SW to NW
Later that night winds picked up even stronger out of the NW after skies cleared.
Taking full advantage of a rarity! Clear / Sunny sky over eastern Nebraska. Rare indeed. . .because the area is normally shrouded in clouds for days-on-end.
Afternoon Tempest Solar Charging Party. . .and the Tempests say: “Lets get this Party started!”
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I mounted our Tempest about 10 feet up the pole for the bat box. The height’s mainly dictated by ease of access via the ladder plus leaving room around the box.
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Finally moved my tempest on the original post to the peak of my house. No false rain with 40-60 km/h wind gusts so far. I won’t know how much the roof will affect the temp till the Summer, however I will likely get the new universal post by then. I don’t have a ladder that tall so I will have to borrow one again.
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Just realize that there is a chance that your Tempest will experience false rain due to vibrations from the wind blowing through the chainlink fence. If it does, you may need to mount the pole independent of the fence.
Good to know; would’ve never thought about that. To date I don’t think I’ve had any false positives for rain.
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Hello from Denver, CO. I’ve wanted a weather station for years, but was paralyzed by choice. My wife made the choice for me for Christmas!
I mounted mine to our garage with the 10.5’ galvanized fence top-rail and antenna mast mounts. Cycling the garage door several times did not result in false rain readings – so far, so good!
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Welcome Joe. . .and Seasons Greetings. Check this Community Forum often. . .lots & lots of Tempest stuff (topics) to learn about. You have a nice clean / clear-all-the-way-'round installation!
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Thanks! Feedback definitely welcomed. I’m about to do some research about grounding the pole.
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Alright, here’s my best effort. I’ve had it sitting on a table in my backyard for about a week (before I was able to score a ladder) and it promptly ran out of power. lol. Now it’s next to a roof, which isn’t great, and it’s also not above other roof lines or trees, but this is the best I can do without putting a big ugly pole in my very small backyard. Hopefully it at least gets enough sun, but, living in the PNW, I haven’t seen the sun myself in a couple weeks. 
Maybe in the summer, if the roof screws up the temperatures too much, I’ll figure something else out.
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There is only so much one can do. As for power, you might want to order the PBA (Power Booster Accessory). You can run the wire down the center of the mount to the base unit and either use AA batteries or external power. Placement is definitely critical for enough solar energy. Even my station shown below periodically needs a boost in the dead of winter.
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I’ve always wanted my Tempest mounted to the roof without penetrating the roof itself, or anchoring it down with blocks (you’ll see my first solution in another post here). Since I have a hip roof there are no gables to utilize. I also don’t have a chimney to anchor to so that leaves me almost zero options. I happen to be crawling around my attic and noticed one of my flat roof vents intersects with a truss. That gave me the idea of cutting a hole through my vent and using the truss as support. Here’s what I did:
- Drilled a 1-1/8" hole in the vent and then bent the edges of the circumference upward to prevent horizontal flowing water across the vent from seeping in.
- Cut a 1-1/2" PVC coupling in half so it was only about 1" long.
- Used aviation grade (high heat) silicon sealer to glue the coupler over the hole in the vent. I now had a “riser” around the vent hole that was waterproof against any water flowing horizontally across the flat roof vent.
- Bought 10-feet of #8 rebar (rebar that is 1" in diameter…very rigid and stiff) and placed it inside 7-feet of 2" PVC with a cap fitted at one end (not glued, just fitted tightly so I could take it off later).
- Placed the rebar/PVC assembly “cap down”, vertically on the floor and filled the annular space with wet cement / sand mix.
- I now had a very rigid 7-foot PVC pole with 3-feet of rebar sticking out of one end, and after removing the cap, a PVC attachment at the top to providing Tempest mounting.
- I glued a 2" coupler over the end where the rebar was to give me a larger end that will slide over the 1-1/2" coupler on the roof vent.
- In the attic I created a wood “seat” attached to the truss beams 3-feet below the vent for the rebar to rest on.
- I then inserted the rebar through the coupling/hole in the vent, down onto the “seat” and then leveled everything perfectly vertical.
- Then I went into the attic and glued/screwed wood around the base of the rebar seat to create a pocket to keep it from moving horizontally and going out of plumb. But, nothing is anchored down and I can easily go on the roof and lift it out if needed.
This provides a very rigid and heavy installation that can withstand the torrential rains, heat, and hurricanes we get here in Florida.
If anyone wants to copy this I can provide a sketch that gives more details on how this was done. And of course suggestions to improve the design are welcome and can be included (with credit to whomever provided them) in the sketches. If you want more info you can respond here or email me at robrace(at)verizon.net.
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I installed my Tempest a few days ago once I got the pole mount. It’s in the corner of yard in a pretty open space (open to sky) near trees. I used a fence picket I had in shed with a 1"x1" pole attached to back of it, with several nails and zip ties for extra bracing to the fence support frame.
It is 10 feet off the surface, which is best I can do in my yard. It had its first test today in gusty winds (barely budged). No false rain readings.
I thought about PVC attaching to fence, but I saw some posts about wind vibrations through PVC, how it can cause false rain readings(?). Anyway.
Roof not an option because “the boss” didn’t like idea of poking holes in the roof area. Plus radiant heat, It gets HOT here in Central Texas in Summer. Anyway. I’m enjoying it! 
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Where about in Central TX? Mind sharing station link?
tweatherman
Sure. It’s in Cedar Park. COLD today! A piece of the Arctic decided to pay a visit. It can go back for all I care.lol The plumbing down here isn’t designed for (albeit modified) Yukon territory weather.