" I recommend http://www.weatherstations.co.uk/ for their helpfulness and
knowledge


That's more like it. Thanks Jill.

They have been really great. I hope to be giving them our hard earned very
shortly

--

regards
Jill Bowis

I bought a station about four years ago from that source and I found them to
be very helpful when I had to have a defective humidity sensor replaced
under warranty. It is not a problem that should occur now as I think there
was a defective batch of sensors around at that time.

I would go for a wireless model personally as they are more flexible in
operation and the reception range has been improved in the latest model. I
would also go for a USB logger connection unless your PC is old and does not
have a USB interface.
Alan

Felly sgrifennodd Alan Gardiner :
I would also go for a USB logger connection unless your PC is old and does not
have a USB interface.

Why USB? Mine has a serial interface, and since I don't use the serial port
for anything else, it's not a problem. I also imagine that it's easier for
amateurs to reverse-engineer serial protocols than it is for USB protocols.
Not a direct advantage if you're not a developer, but it may help if you
want to use free/open source software to access your station (as I do)

OK I never tried reverse-engineering a USB protocol so I don't know.

Adrian
--
Adrian Shaw ais@
Adran Cyfrifiadureg, Prifysgol Cymru, aber.
Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, Cymru ac.
http://users.aber.ac.uk/ais uk

On Tue, 22 Nov 2005 15:44:25 GMT, "Alan Gardiner"
wrote:

I would also go for a USB logger connection unless your PC is old and does not
have a USB interface.


It's difficult to be definitive about serial vs USB. Obviously some
modern PCs don't have a traditional serial port and so can't acccept a
serial logger, at least not without using an external serial-to-USB
converter.

However, USB has at least 3 minor drawbacks:

1. While the great majority of users of USB loggers have no problems,
overall USB just doesn't seem as robust as RS232 and a small % of
users have difficulties maintaining a reliable connection. Maybe it's
because it's a shared protocol, where other devices or their drivers
can interfere. Maybe it's a function of the variety of USB chipsets
and their implementation. But it is occasionally an issue with USB
which virtually never happens with RS232.

2. RS232 cables can be easily extended to 15m (and beyond). For
reliable operation, USB is limited to ca 5m without special repeaters.

3. Traditional RS232 is a well-established protocol and there are
readily available fixes to cure eg ground loop problems, tunnel the
RS232 data across ethernet LANs and so on. While such solutions are
starting to appear for USB, they can still often be specialist and
more costly in practice.

In a typical data logging application where data rates are determined
by the internal design of the logger not the interface type, USB will
often no faster than RS232 and so typically USB speed isn't an
advantage.

John Dann
www.weatherstations.coi.uk

"John Dann" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 22 Nov 2005 15:44:25 GMT, "Alan Gardiner"
wrote:

I would also go for a USB logger connection unless your PC is old and does
not
have a USB interface.


It's difficult to be definitive about serial vs USB. Obviously some
modern PCs don't have a traditional serial port and so can't acccept a
serial logger, at least not without using an external serial-to-USB
converter.

However, USB has at least 3 minor drawbacks:

1. While the great majority of users of USB loggers have no problems,
overall USB just doesn't seem as robust as RS232 and a small % of
users have difficulties maintaining a reliable connection. Maybe it's
because it's a shared protocol, where other devices or their drivers
can interfere. Maybe it's a function of the variety of USB chipsets
and their implementation. But it is occasionally an issue with USB
which virtually never happens with RS232.

2. RS232 cables can be easily extended to 15m (and beyond). For
reliable operation, USB is limited to ca 5m without special repeaters.

3. Traditional RS232 is a well-established protocol and there are
readily available fixes to cure eg ground loop problems, tunnel the
RS232 data across ethernet LANs and so on. While such solutions are
starting to appear for USB, they can still often be specialist and
more costly in practice.

In a typical data logging application where data rates are determined
by the internal design of the logger not the interface type, USB will
often no faster than RS232 and so typically USB speed isn't an
advantage.

John Dann
www.weatherstations.coi.uk

The reason I suggested USB is than the traditional serial port is becoming
obsolete, my recently acquired laptop is all USB and manufacturers can save
money by not including them on desktop machines.

