Monday, June 15, 2020

Northridge weather station maintenance and upgrade

The Northridge weather station was intermittently locked up or frozen on data for the past few months during the covid-19 shelter in place order. The lock ups were due to low batteries that were past due for replacement.

Several upgrades were performed to the weather station when I pulled it down to replace batteries. The sensor array now has a remote battery container that can be accessed for battery replacement without taking the weather station down from the mast or offline.

The second and most important upgrade that was done is a new solar shield assembly for the outdoor temperature. This unit also replaced the anemometer, though with all the tall trees I don't think it'll make a huge difference on wind speed measurement. The biggest improvement will be noticed on high temperature accuracy during sunny summer days.

There are instead of one, now two solar panels that are angled to capture more sunlight during longer hours of the day. These solar panels power an internal fan that keeps fresh air moving over the thermometer, preventing it from being warmed up by sunlight.