Both Claudia and myself can patently see the value of solar power in Florida...I mean what could be more obvious than 'solar' anything in the self-described "Sunshine State". However, getting going in the direction of solar powered soft survivalism took an unexpected turn when we started discussing 'weather station'. We wanted a weather station that not only was accurate but also web connected so that Claudia could view the weather conditions immediately in Florida, exactly as it was in my backyard. Although I live on an island, the weather conditions can drastically differ from one end of the island to the other. So a weather station on site made sense. But then, when researching the different types of weather stations available it quickly became apparent that most of them involved 'battery changes'.
The chosen spot for the weather station was the old unused satellite dish on the left.
Perfect.
Except that I am not as spry as I used to be and regularly getting on a step ladder and changing batteries on tip toes did not have much appeal. I have come off a ladder before and have no desire to repeat the experience. So knowing this as a background might help explain our desire to have as weather station with as little gymnastics involved as possible.
All up, the Davis Vantage Vue weather station seemed to be the product to fill the need. Accurate by most reviews, web linked, and most importantly, the radio was both SOLAR powered during the day as well as a solar powered battery for night time reporting.
That's the photovoltaic cells on the left of the weather station. Actually the whole thing was well thought out with the solar cells oriented to the South for best solar efficiency. The station was dependent on this orientation(solar cells south facing) for wind direction as well.
The installation was dead set simple itself...the clamp fitting directly over the old mounting post for the unused satellite dish...and away she went.
I had mounted it first on a temporary pole on the ground to work out any bugs or kinks in the radio transmission so that when I finally got around to climbing up the ladder, getting on the porch roof and fitting the weather station to the mounting pole, it all worked without a hitch. Radio transmission was easily strong enough to reach the console inside the house and from there to the data logger/web interface plugged into the back of the computer.
On the left is a view of the weather station from the roof..proof again, if any was needed as to why I was rather skeptical of regularly changing batteries to power the station.
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| Weather Station Console inside |
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