool...

[famartin]

Davis VP2 w/ FARS is the way to go, but if it's over your budget you can get creative and make your own FARS as some have mentioned. I run my FARS with 3 VAC with an AC-to-DC converter 24/7 rather than relying on the solar panels. That way I get the same aspiration rate throughout the day and night.

 

Here's a study Davis did on their FARS years ago...

 

http://www.davisnet.com/news/ars_vs_c.pdf

 

Lately I've noticed my dew point discrepancy is larger when the FARS is running.  I know the ASOS RH sensor (from which dew point is derived, just like the Davis one) is designed to NOT be aspirated, so I wonder if that's a factor.  Just something I've pondered lately...

[wxmeddler]

Lately I've noticed my dew point discrepancy is larger when the FARS is running.  I know the ASOS RH sensor (from which dew point is derived, just like the Davis one) is designed to NOT be aspirated, so I wonder if that's a factor.  Just something I've pondered lately...

 

I've noticed the same, my RH never gets to 100% when the fan is running, though I also notice that my averages are not as variable as they were before and are much closer to the mean. (VP1, no FARS).

[Wow]

Just ordered the Davis ProV2 with FARS. Should have it by Thursday.  The plan was to put it all on the roof - that would be around 20-25' abv the ground. I have trees around that's going to hinder required sunlight for the solar cell and anemometer. And my house is toward the bottom of a hill so I don't mind having the temp gauge being that high off the ground.  I guess the only thing is maintenance having it up all up there. How often do they need to be maintained?

[famartin]

Just ordered the Davis ProV2 with FARS. Should have it by Thursday.  The plan was to put it all on the roof - that would be around 20-25' abv the ground. I have trees around that's going to hinder required sunlight for the solar cell and anemometer. And my house is toward the bottom of a hill so I don't mind having the temp gauge being that high off the ground.  I guess the only thing is maintenance having it up all up there. How often do they need to be maintained?

Well...  the biggest thing for you would be cleaning the leaves etc out of the rain gauge.  Otherwise it'll clog up, especially this time of year.

 

Most weather station equipment is supposed to be 5 or so feet above the ground.  Only anemometers should be that high.

 

Hey, if its what ya gotta do, its what ya gotta do.  Just saying... I wouldn't.

[dendrite]

Well...  the biggest thing for you would be cleaning the leaves etc out of the rain gauge.  Otherwise it'll clog up, especially this time of year.

 

Most weather station equipment is supposed to be 5 or so feet above the ground.  Only anemometers should be that high.

 

Hey, if its what ya gotta do, its what ya gotta do.  Just saying... I wouldn't.

I have a bigger problem with bird crap than leaves. I also like to clean the shield every Spring of dirt and insects.

John, you can add the anemometer transmitter for a little over a hundred. Then you can keep the ISS at 5-6ft for easy maintenance and the anemometer transmitter at the lower roof level as well.

I doubt you will have problems with enough solar charge at your latitude, but if you are concerned you could always solder a 2nd supercap to the ISS board.

[Wow]

Alright then I will try keeping the ISS on the ground. I will probably need a longer cord for the anemometer. What kind of cable is it?

[MN Transplant]

I have a bigger problem with bird crap than leaves. I also like to clean the shield every Spring of dirt and insects.

John, you can add the anemometer transmitter for a little over a hundred. Then you can keep the ISS at 5-6ft for easy maintenance and the anemometer transmitter at the lower roof level as well.

I doubt you will have problems with enough solar charge at your latitude, but if you are concerned you could always solder a 2nd supercap to the ISS board.

 

I kept on having a problem with birds, and took a look at the options online.  Decided to go with a DIY solution: toothpicks and electrical tape.  Has worked perfectly.  Even added one later to my stratus gauge.

[dendrite]

Alright then I will try keeping the ISS on the ground. I will probably need a longer cord for the anemometer. What kind of cable is it?

If you have the ISS out over open grass then you're going to have the anemometer cord traveling across the yard to the house. If you're going to put the ISS near the house you will get some radiative effects to your readings and the rain obs will be useless. That's why I suggested the transmitter since you can hook it up on the side of the house somewhere and run the 40ft cable with the anemometer up to wherever you mount it.

If you go the wire route the standard 4-conductor cable is what you want.

http://www.provantage.com/davis-instruments-7876-100~7DAVS03L.htm

They come in different lengths. Standard phone cable should work too, but the Davis cables come with waterproof couplers and UV resistant.

