Home weather station suggestions

   / Home weather station suggestions #111  
I have used Acurite 5-in-1 for over 10 years. Contrary to the claims of a meteorologist here I find the temperature is accurate as long as the unit is not full of cobwebs. The small solar panel powers a fan which keeps the sensor accurate rather than cooked by the sun.

The plastic used is not what one should use for an outdoor appliance. Gets brittle. Perhaps one could varnish a new unit for protection, but one should not have to.

The internet relay Acurite used decades ago really did badly need to be replaced. AcuRite offered a reasonable upgrade program of about $40, else $100 to buy the AcuRite Access outright. Or sometimes one can find the 5-in-1 and Access on Amazon Warehouse for $120. No indoor display.

Have not had battery problems with the AcuRite. Generally go 18 months on AA alkaline. Usually have to clean cobwebs out more often. The fan jams, the rainfall teeter-totter gets tied down.

My current 5-in-1 temperature sensor has corroded, not making good contact, isn’t close to accurate temperature or humidity. $10:for the part, $15 to ship (or vices versa), no thanks.

Last thanksgiving for Black Friday sale I purchased Tempest weather station. No moving parts. Solar powered. Rain sometimes tracks with the AcuRite, sometimes differed. Temperature was close until the AcuRite broke. Usually $340, sale $305, needs a pole to mount on, or a small satellite dish mount can be used, or a purpose made mount for $25.

Both can report to Weather Underground. My Tempest:
tempestwx.com

Tempest

Tempest Weather System
tempestwx.com tempestwx.com
 
   / Home weather station suggestions #112  
For those with Davis weather stations, don't be tempted to buy their "new" sonic anemometer:

31mmpvv+JwL._AC_SL1000_.jpg



At $600, it should have been better designed. Insect nests & webs skew the readings and it doesn't work in driving rain at all.
 
   / Home weather station suggestions #113  
bdhsfz6 said:
For those with Davis weather stations, don't be tempted to buy their "new" sonic anemometer:

View attachment 863208


At $600, it should have been better designed. Insect nests & webs skew the readings and it doesn't work in driving rain at all.
Click to expand...
It looks like the Tempest. The Tempest works pretty good.
 
   / Home weather station suggestions #114  
I have one & it works good for me. It is much more accurate reading short wind gusts.
 
   / Home weather station suggestions #115  
tjandrews said:
Update on the La Crosse: It's still working, but if you live in an area where the temperature drops much below zero, be prepared to replace the little rechargeable lithium button battery in the sensor about once a year. I think it's a limitation of the battery, rather than the unit itself. They'll work OK in cold when new, but put in a year of age, with nightly discharge/recharge cycles on it, and the battery just can't hold enough of a charge in the cold.
I think they have updated the sensor since my purchase, so perhaps the equivalent model now uses a different battery.
Click to expand...
What does it use for a battery? My Ambient uses AAs in the outside unit, had it 3-ish years now and still running the same pair. I used Energizer ultimate lithiums if it matters. We're a little further north than you.

Locoweed said:
I have one & it works good for me. It is much more accurate reading short wind gusts.
Click to expand...
Mine only updates every 15 seconds +/- so unless the gusts time it just right a lot of them get missed.
 
   / Home weather station suggestions #116  
I looked at a lot units but did not want to spend more than necessary. Mainly interested in temps, humidity, rainfall and barometric readings.

We got a stanlogic from Amazon a year ago. Mainly purchased as for price. The only issue with it is that the rain sensor read about 45% low, I have a couple of standard plastic cylinder units that I compare the the rainfall to. The display has a plus/minus 25% calibration range. My solution was to print a wider funnel by about 50%. Is pretty close now needing an additional 3% of calibration.

Wind is an interesting problem as weather is usually measured 20' above ground level. and well away from any natural or man made structures. I don't want mine that high. Wind near ground level is nothing like air up higher. It is much more turbulent and switches direction much more. I jacked up the calibration to 125% and call it good. We frequently have wind to 40+mph Of course by then we know it from the trees and mainly our vhf communications mast at 50' It is humming pretty loud.

Recording over the internet is not a good option in our situation.

The display is nice and large and can be seen easily from 15' away.
 
