Is the Accurite you have, one of the three stations I’ve listed above? I will be mounting the station either on an external wall. Does Accurite make mounting hardware? Does it matter what side of the house it is mounted on. East, South, etc facing?
I’m full of questions because I’m close to overcoming the WAF.
I was checking out the Acurite for $139 and I noticed the solar panels only run small fans. I think the stations has AA batteries, is that what powers the internet connection?
@jangell2 - the Accurite sensor array communicates to the Observer IP which is powered by AC in the house. The Observer IP device is what sends the weather information to Weather Underground.
The solar panel on the Accurite sensor array is to keep the internal batteries charged up, so the batteries can handle night time and cloudy days.
@DLane is describing Ambient Weather WS-1400-IP, not Acurite (easy mistake to make 
).
Acurite uses something similar to Observer IP, they call theirs SmartHub, and not every model comes with one (see my original reply in this thread). This little adapter connects to the wired Ethernet and to the Acurite 5-in-1 sensor, which by itself can’t connect to the internet/wifi.
5-in-1 family of sensors does not come with rechargeable batteries, and @jangell2 is right that solar panels only power the fan to keep temperature closer to ambient. They actually advise against rechargeable batteries, because they are supposedly can’t work well at low temperatures. Personally I think they simply didn’t want to deal with sharper voltage drop when the rechargeable batteries are low on power.
My batteries have worked well so far (haven’t had to replace them yet), but because they are not rechargeable by the sensor, I would advise against installing the sensor high up (somewhere not easily serviceable).
Personally I have mine mounted on a fence, about 6ft off the ground. In order to have an accurate wind and rain measurements, you should try providing as much clearance above the sensor as possible, so do not install it right next to the wall and be careful if installing it on the roof.
My Acurite unit came with 5-in-1, HD display and SmartHub, setup similar to the first version you posted. HD display is rarely used, I mostly use apps on my phone.
Cheers,
Gene
Here is a nice deal (link) for the AcuRite weather station I got.
The picture is a little off (shows a regular 5-in-1 sensor, not pro), but description does list a pro version of 5-in-1 sensor, HD display and My AcuRite Remote Monitoring (SmartHub). For $130, it is hard to beat.
You can check Question and Answer section to confirm that the picture is wrong and that it comes with a hub.
That Pro versions looks good, will probably go for it. I’ve been thinking of how to mount it. We have a single story house, but I’d prefer not to put it on the roof for ease of servicing, and I’m just a little edgy about drilling holes into my roof. I’ve got a metal fence but the only place that could work, won’t because of overhanging shrubbery.
That leaves a side wall of my house which is brick. Are there recommended mounting brackets for this model? It would have to stick it out from the house at least 3 feet to clear the gutters and eaves.
It comes with a plastic bracket, designed to be mounted to a vertical or horizontal surface, but it will not help you to get 3ft away from the wall.
The mounting hole on the rachio does fit a standard PVC pipe so you could rig something cheap and custom made using standard fittings. I would recommend you consider a pole, made out of PVC and filled with sand, somewhere away from the house and other big obstructions. You can buy 8 ft of PVC pipe and berry it at least 3ft deep (leaving 5ft above ground for sensor to sit on).
Ambient Weather has a lot of mounting solutions
http://www.ambientweather.com/amwemoso.html
I’ve used this one for several weather stations and am very happy with it:
http://www.ambientweather.com/amweeztrandm.html
That, plus four cinder blocks for ballast, easily handle the sometimes 70 mph sustained winds I get.
Steve.
The Accurite documentation says the ideal mounting height is 33 ft. The only place on my house that I could mount to that high and clear all roof lines was the highest peak in the back (north facing side) of my home. I have a walk out basement and my home is 2 stories, so from the back it’s 3 full stories visible, plus the roof. Sadly I don’t own anything larger than a 20ft ladder so I didn’t mount it up there. Instead i mounted a 4x4 to an existing fence post using galvanized mending plates. This put the PWS about 12 or so feet off of the ground and away from my home so that it can pick up the wind. Still it’s behind my home and thus behind the homes behind me so I don’t get fully accurate wind readings. But I care more about accurate rain readings and they are spot on.
