Author Topic: Advice  (Read 3782 times)

chriscrete

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Advice
« on: February 16, 2013, 02:10:15 PM »
Hi all,

I'm not technical at all but do want a good weather station that displays the actual weather on the website we are running to promote our holidays complex in South East Crete. I have some people with enough skills that can help but all want a Windows PC to set it up and running. I prefer to do it on a Mac as I do have a spare MacMini intel based that I want to use for this. Can anybody advice if it's possible to set up a professional weather station on a Mac and integrate it to look professional in our website? I also want to have a weather station that I can connect with a sunshine sensor. So what should I do to achieve the best results?

Would also appreciate some URL where I can see this kind of integration working.

Thanks.

Chris

jace

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Re: Advice
« Reply #1 on: February 16, 2013, 02:44:32 PM »
Hi Chris.

Lots of people in this forum have their own web sites with their weather data.

If you have a look in the member map link at the top on any page in this forum, and click on members names, it should come up with info about that member. If they have a web page, it can be looked at by clicking on the world icon.

weather station wise,

Davis are probably among the best stations but unfortunately a vantage Pro 2 station with data logger and sunshine sensors will cost about ?1000. (The Davis Vantage Vue is cheaper but cannot use solar/uv sensors).

Then for about ?350 - ?400 there is the Oregon scientific WMR 200, you have to buy the uv sensor as a option, costs about ?40

Stu (the developer) has just posted about a budget station the Watson WH3080 that has solar sensor. Costs under ?100, http://athena.trixology.com/index.php?topic=665.msg5798;topicseen#msg5798.

That's three stations that are Weather Cat compatible.

JC

elagache

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A few more details on WeatherCat web (Re: Advice)
« Reply #2 on: February 16, 2013, 11:02:21 PM »
Hi Chris and WeatherCat fans,

I'm not technical at all but do want a good weather station that displays the actual weather on the website we are running to promote our holidays complex in South East Crete. I have some people with enough skills that can help but all want a Windows PC to set it up and running. I prefer to do it on a Mac as I do have a spare MacMini intel based that I want to use for this. Can anybody advice if it's possible to set up a professional weather station on a Mac and integrate it to look professional in our website? I also want to have a weather station that I can connect with a sunshine sensor. So what should I do to achieve the best results?

JC gave you a good start to your question.  The one thing you might want to consider is that the quality of the station you buy is reflected in the price.  If the weather is mild (or you simply want to get some idea of how this all might work) an inexpensive station might be adequate.  However, particularly for a holiday complex, it might be desirable to buy a commercial grade station that can will take considerable abuse.  That way your staff don't have to spend a lot of time keeping the station running.

Indeed, most of us have websites.

A very austere, plain, and neglected website is my own:

http://www.canebas.org/Weather/

It is based on a template that can be edited using free-software.

For something much more flashy, check out the templates created by more talented folks than me. 

One is the Ajaxeline AJAX and PHP template.  You can see it action here:

http://wx.atkinsfamily.org/

There is more information on setting it up here:

http://athena.trixology.com/index.php?topic=200.0

Another is Saratoga AJAX/PHP template.  You can see it in action here:

http://saratoga-weather.org/

There is more information on setting it up here:

http://athena.trixology.com/index.php?topic=158.0

So you do have many choices from simply adding some weather data to existing pages to dynamic displays of the weather as it happens on your holiday complex.

Hope this helps!

Cheers, Edouard  [cheers1]

chriscrete

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Re: Advice
« Reply #3 on: February 17, 2013, 09:46:24 AM »
Thanks JC & Edouard,

I will have look around but I believe the Vantage Pro2 with extra sensors should be sufficient I hope. We have about 330 days of sunshine during the year. We only have some serious winds during June and August, not tornado's but sometimes they can between 7 to 9 on the Beaufort scale.

Thanks.

Chris

elagache

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Davis instruments are plenty robust enough. (Re: Advice)
« Reply #4 on: February 17, 2013, 06:28:21 PM »
Hi Chris and WeatherCat fans,

I will have look around but I believe the Vantage Pro2 with extra sensors should be sufficient I hope. We have about 330 days of sunshine during the year. We only have some serious winds during June and August, not tornado's but sometimes they can between 7 to 9 on the Beaufort scale.

Actually, I was only suggesting that you consider investing in Davis products, nothing more industrial than that.  In the United States and elsewhere, Davis is accepted for research, government, and private industry weather data collection.  If you read some of the stories about Davis stations, they can take a lot of punishment and keep going.  It is a nice choice because it is robust enough for your needs but popular enough that you can find it discounted because of popular demand.

Hope this clarifies what I was suggesting.

Cheers, Edouard  [cheers1]