Is it possible to modify the wind cups?

Hi folks

Matey down the road from me, i see his cups spinning when mine are not, his is only about
4m off the ground where as mine are about 8m, his is one of those stations with the rectangle
rain gauge, prob dont narrow it down much but, his cups must be bigger than mine (still on
about the wind cups mind :lol: ) I would like to keep up with the jones’s is it possible to modify
the OS wind cups with something like half table tennis balls (ping pong to the Chinese :lol: )

If so, i spose i would need to add some sort of offset in WD, then theres the calibrating too, also
theres the issue of getting them to stick, hot glue may be too heavy… is it possible or are they
too finely tuned to be fiddled with?

Anyhoo, anyone??

Hi, I would just leave it alone, (if it isn’t broke don’t fix it) to many problems to sort out, as you say calibrating/offset/balancing etc…

teal.

I have seen stations that offer different size cups, so it is possible. You would need a reference for calibrating after you made the change. Bigger cups will pick up lower gusts and probably won’t spin fast enough to accurately measure high wind speeds. That’s the trade off…

I agree with teal.

Thanks guys, didnt think about the balancing, that would be quite difficult achieve, prob more painstaking i spose… was just an idea

Are the bearings good in yours? If it use’s true bearings.

I swapped them over this summer but, they were older new bearings, maybe as long as 8 years
I struggled to find the correct size on ebay :confused: so had to use the old new ones, they may have dried out a bit
but i did soak them in wd for a 48hrs, or maybe, that made it worse, i just dont know, i do get 2.2mph readings
thats the lowest i have seen on my console

If you are referring to WD40 that you soaked them in, that could be the problem. WD40 isn’t a lubricant per say, the WD stands for Water Displacement. Its more used as a cleaning solvent, for cleaning rust and grime. It has very little lubricant benefit, and what little it does have won’t last long.

A very light weight grease or a light weight synthetic oil would be much better.

If you have an auto parts store near by, I would think they could order the bearings or may even have them.

From Google:
"WD stands for “water displacing” and its main use is as a solvent or rust dissolver. The lubricant-like properties of WD-40 come not from the substance itself, but from dissolving components. And the effect doesn’t last. WD-40 can be a good substance to start with

Some silicone spray lubricants are pretty light.

Just to update on this (forgot)

It was WD40 i used, i soaked another (new) set in some silicone for about a week (forgot about them lol)
and now the cups appear to be working ok, lowest speed on the console is 2.2mph, i think thats the lowest
the WMR 968 goes down to, i aint seen it go lower and i have watched it and watched it and… :slight_smile:

For comparison I have three professional spec anemometers. One is a very large Munro unit, the other is a very small Vector instruments and the third is a Casella cup counter version. All located at the same height and all spin at different times. The large one of course is the slowest to respond and will not start below five knots due to inertia. The cup counter one however will spin with even the slightest hint of wind when even tehe Vector instruments one will not turn. So you can really never guarantee to get a very low level response unless you start using expensive ultrasonic ones. I found that the Vector Instruments one camperd very favourably with the Oregon unit if teh latters bearings were good. Those were really the key. I cannot remember the exact type, and I have sold them on some time ago, I do not even have an old one to check. If you change them every 18 months all should be well.
But I do agree with everyone else, if it aint broke do not fix it. Somewhere somehow you can get the bearings sorted and then the anemometer will be as good as the guy down the road. It might even be possible that his has lost contact with the mechanism to trip the reed in which case it will spin faster.

Mike

I do know his setup is a low end system, it has the rectangle rain bucket, but his cups are prob about 1.5x the size
of mine, perhaps that helps him catch a bit more, the down side to this is mind is less wind run, and that can soon dd up…

My problem is, i am always trying to keep up with the big boys (Davis and METARS), im getting there, well, actually
there now with the temp, the wind will just have to make do i spose, it does have a brand new bearing in it so should last a while.

If you want to run with the big boys then get some professional kit like I did. I could not afford a Davis unit, so over the years I gathered all I needed from Mr. Ebay. LLink it via a Labjack (there is already protocols within WD for that). Less maintenance and more reliability. My electronic thermometers I bult myself for under

Be interesting to see some images of your setup if you get time, I would love one of those roadside setups i see a lot.
I wonder what they do with them when they replace them, where does the met get rid of thiers do you know?

That is one of the stations I got. It was a roadside, in my case field side, station. The Met Office kit goes overseas to other countries, but there is an awful lot on ebay too. The last Vector Instruments one I got was

Sorry to hear about your health, mine aint too clever, bad back and 2 x tennis elbow, life is hard the older you get :frowning:

I will keep checking eBay, see what comes up, it can be hard knowing what search term to use half the time