Updated: Wind direction indicator - tail mods plus some Q's

[Keyz]

Just got my station, and am in the process of setting up. Have asked the place I purchased by email the following, but no such luck. Was wondering if you guys could help? Have done rudimentary searches, to no avail..

These are all to do with hardware, and the screen.

1) The WH1081 has a pressure history graph. Mine comes up in steps, one, two three hours etc etc, then they all clear and they start coming up again. Is this normal? Kinda like a reverse graphic equaliser display when music is playing. Hard to explain.

2) What are you guys doing with all the extra wiring when using the standard mounts? I cable tied them to one of the arms. This won't produce any problems will it?

3) How do you turn the beeper off? I have seen mention of an unofficial function map, but can't find it.

4) Currently I have the anemometer set on km/hr. I noticed that it seems to go in steps like 0.0km/hr, 1.1, 2.5, 3.6 etc etc rather than in amounts of 0.1km/hr (0.0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3 etc etc). Is this normal?

5) Is the hardware stainless steel? I siliconed it up just in case.

Finally, my ideas on the direction indicator. I know there is a thread on this previously, however this became a thread about modification of wiring and adding extra reeds to the sensor.

I have just thought of a aerodrome wind sock, they indicate wind by means of drag, not addittional sideways area. So I'm going to look into adding the cut off top from a soft drink/soda plastic bottle to the end of the tail on the vane. The more open end will be toward the wind (winward side), and the narrower end taway from the wind.

I will be sure to let you all know how I get on.

In a similar vein, I will try a similar piece of plactic under the rain sensor to see if that helps block the wind sufficiently that I don't get the spurious rain readings in high wind.

Thanks again for a great program, and a fantastic resource for this product!

[Repairman77]

Just got my station, and am in the process of setting up. Have asked the place I purchased by email the following, but no such luck. Was wondering if you guys could help? Have done rudimentary searches, to no avail..

These are all to do with hardware, and the screen.

1) The WH1081 has a pressure history graph. Mine comes up in steps, one, two three hours etc etc, then they all clear and they start coming up again. Is this normal? Kinda like a reverse graphic equaliser display when music is playing. Hard to explain.

2) What are you guys doing with all the extra wiring when using the standard mounts? I cable tied them to one of the arms. This won't produce any problems will it?

3) How do you turn the beeper off? I have seen mention of an unofficial function map, but can't find it.

4) Currently I have the anemometer set on km/hr. I noticed that it seems to go in steps like 0.0km/hr, 1.1, 2.5, 3.6 etc etc rather than in amounts of 0.1km/hr (0.0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3 etc etc). Is this normal?

5) Is the hardware stainless steel? I siliconed it up just in case.

Finally, my ideas on the direction indicator. I know there is a thread on this previously, however this became a thread about modification of wiring and adding extra reeds to the sensor.

I have just thought of a aerodrome wind sock, they indicate wind by means of drag, not addittional sideways area. So I'm going to look into adding the cut off top from a soft drink/soda plastic bottle to the end of the tail on the vane. The more open end will be toward the wind (winward side), and the narrower end taway from the wind.

I will be sure to let you all know how I get on.

In a similar vein, I will try a similar piece of plactic under the rain sensor to see if that helps block the wind sufficiently that I don't get the spurious rain readings in high wind.

Thanks again for a great program, and a fantastic resource for this product!

HI Keyz,
I can answer a few of the questions...
1. This is normal
2. Cable ties is the normal way of attaching them, although standard electronic procedures recommend a figure of 8 wind up for all excess cable to avoid making a transformer out of the winding.
3. Not sure as it's not in my user guide either.
4. It depends on how the console measures it in the first place, then converts it to what you wish to see. Most use 'mph'.
5. Not sure what the hardware is but it does no harm to silicon it all up.

The problems you will find is that the rain gauge gives the most problems, it gets spiders, etc inside which stops it performing properly. I made a sock out of nylon dressmakers net which seems to work. Make sure the end is tightly wound round the supporting arm. Also if it's on the main pole it will wobble in high winds and produce erroneous readings. Really needs to be mounted rigid on something in the clear. You may need an extension cable for this. The rain gauge is not that accurate and wont normally measure very slow small amounts of rain.

However I wouldn't worry about the Console display too much as there's not a lot you can do to calibrate those readings. Instead load Cumulus 1.8.8 on the computer and use the Config/calibration page to adjust the readings to match any external measuring equipment you have. You can make the whole system more accurate that way. There are quite a few other mods you can make (including the aspirated screen for the temp/humidity/transmitter unit; the original is inadequate) but it depends on how accurate you need the system.

