[Troop139] New Weather Station - Tycon Systems TP2700WC First Impressions

Sat Apr 2 14:52:34 EDT 2016

Hi Folks!

Nancy and I have always been interested in the weather and we've long
discussed the idea of setting up a personal weather station here at home,
but I've always been unable to part with $400-1,000 for an instrument that
would be complete enough to catch my interest and I was concerned about the
poor quality of the instrumentation at the lower price levels.  

The other day while I was looking at APRS (Automatic Packet Reporting
System) web sites such as www.aprs.fi <http://www.aprs.fi> , for my
stations' (W2TTT*) position reports, I noted that there were a number of
stations reporting weather data in addition to their position and status.
This got me browsing APRS and weather equipment web sites and I came across
this the Tycon Systems TP2700WC at this web site
http://www.proweatherstation.com/ and on several others.  This unit had many
of the "essentials" that I was looking for including temperature, humidity,
barometric pressure, rainfall and wind speed and direction.  Further, it
offered automatic reporting weather data and the price shipped to my door
via FEDEX Ground was $143!  Not bad!  After reviewing MANY comments, blogs
and reviews of this unit and others, I was satisfied that a TP2700WC was
going to be coming to the home of N2FWI and W2TTT.  So with some money in my
PayPal account, the unit was on its way to our home.

In my reading, I determined that  I would be able to share my weather
reports on the Weather Underground (What a scary name for those of us over
55!  :))  web site for Bergenfield, New Jersey, where we live.
https://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=07621.
I went to their registration site for a Personal Weather Station ID,
https://www.wunderground.com/personal-weather-station/mypws and in a matter
of a few minutes, the registration process was completed using an email
address and a password that that I made up for the purpose.  As you can see
I now have a Weather Station ID.  

A few days later the equipment arrived and in a matter of about 30 minutes
Don, N2PRT and I opened up the packaging and connected up  everything before
a Fair Lawn Radio Club meeting.  (www.flarc.net <http://www.flarc.net> ).
All the outside components snap and screw together as you can see in the
photo.  You will need a Number 2 Phillips screwdriver and a small adjustable
wrench or a multitool to assemble everything.  I was not impressed with the
cable ties that were provided, nor the way the two sections of tubing were
joined.  It is very unclear as to whether the cable ties are UV-resistant,
so we just slapped them into place to get the extra cabling out of the way.
We will replace them with UV-resistant cable ties when the temporary
installation is replaced.  To join the two sections of tubing used to
support all the elements of the weather station, we drilled a hole through
the swaged joint and "pinned" them together with a bolt and nut.  

In the photo there is a weathervane in the top left to show wind direction,
and an anemometer for wind speed on the upper right.  In the lower left
there is a solar panel topping a temperature, humidity and air pressure
sensor which are attached to the 433 MHz radio transmitter.    Finally, in
the lower right is a rain gauge.  The photo inset has an image of the system
display station.

You do need to ensure that the remote outside sensor is level, or you will
not get accurate rainfall data.  There is a TINY bubble level built into the
rain gauge which helps guide you in that aspect of the installation.  You
will also need to orient the weathervane to align with the north to get
accurate wind direction readings.  

The unit uses five "AA" batteries, three for the station display and two for
the remote outside sensor.  The remote outside sensor has a small solar
panel on it, so you can use rechargeable Alkaline or Lithium "AA" batteries
and save yourself the annual hassle of battery replacement.  The display
unit can also use rechargeable batteries and can be fed by an optional or
aftermarket 5VDC power supply.  The batteries will allow continuous
operation of the display in the event of a power failure.  Its LCD display
is both attractive and sturdy for an economy unit.  It has a solid feel and
can be placed on a desktop or shelf or screwed into a wall or other fixture
using the various mounting holes on the rear panel.  

The station display unit also has a port for the supplied USB cable that
allows one to interface to a computer.  The computer software was provided
on a CD and after a simple copy, easily installed on my Windows 10 laptop.
The software will synchronize settings between the display and the computer
automatically, and that allows changes to be made on either display
platform.  The computer can also store and plot historical data which can be
exported to other tools including Excel spreadsheets, or a MySQL or even a
Hadoop database.  A computer is also required to report weather data to
outside sources such as Weather Underground.  As of now, it does require a
Windows computer, but we'll be in touch with the vendor about Linux or the
Windows 10 Core for the Raspberry Pi 2 & 3 and virtual consoles on remote
desktops.  

The next step is to leave the computer connected to the weather station for
a day or so and see how the data flows to Weather Underground.  Then I'll
start working on reporting via APRS and to the National Weather Service.
Once I see that is working reliably with my laptop, then I will take one of
my small ATOM processor controllers and set it and the station display unit
up to have a battery backed up solar power system.  All the components for
that are on hand from previous projects, so it will be done later in the
month.  

In summary, the initial testing of the unit seems to be fairly effortless
and straightforward.  Several people have told me that they have had the
same unit in service for several years without any issues and that we should
expect a similar experience. 

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