Where to get sensors for weather station?

I understand that most of these sensors can be found on ebay, but i would like to get little bit better options that "the worst possible". Weather station i'm planning should actually be accurate enough with no high discrepancies. Also, it should be placed on small antenna tower (~15m tall) on the top of hill, so bit stronger winds are to be expected.

I found most of those sensors but i don't know it's the best option and if i can get better than that for little bit more money or even cheaper.

What i'm interested at is this:

  • Anemometer

  • Wind direction

  • Bucket Rain Gauge
    I found this: Weather Meter Kit - SEN-15901 - SparkFun Electronics
    (I would like to be able to purchase, cheaper and if possible separately. This offer at sparkfun looks bit weak and loosely)

  • Barometric pressure

  • Relative humidity

  • Ambient light

  • Temperature.
    I found this SparkFun Weather Shield - DEV-13956 - SparkFun Electronics
    (BUT, i don't like that Ambient Light sensor is connected with other sensors, It's expensive, and i don't need some of those features. I would like to order all that separately.)

  • Direct Ambient light ?

  • Difuse Ambient light ?
    I find out that Ambient light can be measured in two modes. Do you have any sensors to suggest? Any tips about that?

  • Geiger Counter
    I found this: Geiger Counter Kit - Radiation Sensor : ID 483 : $99.95 : Adafruit Industries, Unique & fun DIY electronics and kits
    (I think i can't find any better than that? It's also not planned to be in first version.)

  • Atmospheric pollution (Carbon Monoxide Gas Sensor)
    This: Pololu - Carbon Monoxide Gas Sensor MQ-7
    (Somebody suggested me this on another forum, this sensors are very cheap and since i don't know how they work, i'm wondering if i should install it, how valuable would that be?)
    There are some other Gas sensors, but i'm wondering how useful would that be to install them in the station??
    Pololu - Gas Sensors

  • UV radiation
    (I don't know anything about this. I have no sensors suggested.)

  • Visibility
    (I find out that there are two valuable methods measuring visibility. However, both were very complex and impossible for me to implement, if you have any idea for proper visibility measuring, please drop a line :))

VERY IMPORTANT, good case.

  • I have seen white, round boxes for keeping sensors in it, but i don't know the name in English to search for them and i don't know where to buy it. Please suggest?

  • Also, since i will definitely try to track UV radiation and ambient light, i believe that i will need see through case. So, if you have any idea, please suggest?

  • If you have any other suggestion, any other atmospheric characteristics and anything else what would be interesting to measure in a city, please suggest me :).

Why don't you start to make a prototype, and add sensors along the way ?

Some sensors are used a lot with the Arduino:
DHT11 or DHT22: humidity and temperature (1.51 and 4.81 dollars on Ebay). Buy the DHT22, it is worth it.
DS18B20: accurate temperature (1.39 dollars on Ebay).
BMP085: barometer (3.96 for a breakout board on Ebay).

Some light sensors measure in lux. If you use an LDR you should calibrate it yourself.

I don't know how to measure UV light. It is very interesting though.

The MQ gas sensors are for indoors use. They can be calibrated more or less, but they are not accurate and are not able to distinguish between gasses.

The Geiger counter will probably not show any peaks in the radiation. There is a 'constant' background noise.

The small breakout boards for sensors can be bought on Ebay. The quality is okay. Larger boards (like an Arduino Uno clone) have very cheap capacitors and X-tal, and the quality of those larger boards are a lot less than the official Arduino boards.

Do you actually want to make the sensors , or do you want to use existing commercial sensors.
You may be interested in this project.
http://wmrx00.sourceforge.net/
Its called Weather Station data Logger and it uses an Arduino with a custom shield to simulate an Oregon Weather Station Console and allows
PC monitoring of a wide range of Weather conditions.
It can measure Humidity, Temperature, wind speed & direction , UV , Rainfall,Barometric Pressure.
Ive built 2 Arduino based Weather Shields, and Im now in the process of making my own Temperature / Humidity Sensors using DHT22 sensors.

If you want to go the 1-Wire route, try Hobby Boards (http://www.hobby-boards.com/store/categories/Weather/).

Mitch

An UV light sensor could be the GUVA-S12SD.
According to the datasheet it is sensitive for 240 to 360 nm, and it is linear with the amount of UV light.
You can not place it under a plastic transparent lid of the box. That would reduce the UV light too much.

Search on Ebay for "uv sensor", some are 8 dollars.
The "REYAX UVI-01", "ZY-6" and "PT-6" are used in the same way.
They are used as a solar cell, it produces a voltage. But the impedance of the circuit is 1M and it is 15% inaccurate.

You can add a lightning sensor and a sound level sensor to your list.

maxim carries a number of these sensors, and will ship you samples for free. i just got a ds1620 from them.

honeywell makes some combined temp/rh sensors, and will also send you free samples

in fact, if you just search for "free sample IC", you will find that there are TONS of products you can get for free just by asking nicely. i probably got $500 or so worth of free products from a dozen different companies recently, just by asking nicely. if they dont have a "samples" link on their website, just email customer service and explain yourself. i only had one place decline me because i wasnt a hot-shot with plans to buy 1000 or more eventually.

mauried:
Do you actually want to make the sensors , or do you want to use existing commercial sensors.
You may be interested in this project.
http://wmrx00.sourceforge.net/
Its called Weather Station data Logger and it uses an Arduino with a custom shield to simulate an Oregon Weather Station Console and allows
PC monitoring of a wide range of Weather conditions.
It can measure Humidity, Temperature, wind speed & direction , UV , Rainfall,Barometric Pressure.
Ive built 2 Arduino based Weather Shields, and Im now in the process of making my own Temperature / Humidity Sensors using DHT22 sensors.

Thank you for the reference.

No, i'm not into making sensors. Not on that low hardware level. I want to make API with it. Most likely i would not use Arduino as primary controller. It will be beagle bone as i think now. Since it's easier to push data and easier to establish simple API which i can broadcast further.

midon:
If you want to go the 1-Wire route, try Hobby Boards (http://www.hobby-boards.com/store/categories/Weather/).

Mitch

wou, great choice, just bit expensive and i don't know if they ship to my country.. thank you anyway.

Hi!
For a wind sensor, accurate and robust, you can look this: http://www.lcjcapteurs.com/?lang=en

Do you know that LED's can be used as sensors?!?! If you get a UV led, the led will output a voltage depending on the uv light that it is reading! You will need to callibrate it yourself though but they are cheap (about a dollar each!)

-Luke

I recommend Pocket Geiger Type5 as a geiger counter for arduino.
http://www.radiation-watch.co.uk/

You can see more detailed descriptions at