My God, this is making me dizzy. Maybe, I am just too dumb! Speaking of the population getting dumbed down. I was at a TSC this evening and happened to see a cheap little weather gadget that tells you what to wear!
Does the Davis wireless anemometer give wind gust information? I still like wired. Ontario Hydro just announced that it has given up on many (time of use) smart meters for rural customers. Seems Leafy Trees (Didn't know Ontario had any) cause issues for a reliable radio link! Wireless is always my LAST choice!
The VP2 from Davis has one of the fastest wind update speeds of all the pro-sumer models out there. It updates fast enough to catch gusts. It's around a 2.5sec update speed on the display IIRC, which is pretty fast for a wireless system. The cheap china clones I had missed almost all the gusts because their update speed is too slow. Davis used to have a comparison chart comparing the specs of their units to the competitors but Im unable to find it now.
There also time averages for wind speed available as well. Mine shows 10 min average speed on the bottom scrolling display.
The ISS (Integrated sensor suite, which is anemometer, wind dir, temp, rain and humidity, plus the wireless transmitter, backup battery and solar panel for power. With solar UV and solar radiation sensors as options) would mount to your pole. Actually you put the Anemometer on the top of the pole and the ISS near ground level. The Anemometer connects to the ISS via "Ethernet" cable AKA phone cord that you would run down your pole, with telephone style jacks on the end. That is one benefit to the VP2 over the Vue in that the Anemometer can be mounted at height and the raingauge/temp/humid sensors mounted at near ground level. There are actual official guidelines that youre supposed to follow regarding station mounting to gather correct data which you can google later if you go this route. Having the rainguage near the ground also helps with maintenance as the rainguage is the item that requires the most IMHO.
The data is transmitted from the ISS to your base station display which you place in your house somewhere. You can also have multiple base station displays if you want, say one in the bedroom and one in the front doorway for example.
From the base station the weather data is uploaded to the internet (if you so choose) either via a USB cord for a hardwired connection or the WeatherlinkIP if you want a wireless, standalone option when you dont want to keep a PC running 24/7, not that you have to , but data is only "live" on the net while the PC is running if you are using the USB option, not a big deal unless you need to check the weather at 3AM on your smartphone
. Your WeatherUnderground data log will be updated the next time you boot your computer, so your uploaded data shouldnt have any holes in it. No internet connection is required to run the base station displays and they will run and log data in the event of a power failure because the do have an internal battery backup.
There are other ways to get your data online without a running PC or the WLIP, but they are a little harder for those who arent tech savy.
Range wise, the Davis is rated to 1000' and in my experience I havent had a loss of communication with either of my stations (in separate locations). My longest distance between station and sensor was only 150' though. Davis does offer the option of wireless repeaters, so if your sensor is mounted too far to reach the base, a repeater can be placed somewhere along the line.
Wired is "great" until you have to go crawling through the insulation in the attic during setup or troubleshooting
Dad had a Davis WeatherWizzard III at one time and I swore Id never set up another wired station!!! I think Im still itching from that thing :laughing: Great station though, I still have it in a box in the barn somewhere. The Anemometer started working intermittently and it was replaced with a VP 2 (Wireless
). If youre a bugger for punishment, Davis does make a Vantage Pro 2 in a wired version, its cheaper, but it'd have to be "free" for me to even consider installing one.
