Portable Weather Stations - RV-Dreams Community Forum

MarkS · RV-Dreams Family Member

Portable Weather Stations

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

Some of the newest cheaper weather stations do everything through a website. That allows you to get the weather data on any internet device, phones, tablets, Windows, Mac, Linux, etc. But it also means the weather station needs an internet connection, which adds to your data plan. A couple of these come with 6 to 12 months of free usage, then you have to pay.

Do you want it to talk to a computer? What kind of computer, the ones that work with Macs seem to cost more than ones that only support Windows. Can it be standalone? Do you want to register it with someone like Weather Underground as a personal weather station? How many temperature sensors do you want to track? Lots of questions to research.

I have friends with weather stations and toy with the idea of getting one myself.

Lucky Mike · RV-Dreams Family Member

biggrin I use a clean windshield and a good thermometer.......all the rest I can see biggrin biggrin biggrin confuse

Lonney Wade · RV-Dreams Family Member

I used the weatherbug http://weather.weatherbug.com/MI/Holland-weather/local-forecast/7-day-forecast.html?zcode=z6286#
I have used it for years and it's free, all you do is put the zip code in where you are and away you go, all the weather you want.

Lonney

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

Lonney: MarkS is talking about a physical weather station to monitor and record the weather at his campsite.

MarkS · RV-Dreams Family Member

Weatherbug is cool. it has a lot of local sites. But I am talking about sensors attached to the RV. What got me thinking about this today was researching multiple temperature thermometers for monitoring the points of concern in the coach.

Mike, you may have been kidding but a weatherman in the Acores told me he could predict the weather for the next six hours by looking at the sky. See, you're more scientific than you thought.

Alie and Jims Carrilite · RV-Dreams Family Member

Wunderground.com is great too..
I have one of those atomic clocks that has an outdoor temp sensor and humidity sensor with it. Its expandable to add a wind guage, and rain guage. It doesn't record beyond the past 24hr high and low.

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

These two links from Weather Underground (owned by Weather Channel) might help:

http://www.wunderground.com/weatherstation/about.asp

http://www.wunderground.com/weatherstation/setup.asp

soos · RV-Dreams Family Member

We have the Davis Instruments Rainman and recommend it.

www.rainmanweather.com/site/products/6250-Vantage-Vue-Complete-Wireless-Weather-Station

DH made a sleeve for the outside unit out of PVC pipe and put it on the ladder so the amemometer isn't hindered becauseit sits higher than the rig. we just pull it out and stow it when we move.
He loves having it and is always checking it :)

Sue

-- Edited by soos on Saturday 30th of November 2013 10:59:10 PM

NorCal Dan · RV-Dreams Family Member

A basic weather station usually will have a wind vane and anemometer, temperature and humidity (both indoor and outdoor) sensors, barometer sensor, and rain bucket.

You've stated you want multiple temperature sensors, how many?
Do you want a solar sensor, useful if you want to know sky conditions?
Do you plan to wire all the sensors or go wireless?
Do you need/want computer connectivity for recording your weather?
How much are you willing (planning) to spend for a weather station?

MarkS · RV-Dreams Family Member

Dan, I sense wisdom behind all those questions. I worked with DMSP for a couple of years so I want all that and the ability to download satellite pictures! I want all this in a package that weighs just 3 pounds and can be stored in less than 10 minutes. Are there any rules that say I can't put the weather sensors on top of my flag pole? I want to spend less than $500.

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

MarkS wrote:
Weatherbug is cool. it has a lot of local sites. But I am talking about sensors attached to the RV. What got me thinking about this today was researching multiple temperature thermometers for monitoring the points of concern in the coach.

Mike, you may have been kidding but a weatherman in the Acores told me he could predict the weather for the next six hours by looking at the sky. See, you're more scientific than you thought.

Mark,

I know you are likely referring to weather stations that also have the equipment to measure wind speeds and such. But the comment I just quoted indicates that you might be more interested in just temperatures. That is why I'm adding to the conversation.

We have a Radio Shack 3 channel wireless remote thermometer in our coach. When one buys one at Radio Shack (or other places that sell them) one usually gets the base unit for in the coach and one sensor for outside. With regards to our Radio Shack model, we also purchased an additional remote sensor. I now have the base model (with its temperature sensor) on our kitchen counter, one remote sensor outside and hanging under a slide (out of the sun), and the other sensor hanging on some of the plumbing in the underbelly area near our water manifold. With all that, I can monitor to see if I need to quit running the supplemental electric heaters and let the furnace heat both the inside and add heat to the underbelly.

If you are interested, here is a link to a posting on my blog about our system. Technology is VERY Helpful

Terry

MarkS · RV-Dreams Family Member

Terry, you are correct. Reading your blog got me started. I started looking for multi-channel thermometers to monitor 5 or more channels. I got side tracked when I found that, short of scientific instrumentation, multi-channel thermometers were difficult to find. I did find a wireless weather station with 10 channels for multiple sensors including multiple thermometers. I know there are some inexpensive instrumentation packages out there, I just havent found any so far that dont required contiuous monitoring by a computer.

NorCal Dan · RV-Dreams Family Member

MarkS wrote:
Dan, I sense wisdom behind all those questions. I worked with DMSP for a couple of years so I want all that and the ability to download satellite pictures! I want all this in a package that weighs just 3 pounds and can be stored in less than 10 minutes. Are there any rules that say I can't put the weather sensors on top of my flag pole? I want to spend less than $500.

Mark, take a look at the Davis Vue as it meets the easy mounting/storing. This is the station I use and I mount it on my rear ladder. Takes me about 10 minutes to put it up or down. I also use the Vue when I am in our condo. There are guidelines for mounting weather stations but most of us in the hobby are not able to meet the defined standards, we do the best we can but we can't all live at an airport with acres of free area to mount our stations. As for the flag pole it would depend on how heavy the weather station is and how stable the mast would be with the station on top. You don't want any movement of the weather station and it needs to be level for accurate rain fall measurements. How would you feel if a 70+ mph wind gust knocked it down and destroyed your $500 station?

Davis stations do not have built-in connectivity to your computer and require purchasing WeatherLink that is both hardware and software. The software is very basic, but it does include the necessary drivers for the version you purchase, ie. serial, USB, or TCP/IP. The hardware is called a datalogger and it will store data when the computer is off. It adds to the purchase price for the station but is required. I know there are cheaper brands of stations out there, and they include computer connectivity, but in my opinion none of them meet the quality of a Davis.

Adding multiple temp sensors is possible but you would need to confirm with Davis before purchase...from what I have read the way to accomplish adding sensors to the Vue is to swap out the Vue console for a VP2 console. I've seen the Vue for sale on-line in this configuration (this link is just an example, I'm sure there are other companies with the same configuration). In it's stock configuration the Vue is not expandable, but the sensors are compatible with the VP2 console, hence the bundle I mentioned.

There are a few choices out there for software. I run Weather Display for my site and it has fantastic support from the author and costs $70. Stop by my weather site and look around and if you have questions drop me an email and I will be happy to help.