home weather station

mike95490
mike95490 Solar Expert Posts: 9,583 ✭✭✭✭✭
in Advanced Solar Electric Technical Forum #1
Well, I think I need to get some sort of home weather station set up. I need to learn a micro-climate in a year, and having some sort of objective measurement method, will help me orient solar PV's a year from now. I need something that will record solar irradiation from at least 2 angles (AM fog, or PM clouds) to decide how to bias my roof. This will also help with the house heating too. NWS records don't get into that detail.

Locals (yes, the ones with that piece of hay hanging out of their mouths) could care less, and the ones that do care, must walk around with their eyes closed!

So, anyone with experience in home weather stations, your comments are welcomed.

(And I think I found a location for the shop that will only need 2 power poles, not 7)
Powerfab top of pole PV mount | Listeroid 6/1 w/st5 gen head | XW6048 inverter/chgr | Iota 48V/15A charger | Morningstar 60A MPPT | 48V, 800A NiFe Battery (in series)| 15, Evergreen 205w "12V" PV array on pole | Midnight ePanel | Grundfos 10 SO5-9 with 3 wire Franklin Electric motor (1/2hp 240V 1ph ) on a timer for 3 hr noontime run - Runs off PV ||
|| Midnight Classic 200 | 10, Evergreen 200w in a 160VOC array ||
|| VEC1093 12V Charger | Maha C401 aa/aaa Charger | SureSine | Sunsaver MPPT 15A

solar: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Solar
gen: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Lister ,

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Comments

  • icarus
    icarus Solar Expert Posts: 5,436 ✭✭✭✭
    #2
    Re: home weather station

    I have had a LaCrosse station with wind, temp data. I have had it for ~ 10 years and it has never worked well. Good display of wind, temp etc,, but the memory has never been right. Shows a peak gust of 122 mph on a calm afternoon.

    From what I know,, The Davis systems with PC interface are pretty good.

    T
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  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,609 admin
    #3
    Re: home weather station

    From this thread, an new poster had a link to his company that makes small/low power loggers--including a solar irradiance datalogger.
    Jeff Fedison wrote: »
    Hello,
    A solar irradiance meter kit is available at http://www.microcircuitlabs.com/SIM.htm

    Best Regards,
    Jeff Fedison

    Micro Circuits Labs SDL-1

    They look really neat. Will run two years on a 9v battery... Depending on resolution, you can download every 1-170 days to your PC via USB. From $80-$160 (kit or fully assembled and tested).

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
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  • JetMech
    JetMech Solar Expert Posts: 71 ✭✭✭✭
    #4
    Re: home weather station

    I have a Davis and I really like it. I don't have the PC interface though. It was a bit expensive, but I didn't want to waste my money on something that would only last a year or so and the Davis had good reviews. There are a few add-ons for it that I don't have but mine measures wind speed, wind direction, rain fall, humidity, temperature, wind chill / heat, barometer, and has day, month, and year high / lows. It also gives indoor temperature and humidity.
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  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    #5
    Re: home weather station

    a side note here for the link that bb sited is that they also seem to offer small regulated supplies that can be used with small pvs that deliver up to 500ma or 1/2 amp. the adjustable one with the lm317 is the most useful as it has variable voltage capabilities and you must have some means of measuring the voltage to utilize something that is adjustable.
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  • Brock
    Brock Solar Expert Posts: 639 ✭✭✭✭
    #6
    Re: home weather station

    I have the Davis Pro II with the PC interface and really like it. It stores everything internally and then pushes it out to a PC (via com port), the software is clunky but works. I like it because if I leave my computer off and then turn it on it updates everything online once the PC is powered up. I know it has a solar radiation monitor but I didn't buy one, I think you can add up to 10 of them. Here is what the web side looks like, there is a lot more info it does gather that is on the PC.

    http://www.wunderground.com/weatherstation/WXDailyHistory.asp?ID=KWIGREEN9
    3kw solar PV, 4 LiFePO4 100a, xw 6048, Honda eu2000i, iota DLS-54-13, Tesla 3, Leaf, Volt, 4 ton horizontal geothermal, grid tied - Green Bay, WI
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  • mikeo
    mikeo Solar Expert Posts: 386 ✭✭✭
    #7
    Re: home weather station
    Well, I think I need to get some sort of home weather station set up. I need to learn a micro-climate in a year, and having some sort of objective measurement method, will help me orient solar PV's a year from now.

    I have the Davis Vantage Pro with WeatherlinkIP which automatically downloads weather data including Solar to the CWOP servers as well as Weather Underground. There is no need for computer running 24/7 but you can download the data on your personal computer when you want to. Here is a link that gives some daily solar radiation curves from around the world.
    http://www.wxqa.com/lum_search.htm
    My station is DW1144 if you want to try it. You will need to import the raw data in something like XL to actually plot the data.

    You can also go to Weather Underground and look up KARFOX2 which is also my weather station and they show a plot of the Solar Radiation for each day. Here's the link http://www.wunderground.com/weatherstation/WXDailyHistory.asp?ID=KARFOX2
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  • RandomJoe
    RandomJoe Solar Expert Posts: 472 ✭✭✭
    #8
    Re: home weather station

    I also have the Davis Vantage Pro 2. Got it in January, and love it. One option I skipped but wish I had gotten was the solar irradiance one. Guess I could just add it on now..

    The PC link is very nice. I run Linux, you have to buy the Windows software to get the cable, no big deal. There's a Linux package called 'wview' that acts to collect/log the data, and generate web pages. It will also interface with the CWOP, Wunderground, and I think one or two other weather-reporting sites.

