Anemometer / Wind Speed Sensor w/Wind Direction
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Does anyone know of a source of relatively inexpensive anemometers that also have the wind speed direction vane on them? I was surprised that 99% of what's on eBay seems to be hand held units and I need something for outdoors that I can interface to a Propeller chip.
Comments
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/8942
It's out of stock, otherwise it's a very nice deal. Looks like they're supposed to be in just in time for Christmas. Maybe Santa will bring me one.
An excellent consideration Tracy. If the SparkFun one isn't up to the reliability and quality I need I will try the Davis unit. I saw many of those (brand) on eBay. Looks solid.
I think it would need to be calibrated since it's tough to get precisely linear output from from the magnet/sensor combo without precise alignment. Once calibrated you should be able to detect wind direction with a lot more precision (12-bit) than SparkFun's 4-bit precision.
The same sensor could be used in an anemometer but it's kind of overkill for that application.
I recently saw a weather station kit at a CostCo. I think it cost about the same as the one sold by SparkFun but included the electronics.
I have looked at other options, however there are two issues I am faced with each option. The first is if I build a system, which I am not opposed to doing, then calibration becomes a requirement. I don't have the resources to do that at my command at this time, even I think, to get some reasonable accuracy. The second is the complete systems would need to be hacked, however most of what I have seen is wireless systems with a compact LCD controller with a blob on it. Not exactly the easiest things to hack.
As for precision in wind speed and direction I would like the speed to be fairly accurate. However the direction could be 8 directions and I would be okay with that. Weather / environmental considerations is another reason I am shying away from a DIY setup. I know I could get both from an ultrasonic system but the cheapest I have seen is $1000.00+ and that is well outside what I want to spend.
-Phil
I hadn't even considered the concept of using a car to do this, though finding a calm day here will be tricky. :blank: Last few days the wind is so fast it keeps blowing the garbage cans over. I may try it though at some point. Thanks for the idea.
Chris, here is another one.
http://fascinatingelectronics.com/weatherinst.html
I haven't tried them myself, but the interesting thing about the vane is that it uses a dual potentiometer to avoid dead bands.
-Phil
Check out this guy, he has some great how to build instructions on a wx station. If you use any of his ideas, be sure to give him credit as he does get rather anoyed with people taking credit for his ideas.
Jim
http://vwlowen.co.uk/picaxe/weather-station/weather-station.htm