[dendrite]

I kept on having a problem with birds, and took a look at the options online.  Decided to go with a DIY solution: toothpicks and electrical tape.  Has worked perfectly.  Even added one later to my stratus gauge.

I made one out of old rabbit caging years ago when I had my WMII gauge on my roof. With the ISS at 2m now I just periodically check the cone for debris...especially before rain events.

[wxmeddler]

I have my FARS up with the rest of the station on the roof (~10m) and I haven't had any problems or appreciable difference between 2m and the station. This is mostly due to the topography of my area which is on the side of a small hill and the cold air comes down the hill at night over the ground and the station before pooling at the bottom. I put up some pictures of the site on flicker. Note: The pics are old and this is with the old VP1 but the station location is the same with the new VP2 FARS.

 

+ error means analysis is higher so station is colder than expected.

 

Birds are another problem, I fixed it with a low cost solution of plastic forks and some electrical tape. I also spray painted the metal area right beneath it white to reflect sunlight. As far as maintenance goes, I go up there every 3-4 months (Once a season) to clean out the rain bucket and clean the outside/solar panels. I take it down once a year to pull the the FARS and rain gauge apart to clean.

[famartin]

I have my FARS up with the rest of the station on the roof (~10m) and I haven't had any problems or appreciable difference between 2m and the station. This is mostly due to the topography of my area which is on the side of a small hill and the cold air comes down the hill at night over the ground and the station before pooling at the bottom. I put up some pictures of the site on flicker. Note: The pics are old and this is with the old VP1 but the station location is the same with the new VP2 FARS.

 

+ error means analysis is higher so station is colder than expected.

wxsitequal.jpg

 

Birds are another problem, I fixed it with a low cost solution of plastic forks and some electrical tape. I also spray painted the metal area right beneath it white to reflect sunlight. As far as maintenance goes, I go up there every 3-4 months (Once a season) to clean out the rain bucket and clean the outside/solar panels. I take it down once a year to pull the the FARS and rain gauge apart to clean.

 

The rain gauge is actually the most likely piece of equipment to report falsely (generally, too low) from a higher-than-normal perch.  The temperatures should read OK unless you are right over the roof itself, then it may read warm.  It should be noted that, unless you are in a spot that *never* radiates, you are likely to get warmer readings perched up high than closer to the ground on radiative nights.

[famartin]

I have a bigger problem with bird crap than leaves. I also like to clean the shield every Spring of dirt and insects.

 

I've heard of that being an issue, but somehow its never been a problem in the nearly 3 years I've had my older station.  Lucky I guess.  Or maybe the dog scared them away.

[Wow]

If you have the ISS out over open grass then you're going to have the anemometer cord traveling across the yard to the house. If you're going to put the ISS near the house you will get some radiative effects to your readings and the rain obs will be useless. That's why I suggested the transmitter since you can hook it up on the side of the house somewhere and run the 40ft cable with the anemometer up to wherever you mount it.

If you go the wire route the standard 4-conductor cable is what you want.

http://www.provantage.com/davis-instruments-7876-100~7DAVS03L.htm

They come in different lengths. Standard phone cable should work too, but the Davis cables come with waterproof couplers and UV resistant.

 

Ah I see now about the transmitter. Well that would help out although depending on what I can rig with cable. If it is just a standard 4 conductor wire with RJ-45 connectors then I can make a waterproof coupler and save money with a little extra work trenching in the wire.

[wxmeddler]

The rain gauge is actually the most likely piece of equipment to report falsely (generally, too low) from a higher-than-normal perch.  The temperatures should read OK unless you are right over the roof itself, then it may read warm.  It should be noted that, unless you are in a spot that *never* radiates, you are likely to get warmer readings perched up high than closer to the ground on radiative nights.

 

Yeah, I'm not saying that it never is wrong at it's location. I have measured early mornings w/ the kestrel where the temp is 2 to 4 degrees below the station down the hill in the backyard, but it's not really representative of the temp at living level. Again, it's probably my topography and vegetation. The rain gauge is actually always below the CoCoRaHS gauge in the backyard by 2 to 4%, I've always attributed it to the tip gauge itself but you say it might be the height of it. Care to elaborate? I'm curious.

[famartin]

Yeah, I'm not saying that it never is wrong at it's location. I have measured early mornings w/ the kestrel where the temp is 2 to 4 degrees below the station down the hill in the backyard, but it's not really representative of the temp at living level. Again, it's probably my topography and vegetation. The rain gauge is actually always below the CoCoRaHS gauge in the backyard by 2 to 4%, I've always attributed it to the tip gauge itself but you say it might be the height of it. Care to elaborate? I'm curious.

