Author Topic: YARCH - Yet Another Rain Collector Heater  (Read 5018 times)

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Offline miraculon

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YARCH - Yet Another Rain Collector Heater
« on: March 22, 2014, 05:34:50 PM »
I fabricated my copy of the Davis rain collector heater and tested it. Works great.
I won't actually install it until after we move early next month.
I cut the Vector no-hole no-copper board to size and mounted the power resistor, bi-metal switch (open at 59F) and terminal strip.
I wound up cutting the rubber grommet where the reed switch closure goes out to the SIM connection.
The current clamp was showing 1.25A @ 26.5V.
Not shown is the standard Davis bubble wrap foil blanket inside the funnel. Temperature got up to about 76F before the switch clicked open. I used an ice-cube on the bi-metal to trick it into closing, since the temperature was in the mid-40s.

Greg


Blitzortung Stations #706 and #1682
CoCoRaHS: MI-PI-1
CWOP: CW4114 and KE8DAF-13
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Offline ValentineWeather

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Re: YARCH - Yet Another Rain Collector Heater
« Reply #1 on: March 22, 2014, 05:53:39 PM »
Good job, looks like the original. What was the total cost?
Randy

Offline miraculon

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Re: YARCH - Yet Another Rain Collector Heater
« Reply #2 on: March 22, 2014, 06:14:51 PM »
Good job, looks like the original. What was the total cost?

Of what you see in the photo (not including 24V transformer, controller, and yet-to-be purchased installation items):

Vector Board: $13.28 (but I could get many boards from the 12"x12" board)
50W 25 Ohm power resistor: $9.83
Flag terminals (flattened a bit to mount to PCB): $2.99 for more than I needed.
Terminal Block: $2.49
Screws (mix of new and junk drawer): Few bucks.
Bi-metal thermostat: Radio Shack via eBay: $3.89

I might re-sell the remaining Vector board and recoup some of the cost.

Greg







Blitzortung Stations #706 and #1682
CoCoRaHS: MI-PI-1
CWOP: CW4114 and KE8DAF-13
WU: KMIROGER7
Amateur Radio Callsign: KE8DAF

Offline Randall Kayfes

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Re: YARCH - Yet Another Rain Collector Heater
« Reply #3 on: March 22, 2014, 08:50:58 PM »
Looks great thanks for the photos



Offline miraculon

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Re: YARCH - Yet Another Rain Collector Heater
« Reply #4 on: May 25, 2014, 01:42:30 PM »
I wired up the rain gauge heater last week. (not that I need it yet).

Here is a photo of the transformer (100VA 4x overkill) and the controller.

I tucked the temperature sensor outside under a white plastic "shutter". There is a little solar heating error.

I have the heater set-point on the controller set to 7.5C.

I am debating on putting it into a shield (Davis 7714), but if I can live with the error I'll leave it alone.

Greg


Blitzortung Stations #706 and #1682
CoCoRaHS: MI-PI-1
CWOP: CW4114 and KE8DAF-13
WU: KMIROGER7
Amateur Radio Callsign: KE8DAF

Offline miraculon

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Re: YARCH - Yet Another Rain Collector Heater
« Reply #5 on: October 05, 2014, 08:03:00 PM »
At long last, it was cold enough for the temperature controller to turn on the transformer.
The bimetal thermostat just happened to click on when I was out at the ISS.
I measured the cone temperature the best I could. I can't reach the inside of the cone with the IR thermometer and still see the display. I caught a glimpse of about 60°F+. Ambient is 44°F.
Good news is that "hot air rises" and there is no effect on the ISS temperature reading. It matches the Temp/Hum station.
Woo-hoo! It seems to be working!

Greg H.


Blitzortung Stations #706 and #1682
CoCoRaHS: MI-PI-1
CWOP: CW4114 and KE8DAF-13
WU: KMIROGER7
Amateur Radio Callsign: KE8DAF

Offline ValentineWeather

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Re: YARCH - Yet Another Rain Collector Heater
« Reply #6 on: October 05, 2014, 08:19:51 PM »
Glad its working. I'm using the reptile heater mod on mine plugged into a 35 degree thermo cube, haven't been able to test it in cold climate yet. Worked fine in Arizona with the occasional wet snow. 
Randy

Offline Mark / Ohio

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Re: YARCH - Yet Another Rain Collector Heater
« Reply #7 on: October 05, 2014, 11:48:02 PM »
Neat job making it!   8-)

The Davis copy I made back in 2007 is still doing the job.  It ended up a little underpowered when temps get down into the single digits or less but it's unusual for us to get any heavy snow fall at those temps anyway.  There's a couple photos at thend of the thread below:

http://www.wxforum.net/index.php?topic=643.msg4536#msg4536
« Last Edit: October 05, 2014, 11:51:06 PM by Mark / Ohio »
Mark 
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Offline miraculon

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Re: YARCH - Yet Another Rain Collector Heater
« Reply #8 on: October 06, 2014, 08:45:36 AM »
Neat job making it!   8-)

The Davis copy I made back in 2007 is still doing the job.  It ended up a little underpowered when temps get down into the single digits or less but it's unusual for us to get any heavy snow fall at those temps anyway.  There's a couple photos at thend of the thread below:

http://www.wxforum.net/index.php?topic=643.msg4536#msg4536

Looks interesting, Mark. I am curious about what resistor values you used. 50Ω? They look to be in parallel.
I ran outdoor grade landscaping two-conductor zip cord, I believe that it is 16AWG. How long is your wire run?
You might be getting voltage drop through the bell wire.

