[Irish_Steve]

Hi, and greetings from Ireland. Hopefully, soon, there will be a pin on the map of users for Ireland, if this goes the way I think it will

I've been lurking for a while, and watching developments with more than a passing interest.

My thinking is that this is the right route for me, I've been playing with Fine Offset stations for a number or years, and become frustrated with some of the shortcomings, and got round some of them with minor modifications, but I now need something a little more capable, and weatheduino seems to fit the bill.

So, ideally, I'm going to use the FO rain measure, unless you can suggest a better option, as I've got several to hand. I've been looking at the Inspeed wind speed and direction units, and they seem to be very much better than the FO units, and I don't have time to build an ultrasonic wind unit right now, but more on that in a moment.

The other sensors I think can be "standard", I don't have any special needs there.

Now to the non standard things. I have a small stream that passes through our site, and it's a problem, we've been flooded several times at times of high rainfall, and I'd like to put an ultrasonic sensor mounted on a tube in it that will give me a real time indication of the depth of water in the channel, so I can monitor it, and trigger an alarm if it rises above critical levels.

I know already that there are Arduino libraries that will handle the ultrasonic sensors, and alarms, my thought is to use one of your transmitter unit to send the information over to the receiver, and treat it as an additional sensor, so I'd be using 2 transmitters, one for the "normal" weather sensors, and the second for the water level information. I'd also be looking to have logging, using a version of Cumulus, though I need to talk to Steve about the "extra" sensor, and then I'd anticipate a remote display unit for real time display of the parameters that are relevant.

With some of the reading this evening, I think that a Raspberry Pi, with Cumulus, a 2.5" HDD for logging, and the weather station should be pretty much sorted, the disc can log the history, and then connect via Ethernet to my home network so that I can do things like log in if we're away from home, or similar.

So, that's the thinking, I reckon I will need to order 2 x transmitter cards, a receiver card, a remote display card, and then sort out the components I need, and order the relevant sensors from Inspeed.

Can you see any flaws or problems with the route I'm looking at, I'm not an Arduino wizard, but I have a lot of computer hardware and software experience over a 40 year period, and don't anticipate too many issues with getting to grips with a different processor, I've been working with Atmel based radio control systems for a while without too many issues, and I can dedicate a PC to the programming and testing side, I have an older unit that can do that without too much trouble, and there's a stable home network that is ready to go.

Look forward to hearing back from you

Best regards

Steve

[werk_ag]

Hi, Steve

Thank you for interest in the WeatherDuino Pro2 project.

Starting with the "non standard" things: The water level sensor.
Your idea of using a second TX unit for that sensor, and treat it as an extra sensor, seems to me that could be done. Depending of the type of the sensor you intend to use, maybe even it could be read by the Arduino of the TX unit. Certainly this may imply some changes on the TX software, to map the readings to one data field of one of the extra sensors. One possibility is mapping it to the humidity field. This way your reading from 0 to 100 could represent the water level.

I'd also be looking to have logging, using a version of Cumulus, though I need to talk to Steve about the "extra" sensor...

The Cumulus 1 and MX, can log all the extra sensors, and the hardware logger also records extra sensors 1 and 2, which makes this data always available to you.

Trigger an alarm, could be the more tricky part. Ideally it should be done in the RX unit, but there isn't enough free space to add much code. Implementing it in the Wireless Display unit seems to me more easy. There are some free pins that could be used to drive a FET or a relay.
I can try to help you with the changes on the code, but can't promise anything.

So, ideally, I'm going to use the FO rain measure, unless you can suggest a better option, as I've got several to hand

The WeatherDuino Pro2 can be used with any tip bucket rain gauge. You only need to know the value in metric units of each tipping. So you can use the better unit you have.

I've been looking at the Inspeed wind speed and direction units, and they seem to be very much better than the FO units...

Since some months I'm using the VORTEX 8-Pulse High Resolution Anemometer, and Inspeed E-VANE Electronic Wind Direction Sensor, from Inspeed Instruments and I'm very happy with these units. They seem and are robust units, made to last.

With some of the reading this evening, I think that a Raspberry Pi, with Cumulus, a 2.5" HDD for logging, and the weather station should be pretty much sorted, the disc can log the history, and then connect via Ethernet to my home network so that I can do things like log in if we're away from home, or similar.

Or an 2.5" SSD. Depending of the logging frequency, 32GB may be more than enough for years of Cumulus logs.

I'm not an Arduino wizard, but I have a lot of computer hardware and software experience over a 40 year period, and don't anticipate too many issues with getting to grips with a different processor...

Me neither! Just an enthusiast.
Professionally I'm a TV Lighting Designer, a job very far from this tasks.
I hope my poor English can be understood.

Best Regads
Werk_AG

[Irish_Steve]

Thanks for the very fast reply, and your poor English is a LOT better than anything I might even manage in a foreign language, and I've understood it very easily, and it seems that it will indeed be the right route for me to take.

I'm prepared to spend some time and effort on this, so it will be worth my while doing it properly.

Thanks for the encouragement, it's appreciated.

Best regards

Steve

[JT118]

Thanks for the very fast reply, and your poor English is a LOT better than anything I might even manage in a foreign language, and I've understood it very easily, and it seems that it will indeed be the right route for me to take.

I'm prepared to spend some time and effort on this, so it will be worth my while doing it properly.

Thanks for the encouragement, it's appreciated.

Best regards

Steve

This is great system and will become better and better; re sensors, I have acquired virtually all of mine off ebay, and have got some very good research grade sensors for a fraction of the original price, particularly wind and rain, age is seldom a problem as the most parts are easily replaceable, bearings, reed switches, potentiometer etc. There are occasionally on ebay NRG40C anemometers for £50.00 and open to offers, (occasionally from Belfast!). The problem with these is that they output a frequency and would need a Schmitt trigger to work. You will see other posts of mine about Didcot, Davis and Vector instruments. These all work easily on weatherduino and give you excellent accuracy.

For example:


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/351369275785?_...EBIDX%3AIT

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Anemometer-24v...SwBLlVUvof

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Anemometer-NRG...SwwbdWKiWP

[Irish_Steve]

thanks for that thought, I shall have to add some sort of search to E-bay for a while, it's going to be a little while before I get this sort of station working, as most of the specialist parts are unlikely to arrive before the New Year, given that they will most probably be coming from China, Ireland isn't great on component supply for this sort of project.

[werk_ag]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Anemometer-24v...SwBLlVUvof

JT118, this one will not work with WeatherDuino Pro2, as it requires a 24V power supply which is not available directly from the TX board.

Thanks for your words about the WeatherDuino Pro2 project. As time goes, I hope it continues to fulfil your expectations.

[werk_ag]

I'm prepared to spend some time and effort on this, so it will be worth my while doing it properly.

I'm sure you will build it without any major issue. You said that you are looking for this project since some time, and certainly you have already collected most of the required info to build it successfully. What may require more time is the modifications to suit your particular needs.
One of the advantages (I think) of this project, is allowing some degree of customization and adaptation.

In any case, if any doubt or question arise, I will do my best to try to help.

[JT118]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Anemometer-24v...SwBLlVUvof

JT118, this one will not work with WeatherDuino Pro2, as it requires a 24V power supply which is not available directly from the TX board.

Thanks for your words about the WeatherDuino Pro2 project. As time goes, I hope it continues to fulfil your expectations.

Yes My mistake must be the New Zealand weather! They do do one with a Hall sensor same make. It would have been interesting to have a weatherduino system in Cumbria last weekend 350mm rain in ONE day.