I know you may not want to hear this, but take it from a guy who went “cheap” with a weather station for years and upgraded to a Davis Vantage Vue…you get what you pay for.
I had an Ambient WS-1090 for a long time - had routine problems with losing wireless connection between the station and the console which was connected to my computer and reported data to weather services. I finally got so frustrated I spent the bucks on the Davis.
It has been literally zero problems in 2 years. Rock solid connection, no dropouts at all.
I can’t speak to the accurite, but if the choice is between the $180ish price range and the next level up, save your money and frustration.
Yes you are right, I don’t want to hear that. 
I’ve looked at the reviews on Amazon for the acurite and I haven’t noticed anyone mentioning connectivity problems nor has anyone here on this thread mentioned them.
Oh boy, I am not going to make that 33’ recommendation from acutrite. As I look at my back yard, mounting it on a vertical pole as shown in some mounting devices isn’t practical. There’s no where it wouldn’t be in the way when time to mow. So It looks like it will be mounted to the a vertical brick wall of my house in the back yard.
In the links above, I see there were mounts for doing just that, but I couldn’t tell if they would clear the eaves. It seems that I could take a couple of 2x4’s and make an angle bracket. Attach the vertical to my house and the PWS to the horizontal. Since I would make this bracket, I could make the horizontal long enough to clear the eaves.
Whaddya think?
I’m also thinking of adding one of those acurite indoor/outdoor monitors so that we could check the house temp when out of town or just away for whatever. We have pets and it’d be good to know if there was a problem.
I picked up a couple of facia board TV antenna mounts and made the mount for my system at the peak of my roof. It’s at the peak or a 2 story home, and wind speed/direction is accurate according to CWOP (Citizens Weather Observer Program).
I can tell you from personal experience - my Ambient 1090 would struggle to hold a reliable connection from that same mount to my office in the basement and the computer connected to a console and running my weather software.
It’s not so much the distance as it is the drywall the signal has to penetrate.
Once I went to the Davis Vantage Vue, all problems ceased.
The reason I’ve been reluctant to do something like that, is the idea of having to get a ladder out every time the battery needs changing or something needs servicing, like a clogged rain gauge. We have pine trees in out back yard and we have clean out the gutters at least yearly.
I do like the looks of the mount and that should help with accurate readings.
I found an Acurite forum and saw this thread on hardware mounting.
There are some interesting things being down with galvanized pipe. Which brings up an issue. How do you get the station level. Does the mounting system have to be level or does the station itself have to ability to be tilted for leveling purposes?
6250, along with the usb data logger and the weather envoy to put that logger in.
@jangell2 As far as AcuRite, the mount has to be level, but there is some leeway if you are doing your own rain calibration.
5-in-1 sensor comes with a bubble level sensor, and ideally it should sit level. That being said the main sensor which can be effected is the rain gauge, which consists of two tilting cups. If the sensor was calibrated while at perfect level, rain readings will be slightly off if the unit is installed somewhat tilted. If you calibrate your unit after it is installed, any deviation from a perfect level will be taken into an account.
The only other sensors which can be effected (such as wind sped and direction) require a noticeable tilt to be effected, while temperature and pressure are level independent.
Keep in mind that wind direction requires that a sensor is facing particular direction, so that rain cup is due south from the solar panels.
Gene
Hope the upload works. I’m including two photos. The first shows the wall where I want to mount the station and the second shows the trees in my backyard. They eliminate a lot of my yard as possible sites. I propose to use some mounting backing, either purchased or made, to mount on this brick wall. I wonder how far out from the wall I’ve got to come for the rain sensor and also to get some sun on the solar panels.
[quote=“Gene, post:24, topic:8452, full:true”]
My batteries have worked well so far (haven’t had to replace them yet), but because they are not rechargeable by the sensor, I would advise against installing the sensor high up (somewhere not easily serviceable).[/quote]
Acurite sells an extension case for the batteries so they can be mounted within reach and easily replaced.
@JaneL A very good point! Thank you for bringing them up. Battery extension cable is about a $20 option (link).