    I have a wired one - kind of wish I'd gone wireless now, as I've thought about moving the outdoor sensors to another part of the yard. It would also be neat to be able to carry the console to other locations as well!
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  • JetMech
    JetMech Solar Expert Posts: 71 ✭✭✭✭
    #9
    Re: home weather station
    RandomJoe wrote: »
    I have a wired one - kind of wish I'd gone wireless now, as I've thought about moving the outdoor sensors to another part of the yard. It would also be neat to be able to carry the console to other locations as well!

    Being able to carry it around is particularly useful when you're in the basement during a bad storm. It's fun to see how high the wind gusts up to!
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  • Brock
    Brock Solar Expert Posts: 639 ✭✭✭✭
    #10
    Re: home weather station

    Mike I have two wireless receivers and I am running one of them with weatherlink on the computer. If I got an IP one could I put that on the second wireless station or could it go on the same station as the one connected to my computer with usb right now, I would think it would plug in the same place?

    Or would I even need to run the one to my computer, I really like the graph’s of inside and outside temps on the computer, could I get that from teh IP one online? Does the IP version post inside info as well?
    3kw solar PV, 4 LiFePO4 100a, xw 6048, Honda eu2000i, iota DLS-54-13, Tesla 3, Leaf, Volt, 4 ton horizontal geothermal, grid tied - Green Bay, WI
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  • mikeo
    mikeo Solar Expert Posts: 386 ✭✭✭
    #11
    Re: home weather station
    I have two wireless receivers and I am running one of them with weatherlink on the computer. If I got an IP one could I put that on the second wireless station or could it go on the same station as the one connected to my computer with usb right now, I would think it would plug in the same place?

    If you have a wireless router, then you can put a WLIP data logger in either of your stations and plug it into the router. You can then access the data with a wireless or wired computer on your network using the weatherlink software. The WLIP logger automatically sends data every minute to the weatherlink.com site owned by Davis. Here is the link to my site at http://weatherlink.com/user/mcv You can get the detailed info including inside temps by clicking on the summary link. This system does not work with a dialup connection, it must be at least DSL speeds. The Weatherlink software will display the hours of sunny days over any time period. I am trying to correlate this measure with my PV production by setting the cutoff level of solar radiation to above some arbitrary point such as 200 w/m^2 and then calculating an efficiency factor. So far it is around 12% of total measured solar radiation at my site.
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  • Brock
    Brock Solar Expert Posts: 639 ✭✭✭✭
    #12
    Re: home weather station

    I have a 5 meg cable modem and jacks all over so I can just plug in to one of them. Can't live without TiVo HD with streaming Netflix and Amazon ;)

    It sounds like the way to go, just avoiding the computer, or I should say not relying on the local computer to get the data out to the net anyway.
    3kw solar PV, 4 LiFePO4 100a, xw 6048, Honda eu2000i, iota DLS-54-13, Tesla 3, Leaf, Volt, 4 ton horizontal geothermal, grid tied - Green Bay, WI
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  • Vic
    Vic Solar Expert Posts: 3,208 ✭✭✭✭
    #13
    Re: home weather station

    I, too, have a Davis vantage Pro II (but without the irradiance option). Have generally been very happy. There are two units in two separate locations. Think that I made a mistake in mounting one of them on a 45-foot crank-up mast. That one seems to have been blown apart ... the rain bucket blew off, . This installation places the station a bit too high, and the mast may move a bit too much in the wind. Iit is exposed to quite a bit more wind than if it were mounted at the customary height -- 10 Meters IIRC.

    The other station has been very solid. After more than two years, even the original Lithium battery in the outdoor station is still running strong .

    Vic
    Off Grid - Two systems -- 4 SW+ 5548 Inverters, Surrette 4KS25 1280 AH X2@48V, 11.1 KW STC PV, 4X MidNite Classic 150 w/ WBjrs, Beta KID on S-530s, MX-60s, MN Bkrs/Boxes.  25 KVA Polyphase Kubota diesel,  Honda Eu6500isa,  Eu3000is-es, Eu2000,  Eu1000 gensets.  Thanks Wind-Sun for this great Forum.
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  • mikeo
    mikeo Solar Expert Posts: 386 ✭✭✭
    #14
    Re: home weather station
    That one seems to have been blown apart ... the rain bucket blew off, . This installation places the station a bit too high, and the mast may move a bit too much in the wind. Iit is exposed to quite a bit more wind than if it were mounted at the customary height -- 10 Meters IIRC.

    The customary height of the ISS and rain bucket is 5 ft off the ground. The wind anemometer can be separated and should be 10 meters off the ground if possible. There is a good siting guide on the CWOP website.
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  • Brock
    Brock Solar Expert Posts: 639 ✭✭✭✭
    #15
    Re: home weather station

    Mike I just got my weatherlink IP and like that it is all stand alone now.

    http://weatherlink.com/user/nevermab/

    Hey it's finally warmer here than where you are ;)

    So it looks like it updates WU in 15 minute intervals, any idea if that could be changed to 1 minute intervals?
    3kw solar PV, 4 LiFePO4 100a, xw 6048, Honda eu2000i, iota DLS-54-13, Tesla 3, Leaf, Volt, 4 ton horizontal geothermal, grid tied - Green Bay, WI
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  • mikeo
    mikeo Solar Expert Posts: 386 ✭✭✭
    #16
    Re: home weather station
    So it looks like it updates WU in 15 minute intervals, any idea if that could be changed to 1 minute intervals?

    No the interval is set by the Davis servers and is not programable.
    Glad you like your new WLIP logger, now you "need" to add the solar pyrometer. I bought mine from Provantage for $110
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