Personal Weather stations

[sodamo]

Seems in our area, rainfall is a year round topic of conversation, whether getting little or a lot. Many of my neighbors have rain gauges. I even bought one, never figured best place to put it that I would tend to it on a regular basis.
Already knew that one of my friends had some sort of a weather station. The more and more I researched them online, the more confused I got. Seemed some appeared to be quite inexpensive or expensive with nothing in between. Further discussion with my friend revealed that another friend also had the same Davis station that he did. While we all lived miles apart, we all live totally off grid, something of a common bond I guess. Conversations with both assured me they were quite happy with Davis and they had had other wx equipment the were less pleased with. Still seemed like a lot of money to me, but one thing I learned over the years is that frugality and cheap can be mutually exclusive. I just hate to buy cheap only to replace later with what I should have gotten in the first place.

I got my Davis from AmbientWeather.com and was happy with the the price and transaction.

If wasn't until I got my own station that I learned a couple other friends also had them. Guess I had just assumed they had a rain gauge. LOL

When I decided to add the IP module, RainmanWeather.com proved to be the best for me. While I could find nearly the same pricing at other sites, Rainman gave me the best deal on shipping. One thing you learn when living here in Hawaii is to ask about shipping costs. Shipping costs can be a deal breaker very often. Companies that insist on UPS/Fedex for small items that fit USPS Priority mail flat rate just irk me.

So why did I end up with my Davis station? I liked the modular concept. I like that if I wanted or needed I could add capabilities. Most importantly, I trust the opinion of my friend who recommended it.
Good luck in your search.

 

[cmadsen]

I have Davise Weather Monitor II, I have been uploading to Weather Underground for a number of years now.

 

[Rob-D]

I have the Davis pro 2 also after having the Oregon Scientific (horrible). The Davis is great over the last several years and I used it to site my windmills and make sure I had the wind to justify them. I just noticed my rain gauge isn't working, I'll have to go out and clear the debris this morning. Still on the original batteries.
Tied to my computer for data collection. Software works perfectly. Worth the bucks for the Davis, don't waste your money or time on the cheap stuff.

Rob

ps: Just went out and fixed it, There's a little screen that used tyo be with it that fell out one day when I was moving it . Now the debris collects after a year or so.

 

[KWentling]

Am I the only one with the Davis Vantage Vue? Only had it since 2/10 but it has been great so far.

Kim

 

[Rob-D]

Wish I'd invested in the weather station before I waste money on wind generator.

David,
I lived on Oahu (North Shore) for a couple of years. Seems to me the wind on the Islands should be good for windmills. Are you on the Kona side? How high is your mill? The trick is you have to get them up high.

I'm planning on putting the Davis anemometer on a 30 foot pole but at 8 feet i get enough wind to justify windmills here in upstate NY. Also I have a few hundred feet in every direction which helps too.
Are you also running solar panels?

Rob

 

[sodamo]

David,
I lived on Oahu (North Shore) for a couple of years. Seems to me the wind on the Islands should be good for windmills. Are you on the Kona side? How high is your mill? The trick is you have to get them up high.

I'm planning on putting the Davis anemometer on a 30 foot pole but at 8 feet i get enough wind to justify windmills here in upstate NY. Also I have a few hundred feet in every direction which helps too.
Are you also running solar panels?

Rob

Rob

Haven't been to Oahu North Shore since 2006. Couldn't believe how crowded and traffic. When did you live there

I'm about 20 miles north of Hilo, not as much good wind as north Kona. There are 2 major windmill sites on island, Hawi and South Point. My wind generator is on a 30 ft pole. Might have worked better if I'd place it in the middle of the field, lower on the property, but that adds a cabling issue.

Yes, I have 4.5kw of PV and quite happy with it. Over the last 3 years I run my diesel genset less than 500 hours. about 72 hours this year but still some rainy season to come. At some point, I'd likely add some more PV and cut genset time down to monthly equalize and worst of rainy season.