The bi-metal thermostat that I got was quite a bit lower temperature than either yours or the Davis one. I could not find the same cut-out temp as the Davis. (I think that the Davis was 85°F) I repaired a water cooler/heater that the bi-metal went bad on and had trouble finding the right one for that as well. I figured the 60°F cut-out temperature would be adequate, I hope that I am right. It sounds like you are having good luck with the 130°F bi-metal. I'll keep that in mind if the 60°F one is inadequate.

Greg H.


Blitzortung Stations #706 and #1682
CoCoRaHS: MI-PI-1
CWOP: CW4114 and KE8DAF-13
WU: KMIROGER7
Amateur Radio Callsign: KE8DAF

Offline Mark / Ohio

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Re: YARCH - Yet Another Rain Collector Heater
« Reply #9 on: October 07, 2014, 02:05:59 AM »
I can't recall the exact values of the resistors now but yes they are in parallel.  I have the resistors clamped right to the aluminum heat sink that the bi-metal sets on below them.  So the bi metal is really not measuring air temp so much as it is the temp of the heatsink.  I grabbed the lowest temperature one I could find on the shelf at work at the time.  I think what might be causing my small temp reading increase with calm winds is heat that is transferred from the heat sink mounting screws into the plastic right above the sensor.  If I do it over again I'll mount the resistor in clear air with something non-thermal conductive holding it in place.  The bell wire is probably 20awg single strand.  It's only about 8' from the heater to the transformer so I was able to get away with using it.  I should replace it this year as it was not weather resistant and after 8 years is looking a little rough.   ;)  I think I still have some TV antenna rotor wire laying about I'll stick on it.
Mark 
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Offline kobuki

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Re: YARCH - Yet Another Rain Collector Heater
« Reply #10 on: December 07, 2014, 09:25:33 AM »
I'm in the middle of making my own Davis lookalike heater. It's raining out there but I want to prepare the board so I can just install it when the rain stops (possibly in a few days). But I have no idea about the distance and diameter of the mounting holes for the panel inside the rain gauge assembly. Does anyone have it handy by any chance? It would be a great help.

Offline miraculon

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Re: YARCH - Yet Another Rain Collector Heater
« Reply #11 on: December 08, 2014, 08:06:37 AM »
I'm in the middle of making my own Davis lookalike heater. It's raining out there but I want to prepare the board so I can just install it when the rain stops (possibly in a few days). But I have no idea about the distance and diameter of the mounting holes for the panel inside the rain gauge assembly. Does anyone have it handy by any chance? It would be a great help.

I rummaged around, but I couldn't find anywhere that I documented the board dimensions. It might have been on a scrap of paper, I'll look again but I think that it was either thrown out or lost in the move.

There are mounting bosses in the rain collector base that you could measure and use for guidance.

Greg H.


Blitzortung Stations #706 and #1682
CoCoRaHS: MI-PI-1
CWOP: CW4114 and KE8DAF-13
WU: KMIROGER7
Amateur Radio Callsign: KE8DAF

Offline kobuki

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Re: YARCH - Yet Another Rain Collector Heater
« Reply #12 on: December 08, 2014, 08:25:55 AM »
Yes, that's what I'll do, thanks for looking around. Judging by high-res images, it seems they're 2.5" apart, does that ring a bell (I can be entirely mistaken of course)?

Offline Ian.

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Re: YARCH - Yet Another Rain Collector Heater
« Reply #13 on: December 08, 2014, 11:02:13 AM »
These all look really good jobs you have done, this is my effort of using a small stat and 23watt heater, not sure if its powerful enough, I'll have to wait till it snows again.:

http://www.chatteris.biz/Config%20pages/ISS.html#rain heater


This link is to my old site, and not that well updated, its going to be a job over winter I think.
« Last Edit: December 08, 2014, 11:04:32 AM by redpis »
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Offline miraculon

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Re: YARCH - Yet Another Rain Collector Heater
« Reply #14 on: December 08, 2014, 11:13:14 AM »
These all look really good jobs you have done, this is my effort of using a small stat and 23watt heater, not sure if its powerful enough, I'll have to wait till it snows again.:

http://www.chatteris.biz/Config%20pages/ISS.html#rain heater


This link is to my old site, and not that well updated, its going to be a job over winter I think.

You do really nice work and document your build process well. I enjoyed viewing the various parts of your "build information" section of your website.

 =D>

Greg H.
« Last Edit: December 22, 2014, 11:02:40 AM by miraculon »


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CWOP: CW4114 and KE8DAF-13
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Offline kobuki

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Re: YARCH - Yet Another Rain Collector Heater
« Reply #15 on: December 09, 2014, 09:29:01 AM »
In hopes that anyone needs it can find this info via Google, here're the measurements:
  • distance between the rain heater screw mounting holes: 2.5" (63.5 mm)

EDIT1,2: removed hole data, screw size is in the #7720 manual
« Last Edit: December 09, 2014, 09:42:58 AM by kobuki »

 

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