Cheapest reliable barometer

eddystone said:
Any recommendations on a battery powered barometer to use on the boat. I have one of those decorative clock/barometer sets but I'm not sure the aneroid is working. I have other ways of getting weather forecasts obviously, including navtext, but I would like a reliable indication of pressure. If it has a memory to record changes that's a bonus but not essential. I've seen those yellow things that the chandlers sell for £30-40; one review says the electronic compass is inaccurate but doesn't say anything about the pressure function. Of course I could change my iphone 5 for a 6 which has one built in but that would be a lot more expensive and I don't want a bigger phone anyway.
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Why not get an altimeter/barometer. My watch has it, but you can get them on eBay such as http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sunroad-F...Q6-/162011280360?_trksid=p2141725.m3641.l6368 for under £20

TudorSailor
 
I came across this;
BaroPlug,

http://jgtech.com/shop10.htm

which claims to be a NMEA2000 barometric sensor, made by http://www.lcjcapteurs.com/

The paper works say that it'll work with most NMEA2000 plotters, I see reference to B&G, but not Raymarine.

Anyone come accross this unit? It's relatively cheap and if it would plug into my Raymarine e series plotters and display a barograph I'd be tempted to give it ago.
 
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At £139 its not cheap. There is another make clled Yacht Devices that sells for $99 in the USA and £99 in the UK. I think I will wait till the prices get more reasonable. As for working with a Raymarine plotter, you need to get the manual and find the full list of display options to see if a barograph is included.

EDIT: The yacht Devices unit can be specified with a termination resistor built in so that you can connect it to the end of the NMEA2000 backbone and save buying another Tee connector or cable.
 
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Eek, £139.... that's expensive everywhere except the Dallas of the NE!

Great idea, just need a sensible price for a nice to have gadget rather than need to have item for your nmea 2k network.
 
I'm pretty sure the Garmin 750 doesn't have a barograph display and £139 just for a sensor seems a bit steep. I wonder about the accuracy of the very cheap devices as, for example, the Bosch Sensortec pressure sensor as a single component would cost more than their total cost. A digital barograh for a small weather station would be £500-1000. I'm warming to the Vion device.
 
eddystone said:
I'm pretty sure the Garmin 750 doesn't have a barograph display and £139 just for a sensor seems a bit steep. I wonder about the accuracy of the very cheap devices as, for example, the Bosch Sensortec pressure sensor as a single component would cost more than their total cost. A digital barograh for a small weather station would be £500-1000. I'm warming to the Vion device.
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Here's 2 that I am looking at


https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1-U...lgo_pvid=a835100c-1e71-4dfa-8e10-2e1fbcc6b01a

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Ind...lgo_pvid=a835100c-1e71-4dfa-8e10-2e1fbcc6b01a
 
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My phone has a barometer, my handled GPS has one too oh and there is a proper one on the boat; they all display different pressures!
 
Sandy said:
My phone has a barometer, my handled GPS has one too oh and there is a proper one on the boat; they all display different pressures!
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Is that at factory settings or after calibration?

I suppose, certainly for me, I'm not that concerned about absolute value but the trend, do they all show the same trend?
 
BMP180 digital pressure sensor (very accurate - calibrate to sea level) £3
Arduino Nano £4
16x2 LCD display £6
Few lines of code £0
Couple wires and an Altoids tin for a case £1
===================
Total £14 (rounded up)

One of these days I'll get around to putting it in a case and adding a NMEA0183 output so I can use OpenCPN to draw me a barograph from the data. Project got slightly interrupted by buying a boat :)

bmp180.jpg
 
I've ordered a Jumbl weather station from Amazon for £35 - strangely enough it looks absolutely identical to one with a TFS Gaia brand which is £60. I plan to hide the sensor somewhere inside the cockpit locker. Even if it only lasts a couple of years that would be fine as I might have replaced my Android tablet with an iPad Air2 by then - there are some v.good apps which use the internal pressure sensor with far better graphic presentation than anything else I've seen. I would guess Apple use Bosch Sensortec sensors which they no doubt get for a fraction of the retail price.

Quite like the NASA Meteoman but its 12V so will not have last 24hrs pressure trend when I arrive at the boat ( yes I do turn off all power when i leave the boat)
 
Yngmar said:
BMP180 digital pressure sensor (very accurate - calibrate to sea level) £3
Arduino Nano £4
16x2 LCD display £6
Few lines of code £0
Couple wires and an Altoids tin for a case £1
===================
Total £14 (rounded up)

One of these days I'll get around to putting it in a case and adding a NMEA0183 output so I can use OpenCPN to draw me a barograph from the data. Project got slightly interrupted by buying a boat :)

bmp180.jpg
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Looks like just what I need except with a nmea2000 output. Can I be bold and ask if you have the instructions for the project as I would love to give it a go?
 
eddystone said:
Quite like the NASA Meteoman but its 12V so will not have last 24hrs pressure trend when I arrive at the boat ( yes I do turn off all power when i leave the boat)
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I turn off all power as well but I have the Meteoman wired, via a fuse, directly to one of the batteries. So it constantly shows the pressure trend.
 
ctva said:
Looks like just what I need except with a nmea2000 output. Can I be bold and ask if you have the instructions for the project as I would love to give it a go?
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Same little chip works with openplotter on a Rasperry pi which *should* be able to output nmea 2000 with a car can-usb dongle.
But quite possibly not much use to you as it takes about 0.3a and would need to be on all the time to get the trend.

https://sailoog.gitbooks.io/openplotter-documentation/content/en/can-usb-stick.html
 
Yngmar said:
BMP180 digital pressure sensor (very accurate - calibrate to sea level) £3
Arduino Nano £4
16x2 LCD display £6
Few lines of code £0
Couple wires and an Altoids tin for a case £1
===================
Total £14 (rounded up)

One of these days I'll get around to putting it in a case and adding a NMEA0183 output so I can use OpenCPN to draw me a barograph from the data. Project got slightly interrupted by buying a boat :)
Click to expand...
Yngmar said:
Could the kit be battery powered?

I have a 3D printer. Maybe I could design and make a case in return for help with making the barometer??

TudorSailor
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I didn't say it was cheap, I said relatively cheap, anything to do with Raymarine and their plotter's is expensive, even their cables.

I've checked and it is compatible with the e series plotters, it needs a micro to Stng converter cable, I haven't priced the cable but that's likely to be £30 'ish.

If it's truly plug and play, it may be worth a go. To have the ability to display a barograph on the chart plotter, at the press of a button, and not have yet another bit of free standing kit is worth something in my book.

If I had time I'd love to spend hours and days making something and learning about NMEA 2000, but a lot of the technical detail of NMEA 2000 and Raymarine's version of it is proprietary info', so it would probably take some effort to make something that worked reliably. But in reality I prefer to go sailing.

Whilst I agree it's a gadget, I've found that a barograph is very useful (use to have watch with a barograph display) when sailing in areas where there is little or no mobile phone signal, and when there, it's too slow to use most websites.

As for the Dallas of the NE comment, when over 120,000 jobs (directly and indirectly) have been lost in the oil industry over the last 18 months or so, including many of my friends (whose boats are now for sale). House prices have fallen by over 10% and most people still in work have had to take significant pay cuts. All without so much as a murmur from Westminster and little more from Holyrood ...... Dallas of the North seems a little out of touch with reality.
 
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