Topic: 5-in-1 Anemometer Bind/Screech After Two Months?

[Aaron407]

I've had my 5-in-1 up on our roof for about two months now, and recently noticed that I wasn't getting measured wind speeds for lighter winds. Today I could really hear it screeching as the wind was intermittently spinning it (https://youtu.be/2pI_B9DPPWI). Is it common for the anemometer shaft/bearings to require lubrication on such a new unit, especially one that hasn't ever seen rain? It's been cold here, but nothing outside of the range of operation. I'll be pulling it down this weekend to clean and lube with a dry graphite spray, but I'm curious of everyone's thoughts.

[sky_watcher]

The only time I've had that was a long time ago and the unit was about 5 years old when the bearing started to seize.

[DoctorKnow]

When I had mine over the roof, it dried out the bearings and the anemometer seized. At two months, I would seek warranty replacement if you cannot free the anemometer. There are two bearings, one just above the magnet, and one just below the top hat for the spoons. You must get both of these free.

[Aaron407]

Well, I pulled it down and opened it up yesterday. There wasn't any noticeable contamination, but I sprayed out the bearings with a bit of WD40 first to penetrate any corrosion, then a heavy dose of contact cleaner to rinse out the WD40, then compressed air, then lubricated them well with a dry graphite spray. Things seemed to be working better, so I put it back up on the roof and it seemed to be spinning well. However, it only lasted until this morning when it seems to be seized up again, so I'm guessing that there's just a bad bearing in it. I guess I'll see if the warranty means anything on this thing. What a pain.

[DoctorKnow]

The only good way to get to these bearings is to tear down the anemometer. Pulling the magnet bar off the bottom is one way, the other way is taking off the anemometer spoon top. Neither is easy, and you can break the plastic anemometer too.

[Aaron407]

I had it ripped apart to that level yesterday, but didn't remove the bearings from the shaft. I didn't remove the magnet bar since I didn't want to have a problem with clearances later for reed operation, but I had the cups pulled and the anemometer section separated from the aspiration assembly so I could directly access the bearings. I'm going to try a different approach today and see if it lasts, but I also contacted acurite customer service to inquire about the warranty process.

[DoctorKnow]

I've gotten lucky. Mine haven't given me any issues that I know of since using dry graphite after cleaning the grit out of them I soaked mine to clean them in something similar to WD 40.

[Aaron407]

I pulled it apart again and removed the bearings to clean and lubricate. I used non-chlorinated brake cleaner and compressed air to clean them up, and gun/reel lubricant to lube them up. They seem to be spinning quite well now. Hopefully they'll last this time, but, if not, I'll likely just replace the bearings. For anyone else looking to do so in the future, the bearings are 10mm OD, 5mm ID, 4mm thick, and run just a few dollars online.

[Aaron407]

Well, it's stuck again, so I'm guessing there's just a bad bearing. Acurite got back to me and said they'd send a new anemometer assembly under warranty. I also ordered a set of better bearings. There are options at any rate, but it's unfortunate to have to do this on something that's only been running for a few months.

[DoctorKnow]

What set of bearings did you order? I think I'll order some as well and see if there is any difference. If anyone knows of a good set please post. I don't want any that stick and I'm sure there are bad ones out there.

[Aaron407]

I ordered these ones: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00ZVF8OHK/ref=pe_3034960_233709270_TE_item

My primary driver was to get ones that had rubber seals and an ABEC rating. The ones that look like the original ones in the anemometer look to be a cheap generic without any ratings, but I could be wrong.

[DoctorKnow]

Aaron,

How did the bearings work out? I never did get around to ordering any, so kind of curious... I probably will this summer.

[Aaron407]

I actually received the warranty replacement top hat at the same time that I received the bearings, so I was able to compare them after replacing the bearings. The warranty part still spun a bit more freely, but just marginally, so I installed it and will be keeping the original with new bearings as a backup. I wonder if I have a slight bend in the shaft that's causing it to not spin quite as well, but it was still freely spinning overall. My fundamentally non-scientific check for whether or not it's spinning "freely enough" is to have it indoors and turn the bottom assembly, and if the cups are stay in place when the bottom is rotated it's probably free enough.

[DoctorKnow]

That's interesting. Thanks for sharing.

I recently added some dry lube to mine as I thought the anemometer looked a little stiff. It did seem to make a good difference. We had a wind event here over the last two days, and I hit 30 MPH, which was what other stations were reading within a few MPH that report to the NWS - One location did hit 47 MPH, but I think it reads too high sometimes.

[daman]

I always lube mine with some 3n1house oil, never a problem in 3 years now spins so freely and never any noise.