On the 31st of July 2014 the Lufft Weather Expert visited us in Fellbach. In this blog post he reports about the construction of his weather station in Friedrichweiler, what he experienced during his stay with us and what are his future plans…

On 19 October 2012 I was honored with the title of “Lufft Weather Expert 2012”. To this day, as a weather expert, I remain highly enthusiastic about just how responsive and cooperative my relationship with the LUFFT company has become. As a result of the coveted competition prize – a WS501-UMB – my dream of a system compliant with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) quickly came true in the shape of the WS301-UMB and WS200-UMB sensors. For this reason I would like to return the favor with this article about my experience with the Lufft sensors, the background to the arrival of the MeteoGroup weather station at Friedrichweiler and my impressions on the occasion of my visit to the Lufft company.

Anyone who is bitten by the weather bug wants his own, professional weather station that he can use to collect weather data where he lives. While winning the competition was my cure, the path to a full recovery was lengthy and involved much preparation and decision-making. As the property owner, although I had adequate space for the sensors I had to accept that the most cost-effective installation option was not technically feasible due to long cable runs.

Luckily, with the help of local companies and fellow enthusiasts, it was possible to implement Plan B (which was to erect the complete weather station on my fields), so that the cost remained within my budget. The highly labor-intensive Plan B included the following points:

• An 11 meter mast had to be found for the WS200-UMB wind sensor. After a long search for a supplier, the decisive tip came through the Meteomedia company. A very stable, tiltable crank mast with sailing bracing at unbeatable value for money. For mounting the WS301-UMB, a crossbar is provided on this mast at a height of 2 meters.

• 50 meters of power cable had to be laid to the site of the weather station.

• A foundation had to be cast for the mast and the rain sensor.

• A building permit was needed because the mast is more than 10 meters in height.

On 27 May 2013 the time had finally come. The Friedrichweiler weather station was put into operation! Technician Dusko Voskar of the Lufft company was in attendance that day and installed the sensors, which were connected to the Metrilog data logger in the Lufft control panel. This allowed the measured values to be transmitted to Meteomedia via mobile telephony. Gery Keller of Meteomedia (now MeteoGroup) traveled from Switzerland to accompany the on-site installation. Of course my fellow enthusiasts, Siegmar Ahr and Vito Romano, and my “craftsman” Dieter Kiefer, could not possibly be missing.

I am highly satisfied with my weather station to date, because so far the Lufft sensors have shown no kind of deficiency whatsoever: No failures and no damage.

Awareness of the Friedrichweiler weather station has increased as a result of being presented by Sven Plöger in the ARD weather report “Weather before Eight”, through reports in the publication “Images of Saarland” (thanks to Jürgen Jung) and the Saarbrücken newspaper, as well as due to the insertion of data from the weather station in the tickers of ARD weather reports and mentions in regional radio programs.

Increasingly often, therefore, I am asked about the weather station and, as a Lufft weather expert, I can tell my story…

On 31 July 2014, as acting weather expert, I had the opportunity to visit the Lufft company in Fellbach-Schmiden. After a warm welcome by Mr. Weil, during a tour of the industrial premises Mr. Kreissig and Ms. Wingert quite literally showed me everything that Lufft stands for, very clearly and in great detail. Starting with tradition, I learned quite a lot about the company history and was able to examine the past equipment of the Lufft brand a little more closely. At this point it was clarified that Lufft sensors today no longer use blonde hair to measure humidity. Then we moved on to production. So I was able to take a close look at the assembly lines of various sensor types and was shown, for example, how humidity is adjusted on the sensor boards and how in the wind tunnel the specified wind speed and wind direction had to be properly detected by the finished sensors. I was also shown how the product features of road sensors are tested and the technology that they contain. Whether temperature calibration or air pressure testing. This equipment was also available to view.

In terms of the range of Lufft sensor products, I really perceived a very clear concept of quality, precision and innovation. I was also allowed to peruse the new optical sensor product range. No secret was made of the other equipment that incorporates Lufft technology.

The plans for the future impressed me too. They take account of customer demand for more compact and more precise weather stations.

For me, the visit to Lufft was truly fantastic, with many lasting impressions.

Many thanks to the Lufft team!

About the author: My name is Alexander Burg and I am Lufft Weather Expert since 2012. As I’m very interessted into weather incidents, weather observation became my hobby. With the weather sensors from Lufft, a long term wish was fulfilled. Under www.wetterstation-friedrichweiler.de (in German) and on Facebook you can find further information about my unique kind of weather station from Lufft belonging to the measuring network of MeteoGroup.