 The past few years, until 2023: using Barani Design... Since the start of our network, the "Meteohelix IoT Pro" from the Slovak manufacturer Barani Design had been used. In the year of 2023 we counted a total of just under 100 of these weather stations in our network. The stations are compact and affordable for the weather enthusiast, in contrast to the professional measuring equipment that has a considerably more substantial price tag. The specifications given by the manufacturer also seem to be very good. The slogan "that these have been tested by the RMI" is being waved and paraded. For your information, the RMI only uses these for measuring temperature in their climatological network. For the measurement of precipitation, there is the rain gauge "MeteoRain" (linked via a cable to the MeteoHelix); in addition, there is also the MeteoRain IoT which only transmits rain measurement data via the Sigfox network. In addition to the Meteohelix and MeteoRain, the manufacturer also has the "MeteoWind IoT" in their range. As the name suggests, the device serves to measure wind speed and direction. However, so much for the good news show. After three years of use, we now know a lot about the pros, but unfortunately even more about the cons of this equipment. With regret, we have to say that, in our opinion, the negatives outweigh the positives. Our experiences over the past three years:
On paper everything seems to be nice and good. The marketing department of Barani has done a good job: good website where the equipment is presented with nothing but advantages compared to other competitors on the market. However, practice seems to prove that much cannot be delivered from what is touted on the website. Much is promised, but there appear to be many empty promises... Barani's MeteoShield is one of the few products with which they put a good product on the market. But once electronics and software are involved, things go seriously wrong and solutions take a long time or don't come at all. The initial ideas are good, but in our experience the implementation much less so. Customer service is limited to the delivery of replacement parts, but we miss real solutions to all the frequent problems we encounter. We are often told that we are the only ones who experience problems, the defects are due to the Belgian climate, and so on. In other words, for every problem there is a cause that is not theirs to find and/or resolve. Our experiences are not based on a small number of devices but on almost 100 of them, which in our opinion represents a more than representative number and gives a good picture of what the Barani products exactly are and how they behave after several years. Consequently, as far as the BMCB network is concerned, we can draw only 1 conclusion: the end of the Barani era... for us, it was a waste of money. More details about the defects can be found here
The alternative: the new weather station developed by BMCB  Because of all that we have described above, the idea to look around for an alternative was raised in early 2023 already. The new weather station has to meet a number of requirements:
Development was soon thereafter started and the first 4 test weather stations were installed in the Ardennes in early November 2023. The Ardennes was chosen because of more extreme weather conditions that can be expected there compared to Low and Central Belgium, especially during winter. The purpose of the test stations was to quickly identify any design shortcomings. The testing bore fruit: two problems surfaced and have since been corrected. The new version will, of course, undergo further testing and also be done in larger numbers to maximize reliability. The new weather stations also have greater flexibility: multiple versions will be made that have different combinations of sensors. A "weather station" (location) can consist of 1 or more (measurement) modules measuring different parameters:
So it is perfectly possible to use a module with temperature sensors in combination with a module for wind measurement. The two modules then form a weather station. Each module has its own transmitter on board to send the data. Where necessary, functionality is in place to perform calibration of sensors (e.g. temperature sensors) and store the calibration directly in the module. The great advantage of this is that the calibration can be performed much more precisely than afterwards on the server (where the data is delivered with a resolution of 0.1°). Moreover, every recipient of this data immediately receives the correct data. The individual modules of the weather station use a solar panel for power supply. If sensors are used that have higher energy consumption, the size of the solar panel can be increased. Each module has an on-board memory that allows storage of data for 1 year of observations. In addition to the data sent over the wireless network, additional data can be stored, either with better time resolution. Via the wireless network the data are sent every 10 minutes, in the memory data can be stored, for example, every 2 minutes. The development of the software of these modules is done entirely in-house. We are no longer dependent on a manufacturer. Although we strive not to create a proliferation of different versions, we can consider everything. When we discover a problem, we can also intervene and solve the problem much faster. So doesn't the weather station have any drawbacks? When you compare it to the MeteoHelix, it is bigger without being "really big." The electronics box measures 20x10cm and is 8cm high. And the price? First of all, we would like to make it clear that the prices we mention below are only indicative and calculated based on the prices currently known and for a given lot size. Prices of parts may increase, exchange rates may fluctuate to our disadvantage, ... The price applies to people who contribute (i.e. add value) to our network. We ourselves do not need to earn from it, it was no different in the past. We are not a commercial company and do not need to make a profit. We only increase the total parts cost by 15% that serves as a buffer:
A lot of course depends on what you want to measure and with what sensors. You can make it as expensive as you want. We do not make sensors ourselves (with the exception of the temperature/humidity probe). We use sensors that are on the market and have already proven their soundness. Due to the great flexibility of the new design, we can easily deal with a large range of sensors and what does not work by default, we can make extensions for that fit in our electronics box (which we have already foreseen). The cost price of the electronics box (including solar panel) is around 250 euros; this is the price without sensors, no rain gauge and no 'shelter' or MeteoShield. Count on about 25 euros for any good temperature sensor that can be perfectly used for measuring grass and soil temperatures. The measuring probe for temperature/humidity that goes into the shelter/MeteoShield is about 60 euros and uses the same sensor element as the MeteoHelix. The choice of rain gauge is up to you, all models of 'tipping bucket' rain gauges can be connected. We are currently testing which types show the best performance and will be updating this document during the coming months. After all, we want to find a better instrument than the Barani MeteoRain, which we are not at all satisfied by. Measurement of solar radiation is more expensive: the cheapest pyranometers cost quickly several hundred euros, up to thousands of euros for professional and more accurate models. As you can read, we still have many ideas, and in the coming months and years we want to realize them. We will gladly keep you informed about everything that happens and what we can recommend and reject... To actually prove ourselves, we want to compare ourselves with professional weather stations. In the coming period you will certainly read more about this... First we will test before actually offering. After all, we don't want weather station owners to serve as beta testers... Last update: March 10, 2024 | ||||||||||||||||||||