Maybe it is just the geek in me, but I have always thought about an outdoor weather station beyond a thermometer.

With this weather right now I have one thing saying it is 33 degrees, another saying it is 28, and another saying it is 25. Well, which is it?

I figure my own weather station will tell me exactly what things are such as temp, rain fall, humidity, etc at my house. I am curious if anyone has anything like what I am looking at and any suggestions before I think of buying one. So far I am looking at two:

Option 1



Option 2

Subscribed as I’m thinking about one also..

I have one very similar to your second option, by a different manufacturer. It also has a remote sensor for a second location temperature and humidity, plus a lightning strike detector. Both of your choices look good.

I mostly look at the temperature really. The rain gauge and wind speed are secondary.

We have a second sensor, so I can see the temperature on the sunny side and the shady side of the house.

Where you place the anemometer is critical to getting accurate wind speed and direction. If you don't have a decent location, you might as well skip the whole idea and just get a wireless thermometer.

quote:

Originally posted by Fly-Sig:
I have one very similar to your second option, by a different manufacturer. It also has a remote sensor for a second location temperature and humidity, plus a lightning strike detector. Both of your choices look good.

I mostly look at the temperature really. The rain gauge and wind speed are secondary.

We have a second sensor, so I can see the temperature on the sunny side and the shady side of the house.

Where you place the anemometer is critical to getting accurate wind speed and direction. If you don't have a decent location, you might as well skip the whole idea and just get a wireless thermometer.

Thanks for the input. Yeah really the temperature is the biggest thing for me, but knowing the other stuff is cool.

My plan is to mount it on a pole I will install on my chimney. So it will be on top of my house with no obstruction to anything. I would think that would be a good place for it.

I’ve got Tempest and the only downside is that it does not come with a display, you view the data off your tablet or phone.

Tempest Weather Station with Built-in Wind Meter, Rain Gauge, and Accurate Weather Forecasts, Wireless, App and Alexa Enabled https://a.co/d/g1kH5ZM

Look at Radioddity. I had a Davis Instrument Vantage Vue. It lasted 15 years but the display on the Radioddity systems are much better, the system is much less expensive and easier to link to the internet.

We've had an outside weather station for over 20 years now. The original station was a Davis. It was considered top of the line back then and maybe still is. Made in America. Well, it was just getting tired and worn out and continued to lose connection with the inside station. I upgraded about a year ago and decided to go with Acu-Rite. Works very well and never loses a connection.

You need that outside unit up as high as you can get it. Mine sits up at the peak of our outside garage probably 15 feet up and about 80 yards from the house and inside station.

Tempest - No running wires or regular battery replacements.

Won’t the chimney skew your readings?

I have an older version of this, which has been in operation about 20 years.

https://www.amazon.com/Davis-I...%2Caps%2C170&sr=8-11

I looked into this a year ago

Ended up with Ecowitt. They are the OEM for the ones ypu listed

I got the solid state rain and wind. Seems pretty good.
Added soil moisture to the system

Also added lightning detector, but wouldn't bother again.

https://a.co/d/8wIujAd

Lots of info here.
https://meshka.eu/Ecowitt/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=start

I have owned your option one. It was reliable for a three to four years of years but then I had a problem with the display console so I purchased the WS 5000. It was much better but I found that the range of the wireless reception was less than adequate for my needs. Several of the functions were intermittent in their transmission due to the distance my sensors were from my office where the display is. At any particular time the temperature, wind, and the rain are not reading (approximately 50% of the time). My sensor array is within the suggested distance. If you decide to go with Ambient, I would make sure your sensor array is quite close to your control panel.

MY SOLUTION: My problem was bad enough that eight months ago I decided to go with another brand, Ecowitt. The model I used is internet based and I have to view it on my phone, tablet or computer. I have found this to be more than adequate for my needs. Ecowitt has a wireless receiver whose Wi-Fi distance is far superior to Ambient reception (I believe there is even an external antenna if that is necessary). I am now never without sensor reception. When I first hooked up my Ecowitt receiver I was very surprised to find out that my Ecowitt receiver was on the same frequency as my Ambient Sensors. My Ecowitt program receives unerring information from both my Ambient and Ecowitt Sensors.

MY SUGGESTION: If wi-Fi reception could be an issue, I would go with the Ecowitt system. I have two friends who have the Tempest System. They are very happy with their choice. I have no knowledge about internet distance concerning the Tempest System. Use Lithium batteries. If mounting on a pole, be sure to mount in a position where the batteries can be changed safely and easily, I ruled out my roof as it was so hard to get to to change the batteries. Some units have a battery pack with a long wire that would mitigate this issue. Someone mentioned a lightning sensor. I have one, they are very sensitive and will pick up lightning 20 miles away. I have mine set for the minimal distance otherwise I am registering hundreds of hits. I also have soil moisture meters to estimate if my freshly planted trees have enough moisture. They are very difficult to calibrate. I use them to note, generally the level of moisture to determine if they are too dry.

quote:

Originally posted by 400m:
Won’t the chimney skew your readings?

Being here in Texas, it is only used a few days a year so I don’t think it will be a real issue.

Interesting discussion. I’ve been contemplating putting one up on my radio tower. I can easily install it at 33 feet AGL. I’m interested in lightning for obvious reasons as a radio operator.

My only criteria is that it must have its own display. And the package can be hard wired as I have an umbilical of LMR400 cable coming into the house so one more isn’t a big deal.

I have the ambient 2902. It is about 4 years old, no issues. When I login into the ambient app I can view inside temperature at weather station panel. If you have an iPhone the pws app is great. With Pws app you can view your station data remotely.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Vanwall,

I have one that looks similar to your option 2 but it’s branded by Sainlogic. (They all appear very similar to me). The Wi-Fi can be bit of a challenge, depending on model and how well the instructions are translated to English. I have mine linked to WeatherUnderground so I can check the stats from anywhere. I’ve occasionally had to clean the water funnel to be sure rainfall amounts are accurate. Birds seem to randomly drop debris in it.

Weather station - Petal, MS

I did a fair amount of research on this a few years back, and came up with this one as best of breed. Haven't got the wifely signoff on it yet although she's much more of a weather freak than me.

+1 on the Tempest. Replaced a 20 year old Davis that had been overhauled by the factory twice. The desert heat is really tough on any station. So far so good after 1.5 years.