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| What
to buy? |
| After
a lot of indecision about what weather station to buy I eventually
settled on the wireless version of the Davis
Vantage Pro 2. I decided on a wireless setup to avoid potential
problems of running cable. I bought it online from The
Weather Shop and it has performed very well so far. The Davis
Vantage Pro 2 Wireless Weather Station consists of three parts:
the ISS (integrated sensor suite), anemometer and display console.
It isn't the ideal setup because the rain collector should be sited
in a more open location. There is a very long discussion about weather
station siting on this forum. See: Weather
station siting
|
 |
| The
ISS and Anemometer |
 |
The
bits that go outside (shown on the left) have sensors that gather
the real time weather data. The anemometer comprises of a vane that
is used to determine the wind direction and cups that rotate to measure
wind speed. The white section at the bottom of the ISS houses the
temperature and humidity sensors, it is designed to shield the sensors
from direct sunlight and therefore give more accurate readings. The
round black section is the rain collector.
The
anemometer has been separated from the ISS and placed above the
roofline to give more accurate readings. |
| Inside
the ISS (Integrated
Sensor Suite) |
| The
inside of the rain collector is funnel-shaped. As the rain water collects,
it runs through a small hole at the bottom into the tipping buckets.
As one side of a tipping bucket fills, it tips down with the weight
of the water and starts collecting on the opposite side. Each tip
of the bucket equals 0.2mm of rain. The ISS is powered by a solar
panel which is connected to a capacitor that stores the solar energy
to run the equipment at night and on cloudy days. It also has battery
backup for cases of extended darkness. The unit contains the electronics
that gather the data from the sensors and transmit it to the display
console. |
 |
| The
Display Console |
 |
The
Davis Vantage Pro 2 display console, receives the transmitted data
and displays it. It also contains a data logger that uploads the data
to a computer running software to interpret it. This software creates
the real time data, graphs, etc which are uploaded to the web site.
I did
initially buy and install Weather
Link software but very soon after I switched to Weather
Display because it seemed to suit my requirements better.
|
| Transmitter
kit |
For
use with Wireless Vantage Pro2.
Allows you to locate the anemometer independently from the rain collector,
up to 300m away from the console/receiver. For longer distances, add
one or more wireless repeaters. Kit includes transmitter inside weather-resistant
shelter, solar panel, mounting hardware, and battery.
|
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| ISS
Position |
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|
The
ISS position isn't ideal but it is an acceptable compromise between
security, accessibility and maintainability to ensure the highest
possible accuracy. The
ISS is slightly sheltered by nearby houses and after taking a manual
measurement of various rainfall periods I’ve implemented a
5%+ adjustment on the rainfall readings.
|
| Anemometer
Position |
When
I first erected the anemometer it was with the ISS, however, as can
be seen from the photo on the right it is now in a much better position
(over 4ft above the roofline) but it does make accessibility more
of an issue.
Data is transmitted from the unit to the console using an anemometer
transmitter kit. |
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| This
automatic weather station was established Dec 2007 |
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