Weather station

[Steven Campbell]

I know a few folk have spoke about these before on here so can anyone recommend a reasonably priced one? Or definite types to avoid?

Cheers

Steven.

[OG]

Aldi & Lidl sell reasonable ones every 6 months or so

For £10-£12 you get a fairly basic wireless indoor-outdoor version that will give you temperatures and record max-min

For £18-£20 you'll get a better one that will measure pressure, and give you indoor/outdoor temp and humidity, also moon/sun rise/set times.

Keep your eyes out for them.

If you want logging and more sophisticated sensors, Oregon seem to be well specced, but at a price.

If you're near a Clas Ohlson, they have a fairly wide Range available - check their online catalogue for details. No idea of quality or relative cost I'm afraid.

[Alan]

In message , OG wrote

But the larger Oregon displays seem to eat batteries at a fast rate. They do have a socket for a mains adapter but it doesn't come in the box.

[Bob Martin]

You would do better asking in uk.sci.weather.

[Adrian Brentnall]

HI Steven

I have one of the Fine Offset / Easy Weather / WS1081 type (goes under several names!) - same as this one from Maplin

news is that it works, it's cheap, it's wireless, and connects to a PC via USB. Bad news is that it's prone to collecting spikes of duff data - which isn't such a big deal if it's only for your own information but makes it look a bit daft if you share the data.

There's some excellent (free!) software called Cumulus that will talk to most types of weather station - you could take a look in their forums to see what people are recommending.

My weather station is here

'out of the box' Cumulus software - keep meaning to incorporate the Cumulus data into a 'proper' website, but no incentive to do that until / unless I solve the phantom spikes thing. To be fair, later version of Cumulus do include 'sanity filters' that remove nonsense data from the weather station, just haven't found the necessary 'round tuits' yet.... You can see the spikes in the 'max/min temperature' graph.

The Cumulus forums are here

last time I looked, there seemed to be a definite 'gap' between cheapy weather stations like mine and stuff costing 5x as much, which was 'semi-pro'. At the moment the spare money's in the same place as the round tuits

H> I know a few folk have spoke about these before on here so can anyone

[Reentrant]

I have the virtually identical WS1090 (I think the only difference is the screen and radio-clocktime sync). Had it about two years. The AA batteries in the sender last about a year, and 18 months in the receiver. I also run Cumulus rather than the supplied Easyweather software.

You do need to modify the fin on the wind direction sensor as it oscillates too much - there are several mods suggested over at Sandaysoft.

There is a newer model that is solar-powered and logs sunshine hours.

[Weatherlawyer]

UK,sci,weather is the place to ask and check out the FAQ there for infor on what the pros use.

[Andy Champ]

These two I know the people who run them, and they have no complaints.

Andy

[zaax]

Mines a WH1081 got it from Maplins, the newer model is about £80.

My weather:

[Steven Campbell]

Thanks guys for all the input. I'll check out those links later in the evening. Its for a gift for the father-in-law and the Aldi / Lidl types always looked good value for money, but as usual when you are looking for something it never comes along!!

[Chris J Dixon]

One thing to watch for is spares. The outdoor sensor for my cheap station failed, no replacements available, so the whole thing (for outdoor monitoring) is scrap.

I occasionally think about replacing it, even getting one of the better units. Then I think - here on my desktop I have a Gadget showing accurate readings for 4 miles away, plus I have a garden too small to measure wind or rain accurately anyway

Chris.

[gremlin_95]

I got one (gift for good behaviour!) some 6 years ago, it's made by Science Museum and cost about £45 at the time, it still works perfectly to this day and I have probably only replaced the batteries twice. Unfortunately it is no longer available. My Dad got one a year ago from Amazon, made by a German company called Hama. It seems to work reasonably well but the stand for the inside unit broke after it fell once. Both units very similar readings (±0.5ºc) and also the Vaillant outdoor sensor gives the same reading so I'm guessing there are both relatively accurate.

[gremlin_95]

I got one (gift for good behaviour!) some 6 years ago, it's made by Science Museum and cost about £45 at the time, it still works perfectly to this day and I have probably only replaced the batteries twice. Unfortunately it is no longer available. My Dad got one a year ago from Amazon, made by a German company called Hama. It seems to work reasonably well but the stand for the inside unit broke after it fell once. Both units very similar readings (±0.5ºc) and also the Vaillant outdoor sensor gives the same readings we have so I'm guessing there are both relatively accurate.

[hugh]

In message , Steven Campbell writes

Have a look at Instrumet. Maybe a bit more pricey but reliable and repair/spars are available. Had one for 14 years. Only problem replacing the rain gauge. As well as rain gauge has wind speed and direction, max gust speed, max/min temp and pressure. Mine has mains adapter but I can't remember if that is standard. The more sophisticated provide for data logging.

[Jeff Layman]

Only just seen this thread. You should look here for a full range of weather stations from cheap to very expensive.

will give you an idea of what's available and what might be suitable for your needs. In particular, look at "KnowledgeBase", and "Before you buy".

[Lobster]

How about a weather stick?!

I've got one but TBH I'm never sure whether it reacts according to what the weather's currently doing, rather than what it's going to do...

David

[OG]

If £125 = cheap, you may not need all the features

[Alan]

These days wouldn't it be easier just getting a weather App for a smart phone? I can recommend WeatherPro from MeteoGroup @ £2.10 (no connection except as a user)

Weather for your area, satellite downloads and rain radar.

[Mark]

How does the App measure wind speed and rainfall? ;-)

[Chris J Dixon]

I guess, in much the same as the Windows gadget I have on my desktop, it uses data from your nearest weather station. In my case about 4 miles away, so near enough for most purposes.

Chris