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water gauge

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HS93:
This may interest some of the members, I was asked some time ago to make this. the brief was to make a way of determining rain fall over a day/month he is doing the electronic part using a picaxe so temp sunlight and wind will also be logged on a min by min bases it is to help him grow grapes.
any way after several and a bin full of brass and a lot of aspirin this is what I came up with , it can be calibrated to a few milligrams of water, the water is collected over a known area, this can then give you rainfall per period of time , when the desired amount of water has been fed to the bucket, the bucket will have moved down and set of a circuit activated by the reed by the round disk his has a magnet in, the servo then turns quickly to 90 deg and back and it is ready to count again, it is under trials, I hope there is not a need for a MK7 version as I am out of ideas, this one can be adjusted to set the water in the bucket and the speed it tips.

Peter :bang:

Bluechip:
Hi Peter

Very nice, sort of thing that appeals to me ..  :thumbup:

Can I ask the source of the 'universal ball joints' .. I assume that's what they are ..

Tried to get some about 2 yrs ago, all I could find were some desparately flimsy things or others which were quite industrial, a lot bigger ( and priced to suit ...  :(  than I needed ).

Those look about right ..

Dave BC

HS93:
they are just model plane/boat ball joints, i think they work out at about 35/50p each they are taped to take 2mm rod and the ball has a 2mm stud if you want an address in your area let me know.

Peter

Bluechip:
Hi Peter

Many thanks .. that was quick    :thumbup:

I got some from a local shop, in a pack of two hinges/ball joints. Sort of polypropylene mouldings, very cheap, and somewhat nasty ...
Not a very good shop, more for plastic kits etc. rather than anything more serious .. 

Would like a source on mail order if you have one.

I'm fooling about with Picaxe/PIC's at the moment, so I need to get a couple of servos anyway.
Not that I have any specific use for them. Just want to have a play ....

Dave BC

John Hill:
That is a very nice execution of an original idea! :thumbup:

The classic way of making a recording rain gauge was the 'Dines Tilting Syphon' rain gauge.

I am sure it will be described on the net somewhere but I recall them well.

If you can imagine a vessel like a tea pot with a long spout,  rain was collected from a wide diameter funnel and filled the 'tea pot' which was resting on a sharp edge and was balanced so that when not full the tea pot rested in the normal position. As the tea pot filled it reached a point where it overbalanced and the vessel tilted the spout downwards and water started to flow out which caused the vessel to tip back to the starting position.  Once water started to flow it continued to siphon until the vessel was empty even though back at the normal position.

A simple pen mechanism made marks on a clockwork driven paper chart though no doubt modern version would have an electrical pickup of some kind.  The pen also showed the rate of rain.

John

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