Solar sensor: Solar Cell + LabJack + Weather Display

If you don’t mind a bit of soldering you can detach the sensor from the PCB and extend it, then put it into a diffuser of your choice.

Although the PCB has the coating, it should still be contained within some sort of waterproof housing as the coating isn’t waterproof it just protects against moisture. :wink:

If I leave the sensor inside the case without any diffuser, will it work correctly?

Because now that it is inside the case I would prefer not to touch it much; if it can work without a diffuser.

There is some kind of waterproof housing that does not interfere in the solar sensor readings?

The case is simple that, it just protects the PCB and sensor, and you can remove it if you want too.
I removed the top of the case on mine to give the sensor a better view of the sky and then put the whole thing inside a plastic tub. The tub acted like a diffuser and it worked fine. :wink:


Solar.jpg

So, in your case, the only diffuser that you are using is the plastic tub? You do not have any Ping Pong ball or something for the style?

Budgie, can you confirm me if the solar sensor only has a 150 degree acceptance angle?

I am also worried because on my location we sometimes reach the 1000 w/m2, can the sensor became saturated? (I have read that above 250mv the sensor saturates the 1-wire bus with unpredictable results)

http://www.meteoclimatic.com/perfil/ESCAT4300000043201B

http://www.meteoclimatic.com/perfil/ESCAT4300000043202B

Thanks for your help.

PD: Have you got a photo from the top of your sensor inside the plastic tub?

Yep, just the plastic tub, no one could see it so style wasn’t an issue. :lol:

I’m not sure about the 150

OK, thanks for all your help.

Next week when I will get the computer to use with the sensor I will tell you how it works.

And the last thing Budgie, when you had the sensor, did you see if with the Sun the sensor became overheated?
And, now that you have the Davis; were the readings of the Hobby Boards’ sensor quite similar to the professional solar sensor?

Thanks again.

No overheating that I noticed, although the Northwest of Scotland isn’t know for having a hot climate. :lol:

The Hobby Boards sensor wasn’t that far off the Davis TBH, although I didn’t do any actual comparisons between the two.

Ok. :lol:

Thanks. :wink:

Hi again,

I was trying to set up the 1 wire solar sensor.

I am using Windows 2000 and I have the sensor connected with an USB adapter.

But when I was trying to install the Maxim’s drivers, I have seen that they do not support USB with Windows 2000.

Is there any other drivers that can work? Is it possible to use a USB to Serial adapter?

Thanks.

yes, a good quality usb to serial adaptor should work OK via the serial 1 wire connector

Finally, I have managed to get a computer with Windows XP so, now I do not have any more problems with this.

I have followed Budgie’s FAQ: http://discourse.weather-watch.com/t/55402

By the time, I have a similar window to this. So, I understand that the sensor works.

If I open Weather Display leaving the Dallas 1 Wire Reader running; in “Current Reading” in the “Solar Sensor Setup” page, I am getting the same data as in the Dallas 1 Wire Reader.

It confirms that the sensor works and is interacting with the computer.

My problem now is that the data is shown in mv, not in w/m2, and I do not Know how to change it.

Another thing is that I only can see the sensor graph in the “Extra Sensor Real Time Graph” page, but not in the main graph page.

Basically, I need a bit of help about how to configure the sensor in the Weather Display program.

Is there a guide about how to configure the sensor or the different steps I have to follow?
I have never done something like this and I do not want to skip any step.

Thanks for all your patience and all your help.

there is a setup in control panel, solar setup…where you set to use 1 wire and you set the max mvolts

More or less I have configured the sensor; but I can not find the place to set the max mvolts, so I could not make this adjust.

The solar sensor page is empty, as you can see in the pictures. :?

Another thing is that, when the solar sensor’s data is 9 mv or lower (in Dallas 1 Wire Reader or in Current Readings page in WD), in Weather Display the readings low to 0 w/m2.

For example:

 10,5 mv ---> Some w/m2

  9 mv     ---> 0 w/m2

More or less is near the 9 mv when it happens, but I can not confirm it exactly because now it is night here.

Is there any solution to any of these problems? :oops:

Thanks again.
The solar setup is almost finished. :wink:

I have solved the problem of the 9 mv, but I still can not find the place to set the max mv.

As you can see in the pictures above, the pages of the 1 Wire sensor are empty, and there are not options to set the max mv.

What can I do to change it? :?

I have used the Forum Searcher but I have not found anything about this.

Please, can you tell me exactly where is the place to adjust the max mv? I can not find this in WD?

Thanks for your help.

make sure you have set to use 1 wire as well
in the com port setup, 1 wire

Yes, that was the problem. #-o

Thankyou.

Now, I understand that where it puts 200 I have to set the max mv. And the 0 is the place for decimals.

If it is correct, then I have to tick “Use this value” and “Calculate % from raw compared to max”. But I have to leave not ticked “Plot this %” of the Labjack. Is this right? :o

Thanks again. :wink:

Finally I have the solar sensor working properly. :slight_smile:

After being calibrated, I have compared the readings with another weather station and the readings are quite the same. :smiley:

As I have said:

I am doing a Pre-University research project about Sun that will punctuate me for the access to the university; and one part of this project will be record data of the solar radiation in my city. But it do not have to be very accurate.

So, is there some way to save the data recorded with WD?

I have seen that in “Advanced Graph” you can save the graphs of the last hours.
But I wonder if there is some other way apart from this to do that.

In summary: What are the possible methods to save the data acquired by the sensor? :?:

Hi
there is a logfile, vantagelog.txt
thats has the solar wm/2 in it
or you can create your own logfile, using custom tags (e.g for solar, time, date, etc)

I am also new here and I had same question. Now, after reading other people replies few of my doubts are cleared.