Solar-powered weather stations have recently become popular owing to the high level of convenience over the regular models. They entirely rely on natural sunlight for their operation, eliminating the hassle of replacing batteries regularly.
Consider this post as your crash course if you’re planning to buy a solar-powered station but don’t know where to start.
We’ve outlined everything you need to know about weather stations below—including how they work, why they choose them over the regular stations, and the 3 top-of-the-line solar-powered stations on the market right now.
Top 3 Solar Powered Weather Station of 2021 Comparison Table
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Our top Pick
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La Crosse Technology S81120-INT with New Breeze Solar Wind Sensor
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Logia 7-in-1 Wi-Fi Weather Station with Solar
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Rating: | View Latest Deal → |
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Ambient Weather WS-1900A Osprey Solar Powered Weather Station
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How Solar Powered Weather Station Works?
A solar-powered weather station wholly relies on natural sunlight to power its sensors. It comes equipped with solar panels on the sensor suite, which draw power from the sun and convert it into electrical energy to power the sensors. The panels provide sufficient power to run the weather station during the day and night.
For the unit to perform optimally, you’ll need to set it to receive maximum exposure to sunlight properly. As the manufacturers of these home weather stations explain, the units can effectively operate in any area that receives around 4-6 hours of daylight a day, all year round.
These weather monitoring systems also come equipped with an internal rechargeable battery. As the solar panel powers the sensors during the day, it also charges this battery to ensure the station will continue functioning well at nighttime or when there’s no sufficient sunlight.
Some models also feature a supercapacitor charged by the solar panels to provide power to the sensors at night. Note that these weather stations also have an internal battery pack that acts as a backup if the capacitor charge dies before the sun comes out.
Now that you have an idea of how a solar-powered weather station operates, let’s look at the 3 top-rated products you’ll find on the market today.
Recommended Read: How are Weather and Climate Alike
Our Top Solar Weather Station Picks:
1. La Crosse Technology S81120-INT with New Breeze Solar Wind Sensor
La Crosse Technology S81120-INT with New Breeze Solar Wind Sensor is an excellent choice for anyone looking for a professional-grade solar-powered weather station at an affordable cost. This highly reliable and accurate unit comes with all the necessary installation hardware for easy setup.
It enables you to get all the essential weather readings—including the temperature, rainfall, humidity, and wind. The humidity and wind sensors come enclosed in a radiation shield to help shield them from direct sunlight.
This latest La Crosse Technology weather station comes with a new breeze sensor that can be set up in a minute and has a versatile bracket for mounting on any rooftop or location.
The professional weather station lets you monitor all your home and backyard weather conditions from an easy-to-read LCD color display. It has an adjustable backlit and auto dim feature.
Like all the other La Crosse stations, this model is engineered to hold up to the scorching sun, corrosion, extreme temperatures and humidity, and so on—translating to a long-lasting service.
Also, this is one of the cheapest solar-powered weather stations.
Highlighted features:
- Wind history with tendency indicator
- Forecast icons and tendency indicator
- Monitor both indoor and outdoor temperature
- Customized wind and humidity alerts
- Transmission range Up to 330ft
- Calendar and 4 language settings
PROS
CONS
What Users Are Saying
I’ve owned high-end weather stations like Rainwise and Davis Pro, as well as mid-range stations like Accurite and Ambient, and they’ve all had issues with accuracy or reliability. I’ve only had this one for a short time, but I’m extremely pleased with it so far. It’s small yet easy to read, with precise information for my interests, and it’s cheap.
2. Logia 7-in-1 Wi-Fi Weather Station with Solar
Logia is a popular name in the weather station industry, with a line of top-performance units loved by users all over the US. Their solar-powered weather station, the Logia 7-in-1 Wi-Fi Weather Station with Solar, is made for easy installation, reliability, and affordability.
We like the unit’s easy internet connectivity feature, which enables the display console to send/receive internet data via Wi-Fi connectivity easily. The observer comes with an all-in-one sensor array, enabling it to accurately transmit various data—including the outdoor temperature, wind speed, wind direction, humidity, rainfall, and UV & solar radiation. What’s more, it records indoor temperature and humidity, and even barometric pressure.
You’ll also enjoy receiving text and email alerts for Low or High conditions for all these parameters to help you plan your day well. The extensive day/week/month/year graphing capability is great. Remember, you’ll be viewing all this data in a full-color LED display which is backlit to make it easy to read both day and night.
Highlighted features:
- Dual wireless technology
- Wi-Fi connectivity
- Easy-mount backyard sensor
- Supports texts & email alerts
- Measures indoor temperature, humidity & barometric pressure
- Full-color LED display
Recommended Read: Logia Weather Station Reviews
PROS
CONS
What Users Are Saying
For me, this product is quite effective. Setting up the outside unit takes some thinking, effort, and time to familiarise the display’s setup, pairing, and settings menu. The Instruction book, on the other hand, is competent.
3. Ambient Weather WS-1900A Osprey Solar Powered Weather Station
The Ambient Weather WS-1900 Professional Weather Station is solar-powered and allows you to track your home and backyard weather with an intelligent easy-to-read LCD monitor. Hence, making it the best solar-powered weather station.
