Topic: 5 in 1 reports we received 13 inches of rain today...

[Nathaniel]

Hello everyone,

In SoCal so don't get rain too frequently, however we have had a decent amount of rain in the last 2 months. Today we had a good amount (0.8 inches according to phone weather app) but MyAcurite reports 13 inches from my two year old 5 in 1. I read that one can calibrate the 5 in 1, but that seems like an awful lot of adjustment (If even possible) to make. Before I go down that road and perhaps make things worse, is there any other explanation or direction I should take?

The sensor is mounted on a PVC pipe about 3 feet off the ground.

No sprinklers or kids with hoses around either.

It was windy at times.

Thanks.

[Mirwin275]

Hello everyone,

In SoCal so don't get rain too frequently, however we have had a decent amount of rain in the last 2 months. Today we had a good amount (0.8 inches according to phone weather app) but MyAcurite reports 13 inches from my two year old 5 in 1. I read that one can calibrate the 5 in 1, but that seems like an awful lot of adjustment (If even possible) to make. Before I go down that road and perhaps make things worse, is there any other explanation or direction I should take?

The sensor is mounted on a PVC pipe about 3 feet off the ground.

No sprinklers or kids with hoses around either.

It was windy at times.

Thanks.

You mentioned it is on a pvc pipe and was windy at times. The only things I can think of is there has been too much swaying of your 5-in-1, which was tipping the rain gauge buckets or you have a critter of some kind inside tipping the buckets.

[karlzemlin]

You mentioned it is on a pvc pipe and was windy at times. The only things I can think of is there has been too much swaying of your 5-in-1, which was tipping the rain gauge buckets.

That's my guess.  When I first had my 5-in-1 up on a PVC pole I had the same thing happen - many inches of rain reported on a dry but windy day.  I added guy-lines to stabilize the instrument and it didn't happen again.

[vreihen]

Many moons ago, my 5-in-1 logged a similar amount of rain from a 1/2 hour downpour.  It was the only rain gauge that I had at the time, and it was obviously wrong by at least 10".  I now have 6 different rain gauges (including a 4" Stratus/CoCoRaHS cylinder) out in the yard, and the 5-in-1 has behaved itself ever since.....

[Nathaniel]

Thanks for the replies. I'll add some guy-lines to stabilize it and see if that makes any difference.

Does anyone know if it is possible to edit the rain fall data? I'd hate to have my whole year rainfall amount skewed due to this.