Weather Toys: Building and Hacking Your Own 1-Wire Weather Station (ExtremeTech) [Paperback]

Tim Bitson (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0470040467 | ISBN-13: 978-0470040461 | Publication Date: October 16, 2006 | Edition: 3

Do more than TALK about the weather

Maybe you can't change it, but you can measure it. And onceyou build your weather station, the sky's the limit. You can shareupdates on your own weather Web site. Create a smart sprinklerfor a lot less than thatfancy system on TV. Freeup your PC with a stand-alone weather station.Protect against lightning strikes with a surgesuppressor. Take yourweather station with you. Finding out which waythe wind is blowing canbe a lot of fun.

The Toys
* 1-Wire weather station
* Sensors for humidity, wind, rainfall, barometric pressure, lightning, and temperature
* Weather Web server
* Lightning surge suppressor
* LED weather display
* Smart sprinkler timer
* Appliance controller
* Smart home thermostat
* Stand-alone weather station

Complete instructions and code for these andother hardware and software projects--build them all or pick and choose!

Companion Web site

At www.weathertoys.net you'll find a complete weather station software package, source code, and specialized software tools to support these projects, plus lots of additional resources.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Do more than TALK about the weather

Maybe you can't change it, but you can measure it. And onceyou build your weather station, the sky's the limit. You can shareupdates on your own weather Web site. Create a smart sprinklerfor a lot less than thatfancy system on TV. Freeup your PC with a stand-alone weather station.Protect against lightning strikes with a surgesuppressor. Take yourweather station with you. Finding out which waythe wind is blowing canbe a lot of fun.

The Toys

• 1-Wire weather station
• Sensors for humidity, wind, rainfall, barometric pressure, lightning, and temperature
• Weather Web server
• Lightning surge suppressor
• LED weather display
• Smart sprinkler timer
• Appliance controller
• Smart home thermostat
• Stand-alone weather station

Complete instructions and code for these andother hardware and software projects—build them all or pick and choose!

Companion Web site

At www.weathertoys.net you'll find a complete weather station software package, source code, and specialized software tools to support these projects, plus lots of additional resources.

About the Author

Tim Bitson as been building weather measurement equipment for 30 years, and has been active in the 1-Wire weather community since it started in the late 1990s. He has designed two of the commonly used 1-Wire weather sensors, the “Bitson” barometer and the 1-Wire lightning detector. He has developed weather station code for Basic Stamp, PalmOS, and Tiny InterNet Interface (TINI), just to name a few.
During the day, Tim works as a “rocket scientist” at a major aerospace firm in southern Arizona, which he has been doing for more than 25 years. His specialty is integrating new designs and getting them to work for the first time.
During the evenings and weekends, he enjoys working with electronics, writing software, building neon art, and riding ATVs in the desert. Tim lives with his wife Pam, two sons Kyle and Andrew, one dog, and two cats (at last count).
Tim holds a B.S. degree in Information Technology, and has been programming since the late 1970s.

Product Details

• Paperback: 504 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 3 edition (October 16, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470040467
• ISBN-13: 978-0470040461
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #566,772 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Expand 1 Wire and Weather Device Knowledge, May 15, 2008

By 

Durward S. Bishop "HoneySeeker" (Lawrenceville, Ga) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Weather Toys: Building and Hacking Your Own 1-Wire Weather Station (ExtremeTech) (Paperback)

This book is an excellent primer to help you understand 1 wire devices and weather devices. I found that it helped motivate me in other directions such as bee hive monitoring in conjunction with the weather. The programs are good but it would be nice if they were available in alternate programming langauges such as C, C++, Visual Basic and a few others. I am not well versed in Java at this time so the alternate programming language would help greatly especially since I am in the process of doing remote wireless using the Rabbit microprocessor with ZigBee for the weather devices and the alternate languages would help the process. If you have a need to know about 1 wire and weather devices this book is highly recommended...

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a blast!, February 27, 2011

By 

Michael Hoyt "SanDiegoSeahawk" (San Diego, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Weather Toys: Building and Hacking Your Own 1-Wire Weather Station (ExtremeTech) (Paperback)

If you're into weather and interesting in rolling your own personal weather station, then this book is for you. I've had a blast building my weather station and am proud to say its up and running.

Great explanation as he incrementally builds up the java software controller.

Highly recommended!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Act Now!, May 31, 2010

By 

Roger Q. Callaway (Charlotte, NC, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Weather Toys: Building and Hacking Your Own 1-Wire Weather Station (ExtremeTech) (Paperback)

This book is great. It really does herd you through creating a weather station. It has been a little while since it was written. Java has been upgraded. The Mac OS x file structure had changed a little. I had a hard time finding the specific serial port called for, but I got it all to work. Right now waiting on an order from China, then I continue into the build phase. The website / forum that supports the book is not the most active, but I think it is because people get their weather station built to the degree they want and move on.