The monitor gives you an accurate reading of indoor and outdoor temperature, wind speed and direction, barometric pressure, humidity, rainfall, dew point, solar radiations, UV, precipitation, and more.
The sensors connect to the console via RF of 915 MHz up to 300 feet lines in the open air. The signal will not pass through any metal, earth, or ground.
It is available and supports both metric and imperial units of measurements with calibrations.
This unit’s console also features an easy-to-read, backlit LCD screen to enable you to view data recordings day and night easily. Keep in mind that the console displays crucial info. It comes with a 5V Dc power adapter and sensor array via solar power with 2AA batteries.
The sensor can be mounted on any pole between 1 and 2 inches diameter with a mounting bracket and U-bolt design.
Highlighted features:
- Calculates dew point, wind chill, and heat index
- Easy-to-read LCD color display
- Solar-powered weather station
- Sensor array connects up to 330 feet line
- 30-day return policy and one year warranty
See Also – Weather instruments
PROS
CONS
What Users Are Saying
This is the fifth weather station I’ve owned in the last 20 years, and it’s by far the nicest. It’s simple to set up and modify, and even the rain gauge works perfectly. I couldn’t be more pleased.
Should You Choose It Over Regular Weather Stations?
The regular weather stations (or we can refer to them as the battery-operated models) have been around for a pretty long time. It was not until recently that we witnessed the introduction of solar-powered models.
And now the debate is on:
Solar-powered vs. battery-operated weather stations—which one should you choose?
FIRST…you need to understand that the main difference between these two weather stations is the source (battery and solar power).
Now;
The fact that a solar-powered station entirely relies on solar power for its operation gives it an edge over the regular model. It eliminates the hassle of regularly changing the batteries.
The problem with the battery-operated models is that you’ll have to keep changing its batteries all the time (this takes time and effort). If you don’t, your station stops working!
You’ll also need to inspect these batteries for any damages regularly. Remember, these batteries contain acid. So, if they get damaged (which is possible in the cold winter months or the event of a storm) can leak and cause irreplaceable damages to your sensor suite.
With a solar-powered weather station, you’ll never have to deal with any of these problems.
BUT you might argue that solar-powered units have batteries as well, right?
The good thing about these batteries is that they’re just there for “back-up,” so they don’t need frequent replacement. What’s more, they’re usually enclosed inside the unit and are designed to withstand both hotter and colder temperatures (unlike the standard, disposable batteries).
Oh! Don’t forget that there’s also some spending involved with the regular models as you’ll have to buy new batteries once the current ones get depleted to keep your unit running.
And whenever you lose power in a solar power unit, you can rest assured that all your data remains intact. This is unlike in the battery-powered models, where the memory gets erased when changing the batteries.
The solar-powered unit has a few downsides, though;
Take, for instance, the effort and time needed to align the solar panels to ensure maximum sun exposure. This is something you don’t have to do with the regular models.
Something else…some regions might not receive sunlight for most of the day. This means less or no power to operate your weather station, meaning it’ll not meet your weather observation needs.
The solar-powered weather stations are also priced slightly higher than the regular models.
Video Source: YouTube – Open Green Energy
So, should you choose a solar-powered unit over the regular model?
In most cases, a solar-powered weather station is the best option. This is true when considering the convenience factor, which places them higher above the battery-operated models.
But before you get the solar-powered system, ask yourself if the location you plan to set it in receives sufficient sunlight and if it’ll meet your weather station needs.
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How Can These Products Save You Money In The Long Run?
Every time you need to change the batteries of a regular weather station, you’ll have to incur some expenses (in terms of a new battery pack). In other words, the maintenance cost of your regular weather station is high as you’ll always have to spend a year in year out to keep your unit functioning.
However, when it comes to the solar-powered weather station, it entirely relies on the FREE solar power to operate, significantly reducing its maintenance cost. And as we said earlier, these stations also come with supercapacitors and internal batteries, which act as a backup power source at night or when there’s no sunlight.
If you do your maths, you’ll realize that a solar-powered unit can save you a significant amount of cash in a year, which you can channel to other essential activities.
Recommended Read: Top 10 countries with the most tornadoes in the world!
People Also Ask
Solar-powered weather stations are often made up of multiple parts. During the day, the solar panels power the sensors while also charging a connected battery pack, which is then utilised to power the sensors when the sun sets.
Rain gauges with a digital display, such as those found in AcuRite Iris and Atlas model weather stations, provide a very precise liquid-equivalent reading as the snow melts.
Final Verdict
The popularity of solar-powered weather stations is rising due to the many benefits over regular battery-operated units. It does away with the need to regularly replace batteries, saving you a great deal of cash in the long run.
For this system to give you optimal performance and meet your weather observation needs, you just need to set it in a region that receives 4-6 hours of daylight a day, year-round. You should also ensure you place it in such a way that its solar panels enjoy maximum sunlight exposure.
For a great solar-powered station that delivers you years of excellent service, consider the 3 models we’ve discussed above.
