Now you are ready to install your Weather Station. Unplug the keyboard, mouse, and monitor, and seal up the main enclosure to ensure it is watertight.
We’ve mounted stations on walls, rooftops, fences, and even on plumbing pipes stuck in the ground. As long as the sensors are open to the elements, any location is fine. To state the obvious:
- The rain gauge needs to collect rain
- The anemometer and wind vane need to be in the wind
- The air sensor box needs to breathe
- The Weather Station needs to be connected to power and your network via an Ethernet cable or WiFi.
Although we can’t give specific instructions for siting the Station (as the method depends on your particular school and environment), here are some tips for various aspects of the process that should help you get started.
Installing your Weather Station outside: wind sensors
Installing your Weather Station outside: connecting to Wifi
You may not be able to find an ideal location. Perhaps trees block the wind, or the rain gauge is partially sheltered by an overhang. Please still install your Weather Station! You could even use this as a learning opportunity: would it be possible, for example, to take reduced rain readings into account automatically? It’s also a great chance to get your students involved in a bit of problem solving and research, and to get other departments in the school involved.
One way to improve your weather readings is to house your Weather Station in a Stevenson screen. You can find some ideas for building your own here, and there are plenty of plans on the internet. Again, this is an excellent opportunity for students and other school departments to get involved.
Why not try out some of our Weather Station resources on raspberrypi.org to learn how to access the Oracle database and play with data from around the world.
If you have any questions about installing your Weather Station outside, please get in touch with weather@raspberrypi.org
We'd also love to hear about your experiences siting your kit at your location.