Kestrel 4000 Pocket Weather Meter
Personal Weather Station for our trip

The measure of the atmospheric parameters is important for many human activities, not only related to weather forecasts. For instance, the air humidity affects the perception of heat and cold in an important way. No wonder if during the sultry summers we speak about perceived temperature that generally is greater than the thermometer temperature.
But the exploration of the atmosphere serves also to perform operations of rescue and help, prevent problems of health, plan eolic installations, in the agriculture, etc. Probably not everyone knows the antimine dogs nose (used to notice explosive devices) is affected by the temperature of the air and the speed of the wind. If is too cold or too much heat, or if there is too much wind, researches are not much precise.
The Nielsen Kellerman, worldwide leading company for the production of waterproof measure tools, has reduced in the palm of the hand all we need to know and study the atmosphere. Let's see closely the pocket weather station...

 

USE AND WORKING

The Kestrel 4000 is sold in a transparent plastic box. Inside we can find the technical documentation, a comfortable cloth envelope, two strings to hook the device to the wrist, the two alkaline AAA batteries. Batteries are hosted in a waterproof bay, protected by a gasket; polarities are clearly shown on the lid.
The ON/OFF button must be pressed for a pair of second to avoid casual operations. The first thing to do is time and date set up. This way all the measures are hooked at the exact time. The various functions of measure and the barometer calibration are managed by the navigation buttons and described in a clear and intelligible manner. Menus are available in different languages, among which Italian. The LCD display LCD is backlighted, with adjustable contrast, well readable in every light condition. For every function is possible to have different visualizations, among which a graph that shows the trend of the measure in the time. The graphs of the measures are of big importance to evaluate the trend of the meteo values. The Kestrel 4000 also memorizes the values of all the measures, even when is OFF: we can plan the interval between a measure and the oter, normally set up on 1 hour. The function " snapshot" allows to memorize manually the current value, in a way independent of the automatism. Graphs are navigable and supply informations on date and time of measure. All the values in memory can be moved on PC, with the optional interface, as afterwards described.
The sensors of temperature, humidity and pressure have a position studied not to be affected by heat and damp produced by the user. The impeller, the more delicate part, can be protected by a cap when not used. In case of break, is replaceable in a very simple way, without tool need. In general, the construcion of the mechanical parts is of military kind, with materials that do not need maintenance.

The measure of the altitude is obtained from the difference of atmospheric pressure as regards a reference value. For this reason is necessary to set the zero value of altitude when we are at the level of the sea (zero altitude). It is also possible to set up the starting point altitude, referring to the local geographic maps or to the geophysics institutes. If one knows precisely the atmospheric pressure at the time of the measure, can set up this value and obtain the altitude in an automatic way. The precision of measure obtained with this method is superior than that provided by GPS satellite navigators. No wonder if Airplanes use the same system adopted by the Kestrel 4000.
 


GLOSSARY OF THE MEASURES

In this table are described the parameters measured by the Kestrel 4000, with a simplified short description and their unit of measure in the SI (International System).

  • TEMPERATURE (TP): it is a measure of the speed (kinetic energy) of the air molecules: the more high it is the faster move the molecules. In practice it is an index of air heating. The used unit of measure is the degree centigrade (°C).
  • RELATIVE HUMIDITY (RH): more simply called humidity, is an index of the saturation degree of the air; it represents the amount (in percent) of present water vapour in the air, related to the maximum amount that the air can contain at that moment.
  • BAROMETRIC PRESSURE (BP): called also atmospheric pressure, it is the force that an air column exercises on a surface unit. It comes measured in hPa (EctoPascal), corresponding to old MB (Millibar).
  • ALTITUDE (AT): the measure of the vertical distance of an object from a well known level (of reference), called zero level. In most cases, this level is that one of the sea (meters on sea level). The unit of measure is the meter (m).
  • WIND SPEED (WS): the wind is the shifting of an air mass caused by the pressure difference between two adjacent geographic areas. The adopted unit of measure is the km/h or the m/s.
  • DEW POINT (DP): is the temperature (in °C) to what a mass of damp air would become saturated if it was further cooled without undergo changes of pressure or content of water vapour.
  • HEAT INDEX (HI): represents the apparent temperature perceived from the human body during the summer sultry days of hot and damp weather. It does not matter during the mild seasons and the winter, because in these cases coincides with the temperature. It is measured in degrees centigrade (°C).
  • WIND CHILL (WC): represents the apparent temperature perceived from the human body during the winter cold and windy days. It does not matter during the mild seasons and the summer, because in these cases it coincides with the temperature. It is measured in degrees centigrade (°C).
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    COMPUTER INTERFACE

    The interface has an aspect like a brick with a cavity for the Kestrel 4000. The form of the bay guarantees an optimum coupling for the infrared transducers and sensors that realize the data transfer. An rubber band, keeps in position the device in case of vertical position (with a tripod). The PC link takes place with a standard RS232 interface, through an RS232/USB adapter, included in the interface cable. The drivers for Windows and MAC and the software for data transfer and communication, are included in two installation CDs. The interface is also provided with an housing for tripod fixing, very useful in case of prolonged surveys. The tripod fixes to a cylinder in metal with standard photographic plug.


