Author Topic: Wind, or lack of  (Read 5270 times)

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Offline bj

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Wind, or lack of
« on: April 11, 2012, 07:21:49 am »
   Last summer, when lightning paid it's visit, I installed a new weather station, that I could log data from
on the computer.  (nothing fancy)  Anyway, what it showed me was depressing.  There has been a trend
the last few years to calmer winds. The old five footer taught me that.  Anyway, I posted some results
back--oh six months ago, and Tom (eternal optimist) sort of predicted it might get better.  He was correct,
but here's the last dump.  Haven't done the average, as the eyeball can tell from the graph.
  Why I'm concentrating on solar I guess.
"Even a blind squirrel will find an acorn once in a while"
bj

Offline ChrisOlson

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Re: Wind, or lack of
« Reply #1 on: April 12, 2012, 11:48:08 am »
What weather station and software you got?  I'm looking at getting a new one.

Does the one you have require a PC running 24/7 to log, or does it store a certain amount of data that you can download at your convenience?  I got a APRS Wind Data Logger, but I also want a home weather station that can record temperature, precip, wind speed and direction, and maybe solar insolation.
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Chris

Offline Watt

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Re: Wind, or lack of
« Reply #2 on: April 12, 2012, 03:00:37 pm »
What weather station and software you got?  I'm looking at getting a new one.

Does the one you have require a PC running 24/7 to log, or does it store a certain amount of data that you can download at your convenience?  I got a APRS Wind Data Logger, but I also want a home weather station that can record temperature, precip, wind speed and direction, and maybe solar insolation.
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Chris

Chris, check into what Ross is using for hardware and also inquire about the software.  Awesome stuff for sure. 
CEO of this Dis-Organization....

Offline bj

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Re: Wind, or lack of
« Reply #3 on: April 12, 2012, 06:31:22 pm »
   What Ross has is kind of "Ultimate".  This one is not so much Chris.  It's Lacrosse, and the price isn't too
bad.  ($ 140 I think)
   It transmits 300ft dependably, and yes, it can store 1700 data uploads before dumping, so depending on sample
rate, it can go quite a while.
   It transmits to the receiver once ever 15 sec. and you can choose your averaging to the computer.
   The program is the weak point.  But usable.
   I had a lesser model before, but it was the one lightning took out.  I will say that their after-sales support is
pretty good.
   I've seen just a bit of what Ross's can do, and if it was a perfect world, that's what I'd go for.  Perfect world
as in if I knew something about programing.
   That's it in a nutshell.
"Even a blind squirrel will find an acorn once in a while"
bj

Offline rossw

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Re: Wind, or lack of
« Reply #4 on: April 12, 2012, 11:41:30 pm »
   What Ross has is kind of "Ultimate".

   I've seen just a bit of what Ross's can do, and if it was a perfect world, that's what I'd go for.

OK, lets dispel some myths here.  :)

Firstly, my current weather station is just a shaddow of its former self. I will still get around to re-building my old one, but for now I have an inexpensive commercial unit as the "heart". It was an old WX200 or WM918 (same thing, different labels). Not all its "bits" are original - for example their rain-gauge was abysmal, and I have my proper WMO-specified gauge on it - and have made a correction for the far higher resolution in my software.

Because I run off-grid, I want to minimise the power consumption too, which means I don't have the big grunty servers at home. I have (but didn't originally have) a modest, low-power computer that runs 24/7 as the firewall, proxy server, DHCP, and a bunch of other stuff, including 1000GB odd of storage for music and videos.

Here, a picture is worth a thousand words - I'll sketch this up, and people can ask questions about what either interests them, or isn't self-explained!

