I am very interested in the WF but with some of the topics it seems it may still be to early in the development to buy one. What are the PROS of getting on board now instead of going with a more developed product?
Hello clevenger7778
I’m not in the secrets of the gods but since the station was released, hardly any changes happened HW wise. Most is software evolutions like the calibrations of pressure, UV etc. There is still one calibration on the workbench that has not been released and that is related to rain. It is nearing a stable enough version we can expect it to start point it’s nose soon. But it seems that there are so many elements that influence that it takes quite some head scratching and learning. But again this is a software upgrade.
And to re assure you, if there is an upgrade, it is all done automagically remotely by the WF team. No need for some geek/nerd knowledge.
Some new HW is been developed but it is not yet ready for production and it will be sold separately and will be 100% compatible with the existing station.
This is my opinion and I’m sure others will share their view. The station isn’t perfect (yet) but at this price you won’t find something comparable and it is not a device that can’t evolve over time. This is the best part, with each software iteration it get’s better since the team learns from the data and slowly but surely get’s more and more out of the HW.
Hope to read you soon again
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The HW looks great, that is what got me interested in the first place. but after reading through a lot of the topics about rain totals and issues WF is having, it sounds like you need a master in engineering to install the SKY so that there is no extra vibration. For someone who just wants to know wind and and rain totals I was just wondering if going another route may be best. $299 is a lot to invest in a unit that seems to have issues in those areas at this time. I am a big fan of what WF is trying to achieve just trying to put my mind at ease that it is the right equipment to invest in at this time.
I’ll chime in and tell you that you won’t find a better tech support group anywhere. If you have an issue, between the tech support folks and the great people on this board, you’ll probably find an answer.
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I think I’ve broken most of the installation rules with mine, it’s a metal pole mounted to a small satellite mounting bracket. So metal to metal with only one bolt holding them together. I also have a metal clasp with a rope attached that can bounce against the pole in the wind. I don’t think I’ve had any false rain reported.
I suspect there are some very specific conditions, maybe both installation and environment related, that cause false rain induced vibrations and if you happen to have those, it’s a problem but for a majority of folks, it’s not a problem. I’m not trying to discount those that do have issues as I’m sure it is very frustrating and difficult to solve.
I’ve been very happy with my two stations, but they also tick off a couple of boxes for features that I consider very important. The primary being that I don’t need an Internet connection to access the local data. And another being support for third party developers. Wind and rain are probably the biggest negative for this hardware right now, but it has the potential to be a highlight once they resolve the issues. I can live with that. All of the stations at this price point have pros and cons.
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naaaah - a little common sense applies. I’ve never had a false rain reading in 7 months since mine arrived.
Personally I believe the temperature/humidity/wind values I’m seeing are fine, when compared with my VP2 given the minor siting differences.
The rain is absolutely another story. I’m anxiously awaiting similar tuning improvements there, as are most of us I’d guess…
I bought the WF for (1) no moving parts and (2) the programmatic APIs for accessing realtime and historical data. I’m extremely pleased with both of those aspects, as well as the vendor support. I got my money’s worth with (2) above alone FWIW, but it’s tough having patience re: the rain data.
It might come down to when you want to pull the trigger on buying something…
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So does it automatically show historical data, ie yearly rainfall totals, daily/weekly/yearly Hi and low temps?
I dunno. I run weewx locally on a raspi which ‘does’ that and much more (LINK) - but at this point there are a variety of other ways to get that kind of stuff. Some custom apps for WF specifically as well.
Hmmm interesting, I know nothing about raspi or how to even set that up. But historical data is what I look for knowing how much rain over a day/week/month/year is important and if that info is not native to the app that is a bit of a disappointment.
Keep in mind the Smart Weather Stationn is designed for the mass consumer.
That being said there are third-party applications that pick up where WeatherFlow leaves off.
As for the RPi, I have written a set of instructions to set up a raspberry pi that my 11 year-old daughter can follow and she has no idea what a RPi is.
I have also developed a set of scripts that fully install an application and you never have to edit a file.