Speed is certainly irrelevant as the data downloads are quite quick using a
serial port which is the method I use. Clearly your experience has shown
that USB does have drawbacks in reliability terms and that is definitely an
important fact.

I would assume that the USB connection is slightly easier to set up as the
detection is automatic but to be fair the serial connection is easy to setup
as well.


Alan

On Tue, 22 Nov 2005 21:11:51 GMT, "Alan Gardiner"
wrote:

The reason I suggested USB is than the traditional serial port is becoming
obsolete, my recently acquired laptop is all USB and manufacturers can save
money by not including them on desktop machines.


Certainly and that's obviously a good reason for going the USB route
and, if not for a current PC, then it will offer some futureproofing
for a new PC whenever it might be bought (though external
serial-to-USB adapters will be around for a long time I suspect).

But if you do have a choice of serial or USB ports then serial is
still IMO marginally the better choice for reliability and
flexibility.

John Dann
www.weatherstations.co.uk

"John Dann" wrote in message
...

(though external
serial-to-USB adapters will be around for a long time I suspect).

Keep in mind that not all applications work with USB to Serial converters.
I see no reason why I would expect a weather station to fall into this
category, but many hobbyist/amateur radio applications use the serial port
in strange ways, and USB to serial converters require that you use the
serial port as it was intended.

But serial ports are fast becoming extinct, especially on laptops. For the
best combination of flexibility and ability to continue to use your stuff,
look for serial ports on PCs you buy, but don't go buying peripherals that
require serial ports. Or if you do, accept the fact that they are likely to
be a temporary thing.

Nowadays, viewing peripherals as disposable is probably a reasonable thing
to do anyway. Generally these devices also require drivers, and by the time
you decide to upgrade your PC or operating system or whatever, the
manufacturer will likely have a new model and have lost interest in the one
you just bought. So even if you have the interface, you probably won't be
able to use the thing anyway. And keeping the old OS isn't a choice, either.
Just try to buy a machine that runs Win98OE, let alone Win95. Can't be
done. Once Vista hits, machines probably won't support SE or W2K either.

So whether its a weather station or a printer or a scanner, remember that it
is probably only for your current computer. You next computer, whenever
that happens, might not be able to support that shiny new whatever.

Hmmm ... maybe it's time to upgrade to the biggest, baddest XP machine
before Vista comes along and you can't buy a machine to run XP.

Oh, and Linux isn't much of a help, either. Not only is device support
STILL weak, but it has the same hardware issues, although not nearly as
severe. And it has issues the other way. I can't put Linux on my new
laptop yet, even though the model is a year old. Still waiting for the
distro that supports the DVD drive.

...

On Wed, 23 Nov 2005 09:50:58 -0500, "xpyttl"
wrote:

(though external
serial-to-USB adapters will be around for a long time I suspect).

Keep in mind that not all applications work with USB to Serial converters.
I see no reason why I would expect a weather station to fall into this
category, but many hobbyist/amateur radio applications use the serial port
in strange ways, and USB to serial converters require that you use the
serial port as it was intended.

Yes - I was really commenting in the context of commercially available
weather stations, most of which do seem to use serial ports in a
standard way and hence can generally accept serial-to-USB external
converters without a problem.

But serial ports are fast becoming extinct, especially on laptops. For the
best combination of flexibility and ability to continue to use your stuff,
look for serial ports on PCs you buy, but don't go buying peripherals that
require serial ports. Or if you do, accept the fact that they are likely to
be a temporary thing.

Fair comment. The problem at present is that - again in the context of
AWS systems - USB does not offer quite the same robustness and
flexibility as good old RS232. So new users with eg a USB-only laptop
end up being unable to implement the best solution.

There is another option, for new USB-only desktops at least, which is
to buy an inexpensive expansion card providing one or two standard
RS232 ports. Again I suspect that these will be around for some years
to come, though you might have to seek out a more specialist PC
dealer. (This applies to laptops also but it's physically a more messy
solution.)

[Other good points snipped.]

John Dann
www.weatherstations.co.uk