recording hours of sunshine

[Mike James]

Is there an automatic weather station that measures hours or sunshine?
mikej

[George Booth]

Post by Mike James
Is there an automatic weather station that measures hours or sunshine?
mikej

I've used one of the Instromet units for the past 8 years
http://tinyurl.com/c8bazz
I recall reading either on USW or in Weather about linking output to a
datalogger.

[Nick Gardner]

Post by George Booth
I've used one of the Instromet units for the past 8 years
http://tinyurl.com/c8bazz
I recall reading either on USW or in Weather about linking output to a
datalogger.

I have an R&D sunshine recorder and I have linked it to a Pico ADC-16
datalogger which is connected to the computer. This uploads every 60 seconds
to a text file which shows at what time the sun was shining and the duration
of sunshine. It is set up to record sunshine for the entire month without me
having to note down anything daily. This gives it a 'sort of' automatic
weather station and it integrates well with the Davis AWS spreadsheet.

The advantages of this system is you can see the exact time when the sun was
shining, for example on a clear morning the sunshine recorder usually turns
on about 10 - 15 mins after sunrise. This is not possible with the R&D unit
alone which just gives a readout of total hours of sunshine for that day
(and has to be reset) and the month, so you have to be there at the end of
the day to take make a note of the sunshine.
________________
Nick.
Otter Valley, Devon
83 m amsl
http://www.ottervalley.co.uk

[Keith (Southend)G]

On Apr 18, 12:02 pm, "Nick Gardner"

Post by Nick Gardner

Post by George Booth
I've used one of the Instromet units for the past 8 years
http://tinyurl.com/c8bazz
I recall reading either on USW or in Weather about linking output to a
datalogger.

I have an R&D sunshine recorder and I have linked it to a Pico ADC-16
datalogger which is connected to the computer. This uploads every 60 seconds
to a text file which shows at what time the sun was shining and the duration
of sunshine. It is set up to record sunshine for the entire month without me
having to note down anything daily. This gives it a 'sort of' automatic
weather station and it integrates well with the Davis AWS spreadsheet.
The advantages of this system is you can see the exact time when the sun was
shining, for example on a clear morning the sunshine recorder usually turns
on about 10 - 15 mins after sunrise. This is not possible with the R&D unit
alone which just gives a readout of total hours of sunshine for that day
(and has to be reset) and the month, so you have to be there at the end of
the day to take make a note of the sunshine.
________________
Nick.
Otter Valley, Devon
83 m amslhttp://www.ottervalley.co.uk

Same here Nick, thanks to much help from a couple of members of this
newsgroup, excellent when I go away for a few days, as long as the
computer doesn't crash ;-0

Keith (Southend)

[Nick Gardner]

Post by Keith (Southend)G
Same here Nick, thanks to much help from a couple of members of this

newsgroup, excellent when I go away for a few days, as long as the
computer doesn't crash ;-0

Yes, many thanks to Bernard Burton who pointed me in the right direction for
the data logger and gave advice on setting it up.

I use an old trusty Toshiba laptop which is solely for the Davis AWS and the
sunshine datalogger plus 15 minute data uploads to my website. It actually
runs XP as I have managed to slimdown the operating system by disabling
nearly all the usual services and just leaving the bare minimum for it to
network. I've also removed much of the junk that is included in Windows. The
computer runs fine, never crashes and hardly touches the processor which
stays cool therefore it uses very little power. It just sits quietly in the
corner with the lid down, you wouldn't know it was on. I access all the data
from another computer.
________________
Nick.
Otter Valley, Devon
83 m amsl
http://www.ottervalley.co.uk

[Jack ([e-mail])]

George

When I see the price of that piece of kit, I feel very guilty that I
use your observations “gratis”. I have found that yours and those of
Royston Iceni:
http://www.iceni.org.uk/
are almost always in amazing agreement. I don’t live directly between
the two stations but not far off. My own observations (as far as they
go) are very similar to Epping and Iceni. So if I can’t do any
observations myself, I use those two stations and make some
(empirical) corrections. I have found that in fine weather, as would
be expected given my altitude of 140 metres ASL, my Tmax is about 1C
lower. Similarly, my rainfall totals (garden centre rain gauge) are
about 10% greater – presumably an orographic effect. I can’t cross
check sunshine totals, but would imagine due to our altitude, are
decidedly lower. Hill fog is quite a feature here.

So thanks George for a free service!

