Measure wind speed and direction with ultrasonic anemometer and Arduino | Hacker News Reader

Measure wind speed and direction with ultrasonic anemometer and Arduino

how2electronics.com

27 pointsmomirlan12 comments

TL/DR: this is super generic "convert serial device to LCD display using Arduino" tutorial, this time talking to RS-485 equipped anemometer.

Looks like the anemometer itself can only be purchased from manufacturer, for $73 + unknown shipping, and using "contact us" form only (there is no web store) [0]. And the datasheet is available by request only. Normally this would disqualify any product, but $73 is very cheap for ultrasonic anemometers, so if you really have a need for one, this is something to consider.

(but the implementation in the article itself is NOT the approach I'd recommend.. If you are buying $100 sensor, don't pair it with tiny $3 display with tiny hard-to-read letters, spend a few dollars more and get yourself a nicer, bigger display. And while at it, might as well take advantage of RS485 multipoint nature and stick a thermometer in that empty louver box underneath the device)

[0] https://www.renkeer.com/product/ultrasonic-anemometer/

It looks like it is feasible to build an ultrasonic anemometer from cheap commodity ultrasonic transmitters and receivers. Here's a paper on building one from 4 common HC-SR04 ultrasonic modules [1]. The modules are around $2 each on Amazon.

One thing I haven't been able to get good information on is what animals think of those. If I were to deploy an anemometer the only good place I've got for it is near a place birds and squirrels like to hang out. I don't want to drive them away, or harm them.

I had a similar issue with lasers. I was thinking of deploying a laser distance sensor module to try to detect when something was in front of a wildlife camera. The information from the manufacturer assured me that the laser would not harm a human eye even if the human was staring right at it at close range. But it said nothing about other animals.

[1] https://www.e3s-conferences.org/articles/e3sconf/pdf/2020/62...

Building it is half the battle. It also has to calibrated which is done in a wind tunnel. Wind angles for all directions (both laterally and vertically) have to be tested to see which measurements need to be adjusted to account for the interaction of the wind with the sensor itself. Wind speeds have to be similarly tested. For a one-off sensor, this is expensive. Less so if you make thousands of the same design.

What's wrong with it? It demonstrates how to communicate with the device, and uses a common display to show the data. Since the focus is on the anemometer, I don't think that the display matters much, as you can just use the wiring and code for the anemometer

Or buy a complete weather station which includes an anemometer. I have this one and it works well (although not for measuring light rainfall): https://shop.ecowitt.com/en-gb/products/wittboy

Less fun because nothing can be build, although the transmitted data conforms to standards and can be processed with for example https://github.com/merbanan/rtl_433. So one can gather all data with a simple dongle and process that with a RPi.

Is it theoretically possible to visualize wind currents by, like, shining UV-light (that diffracts strongly in the atmosphere)? Basically instead of putting smoke in the air, use the part of spectrum where all air is smoky.

Interesting question, it sounds like you can - https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/FutureE...

"Its laser fired pulses of ultraviolet light towards Earth’s atmosphere. This light bounced off air molecules and particles such as dust in the atmosphere. The small fraction of light that scattered back towards the satellite was collected by a large telescope."

Hm, would be nice in a handheld form :)

A few years ago I made an indoor wind chime that used an outdoor anemometer.

Since I 3d printed the anemometer, it was wiped out in a storm and I have yet to replace it. Maybe this is what I need.

Converting to a NMEA output would make this fairly handy for sailboats

Ideally self-contained to avoid running wires in the mast, e.g. A WiFi equiped Arduino with small battery and micro solar panel in weather-proof enclosure would be ideal.

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