Figure 1. Wind tower complete.
One of the biggest steps in creating my own personal weather station was to have wind readings
at the correct height, about 33 ft off the ground. With the help of my Dad, we constructed a
mast that was roughly 35 ft long, consisting of 5 different sections of pipe. Because of these
joints there was some slop that allowed the end result to bend slightly, but overall, I was happy
for the first attempt, late in 2009.
Figure 1. Wind tower complete.
To help bring the tower down and putting back up, my Dad again helped come up with a way to
mount a winch, temporarily, so it wasn't also exposed to the elements.
Figure 2. Winch set up to bring pole down.
The next big event was trying to get more accurate outside air temperatures. The wind sensor
by AAG had a temperature probe in it as well, but was prone to severe solar radiation distortion
of the readings. After looking at a few designs, I decided to build a passive solar shield, which
I call a pagoda. The material I ended up using was some green plastic bowls that were then sanded
and painted white.
Figure 3. Bowls cut and first coat of paint complete.
The completed shield consisted of five bowls turned upside down. The center three bowls had holes
in the center to accommodate the temperature and humidity sensor along with allowing some flow between those bowls. Data on how accurate this was didn't come until a few years down the road.
Figure 4. Completed Pagoda.
In April 2010, with the completion of the pagoda and rain gauge mount, I finally had what could be considered a functioning personal weather station! Outside temperature and humidity, dew point, heat index, wind chill, wind speed and direction, rainfall, and barometric pressure were all available through my webpage, along with inside and crawlspace temperature.
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Figure 5. Weather station complete
Alas, it wasn't to last. A change of employment location meant I was to move, and the station was disassembled in August of 2010, only to morph and change later on.
NEXT:My next location was very scaled back
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