Hi @franz,
Could you please confirm the change has been implemented? Should we see the weather forecast aligned with the PWS as well or this is not going to change?
Thanks
Code was just deployed, now if you have chosen a PWS, or opted into PWS, this data will be used for evapotranspiration, precip, forecast, etc. Tomorrow observed weather (we record daily per device) will be recording from PWS (if chosen).
The webapp will allow you to exactly monitor weather, ET, precip. 2.0 webapp will be launching with mobile clients. Just putting the finishing touches on it.
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What about something like this? https://www.scaledinstruments.com/product/davis-6250-vantage-vue-us-version-and-units/ Looks like it is missing the USB data link which would need to be purchased separately, right?
I’m very lucky to be 1.32 miles from the C5171 station. Thank you, Gladstone family!
I highly recommend Scaled Instruments. Ryan is a great guy to work with.
If budget allows, I’d get the Pro2 Plus. Or Pro2 and solar radiation sensor. The Evapotranspiration data is useful for irrigation. Besides, once you are reporting to CWOP, your also helping the NWS mesonet. CWOP stations are widely used by the department of commerce as well as local agricultural and hydrological extensions.
Over the past few days I observed many stations in the DFW Texas area on Wunderground. It’s been a hot few days here as summer is setting in.
I’ve noticed something that think is of value to the knowledge base. 2 brands stood out to me behind stations reporting questionable data. Acu-rite by far accounted for most of them. Some stations being 10 degrees high while their wind speed readings on the low side. As a matter of fact, this trend was so significant that I could anticipate the equipment in use just by looking at the data on the Wundermap.
And I know a few here may disagree with me, but the 2nd most notorious brand was Netatmo. Although the Netatmo stations weren’t as bad as Acu-rite they did share a sizable percentage of the stations reporting questionable data.
Although, I don’t blame the problem on inaccuracy. Netatmo devices with their sleek modern design are designed to be aesthetically pleasing to the eye. Unfortunately this is probably the very thing that causes problems. Most people see something stylish and cool looking and will place the device where it acts “ornamental”. Besides the fact a metallic cylinder tends to absorb radiant heat rather than divert it.
Aesthetics and weather stations don’t mix well. Quality instruments like Davis aren’t designed to be aesthetically pleasing but solely designed for their purpose of measuring the weather. Unfortunately they do get flack foe being an eyesore. There’s really no compromise.
Acu-rite stations are all in one units which can’t be placed in the shade without negatively affecting the wind and rain measurements. The sensor despite being fan aspirated is terrible at managing that excess heat. In addition, radiant heat related errors are not mitigated through offsets and recalibration. For example, if you’re temperature is reading 10 degrees higher during the day and you subtract 10 degrees, at night when the solar heating is gone and the temperature regulates, your sensor would then be reading 10 degrees lower.
Netatmo stations are easierto correct. Either place in a location that receives no sun at all hours of the day. Avoid placing near wood, masonry, pavement that retains heat.
The best remedy for the Netatmo stations is to buy a radiation shield. Radiation shields resemble white pagodas. This will allow you to have more flexibility in siting like the middle of the yard.
Acu-rite stations due to their all in one design are a bit more tricky. My best advice is to not buy Acu-rite.
Hope this helps.
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@Skywatch, thank you for sharing your findings with us. We hope by allowing users the ability to select their preferred weather station, that they will all take some time review the weather reports from their nearby stations and make the best selection possible.
Same can be said of price and installation time. I also believe placement of the weather station could be argued as more important than the station itself.
Do you have any tips on how to install and/or configure a Davis station?
Best, Emil
I am using a davis vantage pro2 and recently purchased the weaterlink ip ($230). I am using a powerline ethernet adapter Setup is “simple” if you follow the directions found on the web. Wunderground simple required inputting your username and password. NOAA required requesting a station id, setting up lat/lon/elevation, emailing noaa to let them know you are broadcasting and waiting (in my case 1 week) for the station to to be listed. It was then selectable on IRO.
@dentalpain, have you had any issues with the quality of data being reported? Or delays in reporting?
Just to confirm, is this the WeatherLinkIP you’re using?
Could you shed anymore light on this setup? I’d like to add an article about this to our knowledge base 
Best, Emil
Emil,
I have had no issues with quality or timeliness. I dont know how quickly IRO updates PWS data but most sites seems to be no more than 15 belated. Yes I am using weatherlinkIP, you linked to the correct product. It connected via an interface port on the back of my Davis and I used powerline over ethernet on the other. You then create an account and log into Davis’ weatherlink website. There you add accounts, like wunderground and CWOP. Each setup is unique but directions can be found online.
Even though people tend to say the installation is difficult, it’s really not. The Davis station installation isn’t much different than any other make. I’ve had LaCrosse and Oregon Scientific.
