Kommetjie Weather Conditions

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Weather Station Technical Description

The current setup.

*Location: Kommetjie, Cape Town, South Africa (Western Cape Peninsula). South 34°08.328' East 018°19.856'.

*Technical description :A calibrated solar powered automatic meteorological data collection platform with onboard measurement/control/processing and storage device,

                                    radio telemetry, GPRS telemetry and direct RS232 connection. Mounted 9m above ground measuring wind speed, wind direction, 

                                    ambient temperature, barometric pressure (calibrated to sea level), solar radiation, rainfall and relative humidity; calculating dew point temperature and  ETo.

*Scan interval: 1-second.

*Data output interval: 1-minute for weather data / 1-hour for ETo .

*Display screen update interval: 5-minute.

*Data upload: Pages are served. (unless network is down)

*Internet connection: ADSL Uncapped

*Instrumentation:

   Campbell Scientific   

CR300 DataLogger (Measurement/Control/Processing and Storage device) Weather and ETo Station, Barometric  Pressure Sensor.

Another CR215 used for controlling irrigation valves based on the main CR300's ETo/Rain values.

   R.M. Young    Model 04101 Wind Speed Wind Direction, Model 52203 Rain Gauge, Model EE180 Temperature Humidity, Model 61205V Barometric Pressure.
   Li-cor    Model 70092 Solar Radiation.
   Apogee    Solar Radiation.

*Software:

   Campbell Scientific LoggerNet    Data logger support software used for data logger communication, programming and data retrieval.
   WeatherQuery 4.5 - Build 20-02-2016    Graphical display designer (Plot charts, wind roses, labels and web cam photos. Serve web pages. Email reports/alarms.).

Weather Station ChangeLog

Entry 37 09/06/2020
Installed a new temp rh sensor due the high rh readings.
Entry 36 26/01/2019
Moved everything to a new pc following a hard drive crash.
Entry 35 12/08/2018
Changed sunrise/sunset to nautical dawn/dusk based on -12 degrees solar elevation
Entry 34 11/08/2018
Added sunrise and sunset based on elevation = 0
Entry 33 10/08/2018
Refurbished the Young windspeed and direction sensor. Added sun azimuth and elevation. Yearly rain updated hourly to reduce server overhead.
Entry 32 10/06/2017
Made changes to the wind power graph and numeric labels(to align with speed graph/labels): 10-minute(mean;1-minute gust;gust)
Entry 31 30/05/2017
Wind speed and direction sensor removed for servicing - temporary sensor is in place.
Entry 30 18/10/2016
Added irrigation times. Calculated from (evapotranspiration - rain) * crop factor * valve flow factor.
Entry 29 23/06/2016
Added air density to the wind power calculation.
Entry 28 24/04/2016
Added wind power gust to the numeric labels. (based on the 10-minute gust)
Entry 27 24/04/2016
Installed a new temp/rh sensor, model EE180
Entry 26 24/04/2016
Transferred to a CR300 datalogger, Campbell Scientific's latest compact datalogger.
Entry 25 24/03/2016
The old www.icon.co.za/~aleroux domain no longer exists due to changes by the provider. Page still available http://weatherafrica.dyndns.org:8091
Entry 24 11/01/2014
Added some wind energy stats.
Entry 23 16/04/2013
Created a list view of the main page to better display on a smart phone screen Mobile page list view Download size is around 190kB.
Entry 22 04/12/2010
Visit the mobile page compact showing the wind direction, wind speed(avg/max) and air temperature for a 10-minute period. Download size is only 12kB for each refresh. No longer active. Once again active but in different format.
Entry 21 07/11/2010
* The Wind Vane bearings need to be replaced, I will order some on Monday.
Entry 20 20/01/2010
* Calibrated solar radiation and barometric pressure.
Entry 19 23/01/2009
* Replaced wind speed bearings. (Age 8 years)
Entry 18 08/01/2009
* OS / hard drive upgrade. Please note that the 7 and 30 days labels will be incomplete for the next 7 and 30 days respectively.
Entry 17 01/01/2009
* New page layout. New CR215 datalogger. On mobile phones please use Opera Mini.
Entry 16 15/09/2008
* Page update: Added a 7d Rain Label, 24h ETo Label, 7d ETo Label, 30d ETo Label .
Entry 15 30/05/2008
* Page update: Added a 10-minute Gust label, 10-minute Rain label.
Entry 14 25/05/2008
* Page update: Rearranged the wind rose value layout, added a legend.
Entry 13 1/05/2008
* No Data condition: Fixed by installing a new rs232 card. The old usb->rs232 caused system crashes.
Entry 12 04/01/2006 - 01/05/2008
* So few updates: I've been busy doing (non-IT/outside in the sun) stuff in GP/NW for a change, only since 02/2008 back in front of the pc.
Entry 11 04/01/2006
* A new year, a new page.
Entry 10  19/05/2005

*Chart y-axis now scaled manually to predefined values.

*Wind speed converted from m/s to km/h.

*Barometric pressure calibrated to sea level.

Entry 9  01/12/2004

*Implementing a new wind rose type - 16 wind direction sectors, 6 wind speed classes (class 1 = calm) 1-minute samples used.

  Replaced relative humidity element (age 4 years).

  Calibrated weather station.

Entry 8  26/11/2003
*Calibrated weather station
Entry 7 26/11/2003
*Calibrated weather station.
Entry 6 03/04/2003
*Calibrated weather station.
Entry 5 19/02/2003
* A new year, a new page. 
Entry 4 06/08/2002
*Calibrated Weather Station. 
Entry 3 08/04/2002

*Calibrated and logging via radio telemetry - storing two sets of data, 

   storing data onboard - downloading data e.g. daily/weekly/monthly --> write to pc,

      also,

         storing data real-time on pc-->plot graphs-->upload images to website-->confirm daily with SMS/EMail.  

Entry 2 18/01/2002

*Testing two new data loggers.

  The system uses radio telemetry. 

  Calibrated weather station.

Entry 1 27/09/2000 (Weather Station Installation)

*Weather station installation

 

External Links

Visit the server menu list directly ....

WeatherQuery

Copyright Frederick le Roux - WeatherQuery - Kommetjie Weather Station - Kommetjie Weerstasie.