Hope that helps a little.

Mike.

Update; here's a picture of my set-up showing the net sock over the rain sensor and the home made aspirated screen with 12V fan run from a supply in the garage.

[Keyz]

Thanks heaps for your help!
I mostly wanted a WS in order to show me an accurate wind direction, seems I could have chosen a better unit from the standard capability, but essentially all the other features were nice bonuses.

I have used very fine stanless wire mesh from a kitchen colander/sieve, trimmed to size, and hopefully that will combat even the smallest crawlies. I have seen that the guage doesn't really record showers too well, but it will be interesting to see how it does with a downpour, as we are expecting in a few days.

Question 4 "Currently I have the anemometer set on km/hr. I noticed that it seems to go in steps like 0.0km/hr, 1.1, 2.5, 3.6 etc etc rather than in amounts of 0.1km/hr (0.0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3 etc etc). Is this normal?"

is more about the steps in recorded velocity, rather than the km or mph units. I expected a variable amount in steps of 01km/hr for example, but the measurements are in steps of 1.1km/hr to 1.4km/hr between values that are reported. eg from 1.1 to the next step being 2.5, rather than 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 1.7, 1.8, 1.9, 2.0, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4 then finally to 2.5. Is that normal?

Finally, though I haven't yet had a chance to upload a pic, I have been testing (in a turbulent area) my idea of using a wind sock shaped object to hopefully improve the wind direction indicator. I cut the bottom out of a plactic cup and taped it to the fins. It seems to help the vane move with more authority, and the great sideways wind resistance seems to prevent it from spinning like a top as many have reported. Don't get me wrong, it's not perfect, and still does swing, but it changes direction with more authority friom what I can tell, so I think is a marginal improvement. I have since glued a more sturdy cup to the vane, unfortunately it doesn't hang back as much, but it is of a more sturdy construction than the tested cup. Will report further and post pics once the guages are in position in a couple weeks or so.

[steve]

is more about the steps in recorded velocity, rather than the km or mph units. I expected a variable amount in steps of 01km/hr for example, but the measurements are in steps of 1.1km/hr to 1.4km/hr between values that are reported. eg from 1.1 to the next step being 2.5, rather than 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 1.7, 1.8, 1.9, 2.0, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4 then finally to 2.5. Is that normal?

Bear in mind that the station measures in m/s which Cumulus then converts, so it looks to me that the station has a resolution of 0.3 m/s or so.

[Repairman77]

Hi Keyz,

is more about the steps in recorded velocity, rather than the km or mph units. I expected a variable amount in steps of 01km/hr for example, but the measurements are in steps of 1.1km/hr to 1.4km/hr between values that are reported. eg from 1.1 to the next step being 2.5, rather than 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 1.7, 1.8, 1.9, 2.0, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4 then finally to 2.5. Is that normal?

I think this is because of the way the data is collected. It probably collects it in m/s, and if you use that it will read 1.0, 1.2, 1.3 etc. but when you select Kph, etc. it will convert the data and you will get odd values.

The wind direction indicator has a very loose bearing so will flap around a bit; I think there are mods somewhere on the forum.

Mike.

[Keyz]

Thanks for the heads up on m/s guys...

Of course, nothing goes smoothly for me. My transmitter stopped working yesterday after one week of use. I can think of nothing that could of happened to make it stop working (LED no longer comes on). I had added silicone weather protection even. Only thing I can think of is:
-Water in the sensor entry points to the transmitter - this would be a design fault as we haven't had hard rain yet...
-My bundle of wiring not being in a figure eight as previously mentioned, transformer effect leading to frying electronics somehow, but doesn't seem to make sense to me..

I am trying to get in touch with Terry on here, also from NZ, to help with some ideas, as well as chasing up the reseller.

Will keep everyone informed. Glad I was just testing and didn't have it mounted permanently yet!

[Repairman77]

My bundle of wiring not being in a figure eight as previously mentioned, transformer effect leading to frying electronics somehow, but doesn't seem to make sense to me..

No Keyz; I'm sure that that is not the cause of failure. The figure of 8 procedure for extra unwanted lengths of cable is just good electronic practice. There are no strong electro-magnetic fields up on the sensor cluster; the procedure is normally for excess mains cables and cables that are near to strong electro-magnetic fields.

I'd be surprised if it was due to dampness as you've had no rain; more likely to simply be an electronic failure.
My console unit had to be replaced after just one day of use, so I guess they are not the most reliable of units; however they are good value for money, if not that accurate.

