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Thread: Weather Stations

  1. #1
    Member of Forum Stripes's Avatar
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    Default Weather Stations

    Last August I installed a Weathermatic controller with a weather station and Smartlink for internet control at a hospital in Sydney. My supplier pulled up some data off the site from the weather station where it shows how much water has been used each month, and then compared it to how much water would have been used if the weather station was not installed (we set a normal program as backup in case the weather station loses contact with the controller like flat battery or vandalism/theft).

    Based on the days it is set for on a standard program, it would have used just over 2 million litres of water at a cost of $2.16 per kilolitre, it would have cost them $4,268.00 for the 11 months it has been installed. With the weather station calculating how much water each zone gets, based on information like plant type, soil type, sun/shade, precipitation rate of sprinklers or dripline, based on actual temperatures it calculates how long to run each zone for. It only used $444.00 worth of water, saving a massive $3824.00 in 11 months! As you have cooler weather it reduces the run time, then after rain it will only resume watering when the plants need it which could be a week after it rained. By then it may have had more showers or cooler temps, so it skips watering on those days.

    The gardens never missed a beat and it shows how much the old time based controllers overwater when they are left without any adjustments as the weather changes. If you think about how many places have irrigation systems that come on like clockwork, there is a massive amount of water being wasted.

  2. #2
    Senior Member PaulG's Avatar
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    Default Re: Weather Stations

    Sounds like a great system!

  3. #3
    Senior Member Mow And Go's Avatar
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    Default Re: Weather Stations

    that's phenomenal ...good work mate
    I dont break things ...I just use them beyond their operational limitations
    www.mowandgogardening.com.au

  4. #4
    Member Of Forum cylo's Avatar
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    Default Re: Weather Stations

    Excellent, well worth what ever it may have cost them! Gardens would be in tip top shape as well since overwatering can be just as bad as not enough.

  5. #5
    Member of Forum Stripes's Avatar
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    Default Re: Weather Stations

    It cost them $2700.00 for the system, but in less than a year they are in front. From now on it is all savings. A weather station on it's own costs less than $500, so if they already have that controller, its a small investment to save a lot.

    I updated my webpage too and I will add more info and put this case study on there in more detail soon.
    http://www.autoirrigation.com.au/index.php?p=1_19

  6. #6
    Member Rye Victoria great nature's Avatar
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    Default Re: Weather Stations

    Imagine how much water could be saved each year if every large garden did this. We wouldn't need environmentally unfriendly desalination plants.
    On ya Stripes.

  7. #7
    Senior Member seliment's Avatar
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    Default Re: Weather Stations

    Thought for further development --- if there were 'many' users and the sites do not have 'micro climate' issues -- why not have the controller get the 'weather data' from an online Internet database that has it for the area/suburb/locality?
    No need then for each site to have it's own weather station hardware.

    Joe

  8. #8
    Member of Forum Stripes's Avatar
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    Default Re: Weather Stations

    Better Homes and Gardens filmed a story on this and it will air this on Friday at 7pm. My supplier got all the figures for them to use on the story which we can look up from the Smartlink website. We just log onto our site and view the actual water usage. We then compare it to the standard program and worked out they saved all that money by multiplying the run times by how many litres each zone uses per minute to get how many kilolitres were used, and then multiplying that by the price of a kilolitre of water. Just driving around sicne then looking at all these warehouses, commercial buildings etc that have irrigation and there is a huge potential for this system to save millions of litres of water each year.

    Hopefully we will be very busy over the next few months just upgrading systems after it goes to air. It's also in this months BH&G magazine on page 84 if anyone is interested.

  9. #9
    Member of Forum Stripes's Avatar
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    Default Re: Weather Stations

    Quote Originally Posted by seliment View Post
    Thought for further development --- if there were 'many' users and the sites do not have 'micro climate' issues -- why not have the controller get the 'weather data' from an online Internet database that has it for the area/suburb/locality?
    No need then for each site to have it's own weather station hardware.

    Joe
    I think for the cost it just isn't needed. It may rain in one area of a suburb and not in another part. You can get a wired weather station for less than $200. Some of the other brands have something like that but there are subscriptions that have to be paid.

  10. #10
    Senior Member NLALM's Avatar
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    Default Re: Weather Stations

    Quote Originally Posted by Stripes View Post
    Better Homes and Gardens filmed a story on this and it will air this on Friday at 7pm. My supplier got all the figures for them to use on the story which we can look up from the Smartlink website. We just log onto our site and view the actual water usage. We then compare it to the standard program and worked out they saved all that money by multiplying the run times by how many litres each zone uses per minute to get how many kilolitres were used, and then multiplying that by the price of a kilolitre of water. Just driving around sicne then looking at all these warehouses, commercial buildings etc that have irrigation and there is a huge potential for this system to save millions of litres of water each year.

    Hopefully we will be very busy over the next few months just upgrading systems after it goes to air. It's also in this months BH&G magazine on page 84 if anyone is interested.
    I will be watching. How have you been going looks like it could be a good summer for installs, not so good for the old mower man

  11. #11
    Member of Forum Stripes's Avatar
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    Default Re: Weather Stations

    Quote Originally Posted by NLALM View Post
    I will be watching. How have you been going looks like it could be a good summer for installs, not so good for the old mower man
    Been insanely busy all Winter mate. I need to put another person on for the Spring onslaught but I think I will struggle to find someone experienced as a few companies are struggling to find people from what I have heard. Had 9 people call me in 1 hour yesterday for installs or service.
    It's supposed to be a warm Spring but the rain will be back in Summer according to the long range forecasts.

  12. #12
    Senior Member PaulG's Avatar
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    Default Re: Weather Stations

    Looking forward to watching too. You making a personal appearance Brian?

  13. #13
    Member of Forum Stripes's Avatar
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    Default Re: Weather Stations

    Quote Originally Posted by PaulG View Post
    Looking forward to watching too. You making a personal appearance Brian?
    Nah mate. I just showed them how to use it and went through everything with them at the site and explained how it works and the benefits etc.

  14. #14
    Member of Forum Stripes's Avatar
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    Default Re: Weather Stations

    In case you missed it, it is up on my website. The story is also about some other high tech products in the landscaping industry.

    http://www.autoirrigation.com.au/?news&nid=14

  15. #15
    Member of Forum Stripes's Avatar
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    Default Re: Weather Stations

    I can't believe I didn't get one single job out of this! I have been busy as anyway but thought I would have a few nice easy controller upgrades to do. Nothing!

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