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A surfschool or hotel on the beach can become well known quickly and easily by displaying real time weather data and webcam images from a weatherstation and webcam. Surfers have a good reason to return to the webpage every day in order to find out about wind and waves. Service quality and reputation of the weather station owner can be significantly improved.
A weatherstation consists of a central storage & display unit and several sensors that can be connected by cable or radio. Since wind- and kitesurfers are first of all interested in the wind conditions a good location for the wind sensor must be found. (Finding locations for other sensors like rain gauge or temperature is much easier.) In order to get good readings from the wind sensor, there should not be any obstacles around the weather station, which manipulate the wind flow or create turbulences. We recommend that you do test readings with a handheld wind sensor in order to find the best spot. Usually these could be a roof top, a pole, or more specifically a flagpole (as it is used by many sailing clubs.) If you consider the top of a pointed roof be aware that the wind is deflected. Therefore the sensor should be attached to a pole (e.g. a surfmast) that extends at least 1 meter above the roof top.
The central display & storage unit should be installed in a dry and safe place with access to the telephone lines. If the distance between the wind sensor and the central unit is more than 20 meters we recommend using a weatherstation that communicates with its sensor by radio. If the distance is less than 20 meters you can use wired sensors.
If you want to add a webcam just make sure that the webcam is in a safe place with a good view on the surfspot.
If you choose a weather station with radio transfer of data between sensors and central unit you are more flexible and you can bridge greater distances. However weather stations with radio transfer tend to be less reliable and more expensive.
There are several manufacturers of weather stations. Prices start at around 200 $ but you can also get high tech stations for several thousand $. In most cases people buy inexpensive weather stations for less than 1000 $. If you buy a really cheap station you have to be aware that the station parts will break more easily and the station will not be very reliable.
The central unit does not necessarily have to have a sophisticated display with all kinds of display options unless you want people to see the readings e.g. from your shop window. But the weather station absolutely has to have an interface which can be used to transfer the data to a PC or that can be connected directly to a phone line and transfer the data to the internet.
Here is a list of inexpensive or semi professional weather stations:
| Manufacturer | Model | Data transfer between sensor & central unit | Test reports |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conrad (German) | WS 2300 (Matrix) | radio/cable | Wetterfreaks (German) |
| Telemetriestation | cable | Wetterfreaks(German) | |
| Davis | Vantage Pro | radio | Wetterfreaks(German) |
| WeatherMonitor II | cable | Wetterfreaks (German) | |
| ELV (German) | WS 1000 | radio | Wetterfreaks (German) |
| WS 2000 | radio | Wetterfreaks (German) | |
| WS 2200 | radio | Wetterfreaks (German) | |
| WS 2500 | radio | Wetterfreaks (German) | |
| WS 3000 | radio | Wetterfreaks (German) | |
| Oregon Scientific | WMR 928 / 828 N | radio | Wetterfreaks (German) |
| WM 918 | cable | Wetterfreaks (German) | |
| Peet Bros Company Inc. | Ultimeter 100 | cable | ? |
| Ultimeter 800 | cable | ? | |
| Ultimeter 2100 | cable | ? | |
| TFA Dostmann (German) | WS 8015 (Sun-Moon) | Wetterfreaks (German) | |
The wind sensor should be installed on top of a pole or surfmast, which significantly exceeds the roof top. It is very important that the pole does not vibrate when the wind blows because the vibrations cause inaccurate readings. If the sensors are connected to the central unit by cable make sure that the cables are protected from rain, wind and weather. If the cables go through water or the ground you need to use extra thick ground cables which can be bought in any property market or builder's yard.
In order to ensure reliability and a long life the central unit should be installed in a dry and safe place. If you do not plan to supply electricity by solar panels you need to make sure that there is a (wall) socket nearby. For the transfer of the weather data to the internet you need a telephone line, a radio modem or a cellphone.
Most weather stations require a connection to a PC which again connects to the internet via the phone lines. There are a few webcams and weather stations which allow a data transfer without the use of a PC. As soon as the weather station itself operates properly and the sensors transfer data to the central storage unit you need to connect the weather station to a PC in order to transfer the data. Most modern weather stations supply a software that automatically transfers data to a PC or you can buy this software separately. It is very important that the data are transferred as text (ASCII) and not as image or in another proprietary format to the PC because the readings can only be further processed if they are transferred as text. The weather station or the weather station software for the PC usually allow you to set the interval of the data transfer to the PC. You can use an old PC with a 386, 486, or Pentium-class processor.
If the readings are transferred to the PC automatically and reliably you need to set up an internet connection. Depending on the volume and the frequency of the data transfer choose a variable internet rate if you want to transfer data only during daylight and hourly. Choose a flatrate if you intend to update every 10 minutes or more often and especially webcam images which usually produce higher data volumes. After having decided how often you want to transfer and how long you need for each update compare the relevant internet rates so you can calculate your costs and choose the most inexpensive rate for your purpose. If you want to transfer via radio modem or cellphone you should choose a special data rate (which charges little for data connections and a lot for voice calls).
When you have set up your internet connection we will send you a special software that you need to install on your PC. If you use a Windows operating system go to "System Setting" > "Scheduled tasks", choose the program that we supplied, and enter the interval for the data update. The PC then connects to the internet according to your entry in "Scheduled tasks" and uploads the data to the Windfinder server.
The server saves the readings in its database from where they can be sent via SMS. On the Windfinder website you'll find a wind diagram for your weatherstation which you can embed into your own homepage. If you also transfer a webcam image, we will let you know the address (URL) of the image, so that you can embed it as well into your website.
You can purchase Mobotix webcams and weather stations from various manufacturers at Windfinder.com. Please do not hesitate to contact us.