More exposure to wind = less catch.  This is something that occurs with all gauges, but its usually worse with tipping buckets than manuals.

[dendrite]

More exposure to wind = less catch.  This is something that occurs with all gauges, but its usually worse with tipping buckets than manuals.

If it is near the top of the roof you can also get some funky turbulence and uber microscale stronger gusts as the wind accelerates over the sloped roof.

 

As for the temp, if you're in a spot with strong radiational cooling conditions at times then I'd definitely keep the ISS on the ground. I've recorded frequent ~5F differences between 2m and 10m+.

[Eskimo Joe]

I can't wait until I get my first house.  Going to have the Davis ProV2 set up and then the fun begins!

[Wow]

Set it all up yesterday afternoon.  The device that Ambient Weather shipped with the station that connects to the WeatherLink hooks up directly to your router and will push data to various outfits including wunderground, FTP, and MySQL.  I have data being pushed to an sql database at 5 min intervals. Awesome stuff.

 

Starting to work on a PWS page: http://wow.americanwx.com/wxstation/index.htm

[famartin]

Set it all up yesterday afternoon.  The device that Ambient Weather shipped with the station that connects to the WeatherLink hooks up directly to your router and will push data to various outfits including wunderground, FTP, and MySQL.  I have data being pushed to an sql database at 5 min intervals. Awesome stuff.

 

Starting to work on a PWS page: http://wow.americanwx.com/wxstation/index.htm

Don't forget CWOP

[Wow]

Don't forget CWOP

 

Yeah that's my next task

[dendrite]

Set it all up yesterday afternoon.  The device that Ambient Weather shipped with the station that connects to the WeatherLink hooks up directly to your router and will push data to various outfits including wunderground, FTP, and MySQL.  I have data being pushed to an sql database at 5 min intervals. Awesome stuff.

 

Starting to work on a PWS page: http://wow.americanwx.com/wxstation/index.htm

Nice. Hook me up with a page exactly like yours when you're done. We should let members upload their data here.

 

I've just been using the basic Davis templates for now.

 

http://www.newenglandwx.com/cam/weather.htm

[DaculaWeather]

Which model did you get, 6153 (VP2) or 6163 (VP2+). 

If I were going to do soil temps and evapotranspiration, I'd go with the 6163, since it already has UV and solar, as well as 24 FARS. The 6153 is basically the same without the Solar and UV stuff. I would also go with the 6332, the wireless anemometer setup.  Which data-logger are you going to use?

 

What some may not know is that the VP2 wireless anemometer setup can also be used with the Vue. 

[DaculaWeather]

Nice. Hook me up with a page exactly like yours when you're done. We should let members upload their data here.

 

I've just been using the basic Davis templates for now.

 

http://www.newenglandwx.com/cam/weather.htm

Have a page like that, see my sig... I need to update it and remove some dead stations, and add more if people aren't on there.

[DaculaWeather]

You using VWS? If so, I'm sure you have it figured out, but if you have any questions, let me know. I use VWS and Weather-Display at the same time, using VirtualVP. I like the flexibility of the additional tags available from WD. I know of some pretty cool scripts you can use for all of this...

[DaculaWeather]

As far as birds landing on the rain gauge, do a Google search for "davis rain gauge bird guard"

Some very simple ideas that work really well.

 

I've suggested to Davis that in their next VP3 product, to make a rain gauge that can be separated from everything else, just like the anemometer, that way you can get the rain at 2', temp/humidity at 5', and wind at 33' 

 

http://www.comptus.com/PDF/CWOP_Guide.pdf

[dendrite]

As far as birds landing on the rain gauge, do a Google search for "davis rain gauge bird guard"

Some very simple ideas that work really well.

 

I've suggested to Davis that in their next VP3 product, to make a rain gauge that can be separated from everything else, just like the anemometer, that way you can get the rain at 2', temp/humidity at 5', and wind at 33' 

 

http://www.comptus.com/PDF/CWOP_Guide.pdf

I'd like to see them come out with an ultrasonic anemometer too. They've already played around with the technology with their handheld wind scribe.

[DaculaWeather]

They just recently came out with a redesigned anemometer: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=598606430157159&l=f2f64766bc

[Wow]

They just recently came out with a redesigned anemometer: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=598606430157159&l=f2f64766bc

 

Yeah, the station I ordered last month has the new anemometer.  Though I haven't seen it register wind speeds under 1 mph.