Topic: StormTracker for Christmas

[Dr Obbins]

Well at least I am not the first one with a new Christmas gift asking "How To" questions. 

So I got a Stormtracker!  I read that it should be mounted away from metal. The house is brick, except for the roof trim is metal. How far should the antenna be from this metal?

Due to the nasty weather, I will be mounting it outside this weekend. Is this a good temporary indoor setup? 

[chief-david]

Must have come from Italy-It said FRAG ILE' on the box

[DanS]

So I got a Stormtracker!    Due to the nasty weather, I will be mounting it outside this weekend. Is this a good temporary indoor setup? 

Setup looks good but be sure that shade is screwed down tight before mounting it outside else the wind may take it.

[mackbig]

Is that stiletto pointed true north or magentic north 

Andrew

[Dr Obbins]

Actually I decided not to mount it outside. I think placing it in the front picture window would provide the best reception. The toe ends up facing east though, so I will have to compensate with the software. This way it looks better from the street - you know gotta keep the better half happy.

[dalecoy]

I read that it should be mounted away from metal. The house is brick, except for the roof trim is metal. How far should the antenna be from this metal?

"Several feet".  And the answer partly depends on "what direction from the metal"?

Where do you plan to mount it?  How do you plan to mount it?

[Aardvark]

yes, I am jealous and yes, it looks cute.

Somewhere I saw people put it up in their attic.   I would like to have such a toy, but I have no need... it never rains in Iowa anyway.   However, we have that steel roof and I would be that with wood, plastic, sheathing and steel in that order, my signal might not be great.

Have you tested it with one of the Pizo lighters?   It makes a quick blip when you get it to light the butane that is supposed to show up for a short from a short distance.

I guess if I had one, I would be tempted to bore a hole through the brick of the foundation and bury cable out to my anemometer mast, and run the cable up there, but then again... the wife finding out factor weighs in heavy.

My concern with the leg..  are you getting the strikes showing up that way?

[Dr Obbins]

I read that it should be mounted away from metal. The house is brick, except for the roof trim is metal. How far should the antenna be from this metal?

"Several feet".  And the answer partly depends on "what direction from the metal"?

Where do you plan to mount it?  How do you plan to mount it?

The back of the house faces north and the roof has a 12, 12 pitch. The center section of the roof is raised up 3'. The plan is to make one of those pvc enclosures and mount it on the side of the raised center section. This is where the aluminmum trim is though( running N-S). So if it needs to be 3' from the metal, it would have to be 3' higher than the roofline. This wouild be getting close to being the tallest point around thought.

I had thought about the attic, but don't know how the wire would be run. Had some software  installation errors so it is not working yet. Currently I am tied up with family stuff, so it wil be Saturday before I get to play.

[Aardvark]

yup still jealous and drooling... 

[Dr Obbins]

 

yup still jealous and drooling... 

[dalecoy]

Mounting:  For the installation you described, think about using a 10-ft piece of 2-inch PVC pipe.

[mackbig]

Is your house a 2 storey, or bungalow?  If 2 storey is your wx room on the second floor?   Its not that hard to find the interior wall header board, just measure in a certain distance from outside wall, drill a hole slighty larger than rj45 plug.  In the room below cut a hole in the drywall using a low volt outlet as a template.   drop your wire from the top, shine a flash light in and use a bent coat hanger to grab wire.  Put a single cat5 wall plate on the low volt outlet.  Pull the wire into your office and there you go.

Here's a pic of my install.



The pvc is two pieces and the bottom one was melted flat with a blow torch, the coupling is not glued so I could micro adjust the direction.

Andrew

[Dr Obbins]

Finally back home today.

The back of the house faces north and the roof has a 12, 12 pitch.

Actually that is the front of the house. The back has a more gentle slope.    A picture is worth a thousand words. The 2nd floor room is where the weather computer is The siding is vinyl, but the trim (circled) and rain gutter is metal.

 My first choice would be the blue location because it can be strongly mounted. Actually it would be the other side of the room where there is already abandoned mounting brackets.

The second option is the yellow next to the webcam. I would be concerned about strength if it had to be mounted much over 12"-18" over the rain gutter.

mackbig - The attic would be my third choice due to the antenna not being easily accessible and me not being a nimble as I used to be. 

[dalecoy]

"My first choice would be the blue location because it can be strongly mounted. Actually it would be the other side of the room where there is already abandoned mounting brackets. "

Looks good to me.  Could you describe (or photograph) the abandoned mounting brackets?  If the brackets are suitable, I would use a "long" piece of PVC, as large a diameter as the brackets will accommodate, and then adjust the length to not be very "bendy".  That's going to be a decent installation.

[Aardvark]

We have an attic, it has one of those little openings that come through the ceiling of a closet and getting up there involves a ladder, then balance on a shelf that you hope is still willing to support me and then you pop up through the hole like a woodchuck checking if the coast is clear...