Mike.

[Keyz]

Good news! The reseller has advised they will replace under warranty for 6 months.

So I sent the faulty sender today, and hopefully get a replacement back early next week.

Although messy, my 'cup on the vane' modification is still holding up fine, and I think will handle a high wind. Messy due to difficulty glueing the cup in place on the vane.

Once I am convinced the new transmitter is fine, I will put in permanent position and report back on the consistency it (hopefully )adds to the wind readings...

Thanks again guys for all your help.

[Keyz]

Seems to be working ok now for the last 3 days.

I will be putting the sensors up on the roof and will report in a couple weeks on the effectiveness of my tail mods in keeping a more consistent wind reading.

Here's pics of my tail mods.

[Keyz]

Finally left my station plugged in for an extended period so I can get a graph to display the average wind direction, and you guys can judge the accuracy of the guage with the addition of the cup to the wind vane.

I included the wind speed graph so you could see there was a consistent wind.

Sure, my location isn't exposed to wind from all directions, and the guages are added to the top of an aerial on the roof, so is subject to turbulence probably, plus a lot of trees about. I guess take that into account when comparing to your graphs.

I guess I'm saying, if your location is more in the clear for wind, and your graph looks worse than mine, then the cup addition is an improvement, but it wil take your inputs to confirm as such!

I mainly need my guage to tell me if it is onshore (N through W to S) or offshore (NNE through E to SSE), as I'm a surfer. Hence, even though not super accurate, knowing the wind is from a particular quarter is helpful.

Finally, I have my station normally set to 30 minute records, and set CUmulus to 1 minute when it was connected. Interesting to note although the guage still seems to go all over the place, it is more consistent around a certain area, and it seems the extreme readings (N when the wind is S for example) are obviously minimal at 1 minute, even though at 30 minutes the graph looks like a scatter of random points.

Hope this helps someone!

[hills]

Probably a bit hard to compare as it would depend on what the wind was doing, but here's what mine currently looks like.

[werribee_au]

Here is a pic of my wind vane at the moment. And the initial results.

When I had the anemometer and wind vane down the other day to extend the mast and cable to 7m, I put some duct tape on the tail of the wind vane to settle it down. I didn't work as I thought it would as with the hot day we had yesterday it just flapped around.
You can see what that was doing in the graph between 5:30am and 10:00am

I then remembered another post somewhere here that someone else used cable tie offcuts and duct tape, which I have now done and am pleased with the results so far.
See the graph between 10:00am and 11:00am

Ongoing results can be seen here:
http://members.optusnet.com.au/ktau/wws ... /windd.png

Just thinking, wouldn't the tapered cup create some extra forces (especially with some high wind gusts) on the wind vane possibly leading to premature failure?

Gerard

[hills]

Wow those results look promising. Did the wind change direction or have you put it back on in a slightly different direction to how it was before?

Yeah, I was wondering if additional weight on the tail would cause issues to the bearings. Perhaps it might pay, when changing the tail to hold the vane on its side then add weight to the pointer so that it is balanced again.

[werribee_au]

Wow those results look promising. Did the wind change direction or have you put it back on in a slightly different direction to how it was before?

Pretty much the same orientation Phil, but I did recheck the bearing with the compass taking into account the 11.5 degrees east magnetic declination for Melbourne so it should be reasonably accurate. Maybe it was a little out before. I did check and had almost identical readings to the 2 BoM stations close by (Laverton & Avalon).

Yeah, I was wondering if additional weight on the tail would cause issues to the bearings. Perhaps it might pay, when changing the tail to hold the vane on its side then add weight to the pointer so that it is balanced again.

I was thinking more of the wind pressure blowing through the cone and as the wind coming out the back could possibly be faster than that going in there could be eddys that may upset the anemometer with a strong easterly wind. Only my thoughts though.

Gerard

On an off topic note, I'm posting with google chrome browser and it appears to me it has a spell checker similar to ms word which has been very handy. (I have big fingers and this notebooks keys are close together)

[Keyz]

All good ides there guys, that is why I like these forums.

You are completely right as to the acceleration of wind, could definately have an effect.

Both your graphs seem to be even less scattered than mine, so we can assume that the cup is perhaps not the way to go.

Can't find the thread on the cable tie offcuts, but there is one on duct tape for sure:
https://cumulus.hosiene.co.uk/viewtopic.p ... ather+vane

Can you please let us know how you got such a nice looking job done?

I think I may have to change to your method.