Picked this up on ebay for $105 incl postage. I haven't been able to secure ministerial approval for the one of Davis models (over $1K) but this was affordable and very well featured (wind speed and direction, max, average or gust. Indoor/Outdoor temp + Min & Max, wind chill & Dew point, % RH. Atmospheric pressure & history + trend. Rainfall over various intervals & history. Time & Date).
It's wireless (range 450 feet) and has touch screen as well as PC interface (USB) and comes with software. Setup is simple, the manual is well written and the PC interface is excellent. Build quality is good, all metalwork appears to be Stainless steel, although longevity of the plastic wind detection components could be an issue. Data from the PC software is exportable to spreadsheet.
The only downside I can see is that the screen is not as readable as some I have seen (although it is backlit for 30 seconds at first touch) and the update of wind speed etc is not instantaneous (probably to maximise battery life)
Last edited by acropolite; 20-02-2010 at 10:43 PM.
Phil,
Looks good for the price. eBay? (There's another auction site selling the same unit for $196!) I'd also looked at the Davis weather stations but find it hard to justify the price.
Can it be used unattended i.e. download the data to the pc automatically every X minutes? I want to be able to display data on a web site and if you have to manually download the data, it wont be much use for this.
Looks very similar to my own unit a La Crosse Pro 3600, also bought through eBay, but for about $400 to $500. Been working well for the last three months. With mine I run it from 240V, and save on battery life. Continuous collection of data, which can be uploaded to a website. I'm happy with it.
Damn you Phil Davies. I'm trying to build an observatory and I don't need these distractions. How am I ever going to get there if everyone keeps putting up these little temptations.
Wow great pickup Phil.
Was this second hand or brand new?
I haven't bought a w.station yet because of price but this looks like it will do what I need.
Is there more at this price?
Sorry noob e-bayer......
Andrew,
There are more at (close to) this price. I just bought one at $113 but that includes $25 for shipping (even though shipping by AusPost wont be more that $9 )
There are two sellers of this on eBay, try a search on 'weather' to find them. There are some at a 'Buy Now' price of $88 plus shipping and a number of them on standard auctions at much lower prices - but some time until the auction closes.
I hope this post doesn't affect the price too much
Can it be used unattended i.e. download the data to the pc automatically every X minutes? I want to be able to display data on a web site and if you have to manually download the data, it wont be much use for this.
The site I bought from says it can upload to the web, but I can't find any reference to this in the docs. If the PC app is left running it collects data at intervals set by you, default is 30 minutes. It's saved to a dat file, I would imagine it would be a fairly easy task for a programmer head to extract the data and do an automatic upload. If you only want to view the data yourself then winVNC or remote desktop could be used for remote access of the data. The dealers offering them on ebay are mostly Aussie just do a search for Wireless Weatherstation. Battery life is supposed to be 12 months on the station and 24 on the outdoor sensors. Batteries are AAA 5 required.
A bit of web browsing (what else are public holidays for?) turns up a few references to this
product under a variety of names.
I've found one site http://www.pendec.dk/weatherstation.htm that has a program for reading the weatherstation data on a Linux system which is just what I need.
Not sure if anything will come of this but, I've contacted the manufacturer in Hong Kong to see what price and quantity they will sell the unit direct for.
Stay Tuned
---
Received an answer from the manufacturer already! Price is $US51 each for an order of 300 - 500. No price given for smaller quantities.
Samples are available for $US157.
Ah well, was worth asking.
Last edited by snowyskiesau; 23-03-2008 at 12:50 PM.
Reason: Updated info:
Here's a Snapshot of the weather here ATM. The unit is saying part sun & cloud as the trend, which is exactly what's happening. I did have an initial problem with the wind direction sensor, but this seems to have sorted itself after I reinitialised the unit. I suspect the outdoor TX does a calibration and I didn't have the sensor plugged in when I first did it. FWIW it seems that the unit can draw power from the USB connection so Battery life may be even better with the USB connected. So far, I'm super impressed. I'm very tempted to give the outside components a coat of good quality marine paint to protect the plastic from the elements. I also forgot to add that you can set alarm both high and low for pretty well everything.
Last edited by acropolite; 21-03-2008 at 02:05 PM.
OK I've found some XP software that will allow update to a web /ftp site etc. It's not freeware but the trial is free. There's also FAQ's on the various steps required to build the web pages etc. (It also works on the vantage Pro John). I have it working on a different machine to the one that the weatherstation is connected to and it's reading the data file across the network and displaying very nicely! It works by reading the .dat file that the easyweather software creates. I've also noticed on some weather forums where they have their local weather data displayed in their sigs.
![[1ponders]'s Avatar](../vbiis/customavatars/avatar45_9.gif){kind=avatar}
I'm trying to build an observatory and I don't need these distractions. How am I ever going to get there if everyone keeps putting up these little temptations. 
)
