Looking for first budget weather station..

[Ouch]

Howdy!

 

I'm looking to set up a personal weather station, on a fairly tight budget..

 

Features I'm looking for: 

Typical sensors suite (rainfall, temp & humidity, wind strength & direction), a bonus would be sun strength/uv

PC connection for website/remote access (I have a home server running 24/7 already)

Extra remote sensors/channels for temperature - for example garage/greenhouse

Solar power remote sensors - is this possible or retro-fittable?

 

All for around the £100 mark (this is a hobby and thus not important enough for serious money according to the 'keeper of the wallet').

 

I'm fairly handy and not afraid of a soldering iron, however with a small child about the house, and lots of unfinished projects already I can't really spare the time & concentration for a homebrew/Rasberry Pi type solution, though that would be a nice side project, I'd like something I can get up and running fairly quickly, and perhaps add to over time.

 

Having burnt many hours scouring various websites and reading reviews, I've got  a shortlist of 2 so far:

 

ClimeMET CM2000

 

Aercus WS 3083

 

Both fit the budget and some of my requirements. and seem to be favorably reviewed on Amazon (a hard thing to do these days!). Can anyone here give any guidance or advice, personal experiences with the above or suggest alternatives?

 

thanks!

[Mapantz]

You can also throw an Oregon Scientific station in there: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Oregon-Scientific-WMR88-Weather-Station/dp/B00480MSYE

You can add sensors to it as well, such as a UV or an extra temp gauge to the greenhouse.

I used to have the Wmr200, always found them to be very be good in the elements, whereas some other stations begin to fail.

[Ouch]

Have you had any issues with Oregon Scientific Customer support? A few reviews suggest they're pretty poor.  Will it work with popular weather logging & upload software like cumulus? I can see on OS's website they do a solar cell for 'extending  the battery life' of the wind sensor cluster, however I'm a bit fuzzy on what it does, does it top up re-chargable batteries, or does it act as an alternative power source for regular dry cells? Any thoughts? This would have an effect on sensor positioning if I don't need to change the batteries..

[Mapantz]

Have you had any issues with Oregon Scientific Customer support? A few reviews suggest they're pretty poor.  Will it work with popular weather logging & upload software like cumulus? I can see on OS's website they do a solar cell for 'extending  the battery life' of the wind sensor cluster, however I'm a bit fuzzy on what it does, does it top up re-chargable batteries, or does it act as an alternative power source for regular dry cells? Any thoughts? This would have an effect on sensor positioning if I don't need to change the batteries..

I never had to get in touch with OS about anything, so I can't comment on that. The Wmr88 does work with Cumulus.Then solar cell works along side the batteries, it'll pretty much run the sensors on sunny days, I don't think I changed the batteries in my anemometer when I used it with the solar cell. It will have a slight effect on positioning of some sensors due to the cabling but the temp gauge, UV sensor, rain gauge all run independently. I just used the solar cell with the anemometer because it was 11 metres up on my chimney, I didn't fancy changing the batteries that often. lol

[Ouch]

 I just used the solar cell with the anemometer because it was 11 metres up on my chimney, I didn't fancy changing the batteries that often. lol

 

My thinking is similar, getting the wind sensor package up nice and high makes for good readings, but low life expectancy if I need to change batteries at regular intervals.

 

How long have you been operating your OS station? 

[Mapantz]

My thinking is similar, getting the wind sensor package up nice and high makes for good readings, but low life expectancy if I need to change batteries at regular intervals. How long have you been operating your OS station?

I don't have it now, I bought a Davis Vantage Vue in 2011. I used the Wmr200 for three years previous.

[Kiwi]

[4wd]

This was my first one and it seemed good for the money.The accuracy was not bad at all but temp sensor needs siting carefully.You could probably find one cheaper.http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nexus-Wireless-Weather-Station-Black/dp/B0017HK6Z4I found the wireless adequate when near the house, and eventually the anemometer blew apart but in a more sheltered location might be no problem.It worked OK with Cumulus and Weather-Display.The included software is a bit pathetic but could be used to save data and draw graphs etc. 

[4wd]

It's actually still working now after 5 years but monitoring temperature/humidity of something else inside.The rain gauge is still outside and running as a backup/confirmation of the Davis one.

[Ouch]

Kiwi - thanks but I'm not sure if your solution has a logging feature, I like the simplicity and the fact it doesn't need batteries though 

 

4wd - Interesting suggestion, I looked briefly at the Sinus (which I think is the next model down) however I've not had a brilliant experience with a faulty remote temperature sensor I had from TFA.

 

What would people say is the average life expectancy of kits in this price bracket (excluding Kiwi's suggestion    )

[msharrott]

Hello Ouch,

I am in the same position as you with looking for weather stations! So I am really keen to know what you ended up with and your experience so far?

Cheers,

Mike.