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Weather Station Recommendations?

Vaughn McMillan

Vaughn McMillan

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I know some of you guys are running personal weather stations. I'm looking at replacing our older Ambient Weather WS-1400 with something newer. It must have WiFi connectivity to connect to Weather Underground, and would also like an indoor console with indoor and outdoor temps, plus all the other data. What brand and model do you have, and what do you like/dislike about it?
 
I've had an Acurite 5-N-1 for several years and have been very satisfied. You can see my WU station using the link in my signature. I opted not to buy a local display since I can see all the instruments on my PC, a phone app, or my WU page. The only thing I added to the basic package is a remote battery pack that allows you to place the batteries in a convenient location so you don't have to lower the station to change batteries.
 
My Davis Vantage Vue has all those features, with the accessory 'link.' Mine has been working flawlessly for about ten years now.
 
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I also have a Acurite 5-N-1, but they rely on a USB connection to the pc with software to publish to Weather Underground. I was also looking for one that was connected via wifi, but this one is not, at least the base piece I have.

Mine has been disconnecting and not reconnecting, still working through the issue. It was doing the same when it was connected to WEEWX on a raspberry pi. I'll be updating the usb cable next.
 
Darren Wright said:
I also have a Acurite 5-N-1, but they rely on a USB connection to the pc with software to publish to Weather Underground. I was also looking for one that was connected via wifi, but this one is not, at least the base piece I have.

Mine has been disconnecting and not reconnecting, still working through the issue. It was doing the same when it was connected to WEEWX on a raspberry pi. I'll be updating the usb cable next.
Click to expand...
Mine is on my household wifi, it was easy to set up. The wifi is built into the indoor monitor I believe.

Personal Weather Station Dashboard | Weather Underground

Weather Underground provides local & long-range weather forecasts, weather reports, maps & tropical weather conditions for locations worldwide.
www.wunderground.com
 
Davis Vantage Vue here, It's getting a little long in the tooth. I'd probably replace it with a Davis Vantage Pro, just because it's kind of the gold standard.

I have no idea on what kind of capabilities the new ones have.

I have mine setup with a serial to usb converted connected to a raspberry pi running linux that uses weewx for updating my weather station and several other services.
 
Darren Wright said:
I also have a Acurite 5-N-1, but they rely on a USB connection to the pc with software to publish to Weather Underground. I was also looking for one that was connected via wifi, but this one is not, at least the base piece I have.

Mine has been disconnecting and not reconnecting, still working through the issue. It was doing the same when it was connected to WEEWX on a raspberry pi. I'll be updating the usb cable next.
Click to expand...
My 5-N-1 base unit connects via USB directly to my router for uploading to the Acurite server. Then the Acurite server transfers the data to WU.
 
Thanks for the suggestions, guys. I checked out all the models you mentioned and there sure are a lot of similarities between them all. (The Davis models do look the best, but the ones I saw were out of my price range.) Looks like there are many good models. After doing a lot of reading, I ended up going with one that wasn't mentioned...the Ambient Weather 2902c. It checks all the feature boxes for me, has good ratings and reviews, and was in my price range. Also, a good friend who lives 1/2 mile away has the same model. It'll be interesting to see how the readings on the two compare. Should be here Sunday if Amazon's prediction is correct.
 
I don't have good luck with any weather stations.

I have had 4 different brands in the past.
I finally decided to get a "quality" one and leave the rest behind.
I bought a Davis Vue

Sorry to say - I have not had any better luck
The 3V battery goes dead really fast.
So I built a solar unit to charge a small rechargeable 12V battery with a 12V to 3V converter to run the Davis.
Worked OK

The transmitter does not want to stay connected to the receiver.
I am WELL within the distance that the transmitter can send a signal to.

I have it all disconnected right now, as it has been disconnected for a few years.

I really do want a good weather station.
Not sure what to get at this point

I am 0 for 4

Lacrosse - was nice for a while
AcuRite - I liked this one
Davis - disappointed - but I will hook it back up some day and leave the receiver really close to transmitter. ZERO customer support
I had another one but don't remember the name
 
Vaughn McMillan said:
Thanks for the suggestions, guys. I checked out all the models you mentioned and there sure are a lot of similarities between them all. (The Davis models do look the best, but the ones I saw were out of my price range.) Looks like there are many good models. After doing a lot of reading, I ended up going with one that wasn't mentioned...the Ambient Weather 2902c. It checks all the feature boxes for me, has good ratings and reviews, and was in my price range. Also, a good friend who lives 1/2 mile away has the same model. It'll be interesting to see how the readings on the two compare. Should be here Sunday if Amazon's prediction is correct.
Click to expand...
I gave the Ambient Weather Station you mentioned to my son-in-law for Christmas last year and he really likes it. No problems so far.
 
I was looking into the issue with mine and decided to order one of the displays with wifi. It seems you can connect multiple displays to the sensor, so will give that a try and move the original display to the garage
 
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