Cumulus Support

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

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?

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.

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

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.