     

    DRIVERS AND SOFTWARE INSTALLATION

    To connect the Kestrel 4000 to the computer, is necessary to install the drivers and the management software, contained in the CDs.
    It is important to install the software firstly to avoid configuration errors due to the automatisms of the operating system.
    In the following we see an installation on Windows systems.

    First install the CD "USB - RS232 adapter" by Digitus Accessories company. There are two folders: MAC and PC. Select the folder PC and open it. Double-click on the file "PL 2303 Driver Installer.exe". After installing the CD related to the interface, install the CD of "Pocket Weather Tracker" software. Open the folder Kestrel 4000. Select the folder PC and open it. Double-click on the file "KZIP1_16.exe" and choose a destination folder. It is better using a folder created by the user to avoid confusion with the others temporary files. For default is used the temporary files folder for the current user:
    C:\Documents and Settings\username\Impostazioni locali\Temp
    Double-click on the file "KSTRL1_16.EXE". The interface control application is started.

    It is important that the number of the COM port related to the interface is the same selected by the software. The software assigns COM1 as default. Generally this port is already assigned to other serial devices. We can assign port numbers from COM1 to COM4 by modifying the file "Comdef.ini" contained in the program folder. Just cancel the present number and replace it with the new number from 1 to 4. After modifying the port is necessary to go in Control Panel > System > Hardware > Peripherals Management and select in the tree the voice Ports (COM and LPT). Double-click on the voice Prolific USB to Serial... Select the tab Advanced Settings for the Port and the button Advanced... From the rollover menu COM Port Number, select COM4. Select OK and close the windows. Restart the program "KSTRL1_16.EXE".
    The data transfer program is very simple, but carries out well its work.
    Data extracted from the Kestrel 4000 can be downloaded on PC or printed directly; we can also modify the calibration parameters.
    The output format is CSV (Comma Separated Values) suitable for all Spreadsheets and Databases.



    CONVERSION AND EXCEL GRAPHS

    Starting from CSV format, we can order the data set in a more readable way with the program Excel (and in general with most the spreadsheets).
    After opening the CSV document with Excel, a column with all the data assembled is shown. Select the column and go to the menu Data > Text in columns. From the window of Guided Conversion, select the conversion for delimited Data voice. Continue and set up the comma as delimiter. At the end of the guided procedure, all the data will have an assigned column.
    From now we can highlight the single voices and the units of measure with favourite formatting. Starting from the standard Excel sheet, we can generate graphs to show the trend of the measures. Depending on the kind of graph we can put in evidence appearances specific of one or more measures, with the maximum representation freedom.
    Obviously the spreadsheet data set, can feed a relational database, to use the power of the SQL language and put in relations the data.


     

    OTHER KESTREL PRODUCTS

    The Kestrel 4000 is a part of a products family specialized for a specific use. For instance the Kestrel 4100 measures the flow of air in a room (in litres per second, meters cubic per hour, etc.) and is indispensable for the planners of air treatment plants. The Kestrel 1000 is a tool for wind measure, compact and tough. The Kestrel 2000 measures the wind and the temperature, of the environment and of the water.
    Other models add parameters of measure to complete the data set at disposal. The common factor is the strong assembly and precision of the materials.
    The family NV (Night Vision) uses the red colour for the lighting of the display. This characteristic is fundamental for whom working at night. The red light in fact not prejudices the adaptation of the eye to the darkness and allows to read the measures without risking to lose the surrounding details. Night Vision products are available for Kestrel 2500, 3500 and 4000.


     
    CONCLUSIONS

    The fields of use of the Kestrel portable meteo station are numerous. Excursionists and extreme sport's lovers, can keep the climate in an effective way under control; planners of the air conditioning installations own a perfect monitoring tool to guarantee the people's comfort; athletes and trainers can measure the conditions of the wind and the atmospheric parameters that affect the result; farmers and agronomists can obtain useful statisticses to choose the optimum strategy in the management of the cultivations; firemans and rangers have a tool that informs them on the possible fire risks and the direction of the fire forehead; security force and soldiers can choose the better conditions for the effectiveness of the dog units; sea lovers and fishermen have a valid help to check the atmospheric pressure; all keens on meteorology can do their forecasts and check the microclimate of their geographic area.
    In the following, some useful links:

    Producer's Homepage:
    http://www.nkhome.com/

    Direct link for Kestrel 4000:
    http://www.nkhome.com/ww/4000.html

    All Kestrel Tools:
    http://www.nkhome.com/ww/wwindex.html

    Support and FAQ:
    http://www.nkhome.com/support/wwsupport.html

    On-line shop:
    http://www.nkhome.com/store/home.php?cat=249
    Write us if you want a complete test of your products, with images, graphics, research and deepenings. On request we realize user manuals (also in italian), conferences and multimedia presentations.