# Stand-alone solar weather station?
**URL:** https://community.tempest.earth/t/stand-alone-solar-weather-station/17951
**Category:** General
**Created:** [July 11, 2022, 3:05am UTC](https://community.tempest.earth/t/stand-alone-solar-weather-station/17951 "2022-07-11T03:05:22Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@guthrie](https://community.tempest.earth/u/guthrie)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2022, 3:05am UTC](https://community.tempest.earth/t/stand-alone-solar-weather-station/17951/1 "2022-07-11T03:05:22Z")
Our local lake doesn’t have any good or even reasonable weather reporting. And the [weather.gov](http://weather.gov) forecasts are from over 20 miles away, and often way off. It’s a 1.4 hour drive to get there, so we would really appreciate better weather information.
We’d like to install two self-contained solar powered weather stations that are internet connected.
One similar model is the tempest weather station by WeatherFlow; it is solar powered, and connects to any nearby WiFi channel.
(It has one limitation in that it’s network connection hum is DC powered.)
They apparently have a prototype and planned product which is completely solar powered, and has phone linkage built-in, but that is not yet available.
We are interested in any similar solutions that someone may have setup at their local kite spots.
One sees lots of governmental units like this on bridges, overpasses, etc. with a solar panel and some sort of uplink. Not sure what they cost, but we would need something cheap, and with low subscription costs for the uplink.
WeatherFlow relates that they are working on a Pro version of the Tempest that will have his capability, but release date unknown, and I think this is pending for over a year now.
* * *
There is not any nearby WiFi connections - closest is 1-2 miles away, depending on placement. The site has good phone reception. There are trees around, but we would place about 200 meters from any cover.
I have seen some commercial and military versions of such things, but am not familiar with their cost or usage - so am hoping others have found good options.
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### Author:  [@iladyman](https://community.tempest.earth/u/iladyman)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2022, 12:21pm UTC](https://community.tempest.earth/t/stand-alone-solar-weather-station/17951/2 "2022-07-11T12:21:51Z")
Welcome Guthrie,
Are there houses or buildings with wifi nearby at the lake?
Do you need a full weather station or just the wind speed and direction?
How good is the mobile phone reception?
Is there a location where you can install a tall pole clear of obstacles?
There have been some similar discussions such as:
> [@DIY Fully Remote Tempest System with Cellular and Solar Power](https://community.tempest.earth/t/diy-fully-remote-tempest-system-with-cellular-and-solar-power/13070):
>
> I decided not to wait for the fully remote system and purchased the Tempest and made my own remote system. I use a solar panel to charge the battery, a USB hub connects to the battery, and then my Tempest hub connects to USB hub. I also have Wyze Cam 3 units and an LTE hot spot connected to the USB hub. I have been running for about a month now with no issues.
and more topics if you use the search magnifying glass at the top of this page.
I am in Australia and use two other weather station designs directly to the mobile phone network and one of them has issues with the different mobile phone towers due to the weather station cards becoming outdated. The other one is designed in Australia for Australian mobile systems so neither of the remote mobile phone stations I use would be ideal.
This is the other topic I remember discussed some ideas:
> [@Need ideas for SKY Installation in remote area without WiFi or power with cellular connection](https://community.tempest.earth/t/need-ideas-for-sky-installation-in-remote-area-without-wifi-or-power-with-cellular-connection/3438):
>
> Hi all, I am probably not the only one with this problem to solve. I need to install the Wind Station (SKY) at the beach where we kitesurf. There is no power or WiFi in the area where I want to install it. What I need is a waterproof box with a battery powered Wi-Fi hub that would also have a SIM card to be able to connect to cellular network. ie: self contained SKY that can transmit data from the beach with its own self contained ability to transmit data. What are my options? Would Weathe…
cheers Ian 🙂
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### Author:  [@vinceskahan](https://community.tempest.earth/u/vinceskahan)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2022, 3:42pm UTC](https://community.tempest.earth/t/stand-alone-solar-weather-station/17951/3 "2022-07-11T15:42:45Z")
> [@guthrie](#):
>
> Not sure what they cost, but we would need something cheap, and with low subscription costs for the uplink.
You’re going to need to provide more data for us to suggest options.
- Budget - how do you define ‘cheap’ and ‘low’ above ?
- Connectivity - how do any neighbors access Internet ?
- Internet - do you want to feed Weather Underground (or equivalent), or something else ?
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### Author:  [@guthrie](https://community.tempest.earth/u/guthrie)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2022, 5:31pm UTC](https://community.tempest.earth/t/stand-alone-solar-weather-station/17951/4 "2022-07-11T17:31:40Z")
Well, cheap is of course necessarily vague - because depending on cost, we would look for financing.
This is out in a park by a lake, no nearby Internet - closest would be ~ 1-2 miles, depending on placement options.
Connecting to other sites is good, but the main criteria.
At least being able to see the real weather (mostly wind) is the primary goal.
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### Author:  [@guthrie](https://community.tempest.earth/u/guthrie)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2022, 5:47pm UTC](https://community.tempest.earth/t/stand-alone-solar-weather-station/17951/5 "2022-07-11T17:47:15Z")
Ian,
thanks for the note and info.
the first one you reference is pretty neat, but much bigger and DIY than we want/need.
I’d like something like this: [pgsonda.cz – IoT WEATHER STATION](https://pgsonda.cz/index.php/en/)
Or perhaps: [1chip Station for Windguru.cz](http://1chip.ru/windguru.html) (although I was not clear on the details of connectivity for this one)
Or this: [Wireless Weather Station | The MWS-C400 | Intellisense Systems Inc.](https://www.intellisenseinc.com/products/weather-stations/mws-c400/)
although I suspect it it expensive to both purchase and operate.
Also: [Holfuy automatic weather stations and sensors, mobile, GSM, NB-IoT, WIFI, 3G, GPRS, SOLAR](https://holfuy.com/en)
Although they are not shipping now, and again are for a higher-end market, so probably $$$.
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### Author:  [@vinceskahan](https://community.tempest.earth/u/vinceskahan)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2022, 8:02pm UTC](https://community.tempest.earth/t/stand-alone-solar-weather-station/17951/6 "2022-07-11T20:02:33Z")
Lets try it another way…
- what country are you in ?
- how many US Dollars is too much to pay ?
- how many US Dollars/month is too much for sustaining costs ?
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### Author:  [@guthrie](https://community.tempest.earth/u/guthrie)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2022, 8:58pm UTC](https://community.tempest.earth/t/stand-alone-solar-weather-station/17951/7 "2022-07-11T20:58:50Z")
US.
Perhaps $1K US to purchase, $1200/year to operate?
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### Author:  [@guthrie](https://community.tempest.earth/u/guthrie)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2022, 10:03pm UTC](https://community.tempest.earth/t/stand-alone-solar-weather-station/17951/8 "2022-07-11T22:03:23Z")
I have seen/found several options which require a SIM card for data access/upload.
Most SIM card deals I see include purchase of a phone, which I don’t need.
And this would be very low actual data traffic.
Any experience with a good product for this?
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### Author:  [@system](https://community.tempest.earth/u/system)
#### Post date: [January 2, 2024, 10:03pm UTC](https://community.tempest.earth/t/stand-alone-solar-weather-station/17951/9 "2024-01-02T22:03:58Z")
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