I could use some advice from you guys regarding mounting my Sky when it arrives soon (hopefully). I currently have an Ambient Weather WS-1001 WIFI, about 2 years old now. I’d like to run both stations in tandem at least for a while, so I’m thinking about getting something like the Netatmo mount, which should allow me to have both stations mounted on the same pole.
Here’s the placement: you can see at the top where I have a mounting point listed at Kids’ Play House. This is on a pole attached to a very sturdy, 2 story play house that my kids (rarely these days) play on. The added height of the play house allows me to get some extra altitude on top of the mounting bracket I have, in total about 25 feet above ground. But I’m concerned that this is too close to the tree line.
What do you guys think about the alternate mounting point I have listed below that, on the south side of the house? For that, I’d probably either mount one of these galvanized poles to one of the 4x4’s for the fence stuck in the ground, which should give me a little more than 10’ without (hopefully) having enough instability to need to guy it.
My biggest concern would be wind blockage. What direction is the prevailing direction during storms? If one of those two locations has better exposure, then the height may not matter. Could you attach it to your house (above roof line)? that would get you even better height.
I agree, and storms tend to blow in from the west/northwest, unfortunately–right from the direction of the tree line in either case. It probably wouldn’t be a bad idea to attach it to the house, but I hadn’t considered it because 1) we have rather steep roofs and I’m not much on heights, 2) changing batteries every couple of years would be a pain, 3) isn’t there some increased risk of lightning/leaking roofs from doing so?
Still, I suppose if I’m changing the location, it may be worthwhile to consider for the better data. I suppose I’m off to research roof mounting options.
I’ve been looking at options and I’m considering the WeatherMount 2 in a roof-mounted placement. It looks like it can be angled to be mounted on a pitched roof. I figure I can get about 35’ placement on the farthest high point of the roof from the tree-line, which should give the proper 4:1 distance from the trees subtracting the height of the trees (~60’) from the height of the weather station.
It looks like a pretty straightforward mount to do with the included tar pad, and the placement is such that I can easily monitor it from the attic during rain storms to see if it’s leaking. My only question is whether or not this single-pole mount will offer enough stability (looks to be about 6’ in height) for the Sky’s sensitive vibration sensors.
Wellp. I got the WeatherMount roof mount and was prepared to go up and mount it on the roof, went up on the roof and froze. It’s a 60° pitch angle on the roof which is way steeper than I’m comfortable traversing, apparently. So now I’m not sure what I’m going to do. I wouldn’t mind hiring a roofer to install it, but I’m hesitant to hire someone to go up and change the batteries in the thing every so often.
dont forget using energizer lithium batteries you will hope to get a good year or more out of them so providing the mast you have there is rock solid and not prone to building vibrations or swaying you may be ok . but yes 60 deg got be good on your legs and preferably dry which probably in the winter may be a risk.
i lost my first sky unit version 1 in january which was a battery eater slipping on tiles changing batteries it fell 80ft into the car park and completely cracked the whole head unit . seen below
It is also worth mentioning that a remote battery pack with a long wire is not out of the DIY realm. I have an idea in my head about making a simple intermediate adapter collar that attaches below the Sky (or Air) and taps the external power contact pads on the bottom of every unit. It could also work as a solar panel adapter…
I hear you, but even at a year it’d be a pain to go up (or pay someone else to go up) and change them out. Plus, I’d like to also mount my Ambient Weather WS-1001 Wifi on the same pole, which means potentially another battery change every couple of years as the recharagables in there wear out.
I guess since I’m still waiting on shipping confirmation on my Sky, I still have time to consider what I’m going to do here.
So, with my fear of heights firmly established, referencing my diagram above, I’m still thinking the ideal new placement would be the south fence line. I’d like to be able to go taller without guy wires. Since I’ve already purchased the WeatherMount 2, I’d like to mount that to the fence (which would give me an additional 5 feet of height) and then maybe use a 10’ galvanized steel pole as I mentioned earlier. Or, something like this, which claims a 17’ height, which would get it to close to 22’. I know that goes above the 10’ recommended pole-height-without guy wires, but it appears that since it telescopes, it wouldn’t be too difficult to pull it down and send it back up when it’s time for a battery change.
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