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

Sat Apr 2 17:57:29 EDT 2016

Gene,

Thanks!  Perhaps in a couple weeks.  

What does he have and do you know where he reports his data and by what station name? 

73,

Gordon, W2TTT

201.314.6964

Sent from AT&T Mail on Android

From:"Connors, Gene" <gene.connors at redcross.org>
Date:Sat, Apr 2, 2016 at 5:10 PM
Subject:Re: [Rrc] New Weather Station - Tycon Systems TP2700WC First Impressions

Hi Gordon,

I have a friend on Hope Street in Ridgewood who has a weather station, if you want to be introduced to him please let me know.

Thanks,

Gene

From: Rrc <rrc-bounces at arcsquared.org> on behalf of J. Gordon Beattie, Jr. <w2ttt at att.net>
Sent: Saturday, April 2, 2016 2:52 PM
To: ComTechGroup at yahoogroups.com; rrc at arcsquared.org; pcaresraces at yahoogroups.com; troop139 at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [Rrc] New Weather Station - Tycon Systems TP2700WC First Impressions 

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, 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!  J)  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).  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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