Got my sky unit set up yesterday. Bright sunny day and I got my first rain alert. Not a big deal as I have read about various reasons for false rain alerts. Today it has been raining for about 30 minutes now. Still no rain detected. It is a very light misty rain, but enough to thoroughly wet the ground. The wind and uv seem to be working properly.
there is a learning curve from what I understand
so it might pick up that misty rain better as it learns maybe?
(WF might be able to help more here)
Hi @tlwolter. Glad to see your SKY is up and running! Yes, there is a learning process that your SKY will go through now that it’s set up. This will, among other things, tweak the rain sensor calibration if necessary. There is, however, a lower limit to the rain detection of your SKY. The haptic rain sensor measures impact and vibration caused by rain - extremely light precipitation (aka “misting” or “fogging”) may not generate a signal.
Hello – this is Mr. Eager – Jeff Nordello ----- I woke up to 0.05 of rain on my other rain gauges, however nothing on the SKY. Within this week – I got some false rain readings – no rain ---- I even put in another location. Today 5/21/18 we get rain — and no rain detected on the SKY HELP
I am happy to report that the multiple light rain events we received this morning were all detected by the Sky unit. I have no idea about the accuracy of the precipitation amounts at this time. The closest NWS reporting station shows .01" of rain this morning and I am at .028", so it’s believable. Look forward to seeing how it performs in a heavier, sustained rain event.
The wind sensor must go through a learning process as well. The first day up (Saturday), the winds were being reported from every possible direction although we had a fairly consistent NE wind. That same NE wind has not changed since then, but the sensor has been getting more accurate at reporting the proper direction.
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Hi Jeff. Not sure what’s going on there. How much rain did you get today? Please send a photo of your installation.
I got 0.05 on my
newr vantage pro. Will have to send pis later. Not home now. Rainfall was a light mist, however enough for other rain guages to get 0.05
Will have to check but i remember the firdt rain event, i got between 0.01 and 0.04 on my rain guages. Will have to check my records. Thought that wasnt bad results
Rain Stats for May 21 2018
Redlands, Ca
Newer Vantage Pro. 0.05
Vantage Pro. 0.05
Ambient 1200. 0.05
5 in 1 0.04
Accurite. 0.04
Hello. Did u receive my pics of my SKY
Yes. Twice now. They are nice
Are u the one that helps me out. I was told to send pics
Hi Jeff. Yes, the pics came through, thanks! Your installation looks fine in terms of the ability to receive rain. The only reason that might explain your SKY not recording the 0.05" that your other gauges is the same one mentioned above. Extremely light rain events (aka “misting/fogging” mentioned above) may be below the detection threshold of the SKY. Keep in mind that tipping buckets can also falsely report condensation (dew) as rain.
Let’s see how it goes when you have a more significant rain event.
My Ambient stated the max rain rate was 0.07 – and the rain total was 0.05 ----- a significant rain event might not happen for months – could go rainless till dec- 2018 --january-2019
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HI, Jeff,
The Sky rain detection work on vibration so an extremely light mist will not be detected. Your installation looks great and I don’s see how you will have any issues detecting rain.
Where do you live that you get such little rain?
I think he said one other time he lives in the lower california valley
I live in Southern Ca ---- been in a bad drought since 2010-11 – only like bit over 5 inches of rain – our season goes from july 1st to june-30th
That’s sad. Between no rain, high winds and large fires, the Los Angeles area is a disaster. We all hope there is rain soon.