Someday, I'll get ambitious and link my weather data with my PV data.

 

[Rob-D]

Rob

Haven't been to Oahu North Shore since 2006. Couldn't believe how crowded and traffic. When did you live there

I'm about 20 miles north of Hilo, not as much good wind as north Kona. There are 2 major windmill sites on island, Hawi and South Point. My wind generator is on a 30 ft pole. Might have worked better if I'd place it in the middle of the field, lower on the property, but that adds a cabling issue.

Yes, I have 4.5kw of PV and quite happy with it. Over the last 3 years I run my diesel genset less than 500 hours. about 72 hours this year but still some rainy season to come. At some point, I'd likely add some more PV and cut genset time down to monthly equalize and worst of rainy season.

Someday, I'll get ambitious and link my weather data with my PV data.

I lived there in the late 60's, went back in the early 90's and was shocked. Can't imagine what it's like now! How's the crowding on the big Island? That's probably where I'd go if I moved back but despite the cold and snow here I have 16 acres and a lot of freedom. I do miss the Islands though, to bad they got so crowded. I here Maui is getting bad too. What a beautiful place it was!
Panel prices are dropping and a company has just developed a see though panel, so solar will only get better and cheaper. It's the way to go in my view. I'll put up a couple of mill for heating when the wind picks up in the winter here but even in my northern climate solar is still the answer.

Rob

 

[Sackett2]

Dad and I are about to purchase a Vantage Pro 2 because of all of you; but have some questions.
Looking at Davis Instruments Vantage Pro 2 & Vantage Vue Weather Stations - Low Price Quote it is overwhelming with what unit to choose.
Leaning to the cheapest, a cabled unit; what are the pros and cons of this?
Also, another unit has the solar panel, but winter sunlight is scarce at my parents house.
What about the software; do you like it?
and the weatherlink IP; why would I need that, it is expensive.
Also is Virtual Weather Station program

Dad likes the basics of weather monitoring, rainfall, wind speed and high and low temps, and loves being able to see the past data in graphs on the computer.
what do we get???


Appreciate a speedy response, dad is biting the it to get it ordered.

 

[sodamo]

Dad and I are about to purchase a Vantage Pro 2 because of all of you; but have some questions.
Looking at Davis Instruments Vantage Pro 2 & Vantage Vue Weather Stations - Low Price Quote it is overwhelming with what unit to choose.
Leaning to the cheapest, a cabled unit; what are the pros and cons of this?
Also, another unit has the solar panel, but winter sunlight is scarce at my parents house.
What about the software; do you like it?
and the weatherlink IP; why would I need that, it is expensive.
Also is Virtual Weather Station program

Dad likes the basics of weather monitoring, rainfall, wind speed and high and low temps, and loves being able to see the past data in graphs on the computer.
what do we get???

Appreciate a speedy response, dad is biting the it to get it ordered.

I bought my Davis Instruments 6152 Wireless Vantage Pro2 with Standard Radiation Shield from Ambient.

My understanding with the cabled version, the console only connects via cable, not acceptable for me as my unit is located away from house and no way to run a direct cable. Surely didn't want to bury a cable to avoid the mower. With wireless, I could place console in livingroom, bedroom or anywhere, even sit by the pool and play with it.:laughing:

As for the solar, you just might have to watch the battery level, but my understanding is they have quite good usage. I never plugged the console into AC until I added the IP, battery was great.

Personally, I don't use the software as much as i should. Originally bought the Mac version, less features. I didn't upgrade to IP until later due to cost. Might have been cheaper in long run to have gone IP in beginning. You only need the IP if you want to put your data on the net. Since upgrading, I hardly ever look at my console, just look at the iphone app.

Best of luck. Your Dad will be happy with the Davis unit

 

[Sackett2]

would like to understand how the base program operates; decent graphing and things of that matter. wold he base program without the ip version do this stuff?