Topic: Homemade Bird Spike for Ambient Weather ws-1001 and clones

[rods55555]

Hi.

This is my first post here.
I bought an Ambient Weather clone (MiSol HP2000). I installed it recently and already knew it didn't have any provision for installing a bird spike. So I decided to make my own.
I used a 100mm PVC pipe coupling and cut it to use only the channel (or whatever is the name for it) where the o-ring seals the pipe, and drilled holes on the channel to put a series of thick galvanized steal spikes, and also made four little legs (made of parts of the PVC pipe) to fit inside the edge of the rain colector. It seems to work and I don't think it will interfere with the anenometer or the uv and light sensor.

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[Mattk]

Does the PVC ring fit "inside" the rain collector? If so wouldn't that reduce the collection area, hence affect the rain data etc?

[rods55555]

It has a gap between the rain collector and the pvc ring, only the four little legs that touch the edge of the rain coletor. So, the rain that hits the ring will fall inside the collector. I don't think it will have negative effect on the reading but I will have to compare with non-electronic rain gauges to be sure.

[Bashy]

Good effort but looking at this you will lose on rain totals, some rain will bounce off and out, this is why gauges have a sharp edge, some will sit on the edge and dry out in the sun, minimal but, every little helps

[rods55555]

I will have to wait to compare with non-electronic rain gauges, if the difference is too high I will have to remove the bird spike. I did this because birds are a big problem here, there is a big tree on the backyard and during summer there is always an "infestation" of little birds and they will very likely to seat on edge of the rain collector, now during winter it's not a big problem but during summer that is real concern.

[dupreezd]

@rods55555, very cool and neatly done, whether it works or not. That is thinking outside the box. Maybe you can move it to the outside of the rain bucket.

Well done. 

[Bashy]

Hi, this is what i used, it would be a bit too big for yours though...

This is a stand from a convection oven, i didnt use  it lol



in to this

[rods55555]

A simple solution would be to drill holes on the plastic housing of the station, around the outside edge of the rain collector to install the spikes, but I'm not going to do that, because if I damaged the housing I will have to buy a new outdoor unit, and here in Brazil it's absurdly expensive to import these stations (I paid 95% import tax over the price of the station, 60% federal tax and 35% state sales tax). So, I'm not going to do anything that can cause any damage to it. If they were cheaper to buy here, I could try that solution.

[Bashy]

Yes, and it would be hard not to go through the plastic, can you not find a bigger diameter circle thingy and drill in to that, keeping it as thin as you can.

This game is all about experimenting, thats half the fun of it for me, i have done many a trial an error, emphasis on the error

[rods55555]

If this one I made doesn't work, I will have to make one that fits on the outside edge of the rain collector, it's a bit harder to make one like that because the outside edge is not 90° and there is very little gap close to the bubble level. But will see, if this one doesn't work I will think about a "new design" for a bird spike.

[railrode1]

I cut a piece of aluminum screen to the upper inside diameter. Hot glued it in place. I have some bluebirds that like to stop here on the way to the nest. I still have to clean it but it buys me some time. My next project is to make a ring from 14ga house wire, solder spikes around it and slip it over the outer ring of the collector.

[rods55555]

I could try to use a piece of a welded wire garden fence, but the distance between spikes would be to much.
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A smaller screen probably will work.
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[Bashy]

may be a plant pot saucer, get it about the right size, cut the hole so it fits on the outside, hot glue the spikes to the outside and hot glue to the unit

[rods55555]

may be a plant pot saucer, get it about the right size, cut the hole so it fits on the outside, hot glue the spikes to the outside and hot glue to the unit

That is also a good idea, I can try to find one with a diameter close to the outside edge of the rain collector.

[Bashy]

your wire could work, depends on how much hot glue you have

PS methylated spirits is brill for releasing set hot glue

[rods55555]

It's a shame that Ambient Weather (or actually the Chinese manufacturer that makes this stations) didn't think about including a bird spike when they designed this model of station.

[WeatherHost]

I did hardware cloth (smaller mesh than shown above), cut out some of the cross pieces and wrapped it around the outside.

[CSB]

Came up with this for my Davis VP2 before they came out with their Bird Spikes.

Station (1) by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/151213506@N03/

[dtidmore]

I used 3" long florists pins (ie the type they use to pin on corsages), crush off the plastic ends and then using high temp hot melt glue to attached them to the inside of the rain funnel perimeter.  I spaced them roughly 1 inch apart.  This does not add any additional horizontal surface onto which rain can collect nor do the pins add surface area period.  My first use of this was on a WS-1400-IP about a year ago and after that sensor array was damaged by a nearby lightning hit, a new WS-2902 sensor array.  When I took down the WS-1400-IP array the hot melt glue showed NO signs of deterioration after being in the HOT TX sun with NO shade for a year.  The pins also held up so well, that I simply removed them from the damaged sensor array and used them on the new one.

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[rods55555]

So far my "solution" for a bird spike doesn't seem to be affecting the rainfall readings. Since I installed it we had two days with rain and it matches with a regular non electronic rain gauge. Also there is an official weather station (national weather service) 2.6km (1.6 miles) away from my house (in a straight line), so I can compare the official readings with my pws. It's nice to have an official station in such a small town.

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[Transporterman]

Great ideas    We have a lot of gulls here on the coast and many people already have bird spikes on their roofs so I might be using one of your designs  to put them on the WS soon.  So far the whirling anemometer cups seem to have put them off.  Hope the wind doesn't drop out!