Wifi weather station for Ipad

[BartW]

Was thinking to have a fixed “weather” ipad in the boat,
with immediate acces to weather and sea state forecast sites

and then add sensors for temp, wind, air pressure, etc, on the wifi network in the boat, for accurate local data,
a nice x-mas present for myself,

does somebody on here know such kind of instruments ?
has somebody investigated what's on the market ?

 

[rafiki_]

Bart, do you need additional sensors, or can you use the info on the Internet to give you the info you need? Instrumentation will ply tell you what is happening now. For me, you need to predict what is going to happen. The days of doing this from the barometer are long gone.

 

[scubaman]

I've considered a similar thing. This got a good review from David Marsh in the MBY on the June issue:

http://uk.oregonscientific.com/cat-...ther-Station-plus-UV-Sensor.html#.ULTJTKWEa0s

A poor man's alternative to a dedicated iPad, sort of achieves the same giving the local data via it's own display. I'm seriously considering ordering one.

 

[BartW]

Bart, do you need additional sensors, or can you use the info on the Internet to give you the info you need? Instrumentation will ply tell you what is happening now. For me, you need to predict what is going to happen. The days of doing this from the barometer are long gone.

Sure, the info on the net with predictions is the most important,
but sometimes you want to know accurately the temp and windspeed , (and barometer changes) on your position

In the area where the boat is, border between Cote d'azure and Cote Varoise,
wheater can show strong differences during the day / in area's only a few miles away from each other,
due to the geografical position.

chain of thoughts was;
I would like to have one of these sheap digital weather stations, with sensors and all that,
then I thought its more important to have a display (fe Ipad) permanently showing the online predictions (as per your remark )
then I thought why not combine the two,
and fix this Ipad on a "detacheable" holder, in the middle of the boat.

don't you think this could be usefull ?

 

[BartW]

I've considered a similar thing. This got a good review from David Marsh in the MBY on the June issue:

http://uk.oregonscientific.com/cat-...ther-Station-plus-UV-Sensor.html#.ULTJTKWEa0s

A poor man's alternative to a dedicated iPad, sort of achieves the same giving the local data via it's own display. I'm seriously considering ordering one.

Yes that revieuw made me thinking about this,
but there are similar units with wifi incorperated and a software to display the data on you PC,
then you don't need to dedicate a PC or Ipad, but still have that option,

 

[scubaman]

Yes that revieuw made me thinking about this,
but there are similar units with wifi incorperated and a software to display the data on you PC,
then you don't need to dedicate a PC or Ipad, but still have that option,

Yep, that would be a handy option to have. With a bit of tweaking you could also publish the data so that it could be viewed remotely with a browser. Could be nice to check the conditions when away.

Do you know if there are ipad/iphone apps capable of reading the weather station data?

 

[grumpy_o_g]

Davis do an iPad app for their weather stations but you need either a PC or one of their more expensive devices to get it on the Internet. What actually happens is you join a network of weather stations and publish your data on their network - you log in via the app to see your data or anyone else's. I would think that you would still see your own on your local Wi-Fi even if you didn't have a link to the Internet at the time but don't know for sure. You'd also probably be giving your position to everyone on the Internet but I guess you don't need to call yourself Bart or Bleu Angel.

http://www.davisnet.com/



Another option could be a Wi-Fi NMEA gateway to your existing sensors??

 

[rafiki_]

Sure, the info on the net with predictions is the most important,
but sometimes you want to know accurately the temp and windspeed , (and barometer changes) on your position

In the area where the boat is, border between Cote d'azure and Cote Varoise,
wheater can show strong differences during the day / in area's only a few miles away from each other,
due to the geografical position.

chain of thoughts was;
I would like to have one of these sheap digital weather stations, with sensors and all that,
then I thought its more important to have a display (fe Ipad) permanently showing the online predictions (as per your remark )
then I thought why not combine the two,
and fix this Ipad on a "detacheable" holder, in the middle of the boat.

don't you think this could be usefull ?

I think I understand what you are trying to achieve, but as I have no real knowledge of the local area where BA is moored, I'm not sure I can add anything. However, I assume you are using A MiFi device? How far offshore does this work, assuming it needs a good 3G mobile signal?

 

[BartW]

here is one,

http://www.netatmo.com/en-US/product
but it doesn't have a wind sensor, so no use for us

then another one:

http://www.homewizard.nl/

this also has a water temp sensor option, thats interesting for the lady's

but in addition to an I-pad, fairly expensive for a weather station,
so I want to be sure that it works OK,
before I buy it.