After we got our steel roof and the contractor put in a new attic vent fan that is supposed to trigger when the humidity is not nice in the winter to keep ice from forming and then the temp in the summer when it gets hot up there.  I wanted to see how close the temp/humidity was.   Not being one for going up there and missing a joist and having a foot through the ceiling... I mounted the sensor and the passive radiation screen to a board  Kindof like an L mounted on square of plywood/composite board.  then extended the cable (it is normally a couple of feet)  and then popped up in the hole and slid the unit to where I wanted it and would be able to snag it if I needed to, then ran the cable extension through the opening ( I didn't have to drill a hole) into the closet.  Since it runs on a Cr123a anyway, I get a good signal and continuous data.

So what I am proposing is that if you could do a mount like Mackbig has but on a mount such as I described, then run you cable to your unit, you should have to do this only once.  The unit has the option for a cable extension they make.

[Dr Obbins]

"My first choice would be the blue location because it can be strongly mounted. Actually it would be the other side of the room where there is already abandoned mounting brackets. "

Looks good to me.  Could you describe (or photograph) the abandoned mounting brackets?  If the brackets are suitable, I would use a "long" piece of PVC, as large a diameter as the brackets will accommodate, and then adjust the length to not be very "bendy".  That's going to be a decent installation.

There are 2 "TV" mounting brackets screwed into the side and one "flagpole" mount on the roof directly under the brackets. A 1"dia pvc pipe fits into them. I would like to get it enough above the metal to work correctly, but keep it low enough not to attract attention (or lightening strikes). What would you recommend?

Currently there is a lite snow and a windchill of 24. Tomorrow it will warm up to 35 and get sunny, so it looks like good mounting weather. I did get the software working and it picked up 2 static shocks that I got.

[dalecoy]

Looks good to me.  Could you describe (or photograph) the abandoned mounting brackets?  If the brackets are suitable, I would use a "long" piece of PVC, as large a diameter as the brackets will accommodate, and then adjust the length to not be very "bendy".  That's going to be a decent installation.

There are 2 "TV" mounting brackets screwed into the side and one "flagpole" mount on the roof directly under the brackets. A 1"dia pvc pipe fits into them. I would like to get it enough above the metal to work correctly, but keep it low enough not to attract attention (or lightening strikes). What would you recommend?

A.  Quit worrying about lightning strikes on this "antenna" - you are going to encapsulate this plastic box inside a PVC bubble.  And you absolutely cannot attract lightning.

B.  You "should" get the actual antenna up above the rest of your roof, by a few feet.  There are metal plates and wiring, etc., in your attic.  Not a huge deal, but ....

C.  1-inch PVC is much much much too "bendy".  And those mounting brackets will handle larger PVC.  If the ones on the side won't go to at least 1-1/2 inch PVC OD, then replace them with ones that will.

D.  You will find it easier to make the "bubble" for the antenna if you use 2" PVC, but at least go with 1-1/2".    [And remember to not use metal screws to attach the antenna to the bubble - get plastic ones, or use glue, or...]

E.  My personal preference would be to use the entire 10-ft length of PVC, but at least go 5 or 6 feet above the top bracket.  This isn't nearly as ugly as an outside TV antenna or dish.   

[Dr Obbins]

My previous house was the last one on the power line and it was hit twice by lightning. A friend at the power company tells me that the last house get hit more often for some reason. I built this house next door to the previous house and it is taller. I realize that the detector will not bring lightning, but I would prefer if it hit the utility pole in the back yard instead of the house. While I am not worrying that much about it, it is in the back of my mind. There is also the WAF (wife approval factor) that needs to be considered when it comes to the house appearance. 

Thanks for your insight. Hopefully I can post some installation pictures tomorrow.

[dalecoy]

WAF well understood.   

You can't predict where lightning will hit - but it's a lot more likely to hit the power pole (or some part of your roof) than it is to hit a PVC pipe.

[Dr Obbins]

Got it installed and operational today. The antenna is about 5' over the roof. Now just have to wait for a storm. Test Page

[Aardvark]

now all you need is some nasty weather...    Time for the folks to do a rain dance, one, two , three.. kick, hop, skip, hop, hop, hop...

[dalecoy]

Got it installed and operational today. The antenna is about 5' over the roof. Now just have to wait for a storm.

Looks good and unobtrusive.  What size PVC did you use?

[morfeas2002]

I am very interested in this. I am waiting with you the first storm, to see how it behaves !!!

[Dr Obbins]

Got it installed and operational today. The antenna is about 5' over the roof. Now just have to wait for a storm.

Looks good and unobtrusive.  What size PVC did you use?

I went with the 1-1/2" PVC and I think you were right that the 1" would have been too bendy.

now all you need is some nasty weather...    Time for the folks to do a rain dance, one, two , three.. kick, hop, skip, hop, hop, hop...

Got some rain on schedule for tomorrow, but not any storms. 

[Aardvark]

well something to generate a spark so you can pick it up.