Jack

PS The spell checker didn’t like “orographic” and I leave you to guess
the first suggested alternative:-)

[George Booth]

When I see the price of that piece of kit, I feel very guilty that I
use your observations “gratis”. I have found that yours and those of
Royston Iceni:
http://www.iceni.org.uk/
are almost always in amazing agreement. I don’t live directly between
the two stations but not far off. My own observations (as far as they
go) are very similar to Epping and Iceni. So if I can’t do any
observations myself, I use those two stations and make some
(empirical) corrections. I have found that in fine weather, as would
be expected given my altitude of 140 metres ASL, my Tmax is about 1C
lower. Similarly, my rainfall totals (garden centre rain gauge) are
about 10% greater – presumably an orographic effect. I can’t cross
check sunshine totals, but would imagine due to our altitude, are
decidedly lower. Hill fog is quite a feature here.

So thanks George for a free service!

Jack

PS The spell checker didn’t like “orographic” and I leave you to guess
the first suggested alternative:-)


I checked what I originally paid for the sunshine recorder in 2001 and not
much difference. However the unit has proved very reliable which is just as
well from a cost point of view and fact it is atop a long pole at the gable
end. Richard Barker, who runs the Royston Iceni website was very helpful
when I was setting up Epping Weather. Like you I have regularly used
several strategically located sites including Royston, Clifton (Bedford)
http://www.cliftonweather.co.uk/ and Southend
http://www.southendweather.net/ as well as
http://www.weather-uk.com/hampstead/data.htm for a trip down memory lane
North London style.

All the best

[c***@yahoo.com.au]

Post by George Booth
I checked what I originally paid for the sunshine recorder in 2001 and not
much difference. However the unit has proved very reliable which is just as
well from a cost point of view and fact it is atop a long pole at the gable
end. Richard Barker, who runs the Royston Iceni website was very helpful
when I was setting up  Epping Weather. Like you I have regularly used
several strategically located sites including Royston, Clifton (Bedford)http://www.cliftonweather.co.uk/and Southendhttp://www.southendweather.net/as well ashttp://www.weather-uk.com/hampstead/data.htmfor a trip down memory lane
North London style.
All the best
--
George in Epping, West Essex (107m asl)www.eppingweather.co.ukwww.winter1947.co.uk
COL 36055

I also use an Instromet/R&D unit - this is by far and away the nearest
there is to a 'COL standard'. I log mine to my Campbell Scientific
CR10X logger, also at 1 min intervals like Nick above. Easy enough to
do as it outputs a pulse signal (just like a TBR) every 0.01 h. The
minute-by-minute and hourly totals provide much more useful detail
than the daily total alone, and of course useful when you're away from
home for a few days.

I've had my instrument since Jan 2001 and it's operated faultlessly
throughout. Just as well as mine is also atop a tall mast above the
roof and unreachable without a scaffolding tower!

--
Stephen Burt
Stratfield Mortimer, Berkshire

[Keith (Southend)G]

Post by c***@yahoo.com.au

Post by George Booth
I checked what I originally paid for the sunshine recorder in 2001 and not
much difference. However the unit has proved very reliable which is just as
well from a cost point of view and fact it is atop a long pole at the gable
end. Richard Barker, who runs the Royston Iceni website was very helpful
when I was setting up  Epping Weather. Like you I have regularly used
several strategically located sites including Royston, Clifton (Bedford)http://www.cliftonweather.co.uk/andSouthendhttp://www.southendweather.net/aswell ashttp://www.weather-uk.com/hampstead/data.htmfora trip down memory lane
North London style.
All the best
--
George in Epping, West Essex (107m asl)www.eppingweather.co.ukwww.winter1947.co.uk
COL 36055

I also use an Instromet/R&D unit - this is by far and away the nearest
there is to a 'COL standard'. I log mine to my Campbell Scientific
CR10X logger, also at 1 min intervals like Nick above. Easy enough to
do as it outputs a pulse signal (just like a TBR) every 0.01 h. The
minute-by-minute and hourly totals provide much more useful detail
than the daily total alone, and of course useful when you're away from
home for a few days.
I've had my instrument since Jan 2001 and it's operated faultlessly
throughout. Just as well as mine is also atop a tall mast above the
roof and unreachable without a scaffolding tower!
--
Stephen Burt
Stratfield Mortimer, Berkshire

Although a bit of clambering around is required, I can reach both my
R&D Sunshine unit and my Davis Wind vein quite easily. You can't see
it on the picture but we have a flat roof at the side of the house
where the mast is, so once up there it is quite easy to demount the
mast and make any repairs adjustments as necessary. I am quite lucky
as I get almost maximum vision of the sun (when out) from it's
position. The only fly in the ointment it if snow lays on the top of
it, but I recon that's only happened once since the time I purchased
it back in 2001.

Keith (Southend)
http://www.southendweather.net/homereports.htm

[Mike James]

Post by George Booth

Post by Mike James
Is there an automatic weather station that measures hours or sunshine?
mikej

I've used one of the Instromet units for the past 8 years
http://tinyurl.com/c8bazz
I recall reading either on USW or in Weather about linking output to a
datalogger.

Now why didn't that come up when I did a google search?
mikej