Cumulus and solar radiation

[RayProudfoot]

Steve,

Last week I wrote to Davis asking if they could change things so a solar radiation sensor could be connected to the anemometer transmitter instead of only the ISS one. They replied saying it was on their list for future development.

I'm hoping they can do this because locating a solar sensor on my ISS in a sheltered back garden would be a waste of money. But located on the anemometer pole would mean it could capture all available sunshine.

Now to my question. The WeatherLink software can convert solar radiation to hrs of sunshine by using all readings greater than 100 watts / m^2. This is the default value but can be changed. Can Cumulus capture solar radiation and use a similar method to record hours of bright sunshine? I've looked at several stations running Cumulus but haven't seen any solar records.

If Davis do change things so a solar sensor can be connected to the ane transmitter I would want to get one and hopefully Cumulus would be able to store and display this.

[steve]

Cumulus currently displays solar data, puts it in realtime.txt and provides web tags, but doesn't do anything else with it. I do plan to at least log it at some point. There's already an enhancement request for calculating sunlight hours, but when I get around to doing that, I won't be using the simple single threshold value which Weatherlink uses, as it's completely useless (ask our resident solar sensor experts). The required calculation is much more complicated than that, if you want a useful result.

Shorter answer: Yes, eventually

[RayProudfoot]

Thanks Steve. The enhancement from Davis won't be any time soon so you may have this done before I buy the sensor.

Hopefully those with the sensor may chip in regarding what formula will result in reasonably accurate hours of sunshine. I can't imagine too many people have a Campbell-Stokes recorder these days! How would you plug one of those into a PC?

[broadstairs]

Just to say you can extend the solar sensor cable on the Davis VP. Mine is mounted with the anemometer on the roof and both are connected to the ISS via the same length cables, the anemometer by the standard long one and the Solar via an extension lead.

Stuart

[RayProudfoot]

Just to say you can extend the solar sensor cable on the Davis VP. Mine is mounted with the anemometer on the roof and both are connected to the ISS via the same length cables, the anemometer by the standard long one and the Solar via an extension lead.

Stuart

It's an option I've considered and rejected. There's simply too much distance from the ISS at the bottom of my garden and the anemometer strapped to the chimney. Only being able to connect the solar sensor to the ground-based ISS was a bizarre decision by Davis. Hopefully they'll sort things out soon.