Weather station for year-round usage

[hockeypuck]

I have been happy with my ambient system. Installed now for 5 or 6 years. Solar battery still working. Put it on a pole that is about 6 feet above my garage roof.

Ambient Weather WS-2000

 

[gthomas785]

If you care at all about wind or rainfall measurements, you want it in an open area away from trees or structures. A rooftop can work as long as it's mounted at least 4-6 feet above the roof peak. Typically the temp sensor is designed to be reasonably accurate in both sunny and shady locations. Of course if you're after scientific levels of accuracy, then you'll need to calibrate the sensors against an array of independently calibrated sensors.

 

[Ashful]

Yeah, this is what had me back off the original quest, gthomas. I don't want some ugly obstacle sticking up 4-6 feet above any roof on any structure, on this property. The only candidate for that would be one of the wood sheds, but they're under nearly-full tree cover, and the closest power is about 100 feet away past some mighty big tree roots.

I've been using a thermometer placed in the shade and a water vial type rain gauge, and it works great in summer, but I have to put the rain gauge away as soon as temps dip below freezing. Maybe I just need to find a frost-proof vial type rain gauge (usually just tapered plastic instead of straight-wall glass), and a thermometer with a recording or WiFi function to mount in a shady spot. The wind functions would be nice, but not really that beneficial, since I have several good apps that collect data off our local lake and local shore weather bouys, much better at predicting sailing conditions than anything at my house anyway.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I think I have a unique solution after reading your last post.

You need to build another wood shed closer to your house, and away from the trees.

 

[Ashful]

I think I have a unique solution after reading your last post.

You need to build another wood shed closer to your house, and away from the trees.

Done and done! I built a fifth very small (1 cord) shed on high ground between the barn and house. But it's up against a gable wall of the carriage barn, probably won't get good wind or rain measurements, here:

 

[NHWS]

The only candidate for that would be one of the wood sheds, but they're under nearly-full tree cover, and the closest power is about 100 feet away past some mighty big tree roots.

My Ambient station runs on batteries. One set of rechargeable lithium AAs lasts about a year and works down to the lowest temps I generally see. I swap them out around every 6 months when I clean the rain collector.

The wireless range is closer to 50 feet, though. I haven't bothered to install a directional antenna.

 

[Tonty]

https://ambientweather.com/ws-5000-ultrasonic-smart-weather-station?utm_id=go_cmp-17798158262_adg-_ad-__dev-m_ext-_prd-WS-5000_mca-147779820_sig-EAIaIQobChMIwrqBvevvggMVfEtHAR3ajgGHEAQYASABEgKBsfD_BwE&utm_source=google&gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIwrqBvevvggMVfEtHAR3ajgGHEAQYASABEgKBsfD_BwE

That’s the one I have. I love it. I had an Ambient Weather WS-1001 for years and it was great, also. Only thing is the anemometer cups would ice and freeze up during ice storms. With the ultrasonic anamometer you don’t have that problem.