arduino + weather sensors

[garethmob]

hey iv noticed theres a obseratvory build but im interested in building up a arduino board

sensors id use : temperature a cloud like sensor (i guess ir) humidity

one question though what would i use for a dew point, id basacally want this as a weather station specifically for my astronomy, sort of predicting when best weather is to go out

would it be better though to get a weather station and have a arduino collect it on the wireless 433mhz range? or build one my self.

also it was pointed out in a different thread what about collecting the data and posting it on a map/database for all sgl users to know the local weathers?

i found a website pachube :: connecting environments, patching the planet but it seems to focused really on everything and not anything specific

thanks for any ideas or help hopefully if it is cheap to make maybe every one could benifit from this

apoligies for my spelling im dyslexic

[pete_l]

AFAIK Dew Point is a calculated attribute. It depends on temperature and humidity.

If I was to design my perfect astronomical weather station, I'd probably include Seeing conditions and a wide-field view from a webcam, as well as "pings" from meteor showers and a Lightning detector The weather page from the Calar Alto observatory would be a good starting point

[yesyes]

I'm actually in the process of developing an Arduino based weather station.

So far I got a light sensor (LDR) working on an analogue pin an I almost got the IR temperature sensor (MXL90614) working.

Once I got this working and showing correct values I plan on adding SNMP support so that the values can be read remotely and put in a database and shown as graphs by something like Cacti.

Then I think I'll add more sensors. First a rain sensor that I have half-built already. Then humidity would be good, atmospheric pressure, wind speed and direction and probably a few more.

Then a few relays will be supported that can, for example, close the obsy roof when it starts raining.

There's a whole thread about this and similar projects by others here:

http://stargazerslounge.com/diy-astronomer/106144-arduino-focus-control-cloud-sensor.html

[garethmob]

where do you get your parts from?

[yesyes]

I'm an ebay person. So I'd look there first. Then compare to a few online shop prices. (ebay is not always the cheapest) ;-)

I got the temperature sensor from RS. Then an extender shield (where you can put 2 shield stacks next to each other) and a few other bits from Cool Components

The rest is off ebay (Arduino 2009 with LCD shield, Ethernet shield, prototype shield, project boxes, lots of electronic components...)

[pete_l]

I ... I plan on adding SNMP support

SNMP ... as in Simple Network Management Protocol ??? Crikey that's a bit of overkill isn't it?

All I've done is use a PIC to squirt fixed (comma delimiited) values down an RS232 line. I feel kinda inadequate now. Maybe I'll see if I can squeeze an object-relational database into the PIC's remaining EPROM:icon_scratch:

[yesyes]

LOL.

I'm aware that SNMP isn't exactly the de-facto standard for gathering weather data. ;-)

But I do like Cacti and its graphing. And that uses SNMP to collect remote data. So I thought why not use that. There is an SNMP lib for the Arduino. So it shouldn't be too difficult.

The initial idea was for many SGL members to build the same weather station and then collect all weather data in a central database. So if the Arduino only sends data via serial, you would still have to keep a PC running where the data can be collected from.

I do realise (now) that this is probably a bit too ambitious to get lots of members to collect weather data across the country. But I decided to stick with SNMP rather than yet another proprietary app.

But as usual, I'm always open to suggestions .. ;-)

[pete_l]

Well, I wish you luck. It must be 15 years since I did any work on SNMP and I can't say I was sorry to see it go. My brain hurt for months afterwards - all those 1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.99 numbers !

[yesyes]

OIDs, hehehe, yes, a bit of an odd addressing system. Highly hierarchical.

Looking at the SNMP lib (agentuino) it looks not too tricky but I'll see once I start with it. Who knows, I might give up half way through and revert back to Excel for the graphs...

[yesyes]

I've made progress today. Got SNMP working. See the other thread I linked to.