New night cloud

Hi folks, been testing a new version of the night cloud sensor, well, its new to me trying it,
the idea i got off, Brian… thanks :slight_smile:

Ok, for the past couple of night i have had chance to test Brians version (might not be exact)
with very good results, the normal jar version i made was ok, it worked, but with a smaller
clear sky difference, noramlly around the 0.9 - 1.5C range, with this newer version i have been
getting 3.0+ difference, perhaps its the cling film as opposed to a glass jar, or it could be cause
the black plate (painted polystyrene) is much large, about 80% larger than the inside lid of the jar.

This is the beta test and the beta with the night jar (not the bird :wink: )

Anyhoo, seeing as it worked well, i decided to scale it back some but the same idea

SO, i found a small bowl, drill a hole for the cable and 1 on each side to fix the whole thing to the fence. then paint it black (not all of it, couldnt be assed lol…

I think cut out some polystyrene to fit with an inch or so spare from the top of the bowl for the temp probe to poke through.

This next image is the semi finished sensor, styrene fitted with probe and made a small grommet for where the cable goes in, i have now bagged it as you will see further down, i used a ziplock bag opposed to cling film.

Next image is the holders for it on the fence, just some old brackets for roller blinds is all

And here she be sat in place all wired up, not tested, could end up being a lemon but thats just my luck after an hours messing about :smiley:

A long time ago I tested various plastic films for IR transmission, thin plastic baggie material was almost as good as cling film so it should be OK. Details in this thread.

I would not have the sensor “tenting” the film like that though…

I have pushed it back down since that photo, it did pop up due to the tension in the cable, I may have to stick it down.

That’s good. It needs to be away from the film to isolate it from air/ambient temp. A deeper dish would be better IMHO.

I did think about only doing 1 layer of styrene, but then decided to go with the 2 #-o will see how it goes, it may not perform as well as the beta test anyway cause that oneis about 4x the size, good thing about this sensor, it don’t cost much to start over again. Also I am using a smooth araldite paint I think it’s called, it’s for metal railings, it’s jot ideal as there is a little Goss on it and it should be a mat finish, it’s all just a academic of trial and error, it would have worked well as a solar sensor though :grin:

There is something I’m Going to playing around with regarding covering For sensors

I recently had a Samsung Galaxy S2 tablet and I was looking for a scratch resistant cover

I came across a glass tempered screen material Extremely thin and the transmission light is 99%

I think it would have some use with solar and UV sensor covers and also may be night cloud temperature sensor

mick

Hi Mick, thats a good point, never thought about those screen protectors, the only down side to them is the sticky
back, will be hard to keep that part clean, would need to go on at the last minute :smiley:

Great idea Mick! Very thin, tough glass like that would be perfect :thumbright:

A bit of solvent should clean the back side.

gotta me careful with some solvents may melt it, prob white spirit be ok? or, like i said, least minute jobby lol

A tablet size would be ideal even for my beta, not sure i can keep that one going though, its using the tub
off my kitchen scales :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Solvent shouldn’t be a problem if it’s really glass?

Oh, not sure about glass, not known glass ones before, thin plastic yes but not glass??

Yeah, that’s what Mick is talking about.

oh yeah, may need come clarification on that part, i am 90% sure they are all plastic, I use them for my note 3

90% are plastic but go to amazon and search “tempered glass screen protector” and you’ll see plenty of real glass ones.

Oh wow, ok, learn sommat every day, thanks :smiley:

Yes they are real glass, they are not sticky they have a very thin coat of a conductive silicon type solution
which can be removed very easily probably with some lighter fuel petrol

I cannot see any problem cutting this type of material Maybe you some kind of heavy duty scissors

mick

Having dutifully had a look on amazon (thanks Niko) I’m now im trying to think on how to put sommat together
I would need to make sure i have the same size tub as what ever size protector i get, then i would need sommat
with a lid so that i can cut out a hole leaving an edge for the glass to sit on, mmph, thanks Mick, thought i had finished lol

Silicone sticks to glass pretty good, so it actually may be easier to attach to something than the plastic film :slight_smile:

Altogether a great idea, I’ll be buying one and testing it out :smiley:

Yep, for sure, certainly worth the few quid for a play, , hopefully a fat pigeon wont put its foot through it 8O :lol: :lol:

Just tried to cut some of this stuff up and I noticed that there is on one side where the silicon Conductive material is this is on a plastic film

By using a strong solvent The plastic film should eventually be easy to remove

The glass then is very thin I tried scoring down with a very sharp Stanley blade tthen carefully snap it between two Rulers

You have to be careful when cutting this material

Instead of cutting try and find a piece of this screen glass as small as possible then utilise that into your project, as this material is available iin lots of different sizes

When I have a clear sky will put a piece on top of the infrared cloud temperature sensor to see what happens

mick