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

Fri May 13 20:27:16 EDT 2016

Recently PBS did a short on home weather stations. You can find it in THIS
OLD HOUSE, potatoes, Track Lights, and Home Weather Station episode.

On Sat, Apr 2, 2016 at 5:57 PM, James Gordon Beattie, Jr. <w2ttt at att.net>
wrote:

> 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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>
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