Weather Gizmos

[fan-of-fans]

I've been interested in the weather esp lately and just before Irma hit I was looking at the weather stations you can buy. A relative had a basic one that measured inside and outside temp. It was a LaCrosse technology and had a transmitter unit mounted outside on the shed.

I used to have a basic Radio Shack one with wet and dry bulb thermometer, wind speec guage and rain guage all simple stuff nothing electronic.

Anyhow I see Acurite is having a sale. They have the simple units with inside and outside temp and bar shaped transmitter. And some the transmitter has a lightning detector that beeps. You can also buy a louvered pagoda like sun cover for the transmitter. More expensive units have a louvered round pagoda shaped transmitter with anemometer on top for wind speed and meaure humidity also. Fanciest ones have a big transmitter with solar panels and rain guage. Heard those break quickly though due to the fan inside being poorly made.

I think a cheaper unit may be best as being outside I imagine they get moldy and brittle.

There are also Oregon Scientific and other brands. Sometimes the Acurite ones labeled Bass Pro. There are simple LCD displays as well as color and HD screens.

Also does anyone know about the ASOS or AWOS stations? They are usually at airports and these are sometimes used for NWS weather reports. I found a site and it shows them on a map and has the phone numbers. If you call you get a message that says "__ Municipal Airport Automated Weather Observation" and the temp and windspeed, visibility, etc. Sometimes other messages are recorded also for pilots. Two of the small airports in my area have these AWOS stations.

 

[maytagbear]

My idea of

a weather gadget is Jim Cantore.

'nuff said.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[cfz2882]

cool old heathkit units

Heathkit had some cool LED digital "weater stations"~early 1980s.I found some of these on ebay ~2005,but they always bid up high.

 

[mattl]

I've got a number of these units around the house.  I have a La Crosse mounted on one end of the house and it feed 3 interior units.  Have an Accurite  weather station mounted high up my TV tower to get wind speed and temps in an open area, and one or two other units I've picked up over the years that are sort of working sort of not.  The LaCrosse is an older unit and I've had to replace the exterior transmitter several times over the years and it uses an older lower freq. transmitter than the new ones, so they are a bit hard to find, but I like the indoor units, most have a display that projects on the ceiling so I can see it across the room in the evening or when I'm in bed.

 

[tolivac]

Remember the Heathkit weather kits-Many radio stations installed these and put the weather sensors on the studio building roof-the display-meter panel in the studio.Assembled a few of them.They worked pretty good.So when the morning DJ announced the temp and wind speed-direction,he was able to read it from the weather system.There used to be another brand of weather station here at the VOA transmitter-it was like the Heathkit.One night a really bad thunderstorm took out the unit-LKightening hit nearby and a loud POP 7SPARK,then smoke came from the weather display-had an owl symbol on it.Now we have a windspeed meter in its place-the wind meter has the speed sensor on the roof and uses the wire the old wether unit used to feed the speed indicator in the control room.For direction-we use the outside US flag like a windsock.

 

[petek]

I've got a few around the house, mostly just wireless indoor/outdoor temp/ humidity and "forecast".  Didn't pay much for any of them.. like $15 or so.  They seem to be pretty accurate.  You can't go by what the local temp forecast is in your area because of micro climates.. us living in the north end of town near the lake the temp can be a few degree's cooler or hotter than other parts and particularly our tiny airport where I think they take the "official" temps.. it's 3 miles out in the country surrounded by farms. 

 

[arbilab]

Newer and older LaCrosse in/out thermo, newer one has humidity and dewpoint.  Both have 'atomic' clocks, though my 1982 $8 travel alarm is dead-on-balls accurate enough (it's an industry term) (what movie that from?).

 

Only so much to be known about weather short of waiting.  NOAA is bristling with MS and PhDs but the more educated they are the more equivocal their synopses.  "Well it might but it might not.  But it might."

 

[philcobendixduo]

My Weather Gizmos.....

......are a Computemp 5 indoor/outdoor thermometer with wired sensors and red LED display and a RainWise wireless rain gauge.
Both are very accurate and trouble-free. The rain gauge requires 4 AA batteries (2 for the outdoor unit and 2 for the indoor unit) which I change every year before the rainy season starts.
One can easily spend hundreds (or over one thousand) dollars on home weather stations from Davis and the like.
I'm happy just to know temperatures and rainfall amounts!

 

[fan-of-fans]

I think I'm just going to get one of the cheap Acurite temperature ones from Walmart, and order the solar shield from Acurite. I can probably just hang the sensor along the fence line from a shepherds hook and that will be an easy quick install.

I like the 3-in-1 units too with wind and humidity and I may get one later. Looks like they can be mounted either to a post or on top of a PVC pipe. These units tend to be more accurate for wind when installed higher - a 10' length of pipe should give an okay reading, but not sure how others will like a 10' pipe along the fence line. Not sure how I would secure the 10' pipe to the ground either. I guess I could clamp it to a 4x4 post at the ground.