This is the brains of the operation.  This is the VP2 console.  It is mounted near the upstairs computer (I have the backlight on for the photo, but I leave it off as it does generate some heat that would give a higher indoor temperature.)

The plug item with the light is connected to the datalogger which is mounted in the rear of the station.  That is then connected to the IP datalogger and that goes to my router and on to the internet.  The other wire is the power cord.  I use the AC power which is attached to my APC  UPS .  I also have a Weather Envoy(seen on the top of the computer in the basement station).  The Envoy does the same thing, with the exception it has no console and has to be viewed via computer. 

This page is for those interested in how my station is set up outside the house.      My mast is 33  feet in height.  The bottom of the ISS  rests 5 feet above the soil at the north end of the garden.  

The above picture is facing the ISS    The mast is 33 feet above the surface of the soil .

  The grey mast pipe is resting slightly into the earth.  This provides some stability up and down and takes some strain off the tripod.  As mentioned below, there are 9 , 3 foot rods through the base feet of the tripod, with nuts and these are driven into the soil.  The soil contains about 4 inches of top soil and the rest a  clay under that, so it is stable.   The guy wires prevent sway of the mast and stability.    I check the wires weekly .

The guy wires and secured to ground anchors. I bought these at Menards and they ran about 3 dollars each but cost may have increased  .This site has what I am talking about so you have an idea  http://www.shadeusa.com/earth_anchors.htm. The red was a nice choice as it is visible. These are screwed into the ground.

The wire then is a braided steel wire, about 250 pound test , which is a bit more than necessary, but the mast is very stable right now.    The mast is a RadioShack antenna mast, about 5 foot in length (they have 10 foot ones as well) They interlock, and  as a precaution, I have a u bolt clamp which they sell   

I used 4-strand galvanized guy wire. Standard antenna mast (10 feet in height) require only one set of three guy wires. Telescoping masts generally require four guy wires for each 10-foot section. This will give the extra strength required for most installations.

This view shows the relative height of the ISS tower compared to the structures around it.   The soil moisture station is to the left of the photo.

On the corner of the house is a ADT camera that  keeps watch on the tower and that is hooked to a DVR in the house for security .  

This view shows the solar /UV sensors , the FARs (Forced Air Radiation Shield). The white box above the Rain Cone is the wireless anemometer transmitter.  It appears that it is over the solar/UV sensors, but it is angled and gives the illusion that it is, but it isn't.  It is tipped at an angle to give the best transmission.

I put a second Anemometer in case the one at the top of the mast is damaged or should be coated in ice during the winter.  It isn't good to tap the wind cups if they are frozen as they can break off.

The second transmitter can be accessed from in the house from either of the three weather consoles and uploaded almost seamlessly.

The small white box to the left is another weather station that projects the temperature on my bedroom ceiling.( talk about overkill)

This is a commercial photo of the Solar and UV Radiation sensor location.

The white box to the left of the ISS  is the wireless anemometer transmitter for when the anemometer at the top of the mast is frozen or out of it's mind .

I tipped the PCV pipe and put in a rain drain  for the above ground connection. 

The sensors are the Vantage Pro 2 and a soil moisture/ Temperature station.  Daytime Fan-Aspirated Radiation Shield

SOIL MOISTURE/TEMPERATURE/LEAF WETNESS   STATION

Each soil depth sensor has a dedicated soil temperature probe "planted" with the sensor.  The soil moisture sensor is a Watermark gypsum block probe.  There are 4 of them at depths of 4 inches, 12 inches, 24 inches and 36 inches.   The unit runs on a solar cell  that stores the energy to run the station is a super capacitor.  The  CR123 battery is a backup in case the super cap is discharged.    The probes remain on line all year..  

Leaf Wetness Sensor & Surface Wetness Information

The gold flat thing is the leaf wetness sensor.  It is a tad expensive as it is gold foil contacts, but it measures dew and in winter it lets me know if there is frost waiting to be scraped from the car windows.

The leaf wetness sensor enables the weather station to detect the presence of surface moisture and calculate the duration of wetness. When moisture is present the sensor detects a decrease in electrical resistance. The resistance is displayed as a value between 0 (dry) and 15 (wet). It should be noted that 15 is generally the reading that occurs with showers, sprinkles, and precipitation. With dews, readings most often will be less than 15 unless it is extremely heavy dew. The sensing surface is at an angle of 45 ° and is smooth thus actually dries faster than leaf surfaces. Thus on a sunny morning the sensor may record a dry surface when in fact the grass is still wet with dew. Snow or frost will give a 0 reading if there is no melting or if the snow or frost has already melted off the sensor. The temperature may be below freezing but in the sun the temperature may well be above freezing and the melting snow will be indicated by the sensor.

All the probes are mounted in 0.5 inch  PVC pipe. to run the wires.    I sealed off the vertical pipe with plumbers epoxy putty (water proof) to keep the precipitation from  channeling to the leads.

Soil Data is recorded every 1 minute and collected and sent every six hours to Globe.gov  .    Data is sent automatically by the Weather Display software.

The bottom box is the soil temperature probe . I measure the temperature of the soil just above the buried soil moisture sensor (4 inch).

This photo shows the soil surface temperature probe. it sits on a pvc pipe I sliced length wise, painted black .   The other pipes contain soil moisture and soil temperature probe wires to their respective transmitters.

This is the basement Temperature/Humidity Sensor...  I have an identical setup in the attic .  Both give me the temperature of the house, attic (humidity and temperature ) and basement (temperature/humidity)

Garden Shed

This is the mounting of the temperature probe in the garden tool shed.  I have found that the temperature in the shed is very close to the outside temperature when the FARS is not operating.  The shed is unheated  and the metal vents are the only form of air movement (passive).  For a sensor mounted indoors, the VP2 does a very nice job of a 92% reception range.

Data is fed to the internet via two computers. One is one that my wife used to have and it is in the basement.  It uses a unique program Virtual VP that splits the data from the Envoy (the box with the antenna) to the Weatherlink and to Weatherdisplay programs and  then the data is sent over my wireless network (the grey/white object hanging down to my router and to the internet.

This is the other computer... It sends data to the internet via a Ethernet connection and runs independently of the basement computer.   I can also access other weather information via weather radio and scanner as well

The KAP

This is a cover (the blue thing) for the rain bucket.  It's used to cover the bucket during the winter to prevent accumulation of snow and ice.  This is  better than anything I have seen .  It goes on and off easily, yet won't blow off in the strong Iowa winter winds. 

IF you are interested contact: Chann Barnhart [cbarnhart@wi.rr.com]    directly.

This is the outer cylinder from the manual rain gauge.  Snow and/or ice collects, I bring it in and measure the amount of melt water and report that as precipitation.  It is standard procedure to do it this way for manual use when using this type of cylinder.  Precipitation is measured to 0.01 inches.

Two good sites for finding out solutions to your problems are :  Weatherdisplay Forum    and Wxforum.net