After a couple of years running a basic WeatherDuino system I've recently upgraded to the Pro 2+ so thought I would share a few photos and observations. My weather station is located in a suburban garden in Dorset, on the south coast of the UK. The Pro 2+ receiver is located in a single storey utility room at the side of the house. One of my two transmitters is located above the utility room, while the other is fixed to the side of a covered garden seat.
![[Image: busshelter.png]](https://ejmilton.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/busshelter.png)
The first transmitter receives data from wind speed and direction sensors fixed above the ridge of the house, and temperature and humidity data from a modified Fine Offset radiation shield located in a shaded yard below. The transmitter in the garden has a wired connection to a solar/UV sensor mounted on a fence at the bottom of the garden.
A WeatherDuino Air Quality sensor mounted within the roof of the garden seat completes the set-up.
![[Image: P9170695.png]](https://ejmilton.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/P9170695.png)
The whole system is powered by two sealed lead acid batteries, one in the utility room for the receiver and the first transmitter, and one in the garden for the irradiance sensors and air quality monitor. The batteries are charged from a 50 watt solar panel.
A few observations:
1. The WiFi on my Pro 2+ receiver stopped working after a few days for no apparent reason. Fortunately, I had bought a second board as a spare and that appears to be working fine. I will investigate the problem with the first board once I am satisfied that my working system is stable.
2. The weatherproof plastic boxes I used for my outdoor transmitters proved to be ideal. I bought them from Toolstation in the UK for around 20 Euros each [Part No. 35429].
3. The sloping ABS boxes I used for my receivers (Pro 2 and Pro 2+) were the perfect size for a Rx board and a Raspberry Pi. They came from the Camden Boss Euro Desk 8000 Series [Part number BIM8005-BLK/PG].
4. I searched high and low for good quality splashproof connectors that were not too expensive and were neat, but easy to solder. I eventually settled on the Rean Mini XLR range and used these for the connectors for external T/H sensors etc.
![[Image: RxPro2.png]](https://ejmilton.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/RxPro2.png)
5. The plastic box I used for the Air Quality monitor was recommended by another user in the Forum and it worked well.
6. Like most people, I sourced many of the components via eBay. Although this saved a lot of money, I found that some of the transmitter modules I bought worked better than others. I only had one module that didn't work at all, but some gave RF efficiencies less than 40% whereas the best gave 70-80%. Changing the transmitter module seemed more significant than altering the type and orientation of the aerial.
7. Following on from (4) I made a simple test bed comprising a spare Tx board with sockets for the microcontroller, Tx module etc. so they could be easily changed. The anemometer was bought for less than one Euro when the Maplin (UK) electronics chain ceased trading earlier this year.
![[Image: P9180703.png]](https://ejmilton.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/P9180703.png)
To conclude, assembling and commissioning the system was fairly straightforward and was very rewarding. It is a credit to Werk_AG and to everyone else involved in testing and refining the WeatherDuino system that such a powerful and flexible data collection system can be put together so simply and economically.
Links:
Bridport North Weather Station
Air Quality data
The first transmitter receives data from wind speed and direction sensors fixed above the ridge of the house, and temperature and humidity data from a modified Fine Offset radiation shield located in a shaded yard below. The transmitter in the garden has a wired connection to a solar/UV sensor mounted on a fence at the bottom of the garden.
A WeatherDuino Air Quality sensor mounted within the roof of the garden seat completes the set-up.
The whole system is powered by two sealed lead acid batteries, one in the utility room for the receiver and the first transmitter, and one in the garden for the irradiance sensors and air quality monitor. The batteries are charged from a 50 watt solar panel.
A few observations:
1. The WiFi on my Pro 2+ receiver stopped working after a few days for no apparent reason. Fortunately, I had bought a second board as a spare and that appears to be working fine. I will investigate the problem with the first board once I am satisfied that my working system is stable.
2. The weatherproof plastic boxes I used for my outdoor transmitters proved to be ideal. I bought them from Toolstation in the UK for around 20 Euros each [Part No. 35429].
3. The sloping ABS boxes I used for my receivers (Pro 2 and Pro 2+) were the perfect size for a Rx board and a Raspberry Pi. They came from the Camden Boss Euro Desk 8000 Series [Part number BIM8005-BLK/PG].
4. I searched high and low for good quality splashproof connectors that were not too expensive and were neat, but easy to solder. I eventually settled on the Rean Mini XLR range and used these for the connectors for external T/H sensors etc.
5. The plastic box I used for the Air Quality monitor was recommended by another user in the Forum and it worked well.
6. Like most people, I sourced many of the components via eBay. Although this saved a lot of money, I found that some of the transmitter modules I bought worked better than others. I only had one module that didn't work at all, but some gave RF efficiencies less than 40% whereas the best gave 70-80%. Changing the transmitter module seemed more significant than altering the type and orientation of the aerial.
7. Following on from (4) I made a simple test bed comprising a spare Tx board with sockets for the microcontroller, Tx module etc. so they could be easily changed. The anemometer was bought for less than one Euro when the Maplin (UK) electronics chain ceased trading earlier this year.
To conclude, assembling and commissioning the system was fairly straightforward and was very rewarding. It is a credit to Werk_AG and to everyone else involved in testing and refining the WeatherDuino system that such a powerful and flexible data collection system can be put together so simply and economically.
Links:
Bridport North Weather Station
Air Quality data
