I have been asked if I can get an abandoned cabled Davis Vantage Pro weather station in my local park up in running to start uploading data to the web..

The station is about 600 yards from my house - there are obviously trees and shrubs in the way - so it is not in direct line of sight. This is obviously too far to connect to my router but I was wondering if there is a device that can plug in to the Davis console to upload via 3G? The console is in a garage though there is no telephone line - just a power supply.

Is there a reliable 'repeater' that could work with this method.

I realise I could ask a supplier but thought I would start with this NG as I know many on here run Davis stations.

Because it is a much more exposed site than my garden weather station it would provide a fascinating comparison with my own stats.

Many thanks in advance.

Scott in Wanstead

On 04/08/2015 11:14, Scott W wrote:
I have been asked if I can get an abandoned cabled Davis Vantage Pro weather station in my local park up in running to start uploading data to the web.

The station is about 600 yards from my house - there are obviously trees and shrubs in the way - so it is not in direct line of sight. This is obviously too far to connect to my router but I was wondering if there is a device that can plug in to the Davis console to upload via 3G? The console is in a garage though there is no telephone line - just a power supply.

Is there a reliable 'repeater' that could work with this method.

I realise I could ask a supplier but thought I would start with this NG as I know many on here run Davis stations.

Because it is a much more exposed site than my garden weather station it would provide a fascinating comparison with my own stats.

Many thanks in advance.

Scott in Wanstead



I suggest you talk to John Dann at Prodata http://www.weatherstations.co.uk/

Not sure you can mix cabled and wireless systems. Think about security
as well

This site (US based I believe) may also be of use
http://www.wxforum.net/index.php?board=59.0


--
George in Swanston, Edinburgh, 580'asl
www.swanstonweather.co.uk
www.eppingweather.co.uk
www.winter1947.co.uk

"Scott W" wrote in message
...

I have been asked if I can get an abandoned cabled Davis Vantage Pro weather
station in my local park up in running to start uploading data to the web.

The station is about 600 yards from my house - there are obviously trees and
shrubs in the way - so it is not in direct line of sight. This is obviously
too far to connect to my router but I was wondering if there is a device
that can plug in to the Davis console to upload via 3G? The console is in a
garage though there is no telephone line - just a power supply.

Is there a reliable 'repeater' that could work with this method.
==================================================

Needs more information to answer fully. But you say 'Vantage Pro'. Is that
correct or could it be a Vantage Pro 2? An original VP will be a minimum of
10 years old now and unlikely to be worth spending more money on unless you
really fancy a project! (And even then if the T/H sensor goes then that
would be bad news - that particular spare is extremely hard to source now.)

But if it is a VP2 rather than a VP1:

Well, as George rightly points out, there's no practical way of converting
cabled VP2 stations to wireless operation. Strictly speaking, you could swap
the cabled SIM board on the sensor transmitter for a wireless one (at some
significant cost) but the console can't be converted so a new one would need
to be bought (or use a Vue console).

If it was converted to wireless operation - hardly likely to be
cost-effective, but if... - then 600 yards is too far for a single hop. Yes
you could install a VP2 repeater midway if that was practicable, but more
cost (£295) and two 300 yard hops is still not going to yield a very strong
signal at the console.

The other angle is what currently happens at the console end? Where is the
console? Is it inside a building (I'm guessing it probably is) though it
could be in some sort of weatherproof shelter? But if it were in a building
with power and an Internet connection AND the console is fitted with a
Weatherlink logger then other options for a data link are possible such as a
MeteoBridge unit see eg our main website at:

http://www.weatherstations.co.uk/meteo.htm

John Dann
www.weatherstations.co.uk

Meant to add: There are many ways these days of implementing wireless data
links. The protocol between ISS and console for cabled VP2 stations is, from
memory, RS422. So if you had a pair of RS422 radio modems (and assuming that
there's mains power available at the sensor location) then it could be done
relatively easily in principle. But unlikely to be cheap, would require some
understanding of the electronic setup etc involved and is just an untested
idea.

Similarly, but perhaps more easily/cheaply, if the VP console were to have
an RS232 serial logger fitted then some form of WiFi Device Server (perhaps
a type that allowed fitting of an external yagi antenna) might allow a data
link via WiFi back to the house. But again this is the basis of an idea, not
a guaranteed turnkey solution.

JGD

On 04/08/2015 15:01, JohnD wrote:
Meant to add: There are many ways these days of implementing wireless
data links. The protocol between ISS and console for cabled VP2 stations
is, from memory, RS422. So if you had a pair of RS422 radio modems (and
assuming that there's mains power available at the sensor location) then
it could be done relatively easily in principle. But unlikely to be
cheap, would require some understanding of the electronic setup etc
involved and is just an untested idea.

Similarly, but perhaps more easily/cheaply, if the VP console were to
have an RS232 serial logger fitted then some form of WiFi Device Server
(perhaps a type that allowed fitting of an external yagi antenna) might
allow a data link via WiFi back to the house. But again this is the
basis of an idea, not a guaranteed turnkey solution.

JGD
---------------------------------------------------------------------
I don't know anything about Davis equipment but just to get the
comparisons is there the facility to download the data say, weekly,
manually to a memory stick?
Dave

"Dave Cornwell" wrote in message ...

I don't know anything about Davis equipment but just to get the
comparisons is there the facility to download the data say, weekly,
manually to a memory stick?
=======================

The Davis stations aren't designed to take a separate memory stick. But the
optional logger provides a similar storage capability. If you take a laptop
to the console/logger unit at eg 1 or 2 weekly intervals then you can
download the data to the laptop at eg a 10-minute logging interval. (But the
point is that the logger has to stay installed in the console rather than
being removable.) But it's obviously not live data, although fine for
retrospective purposes.

JGD

On Tuesday, 4 August 2015 17:10:57 UTC+1, JohnD wrote:
"Dave Cornwell" wrote in message ...

I don't know anything about Davis equipment but just to get the
comparisons is there the facility to download the data say, weekly,
manually to a memory stick?
=======================

The Davis stations aren't designed to take a separate memory stick. But the
optional logger provides a similar storage capability. If you take a laptop
to the console/logger unit at eg 1 or 2 weekly intervals then you can
download the data to the laptop at eg a 10-minute logging interval. (But the
point is that the logger has to stay installed in the console rather than
being removable.) But it's obviously not live data, although fine for
retrospective purposes.

JGD

Many thanks for your replies all. I'm pretty sure it is Vantage Pro 2 as was only set up about 3 years ago. But I need to see what is in the building in terms of console / phone connection etc to make any further judgements. It would be preferable if it is a live feed.
I will update as soon as I know more...

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