La Crosse Technology WS2350 review

To start wind speed measurements i went and bought WS2350 weatherstation. This is one of the latest models for european market. Most important change is that it has cup anemometer so wind direction does not affect speed measurements and also there is com port to USB converter included so when latest computers dont have co port anymore then you can plug it to USB port. One of the best list of all features is in Aces electronics website. Weatherstation costed 168EUR+5EUR delivery. When i ordered this from reseller Ronex webshop i was promised next day delivery and when 4 days was passed i started investigating, what happened was that they "forgot" to post the package.

Setting up weatherstation was very easy, everything is plug and play. Total 5 AA batteries was needed to power everything and alkaline batteries should last up to one year. Main unit needs 3 batteries and has also power adapter. I mounted main unit onto the wall with screws just next to "serverroom". I drilled 2x12mm holes hext to eachother and passed data- and powercables through it so they are invisible when watching main units display. As unit has atom clock then right after powering up it discovered on its own correct date and time. Outer unit have 3 cable connectionholes, for rainsensor, for windsensor and for cable connection. When batteries were inserted and after pressing + button for 2s everything was ready to go, wireless link was up and running.

I live on first floor in 3 story house and when receiver is located near east side of house and transmitter in west side then there is no reception as too many concrete walls diagonally weaken signal too much. Placing transmitter directly overhead gave me proper reception.

Most important feature for me of this weatherstation is PC connection. Heavy Weather software enables real time display of weather conditions, creating some graphs and generating image to be published on web. Everything is very simple and my grandma could do this. Unfortunately this simplicity makes software not flexible and permits advanced analysis of it. I asked from La Crosse France to share technical data eg how to read their history file with my own program and i received back random email template that pleace go to www.heavyweather.info and you find excellent programs. I exlained again that their programs suck for demanding users but they replyed how pity they are but they will not give out any useful information. But nothing to worry about, i have enough technical knowledge and i will break their protocols, build my own application and publish this here if i just find enough free time.

Pedal generator alternatives

I tried to hook up my bike first to alternator because alternator has built-in voltage regulator. When turning rotor at different speeds, regulator keeps output charging voltage at optimal ca 14V range. Unfortunately my alternator seemed to have some issues and i went on exploring other possibilities.

Basically every motor can be turned into generator by spinning it. I took one QVALDA cordless drill which has 18V permanent motor inside and including gearing produces 15Nm of torque. Drill head seemed like ideal piece to be driven by tyre and actually it worked when applying moderate pressure. Open circuit voltage was easily 20V when pedaling at normal speed. Problems arised when i attached some load, tyre grip just was not enough. What amazed me was that when turning drill head half a turn with fingers it generated already 2-3A amps of current!

Alternator consists of single field pole at the rotor that creates moving magnetic field. Actually alternator initially generates 3-phase alternating current that is later rectified. What regulator does is changing current in field pole so that in turn changes output voltage from stators windings. As i tested alternator by often connecting and disconnecting battery then it could be this fired my regulator as this creates high spikes in voltage.

Anyway i prefer using alternator above other motors. This is because alternator is almost complete battery charging solution, its capable of sourcing a lot of current and its cheap to buy from junk yards.