DIY weather station mainly for rain?

post by terminator on Jun 4, 2019

I have a Version 3. Does anyone think this is possible?

Problem: I can’t get accurate local rain data. There were thunderstorms and heavy rain sunday evening and on monday the zones are only ~50% full

Solution: Create a DIY weather station with arduino ESP8266 mostly for rain sensor only. Hook it up to weatherunderground and use it as a weather station in rachio? Can rachio get rain from a weather station and rest of the stuff from other weather station?

I see ~$150 wifi weather stations on amazon but I have a few ESP8266 laying around from previous projects and I don’t need wind, temperature and other stuff and that is mostly accurate from other sources. It is the rain that is not accurate.

Has anyone done a similar project before?

post by tmcgahey on Jun 4, 2019

I’m not certain that you can get onto the wunderground system without more than a rain sensor…but I could be wrong.

post by JBDragon on Sep 19, 2019

I got the AcuRite 5 in 1 Weather station a number of years ago and it can report to weather underground. My Rachio is using that Data. At the time, I got it from Costco for $75.

https://www.acurite.com/shop-all-acurite/environments/weather-stations/weather-stations.html?ref=nav

post by jkb on Apr 28, 2020

I am thinking about getting a PWS to provide local weather data for my Gen1 Rachio.

Can someone from the Rachio team explain what PWS weather data is used? I have a Gen 1 controller, and use Flex daily scheduling, so Et (Evapotranspiration) is calculated for most of my zones.

I expect that the Precip is used for moisture levels, but temp, wind, humidity, solar radiation could also get used for Et calculation. I want to know which of these attributes need to be accurate for optimal irrigation.

As noted in the above posts, there is some uncertainty about what weather station data is actually used, but I haven’t seen this answered yet.

Thanks!