Can MCSSprinklers pull info from WU when deciding how much to irrigate?

[NeverDie]

1. If I had my own weatherstation with all the fancy sensors (temperature, humidity, anemometer, solar irradiance, and rain gauge), can MCSSprinklers compute the evapotranspiration so as to set the sprinklers to water the right amount?

2. If the answer to #1 is yes, then: if I don't have my own weatherstation, can I pick a weatherstation that I like on weatherunderground.com and have MCSSprinklers pull the same sensor values from it, just as though it were my own weatherstation? This would save me the cost of buying and maintaining my own weather station.

[Michael McSharry]

The answer is yes to both. If your neighbor has a weather station then that is best because he rather than you will need to deal with maintenance. WeatherBug (AWS) sites can also be used.

[NeverDie]

The answer is yes to both. If your neighbor has a weather station then that is best because he rather than you will need to deal with maintenance. WeatherBug (AWS) sites can also be used.

That's awesome. I look forward to trying it.

I've been tracking a number of WU sites, and so I have a good idea as to which the better ones are. The only wrinkle is that, from time to time, some of them go offline (either temporarily or permanently), and I'm usually blissfully unaware of that happening until I go to look for it. So far, that hasn't mattered. However, it would matter if the site that disappears is the one I'm using to control irrigation. In cases like that where MCSSprinklers isn't able to connect with the intended WU PWS to get the intended irrigation info, what happens? Does MCSSprinklers just leave an error message in the log and not irrigate, or is there a way to default to a different PWS on WU under such circumstances? Or, is there a better way to handle these cases as they arise?

[langenet]

If you setup the e-mail in mcsSprinker, you'll get notification that there hasn't been a weather.

I'm personally interested in getting my own station setup... just don't know which one to get?

Rob

[NeverDie]

I'm personally interested in getting my own station setup... just don't know which one to get?

Rob

Here's a great resource to help you decide: http://www.wxforum.net/index.php?board=71.0
It's frequented by people who know a *lot* about weather stations.

The short answer, however, is that if you want to do ET and cost isn't an issue, then the Davis Vantage Pro 2 Plus is what gets the nodding approval. The Plus comes with a Solar Radiation sensor, which is part of the ET formula. Strangely, I haven't found any other weather stations (except those costing even more than the Davis) that have a Solar Radiation sensor. Oregon Scientific has a UV sensor, but UV measurements aren't useful for calculating ET, and there's no conversion from UV to Solar Radiation.

If you want a weather station less expensive than the Davis that does ET, and you find it, then let me know. I've tried looking but found nothing. There's something called ETgage that calculates ET directly by physically simulating evapotranspiration, but it's single purpose and not a regular weather station.

I owned a weather station once, and the only thing I found it useful for was finding other weather stations on weatherunderground that had the same readings. After that, I probably could have put it into storage and just used weatherunderground. Weather stations aren't cheap, and many of them don't last very long either before requiring repair or replacement. At the very least, most of them do require some ongoing maintenance to keep the readings accurate.

[NeverDie]

If you setup the e-mail in mcsSprinker, you'll get notification that there hasn't been a weather.

Rob

Instead of that, can McsSprinkler flip a virtual switch or trigger a homeseer event if it finds "there hasn't been a weather"? Then I could have McsSprinklers turn on the lamp that I reserve for meaning "HomeSeer needs urgent attention." I don't always check my email very often, especially when I'm working hard to meet an important deadline. However, it would be hard for me to miss seeing the lamp if it gets triggered.

[Michael McSharry]

There are two devices that change status based upon internet weather data. One has a shorter timeout for local conditions. The other has a longer timeout for forecasted conditions. These should be able to be used "light your fire" (or switch your lamp).