Weather Sensor Mast Pole

[rnichols430]

What do you guys use for mounting your sensors? I had thought about doing it on the chimney and then run the wires back into the house.. My only ponder is that from that point there is no 'straight' shot to the ground for a ground rod, I would have to run the ground wire from the mast along the gutter, and then down to the ground. I have no idea if this is a safe idea or a solid one. I was thinking of using a lightning detector but if I cant figure out a solid way to ground the mast, I will have to try to find a different spot in the yard for the sensors.

 

[Rupp]

Ryan,
I had my one-wire station on the chimney and had it grounded with a 8 foot solid coper pipe and it didn't help a bit. I lost my one-wire devices every time a lightning strike was near. I had to finally get a wireless Davis system because I was spending so much on replacing my interface and chips.

 

[rnichols430]

Ryan,
I had my one-wire station on the chimney and had it grounded with a 8 foot solid coper pipe and it didn't help a bit. I lost my one-wire devices every time a lightning strike was near. I had to finally get a wireless Davis system because I was spending so much on replacing my interface and chips.

Hrm, so maybe the yard approach is better and go from there.. I was more worried about building damage than the sensors themselfs...

Ryan

 

[rnichols430]

Anyone know if anyone has made inline surge protectors for the 1wire network? Ive seen the plans in the weather book by tim, but I didnt know if someone had made a nice neat version?

 

[rnichols430]

http://www.l-com.com/item.aspx?id=22336


Whould that work? or would that block too much of the sensor data?

Thanks

 

[skyewright]

Anyone know if anyone has made inline surge protectors for the 1wire network? Ive seen the plans in the weather book by tim, but I didnt know if someone had made a nice neat version?

Have you come across Philip Gladstone's surge protection circuits here?

Mick at Weather-Above has a 'tidier' version of those circuits here.

David

 

[pete_c]

I use a multiuse mast. It sits next to the DBS antenna. Its not easy to get to but easy to work on mounted on my chimney second floor. On it I have mounted.

1 - GPS antenna
2 - 1-wire lightning sensor
3 - Dallas instruments 1-wire rain bucket
4 - AAG combo weather instrument
5 - wireless directional antenna

All the 1-wire instruments are using separate Cat5 connections. This mast has been up for 5-years now. I've replaced the AAG combo once because the anemometer screws fell off. The rain bucket is currently not working and I have a second one mounted close to the ground. Pushing the WAF cuz I ran the wires close to the deck and mounted the rain bucket on the deck. Two months ago my AAG weather station anemometer would give me unreal spikes of wind speed close to 80 MPH. For some odd reason (I haven't looked up close yet) it won't go past 3MPH today. It is windy by my home though as one day the fiberglass 24foot ladder that I was using blew down. I had my cell phone with me and called a neighbor to put it back up for me as I was stuck on the roof of my two story home with no way to get down. The lightning sensor is using a shielded two wire coax cable (don't remember the source) but the ground of the cable also goes to the ground spike.

I am in the process of updating the mast (its a typical antenna style metal mast attached with brackets to the side of my chimney) with-

1 - new wind instrument (this time the AAG anemometer quite turning for some odd reason)
2 - pagoda with a HB combo sensor
3 - moving the rain guage to ground level.
4 - may move lightning sensor to the attic.

To date and to my best knowledge lightning has not damaged any of my weather instruments. I've been told that the lightning sensor will work in the attic as well so may move it there. The battery though is still good and I still get reads from it on the counter board in it. I currently have 5 temperature sensors outside and one humidity sensor. 4 -1 wire and 1 HAI temperature sensors. My new setup will be adding another humidity sensor outside. Depending on the time of day the values are close but different.

Ugly as it looks I ran my ground wire along where the chimney meets the house to the ground stake.

I am also looking at wireless instruments now but would continue to utilize my "wired" instruments. The "wireless" instrument mast will be mounted on the other side of the roof about 50 -100 feet from the current mast in a place which would be easier to access. I will take pictures of it.

 

[rnichols430]

Would these things work with the sensors from hobby-board..

http://www.davisnet.com/weather/products/w....asp?pnum=07714
http://www.davisnet.com/weather/products/w....asp?pnum=07704

 

[skyewright]

Would these things work with the sensors from hobby-board..

<link to a sensor shield on the Davis website>

If you fancy a bit of DIY, it's quite easy to make one of those for far less money, and have it a custom fit for your sensor. A lot of people have done so using a stack of upside down 'plant saucers' held together with threaded bar. Here's an example from the Weather-Watch forum.

David

 

[pete_c]

I built my first Pagoda and wasn't really happy with it and purchased one. I purchased the larger of the two and decided that it was too big and heavy mounted on the mast. I decided to remove two saucers and installed it on my roof mast yesterday. I moved the rain bucket from the roof to about 6 feet or so from ground level. I am not sure what happened to the Rain Bucket on the roof but it quit working after about 3 years.

I mounted the DIY Pagoda on a piece of PVC. They are easy to make. You can have it for the cost of shipping plus the cost of the temperature sensor in it (think it was around $10).

Here is a picture of the new Pagoda.

Here is a picture of the "old" pagoda.

 

[m_gustafsson]

Petec, you wrote that:

I built my first Pagoda and wasn't really happy with it and purchased one.

May I ask you were you bought it, and if you would recommend it for a temperature/humidity/solar sensor.

/Mats

 

[pete_c]

I have to find purchase in my records. It wasn't more than $50 and I purchased the larger one Pagodo) and actually installed the smaller one after checking methodology of mounting the Pagoda on the mast.

I am using the HB combo sensor mounted inside of the Pagodo. I am using the ambient light inside of the Pagoda going thru the plastic shielding and did not make any adjustments to moving the light sensor (ping ball mounting etc).

I can only say that I am using it. I can't really make a recommendation in that this is the first time that I have used a Pagoda mounted on a mast some 30 feet high or so exposing it to the weather up there. The same holds true for the HB combo sensor. The "old" one was mounted outside in a "protected area" and things failed on it anyways. (light & humidity).

I am currently comparing the light, humidity and temperature sensor readings to another outside combo sensor and four other temperature sensors.

I am bringing power to the combo sensor and using a 9097 to get my measurements via MCS 1-Wire XAP application.

 

[m_gustafsson]

Ok, so it looks like I might be looking for the smaller pagoda then for my temperature/humidity/solar sensor.
As long as you say that it was possible to mount it inside the pagoda I think that is good enough as a recommendation for me
Please, let me know if you found out where you did purchase it.

/Mats

 

[m_gustafsson]

Think I found it: Padoga

 

[pete_c]

That is the Pagoda I purchased along with the two additional plates. I kept it short because I didn't like the way it bounced on the bracket when mounted to a mast believing in time it would break.

There is plenty of room inside for the HB combo sensor.

So far my temperature/humidity/light reads are decent.