Steve's Joint

[ballamara]

Just showed DH your invention, he is very impressed.

[Steve]

Thanks Ballamara. I’m not sure how much difference it will make yet but I’m hopeful. At the moment the sun is low in the sky so the bottom couple of skirts on the sensor unit still gets sun on them. In the summer they should be totally shaded as the sun will be more overhead.
One other issue I had was connecting the rain gauge back up. On my station it plugs into the bottom of the solar panel unit and with the saucers there, there isn’t much room to plug the cable in. There is definitely no room for fingers so I had to lever the plug in with the help of a long screwdriver.

[Geoff]

Hi Steve, I love the weather station modifications! I’ve got a similar looking station, but it doesn’t transfer to a database. Is yours just a slightly different model that does, or have you created a way to get the data to your computer?

[Steve]

Geoff, I have my console connected to a Raspberry Pi via USB and then use weewx software to store the data into a sqlite3 database and publish it to the web. As long as your console has a USB port you can easily do it.

Weewx is highly customisable if you are comfortable reading and tweaking code. The web pages are simple HTML and CSS with weewx using Python.

If you haven’t already realised and want a look, my weather page is at http://stevoz.com/weather/

[Geoff]

No USB on mine sadly. I’ve seen a couple of articles describing ways of getting the data out, but it might be cheaper and easier to upgrade. I do like your weather page, very comprehensive!

[ballamara]

Mine has a usb connection that came with it. Thank goodness I just plug it into the unit and my computer and it transfers the data.

[Steve]

That’s no good Geoff. Thanks for the comment on the web page.

Ballamara, I started out with the software that came with the station but it was Windows only and I didn’t want to have a laptop running 24/7 just to update the web page. I then discovered the Raspberry Pi which is a tiny computer running on Linux. I run it headless (no monitor or keyboard) and it only draws a tiny amount of power. It is great for this type of application. It has been running 24/7 for eighteen months now with no problems.

[ballamara]

Thar sounds good, as I only down load mine every so often. Being only on solar there is no way I could run my computer 24/7. The trouble with my way is the amount of data down loaded boggles my mind.

[ballamara]

Just googled  “Raspberry Pi”   oh boy I think that is way beyond my comprehension.It would be like putting a tiger moth pilot in charge of a airbus.  

[busylizzie]

Ahhh Dr Stevil, :-h

[Steve]

Hi there busylizzie! >:)

[Steve]

2015 proved to be a much wetter year here in Boonah than 2014. The total 2015 rainfall measured in my rainguage was 928.8mm compared to 582.3mm in 2014.

This chart shows the monthly rainfall figures at my place for 2014 and 2015 with the 100 year average for Boonah shown in black.

http://stevoz.com/img/rainchart2015.png

The next chart is easier to read. It shows the progressive totals for 2014 and 2015 compared to the Boonah average. As you can see, 2014 was much drier than the average with 2015 being wetter than the average.

http://stevoz.com/img/prograinchart2015.png

[calliecat]

I write my totals down in the calender, last year I had two and I can’t find one of them, so have no idea what my yearly total was

[ballamara]

I have one of those new fandangle gadgets that records it electronically but I still use the old rain gauge just to make sure the other isn’t telling porkys.

[Judi B]

we need to get a new rain gauge the hail knoced a piece off it.

[Author]

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