Hello all! I have a quick question about the Dallas 1-wire. I currently am using a WM-918 station w/weather display and I was interested in adding two more temperature probes for soil and water temperature, and primarily a solar sensor to automatically indicate cloudy, partly cloudy, etc.
Naturally since I don’t use a Lacrosse 2500 or a Davis VantagePro, I found the dallas 1-wire option the best. I am not sure where to find a solar probe for the dallas 1-wire. I can find hum, temp, pressure, and rain but nothing else. Anyone have any suggestions or alternatives?
Hi
you could also hook that solar sensor to a labjack, and also use the labjack temperature sensors
but a labjack.com will set you back a bit more…
i have added a new section to the help file all about the solar sensor and use etc…and i guess i better add the link to hobby boards too
… or you could simply place one of the one wire temp sensors in a jar. I have been using this $4 appraoch for a couple of years now and it works perfectly.
Brian,
Why do you not mention this approach any more?
Alright, so I’ve decided on the labjack just for ease of use. Now, where can I buy the actual solar sensor?
(Your idea with the painted black jar with the thermometer in it seems like a reasonable idea also and is also being considered… By the way do you paint it completely black?)
Hi
yup, the temperature sensor in a jar, with the bottom (only) painted black (so the sun shines in from low angles) works good too…quite a number of people have one of those going…and by fine tuning in WD, WD can even estimage the WM/2
solar sensor from hobby boards:
but someone else might pitch in about the changes in the wiring needed…(i.e someone who has done it aleady)
On a side note. How does one mount the solar sensor that is sold on hobby-boards?
I have mine mounted under a glass “dome” (really a small glass bowl inverted). I used hot glue to mount the board just using small dobs of glue at each corner. I’ll take a photo this weekend and try posting it :?
TO BRIAN AND GRHUGHES: Thanks brian. Im a bit confused about the temperature probe in the glass jar. Could someone just draw up a simple diagram in paint?
TO COLIN: That picture would be much appreciated.
TO ALL: How difficult is the wiring of the hobby board sensor to labjack and then to weather display… im not much of an electronics guru
Eric,
All you need to do is simply get a small peanut butter jar. Drill a hole in the middle of the lid. Solder a one-wire temp sensor to a piece of cat5 wiring and push it into the hole. Now silicone the lid shut and silicone the hole around the wire. That’s all there is to it. I didn’t paint mine black and it still works perfectly.
The problem with hobby board is that all those solar sensors and lightning sensors are not available for the time beeing. I asked the website master and the answer was: “Not sure what items you were trying to add but I’m out of stock on many of my items right now. If the item is out of stock I disable the “Add to Cart” button so that it can’t be ordered. I don’t like to have
backorders waiting because sometimes my work gets busy and I can’t
guarantee when I can get an order placed. I will be placing a large stocking order in the next couple of days so please keep checking the site and I will also announce on the weather list when I have more parts in stock.”
It’s a few weeks I’m checking and no update on their website.
Is there any other way to add a extra thermometer to weather display without getting into 1-wire (which will be my next station after this one dies… the WM-918 just isnt accurate enough)
I take it i'd have to buy http://www.aagelectronica.com/aag/en-us/p_20.html though too :-\
-Eric
Nope, you do not need this at all. The DS9097U is simply connected to a strand of cat 5 and only needs 2 wires ( I’m not sure where it got the name one wire ) . Then you can simply “tap” into the wire where ever needed. I ran one piece of cat5 to a punch down block and then connected all my sensors at this location.
As i said, im not heavy electronic guru. By tapping the cat5 (isnt that just an ethernet cable?) you mean splitting the wire in half and connecting each wire to the corresponding wire?
