Micqn Weather
Getting the "Geek On!". . .
Hi, my name is Erik. I've got a beautiful wife, a couple boys and a girl, I got a minivan, a mid-sized SUV and I own a home in Herriman, UT. Life is good. Fathers Day 2006 presented me with my very first weather station. My wife, with my help, purchased a LaCrosse Technologies WS3610U-CH via E-Bay. To say the least we got a killer deal! I installed it in one day and touched it up over the next couple weeks and got it to a point to where it works pretty well.
To me, this is a fairly serious thing -- Not to long ago an anenometer comm connector failed and I was stressed out to the max that I couldn't see the speed and in what direction the wind was blowing. A personal weather station is an obsession for me; a way for me to get my "geek on".
Background Data
I live in Herriman, UT and home sits in the Rosecrest subdivision. I have been in this home for six years (May 2007). My home is one of the taller homes in my part of the neighborhood. To the north the homes are all ramblers, to the south the homes are mainly two-story homes but are fairly far away. The views are incredible! To the east I have the mighty Wasatch Mountains. To the west I have the Oquirre Mountains that prominently display the largest open-pit copper mine in the world. I can see from downtown Salt Lake City to Provo.
Kennecott Copper
My Weather Station Setup
I did a little research into properly setting up a weather station. Mine is nothing fancy and I got most of my ideas from my head and from other peoples setups published on the internet. There were a couple things that I wanted to make sure were done correctly:
- Thermometer was in a dry shaded area
- Thermometer was fan-aspirated (direct sunlight in the summer)
- Anenomter was at least six feet higher than my two-story home
- The Rain-Bucket was unobstructed and would gather moisture in any direction
- This had to be fairly easy to install and maintain (30' up is not a joy to maintain; especially in the winter.)
I mounted my console on a wall in my dining/kitchen area where we could see it. It is right next to an electrical outlet (since I have a 'wired' setup). I punched a small hole (wife not happy here) through the kitchen wall to the exterior of my house for the comm cables to run to the thermometer/hygrometer and to my computer in the basement. I was able to run the wires behind the siding so that it doesn't look like the cable guy installed it.
I mounted the thermometer/hygrometer in an enclosure on a pole on the north side of my home. I installed a 120V box fan with a safety shield (I have kids) that sucks air through the top of the enclosure to the bottom of the enclosure. Its electricity comes from a 24 hour mechanical timer wired through a five amp breaker and in my homes main electrical enclosure.
The anenometer is mounted on a six foot mast. The rain-bucket is mounted on the same pole via a T-type pipe fitting. All wires are routed through the mast. This setup is mounted to the facia right at the peak of my roof. I connected a ground wire to the mast and into the ground. The anenmoter and rain-bucket comm wires are tucked under the soffit and share a nifty hiding spot with the satellite coaxes. I think it looks cool but I am sure the neighbors have other things to say about it -- To bad, get a hobby.
Pictures of the setup are here.
My Weather UnderGround site is here.
Personal Weather Stations Google Map of My Area.
Weather Web Cam Information
I am currently in the process of trying to get something hooked up. Since I worked ALL THE TIME I haven't had a lot of time to do anything with it. I am getting a lot of help from a gentleman and everything is making sense so far. Stay tuned.
