Weather Data

[Ed P]

If you delve behind different forecasts you will often find that they grab the forecast for your area from different locations. This can make a huge difference in what you get, especially if you are looking at hourly forecasts.

I notice for example that the hourly forecast I get from the BBC is often wrong compared with the iPhone forecast. These forecasts come from two different providers, and while the Apple forecast is based on actual location, the Beeb forecast is based on a very approximate area. The Apple forecast uses real time satellite/radar data while the Beeb’s appears to be based on looking out of the Window 50 miles away!

The Beeb forecast used to be much better, but unfortunately became the victim of the Government’s monetary vendetta against the Beeb, so they went to what is obviously a low cost provider.

[wasbit]

Yep. I set the wife’s app to get the weather from RAF Brize Norton which is only a couple of miles away as the crow flies, reasoning that the RAF would probably require greater accuracy but it’s amazing how often it’s forecast is different to the actual conditions even when taking into account the update frequency.

Edit: Just to add that your posts are read & appreciated even if I don’t agree or comment on them.

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Regards
wasbit

Rig 1: Optiplex 3050 SFF
Rig 2: Asus ROG G20CB (rebuilt wreck)
Rig 3: HP Elitebook 8440P

Dear Starfleet, hate you, hate the Federation, taking Voyager. - Janeway

[Drezha]

wasbit wrote:

Yep. I set the wife’s app to get the weather from RAF Brize Norton which is only a couple of miles away as the crow flies, reasoning that the RAF would probably require greater accuracy

I don’t imagine that the RAF use an app to get weather information 😉

"Everything looks interesting until you do it. Then you find it’s just another job" - Terry Pratchett

[Ed P]

I’m sure you are correct Drezha, but it is a fact that a lot of the Met Office stations are contiguous with Military bases and wasbit’s comment is quite understandable in confusing Data with Forecasts.

There are in fact a multitude of weather stations in the UK, some accredited by the Met Office and others just interested amateurs who feed their data into a multitude of various networks.

You can get a feel for the numbers by searching on-line for ‘local weather stations’, you will probably find at least one within five miles of your location. Many of these stations also include ‘forecasts’ for the next few hours, but I’ll confess I have no idea how they do this except perhaps look at the wind direction/speed and pick another amateur that many minutes away up-wind!

@Drezha – I have been trying to use Home Automation to link with our Nest thermostat but that then gets into the mess of 2022 Google integration. I’m completely bogged down because I do not have a domain (a Google Cloud registration requirement it seems). Have you any ideas how one gets around this?

[wasbit]

Off topic, but as I mentioned RAF Brize Norton – all afternoon we have had two noisy jets circling only to be followed by the Red Arrows & the Black Eagles from South Korea. I’m told it’s Fairford air show this weekend so I guess they were practicing.

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Regards
wasbit

Rig 1: Optiplex 3050 SFF
Rig 2: Asus ROG G20CB (rebuilt wreck)
Rig 3: HP Elitebook 8440P

Dear Starfleet, hate you, hate the Federation, taking Voyager. - Janeway

[Drezha]

Ed P wrote:

@Drezha – I have been trying to use Home Automation to link with our Nest thermostat but that then gets into the mess of 2022 Google integration. I’m completely bogged down because I do not have a domain (a Google Cloud registration requirement it seems). Have you any ideas how one gets around this?

Afraid not – we’ve a Hive, rather than Nest. That needs to have a two factor authenication code everytime the server reboots, which is a bit of a faff.

"Everything looks interesting until you do it. Then you find it’s just another job" - Terry Pratchett

[Ed P]

Thanks for the response, I obviously need to look at other ways of getting Alexa data on my PC.

Off Topic, but still weather:

Our railway lines WILL sag and buckle this week as Network Rail do not believe that British Summers are getting any warmer!

Our rail network is designed for a maximum Summer temperature of 27C even though they could easily be adjusted to French or German temperatures.

Network Rail Statement

[Ed P]

Not Nest, but I have found ways of integrating my cheap Tuya Greenhouse thermometer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIbCkYyZn6o

[JayCeeDee]

I have just seen a fascinating YT video from Singapore. They say water and electricity don’t mix well, but they have just ( July 2021 ) brought online a huge floating solar farm the size of 45 football fields.

The problem they had was accessing clean water cheaply and efficiently, as green as they could go. Historically reverse osmosis worked well but used huge amounts of electricity generated by burning imported liquid gas. The solution was to take the power generation off grid and literally place it on-site.

Video HERE.

Interesting info as well on perovskite replacing silicon and inkjet style solar panel printing onto flexible thin layers.

[Ed P]

I lived in Singapore for many years, and have a great admiration for their technology-led Government.  That said – ‘green’ concerns are only given priority if they are in tune with overall Government strategy and priorities.

Singapore’s history is an important factor in the priorities set by its Government. Singapore’s population are mainly ethnic Chinese. In the 1960s when Singapore split from Malaysia, religious and ethnic genocide against the Chinese was rife in South-East Asia. Above all, Singapore had to potentially defend itself against the much larger (Muslim) populations of Malaysia and Indonesia. This concern shaped much of Singapore’s infrastructure in mainly hidden ways (e.g.Motorways that are easily converted to military runways etc). Singapore has a well-armed military with an Israeli-type strategy of fighting any battles on aggressors territories.

