Very high rainfall amounts. How to calibrate Sky?

I feel I need to report my issues with the rainfall sensor, simply because they are the opposite of most of you. My Sky rain sensor reports considerably LESS rainfall than actual. For example, this weekend we had a 1.25 inch event (as measured from a standard rain collector), but Sky only reported 0.3 inches of rain.

Aloha from the Big Island,
Michael

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My error is also on the under-reporting side, though not as great as yours. The disparity tends to be greater with heavier rainfalls that generate large rainfall rates in a short period of time.

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I ve overreporting about 33 percent

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My first rainfall showed 3.19 inches. I think thats pretty high. Closest PWS to me show 1.06 and 1.17. My station is 9914 (KAZPHOEN926)

The only way to check your rainfall is a manual rain gauge. Cannot compare to another station as that may not be right Ethier.

Rainfall data is unfortunately way off. 1.41" on my rainwise and 2.49" on my SKY. A tipping bucket option would be nice for people who want to roll that way.

Hi @briannesius - thanks for speaking up about your rain accumulation inaccuracies. We can help with an improved calibration for your haptic sensor, especially with your help submitting rain accumulation readings from your other trusted gauge. I’ll get in touch with you directly and share some details. Thanks!

Isn’t the point of the rain check feature to help calibrate the Sky based on local data, or is it a band-aid to cover up a problem? My Sky has been consistently measuring double the corrected rain check amount ever since it’s (rain check) introduction. One would think that the system would compare the data over time and adjust to get more accurate real data…

At one point after I originally started this thread it was doing very well, but has degraded to the point I don’t trust the measurements until the rain check correction the following day.

@sven.setterdahl
Rain Check is a very sophisticated tool that uses raw data from your SKY as well as an array of third-party data sources to help calibrate your SKY. No, it’s not perfect and can be flawed in some unique locations where terrain is a major influence.
The Continuous Learning system will provide calibration updates as needed to various onboard sensors in the Smart Weather Station. Rain accumulation in particular is very tricky and so strict quality control thresholds need to be met for an automatic calibration to be accepted. We are more than happy to go over data by hand and oversee a unique calibration adjustment for your haptic rain sensor. It is very helpful if you have a co-located rain gauge to share comparison readings from. I’ll reach out to you directly to share some more info if you’re interested. Thanks!

So what you are saying is the “continuous learning” system does not autonomously use external data as a calibration aid? How can it learn that it is wrong without data to learn from? How is an anonymous consumer eyeballing a manual rain gage going to offer “strict quality control thresholds” compared to the “sophisticated tool” you claim rain check is? If you are not confident in the rain check data, then why is it offered at all? If your calibration solution is to gather manual measurements from the end user, then simply allow the end user to manually enter the data.

I am not looking for 0.001" accuracy, but I do want to be confident that when it tells me it rained 3", it rained close to 3" and not 1.5". When I look at rain reports from stations all around me on weather underground and they all report half the amount that my sky does, and the radar indicated amounts back them up, there is something very flawed in your algorithms.

I feel I’ve been pretty patient with this issue since I first reported it well over a year ago, but my patience is starting to wear thin.

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It can and will!

It has external data to learn!

Reports from a co-located gauge can be very useful, supplementing Rain Check values and either verifying satellite and radar product estimates with ground based data or revealing cases of rain events at locations where these remote sensing estimates go awry. Most often, reference values have a lower confidence interval where terrain is a major influence. Also, there are spatial and temporal limitations with satellite and radar estimates, thus highlighting the need for more ground based observations in unique locations.

There is a large degree of confidence in the vast majority of Rain Check values.

That’s not built into the app because not everyone needs it - we do have forms for users to manually enter data to help us calibrate sensors in unique cases.

We took a look at your data and sure enough your SKY device is being flagged for false rain readings. Specifically, there were 39 counts of false rain between 07-01 and 09-13. Regardless of the false rain readings, we see a majority of the rain accumulation accuracy improved with a calibration adjustment based on Rain Check data. The next step to further improve accumulation accuracy of your SKY’s haptic sensor would be to inspect your mount for vibration transfer. Strong winds and unstable mounts are the primary cause for false rain readings. Stiffer masts and added cushioning can help in strong winds and add general structural stability. If you have a hollow mast, consider filling it with sand. Please feel free to send a photo of your SKY and mount and we’ll be happy to provide further insight. Thanks!

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Hi, today I had a lot of false rain notices, totally around 10mm of rain so far on clear sunny weather. Also, there were no huge winds which usually was a reason. How rain check is working? 1 sec duration of huge rain maybe exist in theory but practically…

Here you can find all the details regarding RainCheck.

Thank you. So, this is not usable in Europe…
So far I didn’t had a huge false rain readings. It started recently and today is so obvious. I have a Sky for almost 2 years.

Wind indeed doesn’t seem to be the problem, was rather calm.
Birds landing on the sky or other little things dropping on it (branches or so ???)

No, I have a camera :slight_smile: to check. I check each point from 6.20 to 13.45

Sky is on the right pole…

Rain sensor became uselessness. Constantly registering hugr rain without reason. How to open ticket on support?

top of the forum under support … you’ll end on the support portal from Weatherflow.
Don’t forget to mention your station id

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Hopefully they can find something, from what I see all is normal. Except it doesn’t really rain around you …

Thank you, I reported it yesterday.
There is something, notification withou reason. Sensor is problem or combination of some other weather data.
It should be checked with software, clear sky, no clouds, sun is burning, no wind… and again registration of huge rain for a second and nothing in next second…