Land based Met Station

[EBoat126]

I need to install a met station on one of our building in work, most important is wind speed & direction.

I'm thinking the kind of thing that most of us would mount on top of a mast would be the easiest, most weather proof & most cost effective method.

Any recomendations appreciated as we don't have such luxuries on our little E Boat?

Cheers

 

[MrB]

Cheapest for wind would be a wind sock, it gives you direction and wind speed up to about 15kts.

 

[EBoat126]

Thanks, but I think they're after a wee bit more accuracy that "over that way, a bit breezy"

 

[[70521]]

Thanks, but I think they're after a wee bit more accuracy that "over that way, a bit breezy"

Contact your local National Coastwatch Station. Most of them have weather stations on them and I am sure they would be very helpful in guidance on how they set their's ups.

 

[Giblets]

Have a look at the Davies range of weather stations. Very nice bits of kit and, with the right software, can be linked to a PC for reading and historical data retrival. Not the cheapest but you pays for what you get.

 

[TonyBuckley]

Have a look at what these guys use... http://www.isleofwightweather.co.uk/

You don't mention budget.

"Our weather recording equipment includes a Davis Vantage Pro2 Plus with FARS and three Davis Vantage Pro2 Automatic weather stations. We now use a Davis WeatherLinkIP data logger on one of our consoles. This allows the uploading of data to a Weather Website without the need for a PC. This data can be viewed here. Our lightning detection system uses a Boltek Storm Tracker PCI lightning detector, and Astrogenic Systems NexStorm 1.54 software, allowing us to plot real time storm details, which are updated every minute there is activity. Our sferic information can now be seen here. This is the most popular thunderstorm detection and information website in the South of England. Join our unique TSentry Thunderstorm Alert Notification Service here."

 

[duncan99210]

Maplin do a number of them. My brother has one on his narrow boat and it's been going for about 18 months now with no problems. Equally, do a search on eBay for weather station and there are lots to choose from. FWIW we have a Lidl one on the boat that only does temp, pressure and relative humidity that cost about €20 and is about three years old.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

It also depends why you want it. You may need it to be calibrated to match other readings - like the "official" met stations, complete with Stevenson Screen and standardized equipement. In that case, yacht equipment won't help a lot, as although we all calibrate it (don't we?) there is no guarantee that the equipment is reading correctly; yachties aren't really interested in accurate absolute wind-speed, merely how it is changinging and a general idea of the magnitude.

Of course, there is no yacht equipment that gives dew-point, shade temperature or precipitation, which are all components of a land-based met station. And, of course, few yachts have atmospheric pressure linked into the instrument bus!

 

[Rigger Mortice]

I've got a Maplin one which has been running for nearly three years without problem. It's wireless so I just had to bung it on a pole in the garden. It records everything automatically so I have it set for hourly readings which appear on my computer as if by magic. Wind speed, direction, temperature, dew point, rainfall, pressure, humidity, wind chill. All presented as data or graph. All very geeky but interesting nevertheless.

 

[EBoat126]

This looks exactly like the kind of thing we need, the requirement is for wind speed & direction but the rest is a bonus. thunder detection would be a significant bonus as we're dealing with rocket motors & rely on Met office 40miles away for thunder warnings.

Budget isn't a big deciding factor, safety is much higher up the list.

Many thanks all for relies

Have a look at what these guys use... http://www.isleofwightweather.co.uk/

You don't mention budget.

"Our weather recording equipment includes a Davis Vantage Pro2 Plus with FARS and three Davis Vantage Pro2 Automatic weather stations. We now use a Davis WeatherLinkIP data logger on one of our consoles. This allows the uploading of data to a Weather Website without the need for a PC. This data can be viewed here. Our lightning detection system uses a Boltek Storm Tracker PCI lightning detector, and Astrogenic Systems NexStorm 1.54 software, allowing us to plot real time storm details, which are updated every minute there is activity. Our sferic information can now be seen here. This is the most popular thunderstorm detection and information website in the South of England. Join our unique TSentry Thunderstorm Alert Notification Service here."