Ok let’s say I am at least as smart as an 11 year old, what type of device do you install RPi on, I really have no clue. I am use to Acurite all the data is right on the display. Do I also have to buy a new computer to run RPi on as I don’t currently have a home computer I just use my work laptop and iPad for everything. Do you have a link to the instructions?
The Raspberry Pi (RPi) is a computer and the 3 B+ costs about $39. You add a 2.5 amp 5 vdc power supply and SD Card and you install the applications you want. There are several listed in the Third-Party Applications.
Here is a large screenshot of the one I wrote. It’s pure HTML so it will work on any browser. This is from my Samsung Note 8. I also use it on Amazon 7" Fire tablets around my house.
May have to look into this a little more, lots of information just need to make since of it all. Just seems like a lot of extra work to get the info, but I am new to this so just need to do the research I guess. Still not seeing anything that has exactly what I want.
It may be that the Smart Weather Station will not provide what you are looking for.
I think it will, just need to figure out the best way to achieve it. Looks like the page that vinceskahan shakers had all the historical data, maybe not displayed exactly like I want but it is there. I am just not sure at the moment how to create that.
With the Smart Weather Station the capability is there to store your data locally. Once you have the data you can do whatever you want with it.
If you want a simpler setup you could possibly try what I did. I wanted basically a plug and play type of setup and decided to go the route of linking it to Weather Underground. This gives a nice interface where I can check my data anytime on any web browser or smartphone apps as well as view historical data and compare it with other local weather stations. Here’s a link to my station to give you an idea of what it looks like. Some don’t like Weather Underground’s policies with how they use the data and restrictions they have for API’s and other things but I personally use them only as an archival and ease of access website so it works fine for me. https://www.wunderground.com/personal-weather-station/dashboard?ID=KNCELMCI3
Also regarding the mounting, I rent so the best option for me was to mount my weather station on a 6 foot metal pole in the yard. We have had winds gusting 30-40mph numerous times already and I’ve not had any false rain readings even in those high winds. Sure it’s not the 10M setup like some on here have or aim for but my wind measurements are usually very close to some local PWS and NWS stations and it makes it much easier to change batteries for a device on a 6 foot pole vs a 30 foot one. Since I live in a very open area with fields all around me the wind is pretty much uninhibited as well which probably helps. The only issue really has been the rainfall but it sounds like that is a fix that’s on the way, everything else has been great and ever since linking my PWS to Weather Underground I haven’t had to do anything except change the batteries once.
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thanks for the info, I see you are close to my in-laws they are in Rocky Mount, NC. I will probably end up going with WF as it does seem to have a lot of custom options for the data. Like I said will just take me a little time to figure it all out. I do like the looks of the equipment and the app for day to day data. And the community here seems willing to help the new guy out.
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Yeah the Weather Underground option was very easy to setup. All I had to do was create an account, user ID/log in and then in the WeatherFlow app click the button to link to it and type in a few things and that was it. Took a few hours to show up on Weather Underground and now it’s all good. Very happy with mine, the continuous learning of the system, no moving parts and software updates have all steadily improved the experience as well. I’m not far at all from Rocky Mount, about 35-40 mins away!
The app I use mainly for a quick look at the data which is how I think the developers intended for it to be used. If I want detailed charts/graphs for daily, weekly or monthly periods I’ll go to Weather Underground and look at them there. There are lots of other ways to store and view the data that members on here use as well but for me I just wanted a simple setup and this is what works best for me! It’s also nice to have support from the members here as well as the WeatherFlow staff when needed!
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Mine is currently poorly sited, and it wobbles. I get rain alerts, but no accumulation if it’s not actually raining, so no big deal there. I use Meteobridge (bought the router, flashed the firmware) to communicate with CWOP and Wunderground. Here’s my summary page for CWOP
and my Wunderground PWS page
https://www.wunderground.com/personal-weather-station/dashboard?ID=KOHGALEN4
I am having a bit of a dew point issue currently, not sure what that’s about, but you can see that the overall analysis is solidly within tolerance for the CWOP network which is used by professional meteo’s.
We’re waiting on some info regarding a coating for the wind sensors - either a hydrophobic or hydrophylic coating I think. Overall, my WF compares very well with surrounding Davis stations.
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