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Looking Northeast towards Vincent Thomas Bridge and Mt Wilson
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Alas⌠Such a lonely post. Just waiting for the Tempest to ship. Am a bit concerned as the birds love the post. Hope theyâre not as happy once the station is mounted.
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The goatsâ swing-set got a new Tempest! Nothing is too good for our goatsâŚ
I learned, like others, that PVC is too wobbly, but I had some 1/2" black pipe lying around, so I inserted that in the PVC. Itâs not a super-tight fit, but I think itâll do for the 4-5â that the 10â pipe projects above the swing-set.
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Fail - I got false rain readings from some high-ish winds right after putting this up.
Is there a consensus on the best pipe to use - black pipe vs galvanized steel vs conduit? Is the smaller diameter of conduit a problem?
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Use thick wall schedule 40 wall pipe, anything thinner seems to move too much. I went with the thicker pipe due to living on the gulf coast.
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Schedule 40 is the minimum pvc pipe I would recommend. If you can find schedule 80, thatâs even better. IMHO, no matter which type of pipe you use, itâs best not to install it on the playset, the vibrations will transmit and cause false readings. I would advise to use a 4X4 post thatâs at least 2 feet into the ground.
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Personally I find PVC is too flexible, steel appears to have a much higher modulus of flexibility which appears better for the haptic sensor.
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Yes, my failed install uses schedule 80 PVC with 1/2" black pipe inside (which I had lying around), so I wonât use PVC again.
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I donât think the pvc and the black pipe is the root cause. Assuming you install the Tempest on a metal pipe thatâs attached to the playsetâŚThe vibrations will continue to transmit to the pipe to the Tempest. The vibrations from the playset is the weak link or root cause.
Iâve got my Tempest mounted to a schedule 40 pvc pipe thatâs mounted to a 4X4 post. So far, Iâve had very few false rain readings. Iâm good with accepting risks because the cost and effort for a professional mounting set-up is beyond my interest.
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Iâve got my Tempest mounted to a schedule 40 pvc pipe thatâs mounted to a 4X4 post.
Iâm curious why you used both the 4x4 post, and pvc pipe. Was it just to get additional elevation? They show this in the example installations as well.
Iâve got about 7 foot of exposed 4x4 in a very open area and donât see any need at this point to go higher, so I plan to mount with the screw head on top of the 4x4.
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Youâre correct. It was to get additional elevation above the fence line so all the solar panels could receive sunlight.
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Received one of my Tempests and installed it at Raleighâs Place in Clanton, AL. I know itâs not an ideal installation for temperature readings but it was the best location for wind readings. But I do have several questions:
I was trying to find information about the calculation that WF will apply to the Tempest stations that will allow the passive shield to operate as if its fan aspirated. Where can I find it?
How do I know if CL has performed calibrations to your Tempest station?
Do you set the elevation to where your HUB is located or where the instruments is sited?
If your dirty hand touched the solar sensors/haptic rain sensor, would the dirt and skin oil affect the solar sensors?
Why is my SLP is reading .04-.05â too high and the UV reading around 3-5 too low during the day?
You can view the data here:
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Iâm in the same boat as you, waiting for my Tempest to ship. I have mounted my PVC pole to the deck and made a bird spike to hopefully train the birds NOT to land on it.
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Is your Bird Spike just a âtraining toolâ for the birds. . .or will it actually be incorporated with Tempest? Where will be spiked cap be placed in relation to Tempest?
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Yes, Iâm calling it a âtraining toolâ. Since I donât have my Tempest yet, I didnât want birds to start landing on the empty pole that I have already set up (and then start landing on the Tempest once itâs installed).
I picked up a 1 inch PVC cap from Lowes that fits over the end of my PVC pipe and super glued nails to it. The cap fits over the end of the pipe (as shown in the photo) so that birds will not get used to landing on the pole before the Tempest gets mounted. I have heard that WeatherFlow has developed a âCrown of Thornsâ type bird spike system that should be available for purchase soon. I will be purchasing one when they are available.
The WeatherFlow Bird Spike system is mentioned in the following post:
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Yes the âCrown-O-Thornsâ idea was mentioned quite some time ago. . .but they (WF) has been SO busy with Tempest lately. . .that Crown-O-Thorns hasnât been mentioned recently. Keep tuned to the Community Forum (Owners Category) page â it will appear there when they announce it. I am interested in 3 of them â 1 for WFSKY-01 and 2 for Tempests [one field test unit and one for actual production Tempest].
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I thought I had read somewhere that they might be available in the July timeframe. If not, thatâs too bad. After seeing how well my end cap version came out, I might have to try to make my own. 
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Any assistance or advice is greatly appreciated. I donât necessarily want to move the Tempest station but will do if you think itâs necessary.
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You set it to ground level.
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