Ambient Weather WS 5000 Weather Station (Updated with New Photos)
I have been a weather enthusiast for many years and I have owned a few different weather stations over those years. I've owned the type that hang like a clock on the wall and really don't tell you anything to a top rated wireless setup which in my opinion was overrated. A couple of months ago I was given the chance to setup and test an Ambient Weather WS 5000 weather station and jumped at the chance to do so because some of the innovative designed features I had read about. One in particular was the Smart wind meter that has NO moving parts to wear out and includes a revolutionary ultrasonic anemometer that is more sensitive to changes in wind speed and direction and transmits faster than traditional wind cup types. The company was very gracious and sent to me a complete system with all the bells and whistles. I did have to buy one item, but I'll explain that a little later.
It arrived in several boxes and well packaged. I began by laying out all the equipment to take inventory of what was sent.
The first thing to do was assemble the mounting pole. This elbow mount can be used on a pitched roof, flat roof or a gable end. There are extensions that come with it to attain the necessary height that you want to have.
My wife decided for me that no holes are to be drilled in the house(can't say I blame her knowing my skills at DIY). I had originally requested they send a stand alone tripod, but they didn't, so the only piece I had to buy was the heavy duty tripod. Considering everything they gave me it was a little sacrifice.
This shows the tripod in it's original position, but it ended up being in the opposite corner at the other end of the deck.
Next thing to do was install the sensor array. You begin by installing the batteries in the array. I highly recommend you use lithium batteries since they last longer in colder weather.
The battery compartment is accessed by removing the screw shown and inserting the batteries with the correct polarity installed.
You then install the array on your mounting pole making sure to follow the guide for installing the bolts and snaking your heater cable through the pole.
Mounting bracket on my extension pole
Array mounted and heater cable snaked through.
Array mounted on bracket and onto the extension pole with heater cable.
When mounting your array to your house or tripod make sure you find the indicator for "N" on the array and using a compass, point the arrow in that direction for proper wind direction readings.
I marked mine with a black Sharpie to make sure I could see it. I would suggest to Ambient they figure out a way to mark that "N" somehow for visibility.
After completing the array mounting we move on to the rain gauge. You begin by inserting one AA battery into the battery compartment (Lithium recommended)
I then mounted it to my extension pole and fitted the debris screen to the rain bucket
At this point it was ready to go on the tripod.
The location shown ended up being a temporary location. It is now at the exact opposite end of the deck. Both locations are on the north side of the house.
Console...
If the array is the brains of the WS 5000 then the console is the heart. Lets face it. This is where you will be spending the most time. This piece of equipment will contain a ton of weather info depending on the number of sensors you attach to the system. The instruction book contains all the information you will need to setup your console. Follow it closely and go through it slowly. Going through the myriad of details is beyond the scope of this article. I am going to just touch on a few in a little bit of detail.
The first thing I did was to download the updated firmware for the console. To save time I include a link below to the Ambient Weather site for detailed explanation. Link is below.
The console is well laid out and easy to read. I chose a black background for contrast.
In the upper left you will find weather server information, wifi signal strength indicator and the array battery strength indicator. I linked my Weather Underground and joined my station to the Ambient Weather.net. You can also link your readings to Amazon Alexa and Google assistant. Near the date and time you will find the sensors you have deployed. In my case you will see soil moisture and the lightning strike indicator. When I set out the leak detector it will be found here also. Lets switch gears here for a minute and talk about the lightning strike sensor.
The lightning icon will activate when your dew point hits 70 degrees indicating there are good conditions for thunderstorms to develop. The sensor itself detects the electro magnetic pulse (EMP) of the lightning and by measuring the strength of the EMP it can give a reliable indication of how far away the strike occurred. This is for knowledge only. Do not count on this for personal safety. Since it relies on EMPs it can be affected by nearby electronic equipment. It cannot tell you what direction either. The directions that come with the unit will tell you how to setup the sensor customized to your needs. The red LED will flash when a strike is detected. They recommend installing the sensor outside and in a vertical placement. I hung mine on the kitchen bay window outside about 12 feet from my weather array. A short video is shown below of an actual strike recording.
The outdoor particulate matter sensor reading is located right under the real feel temperature reading. This is a nice sensor to have if you live near an urban area or where there may be lots of wildfires that could affect your breathing and overall health.
The user manual you get with the unit will go into detail about the various other readings that you can see on the console so to do that here would be redundant for the most part and outside the scope of this general overall article.
I do believe that the Ambient Weather 5000 is a good buy for the money($429.99 + extra sensors). I will end this article with a picture of my instrument array outside doing it's job.
Update 9/7/21
It works great picture
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