[willwood]

Currently I've got the anemometer for my VP2 mounted on a wooden post in the garden. But because the garden is surrounded by hedges, I get disappointing wind readings. In Mondays storm I was only able to record a maximum gust of 25MPH, but the wind was easily gusting twice this strong.

It looks like I can get something called an EZ-Mount Tripod, but this would only extend to a height of 1.8 meters (which is what I have already). Ideally I want to mount the anemometer up at about 4 meters, to give adequate clearance of some nearby hedges and apple trees.

I don't have access to any wooden poles or scaffolding poles that long. Does anyone have any experience with using telescopic poles or other tripod masts to mount anemometers on?

The only criteria is that it needs to look fairly discrete, whether resistant so it can stay outside all year round and be stable enough to support the anemometer without waving around too much! Don't know whether anyone has got some suggestions of what to use and where to buy from?

[Dave K]

willwood, on 07 September 2011 - 15:00, said:

Currently I've got the anemometer for my VP2 mounted on a wooden post in the garden. But because the garden is surrounded by hedges, I get disappointing wind readings. In Mondays storm I was only able to record a maximum gust of 25MPH, but the wind was easily gusting twice this strong.

It looks like I can get something called an EZ-Mount Tripod, but this would only extend to a height of 1.8 meters (which is what I have already). Ideally I want to mount the anemometer up at about 4 meters, to give adequate clearance of some nearby hedges and apple trees.

I don't have access to any wooden poles or scaffolding poles that long. Does anyone have any experience with using telescopic poles or other tripod masts to mount anemometers on?

The only criteria is that it needs to look fairly discrete, whether resistant so it can stay outside all year round and be stable enough to support the anemometer without waving around too much! Don't know whether anyone has got some suggestions of what to use and where to buy from?

I bought a 2m aluminium aerial mast from B&Q and, being too unadventurous and unskilled to do much else with it, attached it with clamps to a fence which is about 2.5m high, so it gives a height of 4.5m above the ground. Still not very high, and remains too sheltered but even the extra 1.5m or so it added just to get it a little more exposed did seem to make quite a difference. Wobbles a little in very strong wind but secure enough. VP1 unit with peak gust alltime recorded at 44mph. Total cost about £8.

This post has been edited by Big Dave's Gusset: 07 September 2011 - 16:25

[nev47]

i went to maplin and got a 10 ft pole heres the linkhttp://www.maplin.co.uk/10-straight-mast-918 hope this helps

[willwood]

Ok thanks. I agree it would probably be wise to bolt an extension onto what I have already. If I can get it mounted about 2 meters higher than what it is already, it would have plenty of clearance over nearby hedges.

I'm going to go over to B&Q warehouse this afternoon after work and see what they've got. Last time I looked they only had the shorter cranked poles available. Hopefully they might have a better selection available this time. Want to try and get something sorted out now within the next few days if possible - the weather looks slightly interesting for Sunday which would be a good test!

[John Robert Mellor]

My anemometer is on a 6ft ally pole which is further secured to the top of a 9ft fence post, giving me an anemometer height of about 13ft, which I'm not happy about even though it is obviously better than at a 6ft fence post height. Have been looking this week at various pole lengths with a view to coupling a 2x 10 foot poles together then securing these again to the 9ft fence post, perhaps with the poles secured to the ground with some Guy wire. Not sure how this would go down with the neighbours as this would still be secured to a shared fence. Still not really high enough but would give me a height in excess of 20ft which. I can't get more than 15ft up a ladder so fixing above the roof line is not something I can do...the cost of getting an aerial fitter in to do it is not justifiable.

[willwood]

John Robert Mellor, on 08 September 2011 - 10:07, said:

My anemometer is on a 6ft ally pole which is further secured to the top of a 9ft fence post, giving me an anemometer height of about 13ft, which I'm not happy about even though it is obviously better than at a 6ft fence post height. Have been looking this week at various pole lengths with a view to coupling a 2x 10 foot poles together then securing these again to the 9ft fence post, perhaps with the poles secured to the ground with some Guy wire. Not sure how this would go down with the neighbours as this would still be secured to a shared fence. Still not really high enough but would give me a height in excess of 20ft which. I can't get more than 15ft up a ladder so fixing above the roof line is not something I can do...the cost of getting an aerial fitter in to do it is not justifiable.

I had also considered putting my anemometer up with the roof aerial on the house. But the trouble is that we are an end of terraced house, so the apex is about 40 foot up from the path that runs around the side of the house. Even my neighbours scaffolding tower won't reach that high and we don't have a velux window to gain access to the roof!

Plus the fact we get a lot of wind turbulence blowing over the top and down the side of our house, between the house and garage/workshop. So I still think mounting it in the centre of the garden would be the best option and give slightly more realistic wind readings, compared to elsewhere.

[prodata]

willwood, on 07 September 2011 - 15:00, said:

It looks like I can get something called an EZ-Mount Tripod, but this would only extend to a height of 1.8 meters (which is what I have already).

Actually, the cups on a VP2 anemometer fixed to the top of a Davis tripod are at about 2.1m, not 1.8, but I agree still not very high.

You could substitute a 3m (10ft) pole for central pole on a Davis tripod which would get you up to around 3.5m. This is a reasonably neat solution though not very cost-effective.

Another option is to put up a 4" square wooden fence post wherever you want the anemometer and attach eg a 10ft pole to that, which again is a solution that's relatively easy to implement (and easily demountable).

A couple of practical points: You'll find that 3m/10ft is the longest single pole length that most couriers will accept for shipping and so that puts something of a practical limit on what you can buy on the web as a single length. Also, once you get much more than 7-8 feet of unbraced length (ie above a top bracket) then movement at the top becomes significant in strong winds and you might want to use guy wires - of course it depends on the material (steel or alloy) and the wall thickness and OD of the pole, but the maximum OD that the standard VP2 U-bolt will take is 44mm (ie significantly less than scaffold pole which is typically 50mm or so). It's also obviously up to you as to how much movement you consider acceptable.

These people are one source of poles that we've used:

http://www.aerialsan...ndbrackets.html

Finally, both ham radio masts and flagpoles are potentially usable for anemometers but don't come cheap (for stronger/taller ones at least). And some flagpole suppliers suggest that you use a 1m cube of concrete as a base, which in itself isn't a trivial undertaking.

John Dann
Prodata Weather Systems
www.weatherstations.co.uk

(normal sig yet to undergo the nightmare of migrating to the new forum)

This post has been edited by prodata: 08 September 2011 - 15:58