False Rain Detection

Tempest Owners
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1

Having a great deal of difficulty with my new Tempest picking up falsely detecting rain and creating actual accumulation. I’ve tried three different mounting locations now and a various heights but to no avail. It is becoming so frustrating that I’m almost becoming sorry I made the switch. I love everything else about the system, but it is no good to me if I’m am getting constant false rain readings everything time the wind averages 10MPH or greater with gusts approaching 20MPH or greater.

My installation setup is a 1" 6061-T6 Schedule 40 aluminum pipe that is 7 feet long. I have 1 foot of it anchored to my fence via two antenna mast clamps that use u-bolts to strap to the fence and the sleeve collar to attach the pipe.

The original location seemed to be picking up too much vibration from the fence. Every time the wind would reach above 10MPH you could feel the vibration along the run of fence. Even moving the unit all the way down to where it was basically sitting at the height of the top of the fence didn’t help.

I’ve since moved the unit to two other locations. No location along this long run of fence seems to work. Moved to another section of fence, that is a little lower but same type of construction (because that is all we have between our neighbors in our sub) where there are two sections that T-together. The most it is mounted on now is very solid. I keep lowering the mast to see if I can find a point where I don’t get falsing but have not found a spot yet. Here is where the unit is now. This is a horrible location because it is much closer to the homes but it is the only place on our fence that is solid.

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Starting to wonder if the 6061-T6 aluminum is too rigid and is just resonating with the higher wind speeds. But, I think I’m just grasping at straws at this point out of frustration.

Any thoughts with regards to say schedule 80 PVC? Schedule 40 just seems too flimsy to me and seems like it is just going to wobble if you start getting much past about 2 feet.

Kind Regards,
Jeff

Station: https://tempestwx.com/station/29858/

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This was the original location.

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3

indeed resonance is a nasty thing

did you try to fill the tube with white sand ? It damps a lot resonance

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4

i would forget about the fence. just mount it on its own pole in the ground. The fence probably transfers vibration it picks up to the unit, inducing false rain.

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5

I found that mounting to my chain-link fence caused lots of false rain, too. That kind of fence is a great vibration source. If you can’t mount it separately from the fence definitely try the dry sand @eric suggested. You might also try some rubber around the pole clamps. Sway is not typically an issue so using PVC or maybe even a vinyl covered wooden closet rod might work.

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6

Have not tried that yet, Eric. Thanks for the suggestion.

7

Thanks for the various suggestions.

I ran over to Lowes and picked up a length of PVC and switch to that (temporarily) and it seems to have reduced the falsing. But I only have the unit up about 2 feet above the fence line.

I’m going to look a sinking a 4x4 post near my original location along the back wall and fence. That is furthest away from the houses and is the least obstructed area of the back yard.

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8

I second the recommendation for a 4X4 post. Best of luck to solving the issue.

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9

Tbh that fence looks like a vibration machine.