By blueyonder, Section Wind Posted on Wed Mar 19th, 2008 at 01:30:20 AM MST
anemometer
ive allways wanted to make a anemometer. but never new how.
i had the basic idea . so when i found this site and found others had built them .
i got to work.
but it was a shopping trip that got me moving.
in the super market i saw the very thing i was looking for.
can you beleave shoe polish in tubs.
so i got three .one black one brown and one tan.
the plastic tops were a clear type. and know its not the best type to use as it will go brittle with uv and cold temp.
the polish will be used on things indoors.
next thing i needed was sum old knitting needles. my wife had loads.
nice bit of alloy.
after cutting the bits to lenth i got a small die and put a thread on the one end.
i was able to fix a nut and washer each side of the cup.
small motor i got from a pc i stripped down for parts.
sum epoxy glue was a great help.
after a bit trial and error the first motor put out to much power for the meters i had.
just a matter of getting every thing built now. and then i tried it outside.
the wind died down .wont you know it.
but it did work ok after bending the arms a bit.
i fixed it on a 8 foot pole to see how it done outside.
i brought two wires inside . through the window and was able to close it again tight.
put the analogue meter on small table and watched. not moving much. but it was working ok.
later that evening i saw the meter was about two thirds up the scale.
i couldn't understand what was going on and opened the curtains.
it was like a gale outside. and my little meter had told me so.
as yet i havent tried it outside the car window to help calibrate it.
in time i will find better cups that wont crack or split.
im making good progress at this wind lark . and enjoying every minnit of it.
also fitted a small amp meter to my solar panel.
its magic watching that when the suns out.
