What PWS does everyone use?

What does everyone use for a PWS? I am debating about investing in one and would like to know what you have, what you like about it and if possible what you don't like about it. There are too many options with too many price points. This would be for personal/home use so keep that in mind.

So, are you looking for a Personal Weapons System? :wink:

Or a Personal Weather Station? :slight_smile:

I had to Google PWS to figure out what that acronym meant in the context of home automation!

As you can guess, I don't have much more advice to offer (on either topic!)

Happy New Year!

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I’m in the UK but I know this is available elsewhere under various names

I push the data to a Pi running Weewx, then use my weewx driver to pull the data into HE

Andy

I've been thinking of getting a PWS, too, so am also interested in the responses. US based, here.

Personally I am using one of these as my PWS

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Alright ya'll....not Personal Weapons System. LOL!

Any other Personal Weather Systems (PWS) that you use?

@cobra - what do you like/don't like about that setup you have?

It does exactly what I wanted it for..
I can get local weather into HE.

I bought this specific model because it doesn’t have a screen or anything.
It just pushes the data over IP.

Up to now, it has been reliable and consistant. Perfect for me since I bought it in April

Andy

I have one of the Ambient Weather PWS . It has been working good ..

https://www.ambientweather.com/amws8478.html

The model I bought seems to now be discontinued. This appears to be the equivalent replacement.

I like that its temp gauge is separate, so I don’t have to bee concerned with incorrect readings due to the chassis temperature from direct sun.

It’s working well, and I really like their dashboard. Having a rain gauge and knowing wind speed is very helpful in the Winter too, so we don’t underdress.

I didn’t opt for the display version because I already had an Acurite display and having constant wind and rain calculations in a display is unimportant to me. I use the Personal Weather Alexa Skill because I like it better than the Ambient Weather Skill. So if I want to know wind or rain amounts, I can also just ask Alexa instead of looking at my phone or laptop.

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I have used A PWS for 20+ years .. many different makes. I currently use the Ambient Station below becasue it is dead simple to setup online and works with Alexa to boot.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N5TEHLI/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

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This is up on my roof.

Bought the extra display with PC connect and have it connected to a rPi running weeWx and Cobra's app. Works great.

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Does the lightning strike component communicate to the rest of the system?

Unfortunately not, it only displays on the main display that came in the package. I even wrote the company to see if it could. They simple said it's on the roadmap.

The new Weatherflow system seems well liked but only the US version is avail atm. It’s relatively expensive too at $300

http://weatherflow.com/smart-home-weather-stations/

Are there HE drivers for the components?

Not as far as I am aware.. the station provides its information via UDP broadcast and I am not sure if Hubitat can handle that (?).

There is a possibility that WeatherFlow will support MQTT directly soon - or offer MQTT Broker access via cloud. Either would be useful for direct integration with Hubitat.

There are two other threads

I have an EU system, and I am really pleased with it but my integration is via another HA controller which then re-exposes everything over MQTT so I can get at it in HE if needed.

K

Yikes! $300 and it uses an algorithm to measure rain? :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

$105 for all the same readings (except lightning strikes) with the Ambient Weather WS-1550-IP. You also can measure indoor temp and humidity, which WeatherFlow does not. Has same IFTTT, Google Assistant and Alexa integrations, and there's a HE community integration which is working great.

https://www.ambientweather.com/amws1500.html

Here's a UK version, but you'll have to bring these readings into Weewx first. Easily done though.

@Cobra has this station and has good things to report about it. Here's the Misol branded version available in Italy.

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Interesting.. that Ambient model is nicely priced for what it offers - it does make you look a bit like the Met. Office but can't fault the price.

For WeatherFlow you could add another Air unit , at a cost, to supply indoor measurements - and the KickStarter price was much lower back at launch. But it is expensive I agree.

All my previous mechanical bucket style rain sensors have got gummed up with leaves as I'm surrounded with woods so haptic suited me. Totally local IP access to data.

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I'm using the Ambient Weather WS-2902A also, and it's a good unit, no issues

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Yes, buckets can be an issue depending on your surroundings. Was very surprised not to have any leaves or other debris in mine over the last year I've owned it. My father's Davis Vantage2 is plagued with pine needles, pitch, and spiders. I can see the attraction to a maintenance free solution, as long as it's accurate. Did you ever have the opportunity to compare it to your bucket style sensor?