### outdoor weather sensor (request for advice)
I would like to get an outdoor weather sensor. Requirements:
- temperature, pressure, humidity, no wind sensor is needed (this is for a balcony in an apartment building, so wind sensor would measure only some irrelevant turbulence anyway)
- no need for graphic display
- wireless connected
- ideally "readable" by some smartphone app, possibly integrated with home assistant, or some such
- cheap - this is a hobby interest, not something to waste money on
- reasonably accurate, but again, this is not a pro app
- HW-wise ideally should work out of the box, no HW tinkering - some minor SW tinkering would be OK-ish
Any advice what devices I should look for?
@piggo ?
@FailForward @piggo I recently got the Neatamo Weather Station. $180 on Amazon. Comes with two cylinder-shaped units; one for inside the other smaller one goes outside. App is really good
https://www.alza.cz/gogen-me-3900-d5695642.htm
@pony Thanks, good tip. Though at that price range, I can probably already get used [Vantage Vue](https://www.amazon.com/Davis-Instruments-Vantage-Wireless-Sensor/dp/B00481TX32/ref=sr_1_12?crid=1D489X93R10NS&keywords=vantage+pro+2&qid=1667761046&sprefix=vantage+pro+%2Caps%2C1142&sr=8-12), which is like second best after Vantage Pro 2 - the top in this class. I was thinking more at the bottom of the barrel side of things 😄
@pony
I see. And that thing you mentioned speaks some open protocol? Because if there is some semi-standardised protocol around these things and I know the name of the protocol, maybe it will be easier to scrape the bottom of the barrel 🙂 using Google - it's already 90% of the answer if you know how the thing you are looking for is calles.
@piggo @el_jefe
Just a side note on how to do automated IFTTT style automation on weather if you don't mind that you'll get measurements from somebody else and it might be few kms far away - which for wind is OK. There is [APRS protocol](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_Packet_Reporting_System) which many better weather stations (among other things which speak APRS) speak and there is a whole network of open stations out there. You can have a look e.g., here: https://aprs.fi. Now all those APRS-enabled wx stations report to [CWOP network](https://www.weather.gov/cle/CWOP) and their data can be scraped from findu.com - you just need to look up the correct callsign. For instance this one is in Prague 6 (Studentska ulice): https://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/wxpage.cgi?call=fw4588
I did some things this way in the past. But now I am looking for my own gadget.
@pony It's bulky, that's my problem. I don't want anything protruding more than 2-3cm from the wall. Firstly, I don't care as I said, secondly, it takes space, fourth, I am sure I would just rip it off or break eventually by some stupid move around, and fifth I live at a place where we do have pretty strong winds few times a year, so if badly installed (which is almost a given with my DYI skills), the thing would just fly off the wall eventually.
@piggo Thanks. Well, no DYI really, that was exactly _not_ the idea. Why I am asking is that for like 10 years I had something similar to this sort of a thing: https://www.amazon.de/-/en/Dostmann-35-1162-54-Wireless-Temperature-Radio-Controlled/dp/B09J8N75S6/ref=sr_1_9?keywords=wetterstation&qid=1667761117&sr=8-9 for like €20-€30 surviving typically about 2+ years on 2 AA batteries. So I thought that maybe as technology advanced, somebody would sell me just that outdoor sensor (as I don't care about that tablet display, or whatever that is). Maybe somebody reverse engineered the protocol such little things speak to the "tablet" and just maybe with a small USB dongle I could receive that stuff indoors. Or so I though... 🤔
But I think anything DIY will be more expensive but also more work than just buying it. I'm particularly worried about power, you probably want solar and battery and it must survive hard frosts as well as extreme summer heat and many heat cycles. Plus, water proofing. It's not easy to diy. As far as wireless goes, if you don't need real time data, it should be doable with something like lora. Wi-fi is probably too power hungry and doesn't pass well through metalized windows. Or, you could use irda if it's just about going through the window