Author Topic: Inspeed Vortex vs Peet Bros PRO Anemometer vs Davis anemometer  (Read 1807 times)

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Offline Tensor

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Inspeed Vortex vs Peet Bros PRO Anemometer vs Davis anemometer
« on: October 15, 2019, 03:25:58 AM »
I'm considering to buy an affordable, yet "enough-high-quality" anemometer to be read by my Arduino. What I know, there are basically three options in the economy range: Inspeed Vortex, Peet Bros and Davis anemometers.

I have read from this forum, that Davis anemometer suffers from high threshold (1-2 mph, in despite of their claims). Peet Bros has mediocre threshold (1.5 mph), but somebody says that they break easily. Inspeed Vortex are said to be good, but I'm worried about its low-range capabilities. For me, low threshold is important. Inspeed says their anemometers are calibrated to 5+ mph speeds, but the low range is 3 mph (4.8 kph). That's way too high for me!

Any opinions?

Offline DaleReid

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Re: Inspeed Vortex vs Peet Bros PRO Anemometer vs Davis anemometer
« Reply #1 on: October 15, 2019, 07:45:03 AM »
I have no experience with Vortex.
eas
I have a Peet Bro pro (big cups) on my tower for well over ten years, probably put up the year they came out with it.  I have never had a problem with the concerns about easy breakability that I also read about.  Maybe I'm lucky.

The Davis I have on the tower is from a Vantage Pro, NOT a VP2, so that goes back a ways.  It, too, works just fine.

Maybe I'm lucky.  But as you well know, if one goes to pot, it is a real challenge to swap it out.  Most have wires that connect directly to the unit, not easily swapped out.  If the cups do give up, or the reed switch or Hall device goes south, it has to be replaced.

When I have gentle breezes, the unit that turns first is the RM Young 5103, but unless you find one inexpensively on eBay and can see if the Arduino can be used as a front end to detect the Sin wave 3 cycles per rotation, the interface may give you some design challenges. 

Davis did make a unit to plug either an NRI or Young head into and then that box changed the sin wave into a pulse that the Davis could read, but I don't think they make those any more.

One of the members here did use it and loves it from some of the info in the last (some time ago) post about his set up.

The other thing about the Peet Bro heads is that they sense wind direction ONLY if there is rotation of the cups.  I don't think they use a potentiometer the way most other heads do.  I think they sense cup rotation, and then time when the magnet goes by where the vane is pointing, so that may be something you want to research.

Just points that I thought of when I read your post.  Dale
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Offline CW2274

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Re: Inspeed Vortex vs Peet Bros PRO Anemometer vs Davis anemometer
« Reply #2 on: October 15, 2019, 04:03:05 PM »
I have read from this forum, that Davis anemometer suffers from high threshold (1-2 mph, in despite of their claims).
One member here stated his new VP2 anny sucked compared to his old one, just for this reason. I, however, bought a new wind speed cartridge about six months ago because the old one was also experiencing this problem, it was about six years old. The new cart has been a fantastic performer, it will register 1mph all day long, and I suppose if your software will allow, it might even display lower than that. The cups will now even spin when the near by trees have no movement whatsoever.

Offline Tensor

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Re: Inspeed Vortex vs Peet Bros PRO Anemometer vs Davis anemometer
« Reply #3 on: October 16, 2019, 03:21:24 AM »
I have also read that Young's propeller anemometer has surprisingly good threshold - Young seems to give pessimistic estimates fo the threshold values.
But I think the high-end cup anemometers are unbeatable what comes to sensitivity. Vector 100 anemometer has threshold of just 0.15 m/s. Unluckily Young and Vector among of others are just too expensive...
It's a bit odd that any consumer grade cup anemometer can't beat a turbine type anemeometer at sensitivity.

Good to know Davis has improved the threshold. But I cannot be sure, what cartridge version of the anemometer I can buy from a given shop (I don't live in USA or Canada).

In addition to these, I found NRG 40C. It's a bit more expensive, but should be accurate. However, its threshold is 0.78 m/s, or 1.75 mph. Even Peet Bros is more sensitive than that, unless somebody has better information.

Is Peet Bros or a refreshed-cartridge Davis more sensitive to low speeds?


« Last Edit: October 16, 2019, 03:25:34 AM by Tensor »

Offline DaleReid

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Re: Inspeed Vortex vs Peet Bros PRO Anemometer vs Davis anemometer
« Reply #4 on: October 16, 2019, 07:14:34 AM »
I cannot answer your last question, but would make one comment:

You are concerned with near-zero wind speed and the detection of that.  In my observation over the years.  there are very few, very few, times that I have either zero wind speed, or close to it.  I look  up at my wind sensors and it is rare that one of them, or all three Youngs, aren't responding to some degree of air movement.  The leaves on the trees (in season) seem to move a bit and at the correct height above the ground (33 feet, I believe) there seems to be air movement more than 95% of the time.  I think that this is common, and even more so near bodies of water.

While doing your research you learn about these wind sensors and monitors and understand better how they work, since wind will be occurring far more often than just this gentle movement or still conditions that you seek, I'm hoping you won't drive yourself to distraction by worrying about this relatively rare situation.

But there are those who want their humidity to be very accurate, or temperatures to a tenth of a degree, and that is their focus and object of study and implementation.

I'm thinking that while you strive for the very best, ANY of these choices will be very good.  Far better than what Beaufort Scale observations would come up with!

Let us know what you end up choosing. 
Dale
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Offline Tensor

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Re: Inspeed Vortex vs Peet Bros PRO Anemometer vs Davis anemometer
« Reply #5 on: August 11, 2021, 06:29:45 AM »
Let us know what you end up choosing. 

It has been a while, but I remembered this topic recently and decided to report back. Instead of Davis, Peet Bros or Inspeed, I purchased an used Thies First Class cup anemometer. I tried to search from the forum, but looks like nobody really like had experiences from it. Therefore, I write here my notes about it.

The sensor is really professional grade and it can be seen immediately. The only plastic parts of the sensor are the robust cups themselves and their support arms, otherwise it's made of aluminum. The sensor is rather large and feels rugged, but it does not affect starting speed or response length. The sensitivity of the bearings is unbelievable, I think it rotates slowly but steadily when the wind speed is 0.2 m/s (0.45 mph) or so. The sensor responds very fast to sudden gusts, and I can capture them all. Naturally, the sampling rate is not limited by any means thanks to the pulse output.

In conclusion, I am happy with the sensor and recommend the others to consider used professional cup anemometers as well. I do not have experience of RM Young devices, but I presume the sensitivity of a turbine type anemometer cannot be at least better. Maybe somebody could compare  :-)