it is supposed to do that, but there were already three reports that it doesn’t do that… yet
you might want to update https://help.weatherflow.com/hc/en-us/articles/360050050673-Tempest-Device-Observations as well.
Just use a magnetic compass to align the Tempest then adjust the offset in the settings to the declination angle of your location. In my case it was only 2 degrees east.
I just installed mine today and the automatic offset didn’t work. I have adjusted in settings and notified support too.
after some consideration, they decided to set the offset before shipping the unit. So shipping to somewhere in the southern hemisphere should have set the 180 degree offset. You can always override it.
Now this decision was only made recently, it might be that yours was shipped before that.
Just got my Tempest (and I am in the southern hemisphere, in Rio de Janeiro / Brazil).
I did find a very good geographical landmark pointing to true south from where I will install the unit, that was easy.
The problem is how to properly align the Tempest when it will be sitting on top of a 10 foot pole starting from my roof, so the unit will be way above my head. No way I can go there to look from “the top” or “from behind” to properly align it with the geographical landmark. I need to do it from my vantage point which is several meters (metric units here…) below the unit.
I am specially interested in the wind data (specially wind direction, for sailing purposes), so a precise True South alignment is important to me.
Any good ideas on how to align my Tempest would be greatly appreciated !
Thanks in advance !
Using Google Earth I could get a very good true north landmark so as to align the Tempest (in fact a south landmark as I am in the southern hemisphere, near Rio de Janeiro / Brazil).
The problem is that the top of the pole will be some 6 foot above my roof (I will leave some 4 foot to fix the pole to the outside facade), so I cannot take a look from behind/above the Tempest to precisely aim it to the South direction.
Any ideas on how to solve this ?
Thanks a lot in advance,
Marcelo
Hi Marcelo,
I mounted a bracket onto the pole at eye level that I could site through to true north.
Mine is bendy aluminium so that I can get it perfect.
Then I carefully lower the pole and mount the Tempest while everything is resting on the roof.
This is an old version which shows the alignment bracket at the bottom.
cheers Ian
Continuing the discussion from Aligning the Tempest Accurately:
Hi, I just received my Tempest and plan to mount it on top of a 10 foot 1-inch steel pole.
Using Google Earth I could get a very good true north landmark so as to align the Tempest (in fact a south landmark as I am in the southern hemisphere, near Rio de Janeiro / Brazil).
The problem is that the top of the pole will be some 6 foot above my roof (I will leave some 4 foot to fix the pole to the outside facade), so I cannot take a look from behind/above the Tempest to precisely aim it to the South direction.
Any ideas on how to solve this ?
Thanks a lot in advance,
Marcelo
the actual mark is on the side, but still it is hard to see. perhaps take the pole down mount the tempest, and put a mark at eye level. That way you can rotate the pole in the right direction.
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Thanks, that´s an idea.
Another one I thought was (with the Tempest on top of the pole already) set the pole as vertical as possible in the ground before actually installing. And then attach a thin wire (say a fishing one) with a weight on its other end so it sets a vertical path (by its gravitation pull) from the arrow down to the bottom of the pole. And then put a small mark in the pole
Will try both, thanks !
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The very center divider between the solar panels is an easy item to see. Also, the East & West facing solar panels are parallel to each other, just use those flat sides to aim the Tempest. Finally, you could always mark the mount or Tempest with a sharpie or similar marker to help orient it
I find I typically use the flat E/W sides when orienting my mobile Tempest.
@sunny I agree, a diagram would be helpful for people; just not that diagram 
In some circles I am being picky, in other circles I am being accurate. In no way do I mean to be insulting please don’t take my comments that way.
The entire topic of the diagram is to show the orientation of the arrow.
The user can’t see the arrow at all on the ‘Northern Hemisphere’ illustration.
From the picture alone the blue arrow could be from 270 to 0 degrees.
The text indicates to point it north, then why have the picture ?
I think you were trying to keep the compass orientation the same to make the point, however in this case, you would leave the Tempest in the same orientation and rotate the compass highlighting the N and S respectively.
Respect, nice work !
Missing what’s confusing. In the northern hemisphere you point the marker north. In the southern hemisphere you point the marker south. The idea of course is to get max sun on the solar panels.
I used google maps to identify true north/south aligned to my fenceline and the street behind it. It ain’t rocket science. It’s common sense.
Of course if you’re on the equator all bets are off I guess 
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If on the Equator (Coriolis = 0). . .have 2 Tempest devices side-by-side: one with solar panels facing the South Pole and the other one with solar panels facing the North Pole!
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well the reason to make that image is that the instructions tell you to point it north, so that’s pretty clear by itself, right, but apparently it was not. People were unsure of having the arrow on the north side of the tempest or having it on the south side (pointing to the north). It’s not about pointing it east or west accidentally.
Your suggestion of rotating the compass rose instead in the picture is logically a correct one, but might look pretty confusing.
I thought you needed to cut them in half and glue them together so solar panels are both north and south. Wasn’t that in the instructions? (actually the ones pointing exactly north or south, don’t help a lot in charging the device near the equator)
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And if you are ‘at’ a pole you need to watch for either polar bears or penguins…
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Oh yeah. . I plum dun forgot about that! . . . esp Polar Bears! Since Tempest is sorta white like snow. . .a Polar Bear could accidentally try to Eat one. . .which would result in a bad bad tummy ache. . .and Tempest would taste Horrible as compared to their normal diet of seals and such!