NEW ANEMOMETER   

There were no major problems with the old anemometer. Sure, there was the rain skirt issue and the bearings needed changing, but I didn’t necessarily need an entirely new unit. You’re probably wondering how I could put the new clean-looking weather vane up alongside the old anemometer. I took this as an opportunity to give the top of my weather station pole an entirely new look. The new anemometer was built to look like the weather vane. I didn’t make it as large, but I used the same tubing because I had it on hand. I kept the length of the arms holding the cups the same as before so I didn’t have to recalibrate.

I changed only two minor aspects of the design. I used an optical interrupter module rather than a separate emitter and detector. I did this partly to accommodate another design change. I used a cup instead of a disc for the optical interruption. This enabled the electrical connector and the interrupter module to be mounted on the bottom plate. They can be removed easily. When the interruption is done with a disc, mechanical assembly and disassembly are always more difficult. The finished anemometer is shown in Photo 4b.