directly rainfall notification

[nobbi29]

Hello,

I am new in this forum and I hope you can understand my problem. I have searched in WIKi and FAQ but I havend found any useful information. I use the cumulus software 1.9.3 for notifications for my own homecontrol software. I read the realtime file and control the windows sutters of my house. The idea is, if it begins to rain the sutters will closing for 50% for open windows. About the rainfall calculation for 1 h, the information of the rainfall is to late. Is there any option to get the rainfall information directly by rainfall beginning.

Thanks for your answers.

Norbert

[steve]

The 'rain in last hour' figure gets updated once a minute, so within a minute of the rain gauge registering a tip, the figure will go from zero to 0.3. The figure in realtime.txt will then show this on the next update.

You won't get a very good indication of rain starting, as one tip is 0.3 mm, which is quite a lot of rain - perhaps that is your problem?

[AllyCat]

Hi Norbert,

Yes, I have the "hourly" rain alarm on the Console set to 0.2mm, so get an alarm with the first "tip". But that can be quite a long time after it actually starts raining (looking out of the window).

As a trial, I added a 14cm diameter funnel above the sensor, which should give a tip within 0.1mm of rain. But to give an earlier warning, it is necessary to put a "water repellent" treatment on the funnel such as "Rain-X" or maybe WD40. Otherwise, the rain just collects in droplets on the funnel (even if it has steep sides) without tipping the see-saw any earlier.

However, for a really "early warning" system, have you seen the section on the Hydreon RG-11 rain sensor?

Cheers, Alan.

[nobbi29]

Hello AllyCat,

thanks for your answers. I will tried the reduction in the configuration for 0.2mm. How manny seconds or minutes is the rainfall notification faster with the funnel?

Do you know, where I can buy a RG-11 sensor?

Thanks, Norbert

[AllyCat]

Hi Norbert,

I don't think it's possible to predict how much faster a funnel modification will respond, there are too many variables:

- Is there any water already in the sensor's "tipping bucket"?
- What is the rate of rainfall?
- How large are the raindrops?
- What "hyrophobic" treatment was applied to the funnel and how long ago?

Bear in mind that 0.3mm (or even 0.1mm) represents quite a lot of rain (and the FO transmission may be delayed by up to 48 seconds), so things can get very wet before an alarm is sounded. I can only add that I was "disappointed" with the (lack of) improvement in warning time that my funnel modification produced (but the "rain rate" display/graph is much improved).

The RG-11 is likely to be far more suitable because one of its modes is "it's raining", specifically to close/open windows, etc., but it can also emulate a "tipping bucket" with a resolution of 0.001mm! But it does need to be wired to a power supply and the output is simple NO/NC relay contacts. As Far As I Know, there is no European importer but you can use the "Buy Now" button (US$59 + shipping) on Hydreon's website and it should be shipped/delivered quite quickly*. Depending on your mail service, you may be "unlucky" and have to pay Import Duty (mainly VAT and perhaps a mail handling charge).

*EDIT: Sadly, I see that it's currently "out of stock", so perhaps email them (or just wait for a few days).

Cheers, Alan.

PS: You might need to run the "Easyweather" software briefly, to be sure that you change/changed the "hourly" rain alarm and not the daily.