Topic: Leaf wetness sensor unwell...

[Bashy]

Hi folks, it looks like my Leaf wetness sensor is playing up, it surprises me to be honest because there's not a lot to them, but alas, it wont go below 1.3, prior to this it wouldnt go below 0.1 straight after adding WLL, i could live with 0.1 but 1.3 is a bit too much, has anyone heard of this, is this how they end up when dying, please? And is there a Davis equivalent or does it have to be Davis again of which would be typical as they are not one of the cheaper sensors

PS, i have scrubbed it clean and pulled out the connector and wipe it just in case, but still the same

EDIT: now it wont go below 1.4, oh, it has now but took many hours to get back to 1.3


EDIT: It looks like it's the board that's playing up, I've swapped it over to leaf 2 and that's working OK, swapped it back to leaf 1 and its now at 1.6, it takes hour to drop to 1.3 and then seems to stay at 1.3.


I should mention that it's not actually used as a leaf wetness sensor, it's a rain duration sensor, it's heated, so I know instantly when the rain starts and pretty much when it stops because its heated, it dries it much quicker. So for 1, I know how long the rain session was for and 2, I get alerted the moment the rain starts and stops.

Can the boards be repaired?

Swapped it for another board i had and all working as it was before, just awaiting further info from Davis Support

[Mapantz]

Hi Bashy

Sorry to ask in here, it was just a coincidence that I was looking for some info on it..

If you use the leaf wetness sensor with a WLL, do you get a higher resolution figure? I only saw increments of 1 in the manual..

Thanks!

[Bashy]

Hi Bashy

Sorry to ask in here, it was just a coincidence that I was looking for some info on it..

If you use the leaf wetness sensor with a WLL, do you get a higher resolution figure? I only saw increments of 1 in the manual..

Thanks!

Yes, i get (12.1 for example) but also mine starts at 0.1 in WLL when mine is dry, but that could be because i have cut off the smaller section as that wasn't heated as noted in my sig below, the large 0.1...

[Mapantz]

Yes, i get (12.1 for example) but also mine starts at 0.1 in WLL when mine is dry, but that could be because i have cut off the smaller section as that wasn't heated as noted in my sig below, the large 0.1...

OK - My leaf wetness sensor arrived today, which I installed. Dry outside, so 0.1 is registering..

I've read that this sensor can be used to quick notify of rain, dew etc

I've got code in place that will notify me, but I'm wondering at what values I need to check for?

[Bashy]

I have mine glued to a box with 2 or 3, 12w/5w bulbs on that keeps the leaf sensor warm, therefore mine never has dew, so anything above 0.1 for me is rain

[Mapantz]

I have mine glued to a box with 2 or 3, 12w/5w bulbs on that keeps the leaf sensor warm, therefore mine never has dew, so anything above 0.1 for me is rain

Interesting!

I'm really enjoying having these extra sensors. We had some very fine drizzle earlier, it didn't even wet the ground. The sensor picked up straight away! Now the sky has cleared and the sun has gone down, the air is cooling quickly, moisture is beginning to form and the sensor is marching upward.

[Bashy]

Mine rarely picks up drizzle due to the heater side of things, I also cut the tacks at the bottom as that area was covered by the box lid, I'm on a bit the lower smaller part of it, I just Stanley knifed the tracks lol. But alas, I am going to let the Davis setup fade away and replace it with ecowitt, not sure I like the leaf sensor though, moght be harder to modify, will have to see, glad it's working well for you

[GlynH]

I'm looking for a way to add an 'Is It Raining' feature to my Wireless VP2 and had considered the Leaf Sensor.

Is this a reliable way to achieve rainfall start/stop? I know its not a cheap option as one would also need the Leaf/Soil Station which would be wholly underused with just a single Leaf Sensor but if it works seamlessly it might be a price worth paying.

Where would it be best mounted for this particular purpose?

And finally how are the results incorporated into the Davis iOS app and Weatherlink.com for example and can it be set to give rain start/stop alerts?

End of questions...

Thanks & kind regards,
-=Glyn=-

[tandy1000]

Unfortunately I don't think the leaf sensor accurately represents rain, as it can easily read 15 when it's not raining. Here's some data of the leaf wetness vs the rain rate. A bit hard to see on the graph, but CSV also included of the same data.

[Bashy]

The leaf can accurately represent rain and can be alerted to it too using the alarms.

Mine does not detect dew as its constantly heated, mine records the 1st instance of rain and then the diy heater dries it a short time later thus signalling that its stopped raining. You can see this on the graphs shown below, this is in late winter, evening time with no sun, by rights the leaf sensor should have stated moisture throughout the whole even and not drying off til much later, perhaps not until the next day.

I use the Weather Display software the does all my alerting for me, if even changes my websites to say rain etc.

The heater. I took the sensor off the original mount. i then cut the tracks to remove the lower smaller section and mounted it to an outside electrical junction box with the top cutout enough that all the tracks would be exposed to the heat. I added 3x 5w 12v bulbs spread out (can be done with one and some foil i spose). Then connected it to a PC psu. thats it. been working for the last what 6 years i think...