Author Topic: WS-1400-IP Wind Vane Balance Improvement  (Read 1706 times)

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Offline rormeister

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WS-1400-IP Wind Vane Balance Improvement
« on: February 16, 2018, 09:36:54 PM »
For longtime and new users alike, I’d like to share with you my findings after balancing my wind vane on the 1400. Prior to my ‘fix’ I had noticed really large compass swings on the wind direction. As a small boat sailor, I recognized this as a ‘tail heavy’ vane. So, I got to work and added weight to the bulb on the front of the vane to make the arrow point and feather to balance equally.

To do this was simple. I epoxied a little hex nut into the concave portion of the point leaving extra epoxy to permit sanding to get the perfect balance. I can say this with 100% confidence, my wind directions were improved dramatically and eliminated the majority of the errant data points.

YMMV, but for me it was a total success.  \:D/

Offline dupreezd

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Re: WS-1400-IP Wind Vane Balance Improvement
« Reply #1 on: February 17, 2018, 06:39:54 AM »
Thanks for sharing.
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Offline quailvalleywx

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Re: WS-1400-IP Wind Vane Balance Improvement
« Reply #2 on: February 17, 2018, 01:30:05 PM »
When I unpacked my ws1400 I noticed the wind vane wasn't balanced.  Just by tilting the ws1400 I could change the wind vane direction.  Maybe with the unit balanced it would be OK to have an unbalanced wind vane but who is going to be looking down at that balancing bubble after it is mounted to get the station just perfect.  Especially if your station is 20 foot up in the air!  Same idea here but ended up with two small hex nuts.  That's a great idea on extra epoxy and sanding.  I didn't get mine that close.

It still moves back and forth a lot during "straight winds".  I'm wondering if they couldn't have made the vane heavier to dampen it out a little bit.

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Offline rormeister

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Re: WS-1400-IP Wind Vane Balance Improvement
« Reply #3 on: February 19, 2018, 09:19:11 PM »
It’s more about the length of the feather. Short reach means a lot of movement. So if it is balanced better it should (hypothetically) dampen the movement somewhat. The unit would be more forgiving if the vane were 8 inches or so.

Offline sinan0310

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Re: WS-1400-IP Wind Vane Balance Improvement
« Reply #4 on: February 23, 2018, 12:20:20 PM »
give me WU ıd please
WU ID: IISTANBU111
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Offline quailvalleywx

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Re: WS-1400-IP Wind Vane Balance Improvement
« Reply #5 on: February 23, 2018, 06:38:21 PM »
I put my station ids in my profile to show up below this post if you want to look at wind direction with more balanced wind vane.  The WU history before Jan 27, 2017 will show direct output of the WS-1400 but the days after that have a software filter added to try and smooth out the readings.  The filter averages the readings of the last 4 minutes.  I wish the vane was longer like what rormeister mentioned.  The station siting is OK during winter since adjacent big trees have no leaves but during the summer NW and SE have some blockage.
WS-1400-IP, Galaxy S3 for cloud cam and Web Server
QV Website | Source Code | WU | WC | PWS | MesoWest/CWOP