Sandaysoft

Hi All
I am interested in setting up a weather station on my site. Can anyone hold my hand LOL and tell me what I need to buy etc. I live in Ireland and I am running windows XP my site and camera is under construction but I am getting there and would like to add this feature. If it wont cost me a fortune. http://www.carnebeach.com/live_view.html
Thanks in advance
John

Hi John

A lot of us on here use these weather stations: http://www.foshk.com/Weather_Professional/WH1091.htm or other models in the fine offset range.

They are available for well under 100 pounds (sorry I'm in Aus and don't have a pound sign) They work really well with Cumulus.

While they're cheap and cheerful, mine has been very reliable so far.

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Cheers

Phil

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~storerfamily/weather
http://www.seabreeze.com.au/graphs/sa.asp

Yep, this is what I use - I got mine from eBay for around £85. It works well with Cumulus - which is far, far better than the Easyweather program which comes packaged with the weather station.

Thanks for the replies guys I found one on Ebay is this one ok HERE

Thanks
John

Yep!

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Cheers

Phil

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~storerfamily/weather
http://www.seabreeze.com.au/graphs/sa.asp

What he said...

Thanks, its ordered and on the way. The fun will start Monday or so

Once you've got it installed you can add to the enjoyment by carrying out simple DIY modifications to the rain sensor (see this this thread, amongst others), wind vane, and even the louvered screen surrounding the external thermometer/transmitter unit. A wander through the "Homebuilt" section will give you an idea. But whatever you choose to do do, or not, I think you'll have fun.

Yes, the rain gauge mod is particularly easy, I've done it too. It makes it record in .1mm rather than .3mm increments and makes it more accurate aswell, as less rain splashes over the side. Plus as RS said above, its all good fun!

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Cheers

Phil

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~storerfamily/weather
http://www.seabreeze.com.au/graphs/sa.asp

I have looked at the pictures and it looks easy enough, except for the paint job LOL I am an engineer by trade. I have been working on a massive project for the past 2 years (nothing to do with engineering really) but has been a huge learning curb so I was looking for something to chill the mind and have a bit of a laugh. I am doing a web page on our project at the moment Ill show you when I am finished. dont worry I am not selling anything.

I think using a 7in funnel gives a good compromise. I've now gone a stage further and using a 10in funnel which on initial calibration gives 0.045 mm per bucket tip. It now responds to light showers and even a heavy dew. For the 7in funnel, a 5 litre plastic paint/preserver bucket (upside down) makes a good housing and support for the funnel. For the 10in I'm using a farm cattle lick bucket - you'd need to know(or be) a farmer to get that.

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Gina

Sorry, no banner - weather station out of action. Hoping to be up and running with a new home-made one soon.

Question ... I know this has bee discussed many times but I am not sure I have seen a definitive answer.....If I were to add a 7 inch funnel, do I need to change any of the calibration settings in Cumulus to compensate for a over-sized collecting device? If I do, how do I calculate the figure to use?

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David
Contact Me

Yes. You need to apply a calibration setting equivalent to the ratio of the old to new funnel cross-sectional areas. So if you double the area, you need a calibration setting of 0.5, because it now takes half as much rainfall to tip the bucket.

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Steve
Sanday Weather
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The diameter of mine is 138.8mm (3 times the original area) and after months of fine tuning, a calibration of .35 exactly matches my manual rain gauges.

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Cheers

Phil

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~storerfamily/weather
http://www.seabreeze.com.au/graphs/sa.asp

The calibration required is the ratio of old rain collection area to new. The old area is approximately 11x5 cm giving 55 sq. cm. The new area is given by the area of the top of the funnel. Being circular this is calculated by squaring the radius and multiplying by Pi (a mathematical/engineering constant of about 3.142). Thus for a 7in (17cm internal diameter) the radius is 8.5cm and the area works out at 227 sq. cm. Therefore, the calibration value is 55/227=0.24.

This simply converts the rain data values as a result of the bigger funnel. Many of us have used a manual rain gauge at the same time as taking the automatic values and comparing the two, as Phil (hills) has just said. Cheap rain gauges are available from garden centres. I found my first rain gauge was reading low by about 30%. The new one is more accurate. So with the old gauge and a 7 inch funnel my calibration worked out at 0.33 (ie. 0.1mm per bucket tip). Rather than the 0.24 if the gauge had been correct.

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Gina

Sorry, no banner - weather station out of action. Hoping to be up and running with a new home-made one soon.