Quick Guide to using the Kestrel 5500 as
a weather station
Introduction
The Kestrel weather station uses five sensors to measure temperature, humidity, wind
speed, wind direction and pressure. It displays these in real time, shows graphs of how
they have varied, and stores data from them which can be transmitted later using
Bluetooth to a PC, mobile phone or other device.
The Kestrel has a wide range of options, which can be a bit bewildering until you get
used to them. This guide assumes it is being used as a stand-alone weather station, to
be left recording for some hours or days and the data downloaded, rather than handheld
with data read manually. Notes at the end refer to places in the text where the Kestrel
capability can be extended or changed.
When you receive it from the RMetS, it will have been set for simplicity to show the
quantities it measures directly, in metric units: Temperature (⁰C), Relative Humidity (%),
Wind Speed (m/s), Wind Direction (degrees) and Pressure (corrected to sea level, hPa).
See Note 1 and Note 2 on how to change these settings.
The Kestrel has a great User Guide (UG), which you should read the first time you use it,
but it can be a bit daunting for everyday use. Here are the main things you need to
know.
Using the Kestrel
Switch on the display with (It switches off after 15mins but still logs data). As soon
as it comes on, there is a quick flash message showing the battery %age capacity. Then
the screen shows date and time.
Use the down arrow to scroll through a display of current values of each of the
measured quantities: DIRECTION, WIND SPD, TEMP, HUMIDITY and BARO (= Sea-
Level Pressure).
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