When we lived down in South MO, they built a $10 million dollar bridge across Bryant Creek. Two months later, we got a lot of rain and it ended up getting under the bridge and pushed it up, moved it and broke it into pieces. When it was calm, even without the bridge, we could get to the town in that direction by driving the 4x4 Suburban across the creek. It was about 12-18 inches deep but not fast moving. Clear enough water to see the bottom too, else I wouldn't have tried.
Have you figured out an electronic gizmo that measures rainfall? ;)
Well of course I have and since the thread is nearing it's end, it's time for one of those Pollard posts.(or 2 or 3 or)
All the full featured consumer level weather stations have a rain gauge built in, plus you can buy stand-alone models which is my preference to an all-in-one station.
https://rainwise.com/wired-rain-gauge
8 inch tipping bucket (Meets NWS Specifications)
8" tipping bucket is a misnomer because there's a little tray inside that actually tips over and empties when a certain amount of rain is collected in it. The 8 inch dia part is to protect the tipping bucket from wind.
One side fills up until it tips, then the other side fills up until it tips.
On each tip, the magnet triggers the reed switch as it passes by and gives a pulse signal of electricity that the controller will read. It's a digital input that can be set to Counter mode to count the pulses.
Each tip is a known amount of rain(0.01” per tip for this one). 100 tips = 1 inch of rain. There's a setting in the controller called Slope(multiplier) that I'd set for 0.01 and the result is 100 = 1.
Then I can view it and click on it to reset it on the display page. (I cheated and added an offset of 2 which makes it start at 2 instead of 0 - just so it would read 2 for the screenshot)
It can also be set to reset when it gets to a certain number which is a little useless in this case. I can set up the log file to log the rainfall every day/week/month etc. With a little programming code, I could get it to log rainfall once a day/week/month and then reset it. If I give the controller internet access, I could have it log, email me the log file and reset the counter every day/week/month. I'm seriously considering connecting the controller(s) to the web. I need to see if there's a way to do it just for emailing the log file and real-time monitoring with no ability control anything remotely.
Ok, you talked me into it ;~)
FREE Shipping woo hoo.
I may end up getting one of these to keep the birds from perching on it.
Next on the list is the part to make the RocketBombPlane read wind speed because the little a cup anemometer is lame. The coil I need is $68 plus about $20 for shipping. Have to call them to order parts. Old School. The propeller on the RocketBombPlane is spinning all the time but it takes at least 3 mph to make the 3 cup spin.
Bugs me to see the propeller spinning away while the cups just sit there. There's a possibility that I've called the 3 cup thing bad names.
With the rain gauge being near the RocketBombPlane that's almost constantly spinning and rotating, I might not need the bird spikes.