Cheap anemometer for the coach

[John_Canfield]

At the stick house, I had a complete Davis weather station and enjoyed logging the weather. I miss that on the coach, especially the wind speed. We're always guessing what speed the gusts are and it's important to know due to our Datastorm dish (good to 40mph when it needs to be lowered.)

I wanted to find a low cost solution and I came up with a good one I think. This is the link for the model I bought. It was only $75 and it seems to work real well. One reason the price is so low is that they use a bicycle computer for the display; it sounds clunky but it is a very effective display.

I mounted the anemometer to the top of the ladder and brought the wire in through the roof near the rear TV compartment. I'll get some project pictures posted sometime this week on our web site.

[John_Canfield]

At the stick house, I had a complete Davis weather station and enjoyed logging the weather. I miss that on the coach, especially the wind speed. We're always guessing what speed the gusts are and it's important to know due to our Datastorm dish (good to 40mph when it needs to be lowered.)

I wanted to find a low cost solution and I came up with a good one I think. This is the link for the model I bought. It was only $75 and it seems to work real well. One reason the price is so low is that they use a bicycle computer for the display; it sounds clunky but it is a very effective display.

I mounted the anemometer to the top of the ladder and brought the wire in through the roof near the rear TV compartment. I'll get some project pictures posted sometime this week on our web site.

[Lug_Nut]

Looks good John. I hope the cupped spinner stays free running, what with the sun and weather on it. I had one of those Radio Shack types at the house and the spinner just got to stiff in no time.
I'll be interested how you'res works out. The price is good and it looks doable. Good luck.

[tderonne]

Total non-weather geek type question.

Doesn't your awning have a wind sensor? Could you have tapped into that signal?

Too crude of an instrument? Doesn't react to gusts? Would have been too cheap (we know we love to spend money on toys)?

[John_Canfield]

Tim - A&E (brand I have) doesn't the traditional cup-type anemometer. The use thermistors which somehow sense a heat differental caused by the air movement through the strange-looking 'top hat' sensor.

It is not worth trying to figure out how to tap in and read their data. If I had an old one on a workbench, it would be a blast to play with it; I'll just leave my mostly-working one alone though

[tderonne]

I figured there was a simple answer. I have the good ol' do it myslef manual awning. I've seen coaches (million plus Parliment fo one) that had the cup style. Never paid atterntion to a Winne.

The hot wire type is familiar to me though, it's what an engine airmeter is. Is that case, there's electronics on the sensor that convert the air mass (what a hot wire measures) to a simple voltage. Converting airmass to windspeed could be a bit tricky, but it probably doesnt need to be accurate to pull and awning in.