Getting into the hobby
Choosing what to buy is hard. It took me months until I finally made a call. It really depends on what you want to achieve and that in itself is something that is hard to know. I wanted to create a weather station and have it display on the internet so when I am away, I can see my place. I wasn’t sure how much I would get into this and if it would last. What tipped it for me was listening to the radio one day and hear “in Banksia Park, it’s xx degrees” (I can’t remember the temp itself, but the fact they were using my data was sort of quite nice). Another factor is what your skills are in electronics, soldering, web page design, computers and programming.
(Dollars are Australian dollars unless it’s marked as US$ and they are all subject to change as I don’t control them, just included here for you as a guide at time of writing)
I’m going to try and categorize the weather stations available today:
- Cheap basic system that doesn’t interface to the computer. Searching the interenet, you can pick these up for less than $60 and go up to about the $250 mark (and probably higher, just didn’t find them in the quick look as it’s not my direction). So if your not sure if you want to get into this hobby, buy the cheapest as it’s going to be a throw away if you decide to get into it. If you have the slightest feeling you like what you see on this web site and can see yourself even slightly wanting to share your weather data in some way, then this is not the right choice (or it’s definitely the waste of money choice).
- Then you have the entry level where it connects to the computer. That’s broken up in two ways depending on if how much flexibility. I’m going to call them WD compliant and not-WD compliant. WD refers to if it can communicate with Weather-Display software which I’ll talk about later in this article.
- Not-WD compliant – They start at about the $200 mark that I’ve been able to find (http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=XC0348&CATID=14&form=CAT&SUBCATID=617). They have their own software which limits what you can do and generally do not provide much in the way of connecting to the internet. It was one of these types that I had first and took it back within a week. We’re getting a little more pricey now. So it becomes a little more important to work out what you might want to end up doing. Like 1 above, if you want to share on the internet and utilize all the excellent free services and products, this is probably not the right choice.
- WD-compliant – Most hobbyists I know want to be able to utilize the internet and do a few more fancy things besides see the temp on the computer screen or the stations panel. For a long time, the best value for money basic system was the Lacrosse 2310. It’s probably the most popular. I’d suggest any of the Lacrosse 2xxx series should do. They seem to start at about the $300 mark. My real recommendation is to wait and save a little more and go for a basic hobby-boards 1-wire system for about US$350 as this is something you can then build on easily as it’s all modular but you will need some software like Weather-Display as these systems don’t have a panel. To find out what the hardware choices are, see Weather-Display supported stations.
- This one is really just an FYI. It’s the ideal hobbyist system. The Davis Vantage Pro with an Inspeed Vortex anemometer (purchased separately as they are two different companies and systems) and using Weather-Display as the software. The Vortex is wired as the only way it will work. The Vantage Pro can be wired or wireless. You’re well over the $1500 with this path.
Wireless or wired
Everyone I know including me wanted to go wireless when starting out. Why have wires. Their messy. Well here is what changed me.
There is a very big tradeoff when going wireless. Any radio transmitter requires power and quite a bit, or it’s range will be %#*&. So do you run a wire to the remote sensor for power (your no longer wireless) or do you go every few days and replace the batteries. Add to this the frequency of update is typically a lot lower with wireless to try and conserve battery power. So very quickly I ran a wire to run the Lacrosse external sensors. I also wanted something I could set and forget from that part. (I’m now building a Stevenson screen to put it in the backyard. Ah! Woodwork, another great hobby!)
Side note, why is update frequency important? It’s for wind speed. My Lacrosse ran for 18 months. In that 18 months I recorded a wind spike of 90km/h (a single spike amongst about 45k and 50k gusts) and it’s the only time it’s recorded anything like it in 18 months. The Lacrosse in wired mode does updates every 8 seconds. In wireless every 32 secs in high wind otherwise every 128 seconds. Now I’ve gone with a 1-wire system and it’s update is every 1 second. I’ve read 137km/h gust. Some comparisons: 21 Nov 2008 and 1 Nov 2009. 1st one is the Lacrosse on very windy day, the second is the Inspeed Vortex 1-wire on a very windy day and is the difference between 8 sec readings and 1 sec readings. If you think about it, the chances of catching a gust with 8 sec reading (or 32 sec in wireless mode), is pretty low. That’s why there is such a difference.
Weather-Display
Clunky, complicated, frustrating, excellent piece of software! It’s something that has so many options and handles so many variations of input and output, it’s going to give you what you want regardless of what you want. With the exception of writing your own software, there is just nothing that comes close to it and at US$70 for a lifetime license, it’s why it’s become the leader in the weather hobbyist market. Don’t get me wrong, it will frustrate the hell out of you like it does me and so many others. There is also quite a few little add-ons that use the WD standard for communicating weather data, the clientraw.txt file. You don't need this straight away. There is a fully functional trial you can download as well. Weather-Display Web Site
A little about 1-wire and why I went this way
- Modular - It’s totally modular allowing you to grow your setup to what you want.
- Direct computer connect – No panel or proprietary communications protocol
- Serial or USB – Either option available, just depends which connector you buy.
- DIY – If you’re handy with a soldering iron and have some electronics skills, you can build it to suit you and save money in the process. (see note about DIY later)
- Quality at a good price – The basics of weather are Wind speed, wind direction, outside temp, outside humidity, rainfall and pressure. So that’s 6 sensors. A basic pre-built 1-wire system with no cases would cost about US$350.
Some of the expansions are:
- UV – What’s the risk of sunburn
- Solar – Used to more accurately determine the current conditions and also shows how much sun energy could be used with solar systems.
- Leaf wetness – not sure yet, but it’s an option
- Soil moisture – measure actual soil moisture and use it with the relay controller to automatically start irrigation system
- Movement sensor – combine with Solar and Relay controller to turn on lights saving power
- LCD panel – be able to see weather details in other locations of your house.
- Relay controller – control 240V appliances based on what ever.
(Note: the last three dont work with Weather-Display unless Brian decides to further expand Weather-Display. There not really weather related as such.)
DIY
Don’t discount DIY if you’re not skilled. Electronics is a hobby for many people, myself included. The enjoyment from building things, learning and making them work is great and often an excuse is all it takes. Why don’t I make money from it, well here in Australia if you sell something you have to guarantee it. Add the money it makes, and it’s just not viable for someone like me. However if someone were to pay for the parts and donate to the consumables and equipment, I’d certainly be interested within reason of course. In America they don’t have the same laws, so it’s quite easy to say things like “no guarantee’s but we’ll help if we can”. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think we should change here in Australia. These laws protect the not so aware from the not so ethical. To give you a price clue, the parts for the basic 1-wire system would come in at about $280.