The Matlock and Darley Dale Weather Station

The weather station is a WS2300, a consumer grade model, running in wired mode and is connected to the internet via a micro PC.

Although not ideally sited, as it is sheltered by houses to the south and north, it does give indicative values for local weather conditions. Data was originally fed into a modified Linksys NSLU2, which has been converted to act as a mini Linux server. This has now been replaced with an 800Mhz ITX running Debian and Open2300 software. Data is fed to this website and that of the Weather Underground via simple crontab events.

I have modified the external sensor unit by encasining it in a more robust and ventalated casing. In reality, these are a set of plastic bowls, attached on threaded rod and painted with white enamel paint, in which the sensor unit has been housed. Not only does this improve the sensors ability to handle direct sunlight, they also look rather cool...

I have also replaced the wind sensor wiring with shielded cabling, as I was experiencing some data loss due to poor electrical isolation. There is a lot of electrical equipment in the vicinity of the sensor unit and it was struggling to cope.