However they have one recognised strategic vulnerability – all of their high-cost potable water came from Malaysia. This led to very efficient water recycling in Singapore but still left a deficit. I suspect that the need to fill this gap to become self-sufficient in water supplies is driving their desalination project rather than environmental concerns. Sticking solar panels on water-ways is a tried and tested option. Not only does it save land space (a critical resource in Singapore) it also cuts down water losses.

[JayCeeDee]

Ed P wrote:

Sticking solar panels on water-ways is a tried and tested option.

That’s interesting. Caught me by surprise as I’ve not seen it before, definitely a little left field thinking.

[Ed P]

Monday’s weather was lovely, but yesterday was brutal – not for the temperatures but the damned humidity. Yesterday was so hot it brought down Google cloud! Today is back to pleasantly warm.

The TV is full of doom and gloom about the temperatures, but I remember the gloriously long hot sunny summers of 1955 and 1975. They were very nearly the same temperature, but went on for weeks rather than just a couple of days.

If this does become a regular occurrence and lasts as long as it did in years past then I can see a great demand to install window shutters and attic fans. The latter are the cheapest form of bedroom air-con I’ve met, and consists of a 24inch fan installed in the gable end of the house sucking the 50-60C air from the loft space and cooling the bedroom ceilings as well as creating a through draft through  the loft trap and the rest of the house.

[Ed P]

Funnily enough Quora has a current thread on Singapore’s exit from Malaysia.

https://www.quora.com/Why-did-Singapore-and-Malaysia-split-up-Could-they-come-back-together

It is noticeable that the Malay respondents do not refer to the huge difference in corruption between Malaysia and Singapore. Corrupt officials are still common-place in Malaysia, but non-existant in Singapore. Neither did the Malay respondents refer to their Bumi-first policies, whether written or unwritten. (Bumi==native Muslim Malay). This was always a source of contention for my old company when two contenders were up for a promotion. If one was Bumi then HE always got preference, and heaven help you if the non-Bumi was also female but miles better!

[Drezha]

Dragging this up, but we had our solar panels installed today which has been good – it’s already had the wife approval, as the generated electric this afternoon after they installed was £0.22 for the day, which she was impressed with. Though she got a bit lost when I was trying to explain that we’d have saved more than that, as that was the inverter just telling us what we’d get if we sold all we produced, when in fact we’d used some, so didn’t have to pay the 28p per kW we’d used instead of selling!

It’s kept me interested the last few days looking at automations in Home Assistant so I can set things to turn on when it’s producing most power.

"Everything looks interesting until you do it. Then you find it’s just another job" - Terry Pratchett

[Ed P]

“It’s kept me interested the last few days… so I can set things to turn on when it’s producing most power.”

That is my wife’s favorite occupation so not one for automation. However to take full advantage of it you really need a battery, otherwise you are guessing at the size and speed of clouds!  Unfortunately our battery is still away for inspection/replacement. If you do decide to install a battery give LG a miss, their customer service/ response is appalling.

 

[JayCeeDee]

Your Smart meter in house display will probably suit her better, it does the wife. If I show her the app for our panels ( ShinePhone) I can quickly lose her, but the DISPLAY is quite straightforward.

The second button will give you the post panel (grid )consumption for the electric plus gas to present time. Press again and it gives ‘Used so far today’ for Electric , Press again for Gas. The first button marked ‘Now’ will give you an indication of whether you are consuming from the grid or feeding back in to it. Mine has the electric lightning dash with an arrow pointing in to a pylon. Presently showing my electric cost as £0.00 and feeding 1.03kw back in to the grid.

I follow a YouTube channel where the guy has gone a bit OTT with the panels and batteries, but he has some good explanations and figures using the Home Automation app.

@ Ed P – he also integrates separate thermometers into HA iirc.

[Drezha]

Ed P wrote:

However to take full advantage of it you really need a battery, otherwise you are guessing at the size and speed of clouds!

We said we’d try the system before buying a battery, as the battery doubled the cost of the system and according to Eon, is greatly increasing the time to install. We were originally quoted 20 weeks wait, but I think it’s perhaps been about 8.

However, we did have a firm call us today to arrange the solar panel install on the 15th – I pointed out that they’d been fitted yesterday and they weren’t to happy. It appears Eon have double booked us with their subcontractors!

We have a more basic display – doesn’t show us anything solar output related. We have the British Gas one here. I have considered getting a third party one that inegrates with Home Assistant, but I’m just using their API at the minute. That only updates every 30 minutes, so it’s a bit laggy on the graph, but it works.

"Everything looks interesting until you do it. Then you find it’s just another job" - Terry Pratchett

[Ed P]

Weather patterns seem to be very susceptible to ground contours.  When I lived in the South-Wales/Gloucestershire area it was very noticeable the way that bad weather seemed to follow the Severn valley, Ditto the M4 corridor often has different weather on the north from the south!

[Ed P]

Drezha, if you have a long term plan to install a battery hold off on spending too much on any generation kit as the battery management system has more data output than you will know how to put to use.

I assume your  solar installation has a generation meter. This may have an Internet connection which will enable you to grab some basic data.

[Drezha]

Yeah, that current information is coming from the inverter itself. It sends all the data online so I can view it in an app – the screenshot is from Home Assistant, which I’ve found a plugin which uses an API to pull the data from the app web service. As that works well enough at the minute, I won’t both going out and getting a Zigbee based router to measure the power.

"Everything looks interesting until you do it. Then you find it’s just another job" - Terry Pratchett

[Author]

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