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4. Weather Station Installation
4.1 Pre-Installation
Before installing your weather station in its permanent location, we recommend operating the weather
station for one week in a temporary location with easy access.
This will allow you to check out all of the
functions, ensure proper operation, and familiarise you with the weather station and calibration procedures.
This will also allow you to test the wireless range of the weather station.
4.2 Site Survey
Perform a site survey before installing the weather station. Consider the following:
1. You will need to clean the rain gauge once per year and change the batteries every two years. Provide
easy access to the weather station.
2. Avoid radiant heat transfer from buildings and structures. In general, install the sensor array at least 15cm
from any building, structure, ground, or roof top.
3. Avoid wind and rain obstructions. The rule of thumb is to install the sensor array at least four times the
distance of the height of the tallest obstruction. For example, if the building is 6m tall, install it 4 x 6m = 24m
away. Use common sense: if the weather station is installed next to a tall building, the wind and rain will not be
accurate.
4. Wireless Range. The radio communication between receiver and transmitter in an open field can reach a
distance of up to 100m, providing there are no interfering obstacles such as buildings, trees, vehicles, or high
voltage lines. Wireless signals will not penetrate metal buildings. Most applications will only reach 30m due to
building obstructions, walls and interference.
5. Radio interference from devices such as PCs, radios or TV sets can, in the worst case, entirely cut off radio
communication. Please take this into consideration when choosing console or mounting locations.
4.3 Best Practices for Wireless Communication
Wireless communication is susceptible to interference, distance, walls and metal barriers. We recommend the
following best practices for trouble free wireless communication.
1.
Electro-Magnetic Interference (EMI)
. Keep the console several feet away from computer monitors and
TVs.
2.
Radio Frequency Interference (RFI).
If you have other 433 MHz devices and communication is
intermittent, try turning off these other devices for troubleshooting purposes. You may need to relocate the
transmitters or receivers to avoid intermittent communication.
3.
Line of Sight Rating.
This device is rated at 100m line of sight (no interference, barriers or walls) but
typically you will get 30m maximum under most real-world installations, which include passing through barriers
or walls.
4.
Metal Barriers.
Radio frequency will not pass through metal barriers such as aluminium siding. If you have
metal siding, align the remote and console through a window to get a clear line of sight.
The following is a table of reception
loss vs. the transmission medium. Each “wall” or obstruction decreases
the transmission range by the factor shown below.
Medium
RF Signal Strength Reduction
Glass (untreated)
5-15%
Plastics
10-15%
