Read through several threads, mostly old, and curious what PWS recommendations you may have. Netatmo seems to be the new “shining object” and curious if it’s the way to go. I would like a rain gauge at a minimum, one that can integrate with Rachio and ideally SmartThings. Also interested in things you may not like/lessons learned from your PWS. Thanks!
I’ve been running a wireless Lacrosse station since 2010. I bought the original system from Costco for around $90 and I’ve bought a replacement anemometer (~$50 if I remember correctly) and another full system from Costco for $90 to use as spare parts. I’ve replaced the anemometer twice and the outside temp once. I currently use a Raspberry Pi to upload the data to Weather Underground and from there I use the weather data in SmartThings. It was a happy coincidence that ST uses WU.
I also got a free (paid for shipping only) BloomSky through their outreach program, but it doesn’t do rainfall measurements, other than yes, it’s raining, or no, it’s not. The picture / time lapse videos are pretty cool.
That said, the original Lacrosse system that I bought from Costco was different in that it used a USB wireless data stick to transfer data between the console and a computer, the RPi in my case. The newer systems from Costco seemed to be using another channel for data uploads, but the sensors were compatible. Costco has these systems for $100’s less than the retail price, but you need do do some research to see how useful they are for your purposes.
I’ve been uploading my weather to CWOP and according to them, my system gets a very good accuracy rating almost all the time, with the exception of dewpoint / humidity.
If I have to buy a new station, I would get a Davis Vantage Pro or Vantage Vue. They seem to be the gold standard for personal weather stations, but they are significantly more expensive and complex than what I have now.
Checkout the bloomsky too. Pretty easy to setup and use.
1 Like
Thank you both for the recommendations.
Out of all of these which ones integrate with SmartThings the easiest? I looked into the netatmo last year and I remember smartThings having problems with the integration.
You may want something that integrates well with weatherunderground, which is where most weather apps gather data. If you did then you could easily change the weather apps to point it at your personal weather station, and you get other features / benefits of weather underground
How often does weather underground update? There are stations close to my house, but it seems like they only update every 15 minutes or so.
I use this one. It has a module that you connect directly to your router and updates Weather Underground every 15 seconds. I have SmartThings updating from wunderground every minute.
That depends a lot on what station is doing the upload. Some stations support “Rapid Fire”, which uploads data as it changes. I ran my station with Rapid Fire enabled for quite a while, but when I switched to the Raspberry Pi to do the uploads, I went to a 5 minute schedule. As @E_Sch mentioned, support for Wunderground is probably the most important feature you’re looking for, as that opens up the data to ST with no issues. You can then set up a weather tile device that pulls your data directly from WU.
@slagle did a great job implementing a device type for BloomSky that works very well. There is a huge thread about that on the community.
I’ve used a Davis Vue since they first came out.
IMHO Davis is THE weather station. The Vue is a more affordable version of the workhorse.
A few more bucks - but runs and runs. I use an old laptop and report every 5 seconds to WU. Also have my own records for 5 years or so.
2 Likes
Is it possible to pick a specific PWS to update from? I only see an option for entering a zip code in Smart Weather and Smart Weather Tile 2.0.
Absolutely. In place of the zip code, enter the string “pws:” followed by the station ID. E.g. “pws:KVAPOWHA6”.
1 Like
Bloomsky is easy to use, setup can be finicky. It doesn’t work with “N” wireless, and it needs to be relatively close to a WAP/Wireless Router etc. for it to work.
I have one… it’s a novelty item. I can’t put it where it would get the most accurate weather data because it wouldn’t connect to wi-fi, and it doesn’t have wind speed or direction, and only detects (sometimes) rainfall, does not measure it.
Thank you!
I use Netatmo quite happily, the integration works well and as a added benefit you get IFTTT integration and a map of local stations. a whole set of graphs as well as CO2 and Noise. I’m not using the wind or rain gauge yet but as a weather station and environment monitor I can’t find much to complain about. i would recommend it.
Old thread, but let’s revisit this. I live in the boonies and there aren’t a lot of local weather stations that I can pull data from so I need to get my own. The BloomSky looks interesting to me and it looks like they have a rain gauge now as well. I like the idea of being able to send the video feed to my wall tablets running ActionTiles. Anyone that has the BloomSky, has it been reliable since this topic was abandoned?
My Bloomsky (Sky1) has been running fine for the last 6 months or so. They sent me a new one after something failed originally (can’t remember exactly what it was). However, I still prefer my primary weather station for accuracy. It is a Lacrosse station that I bought for ~$90 at Costco several years ago. Even with replacing the number of sensors over the years, it still remains cheaper than most other options. It seems to be pretty accurate for temperature and pressure. I normally get “two thumbs up” from the CWOP quality control site (Google it).
If money is no object, get a Davis system. They seem to be the gold standard in personal weather stations, and I will probably upgrade to a Vantage Vue or Vantage fPro2 if I ever need to upgrade again.
Check out the Bloomsky thread on this board - you will probably get more specific answers if you post your question there (Bloomsky Weather Station).
1 Like
My vote goes to Davis as well. I Own a Vue and a Pro 2. Well worth the money. Also look in to Rain wise.
I integrated my Davis Vue with Weather Underground and update every 5 minutes. I also integrated it with my Rachio internet based irrigation system via PWS Weather. Both work well although I have noticed that something is wrong at Weather Underground where the software does not work as well as it has in the past and it’s dog slow downloading. But, it’s the only comprehensive weather app that interconnects with a personal weather station that I know of.
im looking for one that runs totally off wifi, NOT 900 mhz etc… i have a large outdoor antenna and can get my wifi 2 blocks away… anyone know of one. the ambiant weather are misleading saying wifi then you get it and it is still 900 mhz…