Hi A1. Do you find that it still heats too much.? And if so, how much does it decrease the temp by compared to temp from the 5in1?
I have a tower and the 5-in-1. The 5-in-1 (about 30ft above ground) has better temperatures (close or equal to neighbors within 2 miles) overnight and into mid-morning. At about 11AM local the temperature in it spikes up to 6 degrees warmer if it's a sunny day. About 1.5 hours later the temperatures drop back down. I've got a new dual panel unit (Ordered a couple weeks ago) to replace mine with (I bought the dual panels for it before I first put it up a couple years ago so it's one of the older units) I think the reason for the spike is the fan stops turning when the sun is directly in front of the unit and not directly into either of the panels.
My tower sensor (different location in my yard)was in a homemade shield. It gets direct sun from about 20 minutes after sunrise for about 30 minutes. When it hit my homemade shield the temperature would rise about 2-3 degrees over the 5-in-1 but would stabilize back down and equal within a degree once back in the shade. Overnight on the tower it was about 1.5 degrees warmer.
Now with the AcuRite Solar Radiation shield on it I'm spiking about 6 degrees (in a matter of minutes) and then remaining warmer longer once the morning sun hits it and it's back in the shade again. Night time still is about 1.5 warmer, but I kind of expect that. I'm just trying to deal with the direct sun on it for that 30 minute window in the morning. Hopefully I can help this out with the small solar powered fan I ordered to draw the cool air up into and over the sensor. The air is also usually quite calm in the morning, so no breeze to blow through the shield to help.
I can't really tell how well ventilated this new radiation shield is from the pics on the acurite site. It seems that it is somewhat effective from the comments seen here. I switched to using the temp/humidity data from a 3in1 as my official temp readings. This allows for a much greater air flow around the sensor. There is still some extra heating involved since the plastic does retain heat. However anything short of a FARS IMHO will show higher temps. I will hold off ordering this until I can see some more detailed pics of the design.
Thanks
The shield is not as large as the Ambient weather model. In the case of sensor shields, larger is definitely better. I know, because I built a smaller version, and it was not near as effective as the current shield I am using, with large bowls, and painted glossy white. It does a very good job. If you can locate the acurite shield in partial shade, or aspirate it, that would probably be enough, but if you have it in the sun all day, like CWOP says, it may hold heat if you don't have a steady breeze.
Here are the ambient specs vs Acurite....
Outer Dimensions (WxLxH): 7.4" x 9.2" x 10.9"
Dimensions 7.5-inch Height x 5.375-inch Width x 4-inch Depth