data collection

[g reif]

is there software to collect wind speed from a weather station and hardware/software to coolect the amount of power produced and merge them together so you can see how you mill is really working?

thanks

[wdyasq]

http://tinyurl.com/23db3l

Ron

[Boondocker]

Here are a few examples of data collection:

http://www.thebackshed.com/Windmill/PicLog.asp

http://www.fieldlines.com/story/2007/11/17/12656/796

http://www.fieldlines.com/story/2007/8/9/85840/76102

http://www.fieldlines.com/story/2007/11/18/18820/361

Do a search under "logger"  for more leads.

[rossw]

Depending on what weatherstation you have, it should be fairly straightforward.

I built a substantial station back in the mid 1980s which I only pulled down a couple of years ago when I moved house. The station at that stage, far exceeded the world met office specifications (the countries head office of the met bureau came to look at it).

Nowdays, there are very inexpensive stations that produce quite reasonable data.

Here's real-time wind output from one such cheap instrument (a WX-200):

This particular display gives an "at-a-glance" view of wind speed, direction and trend over the last 24 hours. I find it very useful.

Or visit my home weather station

I've thought about displaying power (watts) given I can make a pretty reasonable stab at power from wind speed, and if I get enthusiastic about it I might even do it in January.

I capture and log the wind speed and direction every 5 seconds. Anything less is pretty much pointless IMO, since wind tends to vary a lot, and quickly.

RossW