$30 Rain Collector Heater - simple!!

[W3DRM]

Yes, nice job    

When you get your ac-powered DFARS running, please let us know how you did it. I'm thinking about doing the same thing myself.

[schwab]

Has anyone from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Canada, or other cold, cold locales installed this DIY rain gauge - collector heater?

I live in Minnesota. 

Is the 25W Repti Heat Cable sufficient in zero to subzero temperatures to keep the VP2 from freezing-up?

Is the 50W Repti Heat Cable a better choice?

[weathergirl]

I have found the 25W Repti Heat Cable to be more than satisfactory

[Gretnawx]

Any chance you could share/post the template for the plastic cut-outs that attach to the curved inside portion of rain cone?  I'd like to make one of these and why re-invent the wheel if you happen to have a template handy?  Thanks in advance.

At 7400ft it's getting about that time to start thinking about cold weather. Still following SpartanWX's basic design posted 4 1/2 years ago, and with the generous help of W3DRM, I followed his idea for using plastic strips to hold the heater cord element for the rain bucket heater.

For the plastic material, I found a 3-pack of kitchen cutting boards for $10 at a discount store.


Using a hand-held wood jigsaw cutter, I carved out four straight and four curved strips from one of the cutting boards. The curved ones were obviously the hardest to cut. I just guessed at the proper curve, placed them against the cone to test-fit and made corrections as needed. If I had a Dremel tool, it would made the process much easier.


JOE sent me a copy of his CAD insulation template (thanks Joe!). The template is used to cut the Frost King foam insulation material that lines the inside of the bucket.



Zoo Med Repti Heat Cable, 25 watts.


The four curved plastic strips (the ones nearest the drip hole) are glued to the cone with epoxy. The four straight strips are held directly onto the insulation with silicone adhesive. The heating element is held in the slots with silicone as well. Notice the blue ring on the heater cord indicating the point where heating ends.


Notch in bucket and cable secured with clip.


Shelter mounted behind the ISS houses electrical connection for the heater (and ac-powered DFARS, coming soon).

[gvmelbrty]

Any chance you could share/post the template for the plastic cut-outs that attach to the curved inside portion of rain cone?  I'd like to make one of these and why re-invent the wheel if you happen to have a template handy?  Thanks in advance.

Dang! I wish I would have thought of that. Those things are permanently epoxied in there now.

You can eye-ball it like I did on the first cut and if you have a Dremmel or other fine wood working tools (I didn't), you can then make finer adjustments as needed. Or, perhaps you can use a piece of paper and make curved cuts on it until you get it to fit flush against the cone. Then you can use that as your curve guide. ??

I thought about using wood to make the strips, but the environment inside that bucket is very extreme and I felt that even treated wood would begin to deteriorate over time.

Some more info/tips I shared with "schwab" about the plastic strips:

• As far as the slots cut into the plastic strips, if you can make those just small enough so that the heater element sorta snaps into them, it will keep them from falling out while you're putting the cord in. In you do it right, you may not even need silicone to hold the cord in place (I had to use silicone to hold mine in). The way I tried to accomplish this is by first using a drill bit about the size of the element cord to place a hole where I wanted the element to be. Then, I cut a slot leading to the hole. That way you'll be able to push the element through the slot where it will snap into the drilled hole. Optionally, to further insure the cord will stay put, you can cut your slots at an angle that points up when the bucket is in its upright, installed position.
  
  Also, because the cord is spiraling down the middle and then up the sides, I tried to stagger my slots to accommodate this spiral. You can lay your four middle strips together and your four outside strips together and draw diagonal lines to use as your spiral guide to locate your slots.
  
  When I first glued the strips to the bucket, I also used epoxy on the strips that are against the insulation. Those fell off after one season. I now have those applied with silicone and they have held well. The curved strips expoxied directly to the plastic aren't going anywhere.

[gvmelbrty]

Yes, nice job    

When you get your ac-powered DFARS running, please let us know how you did it. I'm thinking about doing the same thing myself.

I'll be moving soon and I've taken my weather station down, so there will be a delay before I add the ac-powered DFARS, but I'll be sure to document the procedure once I do. I'm getting most of my info for the conversion from the DFARS to 24hr conversion thread. (FYI, I'm in agreement with those who are using a diode to reduce transformer voltage in order to slow fan speed.)

And once again, W3DRM thank you very much for all the help you provided me while I was copying your plastic strip design for the rain bucket heater.

[WG Weather Station]

Couple things I might add... use a Hot Glue to affix.
Sand the foil a little first in the spots you expect to glue, use only a little glue on foil, press heat cable immediately into it, when it seems secure, add a little glue on-top of this spot so heat cable wont pull out of it. 
This 25watt heat cable is definitely the best selection SpartanWX. 

[W3DRM]

Has anyone from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Canada, or other cold, cold locales installed this DIY rain gauge - collector heater?

I live in Minnesota. 

Is the 25W Repti Heat Cable sufficient in zero to subzero temperatures to keep the VP2 from freezing-up?

Is the 50W Repti Heat Cable a better choice?

Nothing like a late response to a question but a recent post to this thread jogged my mind to re-read the thread to see how it had evolved. This thread has obviously stirred-up a lot of interest and desire of fellow weather watchers to enhance their weather stations so they worked in all kinds of weather.

I would not recommend using the 50W heat cable in any environment. First of all, it is quite a bit longer than the 25W cable (23 feet vs 15 feet) which would make it more difficult to fit into the limited space around the rain bucket. I suspect it would also develop much more heat than is really necessary and may even result in evaporation of the rain droplets "before" they are captured in the tipping bucket thus resulting in lower than actual rainfall measurements. In this case, more is not necessarily better...

I have measured the heat radiated on the surface of the rain bucket (with a remote reading IR detector) and found that even at an outside temp of around 5 degrees F, I still read just under 60 degrees F. So, think carefully BEFORE you install the higher wattage reptile heater inside the bucket.

[Jumpin Joe]

I completed my $30 Rain Collector Heater... for about $45, inflation I guess.

I used the components and methods mentioned in this posting with great success. To power it, as needed, I purchased an outdoor rainproof box and cover that is normally used for a duplex receptacle, left the outlet out and simply plugged the Reptile heater into the Thermo-Cube and plugged that into an outdoor extension cord and placed all of it inside the box under the cover. I installed it 3 days ago and tested it for its snow melting abilities last night with about 5.5 inches of snow that started out as very wet snow and very dry snow towards the end of the storm. Prior to the storm I had left it plug in and monitored the temperature reading of my VP2 for a two days and did not notice any change in the readings using another thermometer I have used previously for comparisons.

Bottom line this was a great idea by other members of the forum and it saved me a lot of $'s.

Joe 

[W3DRM]

Joe,

Glad to hear you were successful in building your own heater. 

You are probably correct, inflation has resulted in a higher cost to build the unit but it's still much less expensive than the Davis design.

[Jumpin Joe]

It sure is Don.