901-0

Offline ChrisOlson

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Re: Wind, or lack of
« Reply #5 on: April 13, 2012, 08:23:43 am »
I just wanted something that's simple and easy to set up and does basic data logging without having to run a computer.  I've been looking at this one:
http://proweatherstation.com/

I've checked around on Amazon and a couple other sites where they have reviews on it.  This one gets good reviews and the people who make it provide good support on it if something doesn't work.  It stores 4,000 and some odd data points and you can change the batteries in it without losing any data.
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Chris

Offline bj

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Re: Wind, or lack of
« Reply #6 on: April 13, 2012, 08:58:05 am »
   Had a look at it Chris, some parts are identical.  It stores over double the data, which is a good thing,
and has a touch screen.
   Probably only advantage on this one, there are no batteries on the high up stuff, as that's solar.
   Price is also a bit better on that one.
   Sounds like after sale service is good either way.
   Crap shoot, don't know what to say.
edit--this one doesn't lose data on batt. change either.
"Even a blind squirrel will find an acorn once in a while"
bj

Offline ChrisOlson

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Re: Wind, or lack of
« Reply #7 on: April 13, 2012, 10:12:52 am »
I think the ProWeatherStation one has the high up stuff hard-wired to a transmitter box that's at the base of the tower.  And that transmitter box communicates with the remote console.  The remote console has to be hooked to a computer with USB to download the data out of it.

I don't now how long the wires are to the transmitter unit, and I doubt they're long enough to reach to the base of my 74 foot tower that I'd put it on.  But the sensors would be mounted on the tower mast at 65 feet, about 4 feet below the blade tips on the turbine.  So if they reach 30 feet down the tower I can climb the tower to 35 feet to change the batteries if I had to, without lowering the tower.  It says the batteries last two years in the transmitter.

I got an Oregon Scientific one right now, and that one has the batteries in each sensor.  The wind speed sensor has never needed a set of batteries in it, and it's two years old.  The temp sensor goes thru a set of batteries every week and it doesn't have a solar input thing on it.  I'm not too happy about that, and I use rechargeable batteries in it.  The rain gauge for it also has the original lithium batteries in it and that functions fine yet after two years.  I don't know what the problem is with the thermo-hygro sensor, but it eats batteries.

My anemometer for my APRS is hard wired too, and that's on my 100 foot tower on a mast that's mounted at 90 feet.  I pull the SD card out of that and download the CSV off it once a month or so.  But for the other stuff - rain amount, temperature, and another wind speed reading at the lower height that I can look at every day, I still need a good home weather station.  The Oregon Scientific one I got does not log data - it only shows the min and max for temp and wind speed, and it only stores rain data for the last 24 hours.  And it has no desktop software for it.
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Chris

Offline bj

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Re: Wind, or lack of
« Reply #8 on: April 13, 2012, 12:30:57 pm »
  Should have added before Chris, this one is wireless to the 'puter.  One of those USB transmitters.
  Advantage or no?  Don't know.
"Even a blind squirrel will find an acorn once in a while"
bj

Offline ChrisOlson

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Re: Wind, or lack of
« Reply #9 on: April 13, 2012, 12:47:11 pm »
Having wireless to the computer with Bluetooth or a little transmitter would be nice.  What model of La Crosse do you have?  I'd like to take a look at that.  The LaCrosse weather stations home office are not too far away from me in La Crosse, Wisconsin.

They got these 2810's:
http://www.lacrossetechnology.com/2810/index.php

But I've heard that the "Heavy Weather" software isn't all that good.
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Chris

Offline bj

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Re: Wind, or lack of
« Reply #10 on: April 13, 2012, 03:19:48 pm »
   That's pretty much the one Chris---WS-2810U-IT to be exact.
   You heard correctly, Heavyweather isn't that great, but usable.  Biggest problem is lack of "how to do it".  After messing around some,
it's working well enough to keep me happy.
   Of course, those tricks are available to you, if you decide to go that route.
   Do I recommend it?   Yes, but with already mentioned cautions.
   The nuts and bolts part has been flawless, so far, and I know from the previous one that stuff like anemometer blades are
readily available,  (tree branch) for about $ 9, with bearing.
"Even a blind squirrel will find an acorn once in a while"
bj