Questions about Davis VP 2 Siting

[Clanger]

Hay ho ear we go again 
Something looking straight forward has taken a u turn again.
2 options
1 Use the plug adaptor put it in the plastic sleeve, fill with silicone screw it together and wrap with water proof tape.
2 Splice the wire use the claps put it in the plastic slave fill with silicone & wrap with water proof tape.

I have not got anywhere sheltered to put the plastic sleeve. Unless i make something.

Dave has your spring arrived yet. 

aviva thanks for your suggestion.

[daveq]

1 Use the plug adaptor put it in the plastic sleeve, fill with silicone screw it together and wrap with water proof tape.

This is essentially what I did except I used shrink tubing.

Dave has your spring arrived yet. 

No.  Hopefully it'll will get here Monday.

--Dave

 

[FarmingtonWeather]

Hello boys and girls...well...today was the day....

I have been running the Davis at a temporary location while still running the Honeywell for the WD data.  Today I built my PVC monster, attached the Davis to the monster, and put the monster on the new mast I bought.  I have the new mast in the old mast hole.  Will be putting in a new mast hole at a better location and then I will move the new mast over and extend it by putting my old mast on top of the new mast, getting me to 33'.  For now it is only about 16' up in the air, where my other one was at about the same height.

Anyway, I am not ready to change WD to use the Davis data vs. the Honeywell data.  Supposedly I only need to change the weather station settings in WD...fingers crossed...pictures to come later..cheers and thanks!

Lew

[FarmingtonWeather]

I got to thinking more about this PVC thing.  I already thought the material was pretty strong, particularly if you use a thick enough piece or big enough diameter pipe.  It then dawned on me that all the pipe in my pool system is PVC.  Aside from the tubing running underground  you don't see and wouldn't be exposed to UV, there is a lot of pipe above ground from the manifold through the valves, between the filter and the furnace, etc.  I have had the pool for eight  years and all the PVC stuff looks like new and it also has chlorine to deal with.  Even though the pool isn't used all  year, the pipe is sitting outside all year.  Then I remembered seeing PVC vents on the top of homes and they are even using PVC for furnace venting.

I found a link:

http://www.vinylnewsservice.com/Articles/PVCFactSheet/tabid/119/Default.aspx

They talk about it's expanding use as decking, fencing, etc..  I don't know about in the south, but a lot of siding here is PVC.

I can see some cheap vinyl siging "wilting"  on a Phoenix 120 degree day, but that isn't the same rigidity and strength of the PVC pipe, especially the larger 3" stuff I used.

Once again, if it shatters, snaps, wobbles and creates bad rain readings, etc., I will let you all ridicule me at the time.

Still waiting for a properly sited one-pole setup other than doing it my way?

Lew

[TNETWeather]

Out here, all exposed PVC is painted... or the sun will cause it to deteriorate and get brittle.

That is why our explosed pool pump piping is colored Gold.

[FarmingtonWeather]

Maybe that is more common down there, but nothing PVC is painted here that I have seen.  Of course a lot of PVC comes colored but I haven't seen anyone paint white PVC up here.   I mentioned that PVC is getting use a lot on decks.  I would think that if being exposed to the sun would make it brittle, that you might be walking on the deck on day and fall through.  I am guessing that the manufacturers of the PVC decking would have done some UV tests.

I thought about painting the PVC green to blend in with the trees and grass but that is only 1/4-1/3 of the year.  Another 1/3 of the year is ugly brown and another 1/3 is snow.  Unless I go out and paint it 3 times a year, it will never really blend in anyway.  I think keeping it white will be a better match for the black and white Davis parts. 

I mentioned in mail that I have my PVC pipe oversized for the job and neither "arm" of my monster is really holding up much weight.  I bet I could hang 50-100# on the arms and they wouldn't break and they are too short to have any windload...I just don't think they are being asked too much.

As before, I am still trying to find out if anyone else has come up with another way to get a Davis properly sited on a single pole/mast?

Cheers!

Lew

[FarmingtonWeather]

Howdy gang...

Wanted to let everyone know that my PVC monster survived two bad storms although winds only got to 40mph but we did get a slug of rain in a short period of time which shows that all of my electrical connections could stand a strong rain.  There are pictures on my CWOP page:

http://weather.gladstonefamily.net/site/C8122

As mentioned, the install is almost perfectly sited.  The detached rainbucket is at 2' above grass.  The temp/humid is at 5' above grass.  There is essentially no rain shadow.  I just don't have the mast all the way up to 33' yet.  Right now it is about 22' up but it is on a hill by my house making the height well over 33' from the height of the ground around my house.  The solar sensor is mounted up at the top on the south side with the anemometer on the north side of the mast.

As a reminder, the whole "monster" can be swiveled 360 degrees for mowing easy and can be raised as needed in the winter to accomodate snow levels, i.e. keeping the rain bucket above the snow.

The whole thing is very strong and none of the winds have caused false tip rates, i.e. no rain indicated other than when it was raining.

Lew