Bloomsky Weather Station

I got one too. They must not be discriminating much because there is another one in my neighborhood abut 1/8 mile away already

I got one for the cost of shipping!

Sure hope this can be integrated into ST.

Thanks very much for pointing this deal out.

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Or they’re trying to differentiate themselves by having hyper-local, high “resolution” forecasts?

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OK, now let’s start sharing mounting ideas, etc.
I know it comes with a mounting bracket, but I’m not even sure yet where or how I will mount it.

I have seen other people mount weather stations on their fence, but I don’t think that will fly where I live.

I thought about putting it on the roof somewhere, but would the temp readings be off because of the heat coming off the house or anything like that?

Good point I hadn’t thought of! I planned a roof mount, but now I should rethink. I recall now the very basic advice that if you want a “real” temperature reading, the thermometer shouldn’t be in the sun. I bet Bloomsky has a bunch of guidance on placement in the box.

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I’m applying as soon as I get home… I wonder if that housing will last in the AZ sun :slight_smile:

Solar panels perform best when facing south, so that’s something to keep in mind for placement. I would install mine on the south edge of my roof but I have a neighbor with a taller house next door that shades the south side of the roof more in the winter (which is also when you will get lower solar output) so I’ll probably install mine on the north side of the roof facing south so it gets the most sun.

Also, check this post out:

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Cool. Please let us know how you’d like our APIs to improve. Apparently, we only have one simple API for now, but we’re considering enrich it. Any idea would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

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Thanks a lot for setting this up!

Right, and real-time weather with pics and time-lapses.

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I imagine most of us here are excited about fine control of the camera. Being able to take a pic through SmartThings, or a series of pictures, or to use the camera feed for most anything we wanted.

I have my fingers crossed that it can work with the SmartTiles smartApp, which would require that it be MJPEG compatible.

That and Illuminance. I think you might be surprised how often people using ST use Illuminance to trigger events at our houses!

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As a ST user it seems most of us would like access to everything we can get. The more information the better. We are always finding way to use things in a new way.

Illuminance, temp, humidity, camera, battery, precipitation, UV

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Luminance would be a huge things to be able to utilize. @mdawson Smarttiles camera integration would only provide a snapshot as this is not a video recording device.

Not sure how the UV would be used within ST, unless you have shades that you can automate once the UV index reached a certain threshold.

Now, if a alert could be setup to alert when precipitation is imminent and windows/doors are open, that would be sweet. I know I dont monitor the weather that closely in order to shut my windows in the event of a surprise rainfall.

So, if there was a way based on Baro pressure/humidity/etc. to alert for incoming precip, that would be awesome. (Feature request?)

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UV! I hadn’t even thought about that. But here’s your use case:

IF UV > (whatever is sunburn quality)
speak message when motion in child bedroom “You need sunscreen today”

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I was thinking a verbal warning of High UV index. I use motion in the morning to have the weather announced when I get up but it doesn’t have UV so it would be a nice addition.

It would remind us to lotion up and make sure the kids are protected.

The UV readingis something i’m very interested in. My wife has vitiligo, so knowing the current UV reading would be very helpful. I’d love to be able to have a Hue bulb change color based off the current UV index.

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I was debating the same thing , with the solar panels attached it would have to be in the sun, but direct sun would effect temperature reading.
@cdmobile already has his, so he could verify, but the pictures I saw on the website looked like there are 4 mounting screw holes in the bracket so it could be mounted on a pole or wall .
Depending on the length of the power cable, I was planning on mounting the panels on the sunny side of the roof and then the sensor itself on the wall at the peak or just below it so it would be out of direct light.
With no anemometer ,wouldn’t have to worry about the house blocking the wind like I do on the AcuRite I have now. That one is mounted on a 4x4 off the corner of the deck, so it is at the " recommended" 30’ off the ground for accurate wind speed . I figured I would set it up and play with the camera to see how high I had to mount it to get a clear shot of the sky. I noticed a LOT of the ones I looked at on the website are set up under a bush or trees so it only get a sliver of the sky. One had a nice shot of the guy’s (?) workout room and cabinets ?

Unless I missed something very important you do not need power for this station, that’s what the solar panels are for.

To recharge the battery. It’s battery powered.

Got it, thanks. Does anyone know if solar is sufficient to power the unit? If I have to plug it in that will add another level of complexity that I wasn’t expecting. Or I guess the better question is how long does it last (on average) with the battery and how quickly do the panels charge it?