   / Home weather station suggestions #117  
Low precip readings are common on these lower end units. It's just inherent to how the tipping spoons are designed. That's why research organizations like CoCoRaHS that monitor rainfall nationwide require volunteers to use standard tube rain gauges. No household automated stations are allowed. One of the many nice things about the Davis stations is that there is a mechanical calibration you can easily do to bring them very very close to reading correctly.

Another thing I love about the Davis is 2 second updates. This is critically important in severe thunderstorms when you may get rapid and violent wind gusts. If your station only updates every 15 to 60 seconds you'll miss the peak gusts.

The fan aspiration is also 24 hours so that readings stay accurate even on cloudy days and after the sun sets and the heat is still rising from the ground.

Did I mention I haven't put a battery in the unit for YEARS? Capacitor and solar panels keep the station going with almost zero maintenance of any kind for 10+ years in my experience.

Heavy rain is a problem for ALL anemometers. The large and frequent rain drops strike the wind cups and prevent perfect readings. Not really much that a guy can do about that.

The range is so good with the Davis stuff that my station is actually feeding a console in my parents house hundreds of feet away, so all I had to do was buy them a console and they can enjoy the info off my station also. Saved them some money.

I have an Accu-wrong station mounted to the same tower as my Davis station. I think I got it for Christmas one year. So heck, I mounted it outside too. Didn't have enough range to reach all rooms of the house even from 150 feet away, required constant battery changes and maintenance, and even with an internal fan the temp sensor was always 6-9 degrees too high on sunny days, so I just stopped maintaining it and let it die. Have been too lazy to climb the tower and remove it. But from now on Davis equipment is all I'll buy. When you consider what you get and how long it lasts, it's actually a pretty good investment.
 
   / Home weather station suggestions #118  
Blue Mule said:
Low precip readings are common on these lower end units. It's just inherent to how the tipping spoons are designed. That's why research organizations like CoCoRaHS that monitor rainfall nationwide require volunteers to use standard tube rain gauges. No household automated stations are allowed. One of the many nice things about the Davis stations is that there is a mechanical calibration you can easily do to bring them very very close to reading correctly.
Click to expand...
If you haven't already done so, there are two upgrades that improve the accuracy of the Davis rain gauge:

www.davisinstruments.com

AeroCone Rain Collector Cone Replacement Kit - SKU 6462

Improved design is more accurate in strong winds. When your console says, “hold onto your hat” you’ll be getting the most accurate data with this cone! The new shape allows wind to flow around the cone, reducing turbulence and friction at the mouth of the collector. All Vantage Pro2 weather...
www.davisinstruments.com www.davisinstruments.com

and

www.davisinstruments.com

Rain Collector Tipping Spoon Replacement Kit, 40' (12 m) Sensor Cable - SKU 7345.440, 7345.439US

Easily replace the tipping bucket assembly in your rain collector with the more accurate tipping spoon. Reports in inches. Comes with a 40′ (12 m) sensor cable. Recommended for use in stand-alone rain collectors. (See 7345.425 for tipping spoon assembly recommended for Vantage Pro2 sensor...
www.davisinstruments.com www.davisinstruments.com

I use both and it did indeed improve the accuracy, compared to an analog gauge. Still not exact, but very close.
 
   / Home weather station suggestions #119  
I have a Tempest and love it. No moving parts, solar powered. You load an app and your phone is the display. Works great!
 
   / Home weather station suggestions #120  
I had thought about redesigning the spoons to improve accuracy of the rain gauge. but thought that wider funnel was an easier solution to implement.
1713801127044.png


Used to have it in a pasture about 80 yards from the house. at about 14' It worked generally but the steel sided house acts like a Faraday cage attenuating the signals. Our cell phone doesn't work indoors either. Our woods are about 50-70' tall all around and we realized that that the anemometer was never going to be in clear wind anyway. Right now it is about 20 yards out in front of the house.

The rain gauge was enlarged with the white funnel attached to the standard funnel. I custom printed it. In trials the standard cylindrical gauges are now matching this unit to within 1%.

The barometer we calibrated a bit to generally read the NWS station about 7 miles away.

Instead of a screw in flat mount I printed an adapter to fit on top of a standard 2" pvc pipe. Currently it is at about 8'

Cost was $80.
No idea about battery life, it is coming up to one year old.
 
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