[Weather] Request for information

[Claude Felizardo]

Corey Touchet wrote:
> I've gone the home built route.  Currently finishing my radiation 
> shield for the therm and the mast is pretty much complete.  I used a 
> 1/2" galvanized steel pipe painted white which will be clamped to the 
> chimney.  I've mounted the anemometer and have modified the rain gauge 
> to mount on the end of a pipe that screws into a t section.  I just 
> need to let the paint dry and work out the grounding details.  I've 
> got 2 grounding rods and I'm thinking of using the one that is not 
> being used rather than grounding it to my telecom/power ground.
>
> Any thoughts on that?
>
>
> I also bought all my parts from hobby-boards, will be getting a baro 
> here soon once the mast is up.

test test test before you put it put it up because once it's up, you 
don't want to have to take it down to fix something.  If possible try to 
test with as long of a cable as the final in case you have a network 
length and/or stub problem.  I had a bunch of stubs which I fixed by 
using a hub (hobby-boards).  It's pretty reliable now though I still 
have some issues with the barometer (AAG) so it's on a shorter segment 
in the wiring closet.

You also might want to consider putting something on the RJ connectors 
to keep moisture out to prevent corrosion.  I broke one of the center 
pins on my Dallas weather station trying to scrape it clean with a 
screwdriver.  That was dumb.  Solvent works much better.  Since then I 
now put a glob of vaseline before I plug things together.  So far I 
haven't had any more corrosion problems. 

When I eventually added the additional sensors, I had to leave the 
weather station at the end of the line so the rain gauge and humidity 
sensor (both AAG) were mounted a few feet from the top.  Now I wish I 
had left the rain gauge closer to the bottom so I can clean it w/o 
having to take it all down.  I'm using a 10' galvanized steel pipe 
clamped to a vent pipe on the roof using four hose clamps grouped two on 
top and two at bottom for redundancy.

Speaking of which, how often does everyone have to clean their sensors 
housings?  I'm worried about small insects make their home in the vented 
radiation shield or blocking the collection drain or even interfering 
with the tipping bucket mechanism.

claude