I was wondering how the WGR800 performs at very high wind speeds. Unfortunately, I don't have access to a wind tunnel.
Well, perhaps the thing could be spun up manually instead? I guessed based on the mouting radius of the wind cups that at 120MPH wind speed (also 176ft/sec or 53.6m/s) the cups would be spinning between 4000 and 5000RPM. I couldn't figure out any way to manually spin the cups that fast. So, I cheated.
I took the anemometer apart and got an electronic switch (N-channel FET). Then by applying a variable frequency signal to the switch I could simulate any wind speed I wanted.
Test frequencies were from 5Hz up to 100Hz. I'm not sure how many switch closures the magnet generates per revolution so I don't know if 100Hz corresponds to 6000RPM (one switch per revolution) or maybe 3000RPM (two switches per revolution).
The relationship between the frequency (how many switch cycles per second, aka Hertz) and reported wind speed is perfectly linear. Here's what I measured:
Wind Speed (m/s) = Frequency (cycles per second) * 0.5348 + 0.26
So, I still don't know how the unit works in extreme wind but did confirm that it will report extreme wind speeds if the cups will spin fast enough.
Wondering if anyone else has experience with the WGR800 in extreme wind speeds?
