Hi guys,
First of all, I'm totally new to this hobby and I'm having a blast playing around.
My stations is a cheapo Zephyr/Watson/Fine Offset/ WH1081/Multi-branded model that sells for about $120.00 U.S..
My reason for posting is a recent discovery I've made with this station.
First off, this model does come with a radiation sheild although it's tiny compared to my dad's Davis VP2 (approx. 1-1/2" diameter).
Although this shield does block the direct sunlight, it also still shows up to 4 degrees F higher than other local stations that are mounted in the shade.
My station is mounted on a post setup approx. 5 foot above my garage roof. Early on I decided that my main problem was a lack of ventilation through the radiation sheild, but I really didn't know what to do about it.
After giving a lot of thought to building my own aspirated shield, I decided to play around with my mounting and came up with the following solution:
My Wind setup consists of a seperate directional sensor and speed sensor.
I moved the temp/humidity sensor to approx. 1", directly below the wind speed sensor, thinking that the movement from the speed sensor woudl provide some air flow across the temp sensor.
Well today I gave this setup it's first test and although it's not perfect, I was impressed with the results.
When the air movement was below 5 mph, I still got about a 1 - 2 degree F increase in temp readings above those of neighboring stations.
When the air movement was above 5 mph I was pretty much right on with my readings and anything over 6 mph air movement I was the same if not lower than my neighbor's readings.
I know that one day doesn't tell the story, but I did find these readings interesting.
If this continues to work out I might have found a solution that does not require an active solar radiation sheild.
I'll try to keep everyone updated with my results and I hope this helps someone out.
Dave