Large Storm Event in UK, Poor Wind Data, Advice Wanted

Hardware Weather Station Equipment
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Hey all

This is a kind of general post regarding wind logging, but any changes I make to my set up will all be done with a view to using PWS Dash so am posting here, hope that is ok.

That being the case:

We just had a large storm pass through the UK and had some very strong winds in my area, however my anemometer didnt record winds very much higher than a generally blustery day.

That being the case, when funds permit, I will be looking to get a better one.

Has anyone used an Ultrasonic one? I like the minimal maintenance aspect, and that it will be a bit less “wtf is that on his roof” that a mechanical one. :lol:

Does anyone use one?

How have you found it? What one do you have?

Are you dead against them? If so why?

How have you integrated with PWS Dash?

Hope Wim is ok with this post in this board, if not I can move to a different forum section, just because I will be tying it to my PWS Dash install I wouldn’t want to invest in something incompatible hence posting here.

Thanks!

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I’ll leave it up to Wim whether to move this or not but I would have thought it would have been better located in Weather Station Equipment section because it may only get seen by members who use the PWS Dashboard in here, where as the equipment section is more general and you may be missing some good advice.

It would also help if you mentioned what hardware & software you currently use and which ultrasonic anemometer you’re thinking of getting.
If you have a Davis VP2 and you’re thinking of the Davis anemometer then it’s a straight swap, but if you’re looking to use different brands then you have to think about the compatibility of the new anemometer with your software and current station sensors.

Another thing to think about is the anemometer location. If the current one isn’t in an open location to catch undisturbed wind from all directions, then can you relocate it to make this better? An ultrasonic anemometer in the same location could still be compromised in its accuracy.

In my own location, I have hills & tree which block the wind from the majority of directions. All I can do is live with that because my only option is to move the station away from the house and on to land I don’t own. So I just report the conditions I get at my location and don’t worry about what others are getting. :wink:

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Weather Stations which can be sued with PWS_Dashboard should communicate either with a

  • Weather-program => almost all “normal” weather-programs are supported
  • Weather-net => WeatherUnderground, Ambient network, weatherflow and Weatherlink.com are supported. Ecowitt.net will be supported a.s.a.p.
  • or communicate directly to the PWS_Dashboard such as ecowitt and or foshk-plugin

I think it is difficult nowadays to find a normal → excellent weather-station which data can not be read in one way or another

however my anemometer didn't record winds very much higher than a generally blustery day.
I "manage / take care" of 5 weather-stations. The 3 on my appartement all recorded windspeeds of [b]74 +/- 4 km/h[/b]: Davis VUE, Ecowitt tri-wing, Tempest (ultrasonic) . A Davis VP-2+ at my daughters house is located on a roof, large gardens, open areas, not to big trees [b]66 kmh[/b] Another Ecowitt tri-wing [b]34 kmh[/b] on my sons place, urbanised area, small garden, lots of houses.

So the device to measure is only “nearly” as important as the location. Crowded location, less windspeed.

Has anyone used an Ultrasonic one? I like the minimal maintenance aspect,
The problem with the Tempest: it also recorded 35 mm of rain, all other stations mine and the official ones recorded around 2 mm. Other users of the same Tempest devices confirmed they had similar quantities of "ghost-rain". On the WX-forum similar "discussions" for the current Ecowitt ultrasonic ones.

For now ultrasonic wind recording seems correct for higher wind-speeds. Still discussions for lower wind-speeds.
Rain measurements are wrong both for very low, trickle rain. And totally-wrong with very high wind-speeds.

Middle of March my “Christmas” present will be delivered, an ultrasonic all-in-one Ecowitt-Wittboy.
It was available on KickStarter and I will mount it side-by-side with the Tempest and compare the measurements.
I expect its measurements will be more in line with “mechanical” stations as there is more and easier firmware and calibration
About the beta test a.s.o. there is a separate forum blog => WittBoy = GW2001 (station) = WS90 + GW2000 on Kickstarter & Beta test

===
As it is far above my budget, I hope someone will also answer for the Sonic Anemometer - SKU 6415 — Davis Instruments

Wim

P.S. The topic name does not mention pws-dashboard.
As @budgie said, this topic could be moved as attracting opinions works maybe better in Weather Station Equipment section
I can not do that, as I can only moderate the dashboard part of the forum.

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I nearly went for the Wittboy but that haptic rain sensor put me off big time, theres been so many issues with them in the past, i cant see that changing, thats just the way they are, no matter the fine tuning, I cannot see the being as good as a tipping job. granted they may notice rain faster but then thats why i have a modified heated leaf sensor.

I hope im wrong and it does a good job for you, would be good to have a compact all in one :slight_smile:

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I currently use an “all in one” Youshiko YC9387 and just got a Davis AQ monitor

Plan would be to have the new anemometer up on my roof where it will get better exposure, but would be very impractical to service hence why I like the idea of an ultrasonic one as a “breakaway” sensor up on the roof on it’s own.

Ah that’s great re. the compatibility thanks.

Regards the location, this is partly why I want to go for a minimal maintenance solution for my anemometer, put it up on my house roof, currently station is on my garage, but a bit too much trees and houses blocking winds, top of the roof of house much less so. But keep other sensors on the garage for ease of maintenance etc…

I’m happy to use a variety of sensors to try and get the best readings I can, so an anemomtere up on teh roof with a different rain gauge elsewhere etc… no problem

I dont seem able to move the post either, sorry, I’ll post the same in the other forum and put the link just below and close off this thread so that any other people searching can find it in the future.

Thanks for all the help!

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Yes ultrasonic anemometers are somewhat problematic at present as they are new technology. Having said that mine has been working OK since I reset it on Saturday and it recorded 67 mph today. The jury is out now about what might have caused it.

Stuart

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Thanks.

How long had it been problem free?

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I have had two, the first was replaced under warranty as it was eating batteries, that one was up 10 months with no other issues. The second one had been up 3 weeks when it froze, this was in the middle of storm Eunice, so I left the reset until Saturday and it has been OK since. Now as I said the jury is out as to why and I am waiting for Ecowitt to let me know what they believe the issue is. Apparently one is supposed to reset a new device when installing it after putting in the batteries but I did not know this and did not do it. So we wait and see!

I am led to believe the Davis ultrasonic one has some issues.

Stuart

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Topic merged into one in the Weather Station Equipment forum + duplicate & irrelevant posts removed . :wink:

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Thanks that’s really helpful