The Davis installs in 2 ways, either attaching to a pole via U bolt or screws to a wooden post. The mounting hardware is included.
The only real difference is the VP2 sensor unit is heavier. No biggie.
Awesome, thanks @dentalpain and @Skywatch, we appreciate your feedback. Hopefully this will encourage others to consider setting up a PWS for their Iro.
Just curious, not sure if you monitor other stations in your area, but if you had to ballpark how much more accurate your Iro was due to having a PWS on site versus using another PWS or NWS, what do you think the the percentage would be?
I don’t yet own an Iro but in September I’m hopefully going to buy. I found out about Rachio Iro from a neighbor who’s Iro is connected to my station and contacted me commending my data and equipment. Currently we have a 1998 Rainbird controller that doesn’t work anymore.
@emil I can say that my PWS is about 2 miles from a small airport’s weather station. My temps are usually +/- up to ~8 degrees which makes sense due to the microclimates we get on the coast. The fog can get trapped in places and have a noticeable affect on temperature. For rainfall, I’ll have to wait until it actually rains here in CA 
Since temperature affects evap rates I’d say it’s definitely useful. The real impact will be when we get rain which can vary quite a bit even a mile away.
There is another reliable PWS about half a mile from me, his readings are in line with mine so I could have used his but that’s no fun.
I know that the storms we typically get are very spotty, as we can get a half inch of rain at the house and nothing a mile away. Considering there are no PWS less than 5 miles from me, I decided to get the Netatmo (with rain gauge) and set it up last weekend. It rained over the last couple days and I compared my data to other weather stations in the area and it varied quite a bit.
Just to be sure though I used a catch cup to compare the inches of rain to the Netatmo and if my calculations are correct, I believe the initial calibration is a little off.
This is what I came up with:
Heavy rain:
Catch cup - (140ml / 16in2) x .06 = .525 in - Compared to the rain gauge reading, which was .453
Light rain:
Catch cup - (15ml / 16in2) x .06 = .056 in - Compared to the rain gauge reading, which was .040
@emil, do those calculations (based on one of your previous posts) look correct?
From what I have read though, it sounds like the Netatmo is pretty easy to calibrate, which I will try to do this weekend.
I live in Florida, where it can rain on one side of the street and not the other. Needless to say a PWS 7 miles away was inaccurate 75% of the time it rained, and 100% of the time on accumulated precipitation. Now, its bang on and I saved $XX on a wired rain “sensor”. Having accurate data show in my moisture logs was worth the expense (I plan on a 15 year + life span on the Davis). If anyone needs any help, message me or post here, I am happy to help.
Drew
I don’t think these negate the rain sensor. We got rain here at 4 am this morning, well after rachio scheduled my zones to run, but my sensor has tripped and rachio now has opportunity to observe this precip and adjust accordingly.
cfwiggum said: “I know that the storms we typically get are very spotty, as we can get a half inch of rain at the house and nothing a mile away.”
This is exceptionally true for those of us in the suburbs of the Dallas - Ft. Worth Metroplex. I’m better off taking my chances with a PWS that’s 0.5 mi away, versus lining up with DFW airport. While it may seem odd at first, in fact there is little alignment of rainfall at the airport versus my location (or for that matter, many other locations).
Best regards,
Bill
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The way I understand it a rain guage would only stop actual irrigation from 1 hour prior and during the time it is irrigating (50 mins for me). So a 1 hour 50 min window starting at 4 am (not too many rain events starting at 4 am here). I bet that when the IRO went to check for weather 1 hour prior to running it would see the rain happening or forecast and stop watering anyways. I still don’t see the point of a standalone rain sensor, maybe someone at Rachio can shed some light on this. Does a PWS take the place of a rain guage, what is one missing if they only have a PWS?
I love the fact my IRO knows that I got .48" yesterday (over it rained more than your predefined cut off .25 for example).
Not entirely true, the sensor will prevent irrigation as long as it is wet, so mine is set for 1/8 and usually takes an entire day to dry out at that precip rate. but keep it in the back of your if you have the problem I described above or suffer from some of rachio’is unfortunate outages in weather data. For me my micro climate does not meet forecasts just often enough to justify the unit for this reason alone (and I’ll get a pws to increase its accuracy this winter). It is just a cheap fail safe you can add to the system, but my manicupality charges too much for water as it is (usage tiers) so that is another driving motivator. But yes, I have seen rachio be at least 4 hours behind for my area on several occasions.
Yes, a rain sensor does not negate this data, I like having this data as well. My main point is that they are not mutually exclusive and cheap enough to justify the failure that rachio has had as well as there weather data vendor to further the units efficiency.