This is a personal project that
I have long wished to implement. I've had many weather
stations but this is my first that will report it's readings to the
Internet elegantly. I added my first
weather cam
in July 2011 and was very fortunate to find a
Stardot XL 3MP with the
8-48mm motorized zoom lens and added it in August 2011.
Currently there is
Gully-cam and Valley-cam is planned. I also have
Methow.us and all the known
Methow Valley Area Webcams shown on a single page.
My station here in Edelweiss consists
of a
Davis Vantage Vue
which is a less
expensive instrument that the Vantage Pro II. The instrument is mounted 6 feet above the centerline of
the peak of the roof of my home. It is less then an ideal
location due to the many
pine trees surrounding but it is the largest open area on my lot and is the
best I can do. The close proximity of the trees could affect the wind speed/direction
slightly but otherwise, it is well located.
The software for moving the weather data to
the Internet locations is
Cumulus, a freeware or donationware project. The software
included with the data-logger did not meet my needs and Cumulus was
my first try of a less expensive option. I don't know if I
will stay with it, but for now, it does work well, though I've had 2
crashes in 4 days.
The station communicates via wireless
spread-spectrum at 933 Mhz to
the indoor console. The console connects to my Windows7
desktop computer via a USB datalogger. USB and windows are problematic and may at
times fail to send the data. The console's
Datalogger is
capable of storing about 2 weeks of data before data loss if there
are computer problems. It is not likely that a data loss would occur but
certainly if you notice stale or static data being sent or if no
data is sent for more than 10 minutes, then there is an issue.
I'd appreciate an Email, letting me know that the
"Weather Station is Not Reporting!!!".
