Did you know about - "Empowered by Davis" ??

[elagache]

Dear WeatherCat Davis station owners,

While looking for what sort of cables work with a Davis original VP station, I accidentally stumbled across this listing that I had never seen before:

Empowered by Davis - http://www.davisnet.com/weather/empowered/

It is a long listing of products that can be thought of as "add-ons" to your Davis station.  These are mostly hardware add-ons from mounting kits to ways to connect a Davis station to other electronics.  However, there are some software packages listed including some of the direct competitors to WeatherCat.  I sent Stu and email with the instructions to request that WeatherCat be added.

Still there are other products that interest the WeatherCat community.  Take a look at this webpage and see if there are any add-ons that you might want to add to your Davis station someday.

Definitely an eye-opener at least to me.

Cheers, Edouard

[Blicj11]

Thanks for this very interesting read. I really liked the Darrera Anemometer until I read about the power requirement. I don't need an item on top of a mast that needs power. But I liked everything else about it. They need to invent one of those that is wind powered. 

[Felix]

Thanks for this very interesting read. I really liked the Darrera Anemometer until I read about the power requirement. I don't need an item on top of a mast that needs power. But I liked everything else about it. They need to invent one of those that is wind powered. 

Or at least solar powered like the WeatherHawk 600 series of non-moving-parts weather stations if they don't feel comfortable suggesting customers tie into a Davis solar panel.

Hey, where's John the Bee Keeper from New Hampshire when we need him? He's got a 12kW solar array on his barn roof so specing out an array with parts list and suggested sources to provide 40mA of power at 10 to 30 VDC with several days of energy storage should be a breeze.   

[Bull Winkus]

For $149.99, This could be adapted with power and parts to spare!



http://www.amazon.com/10W-Panel-Solar-Home-System/dp/B00L7RRCTC/ref=sr_1_2?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1445449443&sr=1-2&keywords=solar+kit

This one, at $39.94, can supply 260 mAh to a 12v battery. I'm guessing maybe about 2100 mA a day with good 8 hr sunshine, 1050 mA with 4 hr good sunshine, enough to run 40 mAh device for 52 or 26 hours. Good reserve except when cloudy, but battery capacity can make up for it. An 8 Ah battery will supply 200 hours to a 40 mA device.



Add a $19.99 regulator and 12v re-chargable batteries.



8 Ah battery -$20.99



Just speculating.
 

[elagache]

Dear Blick, Felix, Herb, and WeatherCat gadget fans,

Thanks for everybody's interest.  After I made that post I went through the list more carefully and didn't find anything all that useful ultimately.  I suppose the ways to integrate into home automation might be interesting, but I'm around most of the time so there is no need to automatically set the thermostat or anything like that.

Something I might want to do someday is use an number of Open Sprinkler setups and adjust that using data from WeatherCat:

https://opensprinkler.com/

There is software for the Mac that will control these sprinklers:

http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/51757/opensprinkler

However, it uses it own weather data and doesn't seem to support AppleScript.  So this is a project that won't happen anytime soon.

For $149.99, This could be adapted with power and parts to spare!

This one is a bit pricey, but a lower power (and less expensive) version of this would also work for powering a PC case fan to aspirate your temperature probe without requiring an AC connection.  Anybody bold enough to give that a try?

Cheers, Edouard

[Bull Winkus]

Edouard, the rest of my post was for a less expensive ad hoc solar power system which could be used for a fan. Cost was about $80, including an 8 Ah sealed battery and regulator.

 

[elagache]

Dear Herb and WeatherCat forum posting experts, . .

Edouard, the rest of my post was for a less expensive ad hoc solar power system which could be used for a fan. Cost was about $80, including an 8 Ah sealed battery and regulator.

Oops!   

Now sure why, but I only saw the top part of your post.  It's all there now.  Thanks for collecting all those interesting power options! 

So who's going to be bold enough to give it a try!

Cheers, Edouard

[MichaelMaggs]

An interesting read. Davies haven't added WeatherCat to the page yet, though. 

Michael

[Felix]

Davies haven't added WeatherCat to the page yet, though. 

I hadn't seen that Stu submitted WC for consideration after Edouard called his attention to the Empowerment page. Might not be in the Davis queue yet.

[elagache]

Dear Michael, Felix, and WeatherCat faithful,

An interesting read. Davies haven't added WeatherCat to the page yet, though. 

I did send Stu an email about it and he replied suggesting he was going to submit something.  I'll check with him when, . . . . I get a little more time!! 

Cheers, Edouard

[WCDev]

Simple reason why it's not there - I haven't submitted it yet. But it's on my todo list so will probably get done next week (got to go to Wales this weekend to welcome a new addition to the family  )

[elagache]

Howdy Stu and WeatherCat Davis fans,

Simple reason why it's not there - I haven't submitted it yet.

  . . . . That's no excuse!  Davis should have read your mind and did it for you!  Besides, with all the commissions we get from recommending Davis stations . . . . 

Got to go to Wales this weekend to welcome a new addition to the family 

Congratulations on the new addition and hope the trip to Wales goes well! 

Cheers, Edouard