Photos of Sky and Installation

Let’s share photos of our installed Sky device.

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Here is mine with the Davis Vue and Bloomsky nearby.

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The Sky looks good sitting alone on a pole.

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Just a question for THE day I get a sky module. As I can see in this picture, it is on top of quite long pole, when you have very windy days, can’t this alter the haptic sensors and wind capture sensor ?

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That’s a good question, my guess is sometimes the vibrations will trigger the haptic sensor to report it’s raining. While I had SKY on my desk during initial setup, subtle vibrations from my desk fan were triggering the haptic sensor. I then put SKY on a face cloth and this was enough to dim the vibrations from triggering the haptic. The WeatherFlow team will need to analyze more data from false rain events triggered by vibrations.

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My SKY in Milford, MA in as much of an open area that my property would permit. Not great fetch from the NNW-N and a tree branch dangling high overhead. I am using a makeshift mount until I can install a pole in the ground - it’s about 10 ft off the ground mounted on the shaft of a steel tamper sitting on a sun dial pedestal.

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Mine wil end on the roof on a side pole (next to one that is already full of antenna’s so no spot left)
it will be ok except pure north where I have a few huge trees that I will not cut for the sake of the Sky :wink: but we have hardly wind from that direction … most is or E or W and sometimes S … nice open for sun and rain …

It’l come when it comes …:eyes:

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Than’s a good question. So far, my finding is, as long as the vibrations are cut down, there seems to be no issues.

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Check out an internal field tester’s smart weather page here: https://smartweather.weatherflow.com/share/1454
"Very heavy" precip being reported as of now and his SKY is very high up catching those gusty winds.

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28 mph isn’t that heavy … what would happen like last night in Cape Corse (Europe) where gusts went to 198 km/h … convert that and tell me :smile:

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Right, 100+mph winds would be interesting but the point is his SKY is mounted very high up, probably enhancing the vibrations.

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He stated is up high and mounted on a PVC plpe… not a good idea. I used thick wall conduit. Nice and stiff and it’s galvanized so it won’t rust. Pounded 2’ into the ground and bolted to the soffit of the single story house. The Sky sits about 5’ above the roof peak. Have had 40mph wind gusts with no false rain readings.

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Several field testers have reported similar “false rain” during high winds and we found it was due in one case to the pole “knocking” against it’s brackets and in several other cases to the batteries “rattling” within their enclosure. We’re working on the battery rattle issue for production units but a simple work-around for your field test unit (if you’re experiencing the issue) is to insert something thin & flexible down the center of the four columns of batteries. A length of plastic drinking straw or thin piece of foam seems to do the job.

PS: Excessive sway or vibration is not good for any weather station. PVC is okay for shorter mounts (or locations that don’t see too much wind), but @hankster is right: if your pole is more than 5 feet or so, you probably want to use something stiffer than PVC. Galvanized pipe is a good choice, or you can stiffen a floppy PVC mast by running a smaller diameter pipe inside the outer one.

PPS: If your mast has more than 10 or more unsupported feet you should consider a guy wire kit (like http://a.co/6JHVVH9) or similar additional support.

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Up on 20-foot mast of chain link fence top rail, no guy wires…

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Interesting choice of pole.

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This mast material is what was recommended by WF in the early Indiegogo postings.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/YARDGARD-1-3-8-in-x-10-ft-6-in-17-Gauge-Galvanized-Top-Rail-328913DPT/100322532

As David recommended above, use guy wires if you are going 10 feet or more higher than your highest mast support. I will add the strong recommendation to use proper lightning protection per local or NEC code on any mast. I’m living dangerous with a 20-foot mast held to the deck railing by just one screw with no lightning protection or guy wires for the field test, but will be moving my production Sky unit to a proper 10-meter high mast with proper installation and support.

FWIW, I did notice a little bit of mast sway during the windy times Friday as the Nor’easter moved out to sea…

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Here’s a pic of my Sky on its new home, taken from my rooftop camera, my RM Young 05103 is a few feet above, and has you can see from the pics here in in Ohio we got a bit of freezing rain last nite…19%20PM12%20PM

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Temporary testing location in Santa Cruz, CA. Station page is: https://smartweather.weatherflow.com/share/1531
SKY_kk_backyard2SKY_kk_backyard1

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nice pool :wink: but the surrounding must be interfering for wind no ?

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Pool is nice, thnx…but really cold in the winter! Surroundings are fairly blocked which is why this is a “temporary” siting with ready access to make daily/weekly adjustments. Have another test location on the bluffs of the Pacific ocean with clean 360deg fetch and complicated daily wind shifts — soon. :slightly_smiling_face:

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