Over the weekend I finished building my Stevenson Screen. It’s based around a 300mm (1 foot) cube with a 45 degree pitched roof. The sides are covered with solid wood blinds with plenty of slots to keep the air moving.

My wife has been busy painting it for me. Ideally it should be painted in white, but I had plenty of light yellow paint (Dulux Weathershield X10) I purchased to paint my bee hives and I figure it’s pretty close to white.

If you're interested, the color is called "Cape Kidnappers" from the Dulux colours of New Zealand.

Over the weekend I finished building my Stevenson Screen. It's based around a 300mm (1 foot) cube with a 45 degree pitched roof. The sides are covered with solid wood blinds with plenty of slots to keep the air moving. My wife has been busy painting it for me. Ideally it should ...

Those who know me, know I don’t like doing things properly, so it was only natural that the Anemometer for my weather station was wired rather than using an RF link such as an XBee and a solar panel.

I obtained 100 metres of Underground rated CAT5E network cable. A lot of techie people have heard of Underground rated four core cable as it’s used by telephone companies to run the telephone cable through your front lawn to your house. The cable has a hard thick sheath to resist the elements and it’s filled with a sticky gel substance with the consistency of Vaseline.

Underground rated CAT5E network cable has a thick sheath and is filled with a waterproof Gel.

Those who know me, know I don't like doing things properly, so it was only natural that the Anemometer for my weather station was wired rather than using an RF link such as an XBee and a solar panel. I obtained 100 metres of Underground rated CAT5E network cable. A lot of techie people ...

Once you’ve gone to the effort to install a six metre high Lightning Conductor in the middle of a paddock, you probably want to give it a good earth connection before wiring it into your home network.

I have a very handy source of steel framing, so a 2.4m (8 foot) length of Galvanised steel Cee section was used.

I initially thought I would be able to cut a point on the piece of steel and drive it into the ground – We’d had lots of rain recently so I figured they would drive in easy. The theory was sound down to about 30cm (1 foot) where it just wouldn’t budge. I wanted to drive it to just below ground level so ended up having to dig a 2.5m (8 foot, 4 inches) deep hole with my hand auger and then compress the soil back around the steel.

The earth stake is 2.4m (8 foot) long

Once the earth stake was in place, it was a simple task of running a very thick piece of copper wire to the pole – Unfortunately I never took photos of this, but I took about ten lengths of think copper flex, stripped off the insulation and then effectively plaited them into a “Super Macrame Wire(TM)”. This was attached to the steel stake using a number of bolts and to the pole using a big washer attached to the bolts that hold the pole up.

My assistant just stood there and ate dirt

Once you've gone to the effort to install a six metre high Lightning Conductor in the middle of a paddock, you probably want to give it a good earth connection before wiring it into your home network. I have a very handy source of steel framing, so a 2.4m (8 foot) length of Galvanised steel ...

Over the christmas period I managed to find the time to start installing the equipment for my Weather station.

I purchased a La Crosse TX20 Anemometer back in July 2011, but it’s been sitting in a box waiting to be installed. I even spent the time to decode the Communications protocol so I could use the data from it in any way I wanted.

I had picked up a six metre length of Stainless steel tubing in mid 2011, so it was definitely time to put it up.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) have a very good (detailed and verbose) document titled “Initial Guidance to obtain Representative Observations at Urban Sites” which I referred to (page 19)) to find the optimal location of the Anemometer. Nothing is perfect – The document advises mounting the anemometer at 10m elevation, but I thought 6m was plenty. I’ve also only managed to mount the anemometer at about three times the obstacle height from the nearest obstacle.

The pole is easily lowered by removing one bolt and using the other as a hinge.

Over the christmas period I managed to find the time to start installing the equipment for my Weather station. I purchased a La Crosse TX20 Anemometer back in July 2011, but it's been sitting in a box waiting to be installed. I even spent the time to decode the Communications protocol so I could ...

After a LOT of investigation of the La Crosse TX20, I’ve managed to fully decode the complete datagram from the La Crosse TX20 INCLUDING the Checksum.

The La Crosse TX20

Here’s everything you’ll ever want to know about the pin out and the communications protocol of the La Crosse TX20.
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After a LOT of investigation of the La Crosse TX20, I've managed to fully decode the complete datagram from the La Crosse TX20 INCLUDING the Checksum. Here's everything you'll ever want to know about the pin out and the communications protocol of the La Crosse TX20. Wiring Pinout: Pin ...

I’ve been wanting to build a weather station, complete with the Geiger counter I’ve been working on. Building the wind speed and direction sensor seemed like a daunting task, especially since they need to be weather tight, but have moving components in them.

Since it’s nearly impossible to acquire an AAG or Dallas 1-wire Anemometer I decided to purchase a TX20 Wind Anemometer and use an AVR to decode the interface from it and reformat to a protocol more suitable for me.

The La Crosse TX20

I've been wanting to build a weather station, complete with the Geiger counter I've been working on. Building the wind speed and direction sensor seemed like a daunting task, especially since they need to be weather tight, but have moving components in them. Since it's nearly impossible to acquire an AAG or Dallas 1-wire ...