Weather Equipment/Software > Weather Station Equipment
Help with remote weather station set-up
Luuk:
Hi
Im new to this stuff and need some help, I work for a scenic flight company in Tasmania, Australia, we operate into a very remote airfield which has plenty of extreme weather and would like to set up a weather station. I have been looking at the Davis VP2 but I am a bit confused as to what I need to connect it to a PC.
We have set up a part solar part wind power system which will run a laptop and a satelite internet modem so will have a constant internet connection (cheap at $30 per month and fast at 6 Mbts) and also require a webcam.
I have looked at the Davis IP system but it looks to be limited in what we can do with the data, as we would like to present it on our web site.
Is there any way we can buy the Davis Vp2 without the console as we have no need for it, or do we need the console to be able to connect to the laptop. Also we might need to shut the system down over night in winter to save power, is the software and hardware stable enough to put up with timed shutdowns and start ups?
System stability is very importent for this project as we would be relying on the data for our operational decisions.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Regards
Luuk Veltkamp
Par Avion Wilderness Tours
www.paravion.com.au
Budgie:
You have the choice of connection, IP you have already looked at, or you can use USB or Serial direct to the laptop (if the laptop has a Serial connection).
The Davis VP2 comes with a solar cell to power the sensors and the console will run happily on 3 x D cell batteries if the normal mains power is off, so there's no need to shut that side down. It also has a data logger as part of the PC connection and will continue to record the weather data when the PC is shut down.
If you don't need the console then there is the Davis Envoy which will do the same thing as the console, but without the screen.
The Weather Display software can be shut down overnight, although it is designed to run 24/7 and this is definitely advisable when it comes to the end of month & end of year change-overs as the software does a lot of monthly/annual calculations just after midnight. But if you have it shut down at 00:30 or after then that should be fine.
Luuk:
I would like to run Weather View 24/7 if power permites, Can I plug the Envoy directly into the laptop and into Weather View?
Budgie:
If you mean the Weather View 32 software then I'm sure it will work but this is the support forums for the Weather Display software so we won't be of much use for information about Weather View 32. :wink:
niko:
I don't know the current Davis pricing situation in Tasmania, but the idea of buying only an ISS and an envoy has surfaced on here many times and I don't recall any scenario in which that turned out to be less expensive than buying the standard retail VP2 package with the ISS and console. It's my experience that setting and troubleshooting an envoy, without benefit of the console's screen and push buttons, is quite a pain.
If you plan to use a laptop as a remote make sure that it will auto-reboot after a power failure that exhausts the battery, also in my experience not all laptops will do that.
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