It is definitely more sensitive to rain. Too early to tell how accurate it will be. Definitely check back after it is available for retail sale. By then hopefully the accuracy will be established.
As for wind, I have seen reports a while back that it corresponded well with other types of wind meters. It typically showed higher gusts and such which is to be expected given that the SKY/Tempest does not have inertial and friction issues to contend with. Averages were still the same, which is also to be expected. I do know that the super hydrophobic coating made a big difference in eliminating false wind values when raining. I now only see strange wind values on the SKY I have mounted next to my CoCoRaHS gauge as it is the only one which is not coated.
Because of the siting issues with an all-in-one device (you want the anemometer up high, exposed to the wind, but the rain sensor wants to be down low, out of the wind), a stand-alone rain sensor makes a lot of sense for a future product. It is on our roadmap.
ignoring turbulence, I would expect the amount of rain to be almost the same at 10m height or 1 m height. Tempest is already accurate to 10%. Will it improve a lot to have a rain sensor at lower height? If you can manage to convert the tempest temperature to one in the shade at lower height, can’t you manage to do the same with the rain?
Why not invest in different sensors? Cloud height, snow fall, air quality etc.
The over reporting is most likely due to vibrations from “other” sources. I have the same problem. The Sky is mounted on a 6m long piece of schedule 40 Galvanised water pipe. It is on the hull ridge now days. The two sources of perturbation that cause over reading are turbulence in the NW winds. These come of NZ Southern Alps. Hit the bottom of the hill and flow up its face adding even more turbulence to the stream. This is the main cause as always “Heavy Rain” in NW >Beaufort 5. But not from other direction. At least not of note. The second maybe vortex induced vibrations in the pipe.
I see that one solution in this case is the go to a heavier wall pipe. Without to calculate that will shift the naturanium frequency of the pipe. Of course will change. Maybe for better or maybe for worse.
It is recommended you look at conditions and see if these have any particlar influence. For example wind direction and speed. Maybe the is a simple solution.
I read the haptic on the Tempest is “soft mounted”. I’m in on the Tempest and will be interested to see and report results/changes/improvements. Maybe I will need to install the heavier wall pipe - let us see
