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Remember the IP adressable power board is connected directly to the modem with its own web interface, so you can leave the PC off during the day and just turn it on at night via the power board. In hindsight, I think having everything off during the day is a wise move. The temp swings and weird overloaded-buffer etc faults that occured with being on 24/7 ment a regular power reset anyway. You will find the times you are able to image (and the PC is on) are relatively wind/dust free and your PC will last much longer. Has the weather station got its own IP interface direct to the modem?.
The big bonus with battery DC supply is you can have OBs close on mains power loss, so why not use it for the PC too, but I think a UPS to a standard PC is cheaper. Even if you need to replace the PC every 3 years or so, its potentially less grief and expense over custom/specialised power supplies/fanless PCs.
Interestingly, PMEs can randomly slew to hard stop after 4 hrs or so idle if left on 24/7, they need to be homed every 3hrs or so to stop this.
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