I admit it, I am a closet geek….no wait, I need to be honest, I am a total geek. When I was a kid growing up in Fort Wayne Indiana I was interested in meteorology at a young age, maybe 11 or 12 years old. I got a weather station for my birthday one year and proudly mounted it to the swing set where it recorded wind speed, wind direction, temp and maybe humidity. I had a barometer indoors that I used to some degree of success.
The weather station was a kid’s toy set and it was made out of plastic and metal and rarely worked correctly. But before school and then after school I would go out in the back yard and record the measurements from the instrument and write them all down in a notebook. Then I would compare my data with the weather forecast in the evening newspaper and on the TV and realize I had no clue what I was doing. 🙂
Fast forward 40+ years and now I have a “PROFESSIONAL” weather station and while I still do not know what I am doing, it at least transmits wireless into my house and onto the Internet so I do not have to leave the comfort of my house to check my weather!
While looking at the Davis Vantage Pro for a number of years and never bringing myself to the point of spending $1000 on a weather station I came across the AcuRite pro Color Digital Weather Station with PC Connect for $159.00. I added an Internet Bridge: remote Monitoring Online Device for an additional $79 and that is my total investment to date.
The 5 in 1 outdoor sensor seems rugged; installation was easy and so far, it works great and the calibration has been spot on. It is mounted about 10′ in the air and transmits the data into the house via a wireless signal.
Mounted on a scrap piece of wood
Sensor includes temp, wind speed and direction, humidity, and self emptying rain gauge
The indoor color display provides all of the data collected as well as the forecast and alarms can be set for any variable you wish to set. It has an ac adapter and a back light and receives the wireless signal from the outdoor sensor.
Indoor display. if you do not have the internet bridge this display must connect to your PC with a USB cable. If you have the bridge, you can set this display anywhere you wish in the house.
The wireless internet “bridge” I use so I do not have to leave my computer on 24/7. Hooks right into the router:
The Bridge Device
The AcuRite weather server synchs with your sensor via a MAC address and it is displayed on your own personal weather display when you log onto the server like this:
What you can get when you log onto your server space…
And there is also an app where you can logon and get it on your smart phone:
There is an APP for that…
Lastly I registered my weather station on the Weather Underground and now I part of that reporting network. my weather station is KVAFREDE49 and can be seen here! I also have a link to it on my home page near the bottom.
Weather Underground Screenshot
So far I am happy with this purchase and enjoy watching the data being collected and sent via the internet every few minutes to the weather site. I had a couple of difficulties registering the MAC address for the Internet bridge device but called customer service and they “forced” the registration via the server and everything sprang to life.
I would recommend this weather station to anyone and feel the price point is perfect for the backyard weather enthusiast geek.