I've been meaning for months to set up this great wireless weather station from La Crosse Tehchnology (a birthday present from Deanna and my mom.) and today I finally got outside, climbed up on the roof (to mount the wind sensor) and set it all up.
My timing was perfect because just as I wrapped it up, the rain started coming down -- which meant that I could test the rain sensor without getting out the hose :-) So far it's working wonderfully. As soon as I get an adaptor or a differnt cable (the PC connector is telephone to RS-232 serial cable, and none of my machines have serial connectors) I'll start pushing my weather to the web, and maybe even join these guys. Now isn't that fun :)
Posted by asa at March 27, 2005 03:37 PMThose wireless weather stations are pretty sweet. This solar power one looks nice (and less battery changes are a good thing):
http://www.lacrossetechnology.com/products/pwc/ws_2510.html
How long is the RS232 cable?
Posted by: Matt Mastracci on March 27, 2005 06:36 PMMatt, it's about 5 or 6 feet long with a standard telephone jack on one end and the 9 pin RS232 on the other end.
Yeah, the solar ones look nice. I've got a great batch of rechargeable batteries and so replacing once a year won't be too bad.
- A
Posted by: Asa Dotzler on March 27, 2005 06:41 PMaweXome!! I have an AccuWeather Wireless weather station I got at Radio Shack on clearance. What made the deal even better was that the price at the register was lower than the clearance price, and it was the last one left. It's an older model, but it works well. I have it running outside and it uses solar + Alkaline Battery's + NiMH back-up. I haven't had to change the battery's since I got it in August last year, because as Matt mentioned, it uses alot less battery, and plus it stores the energey from the day overnight. I'd link, but Radio Shack has cut down alot on their weather stuff, so the product page no longer exists. The software that it came with is OK, and I have it running on an old Toshiba laptop running Win 98 which runs 24/7 sitting on a small table in my basement, connected via the RS-232 cord I have running between it and the weather station. The station logs all data every 5 minutes in an almanac file (I think in .alm or something).
In case you're wondering, I plan to go to college for Meteorology (I'm a sophmore in HS now)... I have been to Penn State and AccuWeather's HQ before and love it up there.
Posted by: Joey on March 27, 2005 07:06 PMI love browsing weather stations - I have all the ones local to me bookmarked and I find monitoring them, especially on a day with unusual weather, fascinating!
Hurry up and get yours a website, Asa! :)
Posted by: Dan100 on March 28, 2005 01:16 AMVery nice - I have been looking for a wireless station for a while and was set on the Davis Vantage Pro, the problem is the $500-600 price tag. What is your opinion on the accuracy of the unit?
Posted by: jim on April 4, 2005 05:07 AM