DIY Anemometer (Wind Gauge) with No Moving Parts

[@DominiqueComte]

an analog joystick, but for the wind :) nice !

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

Fantastic comparison! ;)

[@riggsron]

Now this project is a good one for me. I want to do the HUB but it's kind of intimidating (50 years ago as a young tech, I had a brief career working for a telephone company when I found out I was colour blind) Sense of humor can only take you so far.

[@michaellichter4091]

A very exciting project is waiting for me. I immediately subscribed to their channel and activated the bell to make sure I don’t miss anything. Another idea came to mind: the MPU-6050 3-axis gyroscope/accelerometer, which reacts very sensitively. I will definitely test that as well. I highly recommend JLCPCB; that’s where I have all my PCBs made. Top quality and very fast delivery.

[@jubuttib]

8:09 Gotta say, I've used JLCPCB in a few different projects over time, and they have been fantastic. Even if it's something as simple as making a button box, I like using a PCB because it makes getting everything aligned and soldered so much easier than loose wires. The shipping quote in the video looks high, but if you're not in a hurry, they have cheaper options. My orders have usually cost in the vicinity of 7-10€ to ship, with a delivery time of ~20 days. When the PCBs themselves often cost about as much, I can take the wait over having to pay multiples of the PCB worth in shipping.

[@Sherlock_Ohms]

Awesome design. Using my statistical software, I fitted a non-linear model to those voltage and wind readings. The best fit with 0.99 R^2 is the power model 2.6611E-6*km/h^1.717. You might get more accurate readings with that than with simple linear regression. Let me know.

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

Wow! Thank you so much! I’ll gladly compare your function with the one I used. If it really turns out to be more accurate, I’ll definitely use it and update the info in the article. Thanks again!

[@olafmarzocchi6194]

It is a good idea nad I could try it, but advantage of traditional ones is that they don't resonate, since there's a lot of moving/rotating mass. Yours, given the very low weight and inertia (no rotation, only bending, so barely any moving mass), will vibrate/resonate. You need to do a high speed averaging to remove vibrations.

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

Yeah, you’re right. There are vibrations in this project, but they’re easy to minimize with software-based data filtering.

[@railgap]

@@SmartSolutionsForHome therefore it violates the K.I.S.S. Principle.

[@russellkbell]

Another advantage of traditional wind gauges is birds don't like to stand on them, probably due to the moving parts, whereas this appears attractive as a perch to avian eyes. A bird's weight might replicate hurricane force winds, and even when the bird was elsewhere the accumulated guano might induce a significant error.

[@mattiasthorslund6467]

​@@russellkbellA spiky shape might discourage birds from sitting on it? But let's first find out if this will actually be a problem.

[@markglover2525]

@@railgap > K.I.S.S. Principle. Surely KISS in this design is 'form', which is solid state, AND elegant? Anything that relies on an an embedded nth-gen microprocessor and WiFi is the epitome of complex. A bit more data filtering is neither here nor there?!

[@christophec.482]

Very complete built with many techniques. laser cutting, 3d modeling, maths, web interface, etc. Very cool. I'm on my way to check your other videos.

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

I hope you’ll enjoy the other projects too! :)

[@markglover2525]

Elegant, high-quality, meticulously researched solution. Blown away.

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

Thanks!!

[@washingtoncowboy7295]

Nice presentation. I'm sure you've considered other possible applications, but one in particular may be worth a serious look. I'm an aeronautical engineer and also a sailor. I have a 42' Kutter (similar to a sloop but with two foresails.) An important metric for sailing such a rig is known as "apparent wind." This is the wind that the boat "feels" as it sails through the water, which is the vector sum of the true windspeed and the true speed of the boat over "ground." A second important parameter is the "true wind" which is the true wind velocity and direction (vector sum of windspeed and true heading.) The latter can be found on a moving boat by the vector sum of the apparent wind and a determination of the vector velocity of the boat with respect to "true north." This quantity is available from the ship's data system and is provided by a GPS signal at the ship's GPS antenna. This signal runs on the data buss encoded according to the CANBUS language known in the marine world as NMEA 2000. Other metrics include "relative wind" (velocity and direction with respect to the ship's longitudinal centerline) and variants with respect to magnetic course (who's baseline can be provided by the onboard GPS system, which also operates the ship's electronic compass.) An electronic compass can be set to provide information in terms of either geographic or magnetic "north." The typical marine anemometer and wind direction sensor is of the "cup and vane" type you showed in the early part of your video. The second type is the "ultrasonic" variety that you alluded to as well. Units of either type are usually mounted at the top of the mast (for my boat, that distance is at least 15 meters above the waterline,) with electrical connections running in a cable which is generally suspended inside the mast. The cable exits at the base of the mast and is then spliced into the data buss loop. Marine wind sensors can be placed at locations other than the mast-top but such locations are subject to errors due to the effect of rigging, spars and deck features on the incoming wind. Such placements are easier for installation and service considerations, but suffer too much in terms of accuracy for most applications. Either of the conventional sensor types is subject to frequent maintenance due to salt encrustation, biological growth and mechanical stress. Maintenance is therefore expensive because, for the typical application, a professional rigger needs to be employed to climb the mast. As you said, the ultrasonic sensors are VERY expensive but the cup-and-vane type aren't that much cheaper either. Since the cup-and-vane type usually requires more maintenance, the cost for either is about the same over the life of the unit. I think a slightly more rugged version of your idea could be adapted for off-shore marine use. There may be some additional signal conditioning required to account for the inertial effects of a moving point of attachment, but you are clearly capable of ferreting out such requirements for a more advanced model than what your video shows. In addition to the rotational axes (yaw, pitch and roll) there are of course three translational axes Sx, Sy and Sz (Sz being displacement normal to the earth's surface.) In the direction of these displacements, one will of course find in addition to velocity, the term acceleration, and a non-zero jerk [(ds/dx''', ) (ds/dy''' ) and (ds/dz'''.),] which is the first derivative of acceleration along the three axes. There will be second and third derivatives of rotations too, but perhaps not as severe as in the case of translational dimensions in response to wave action. Third derivative terms should be low and linear accelerations should be less than 0.6 g even in severe conditions. Your use of signal averaging over a period of time might suitably attenuate second and third order effects. There are rotational displacement and rate of rotation sensors for marine use (particularly for roll and pitch) but I know of none that could be used for conditioning the effects of linear accelerations except for GPS. I think there is a sizable market for a wind sensor, of the type you have developed for stationary use, in marine applications. An average quality cup-and-vane sensor for blue-water cruising costs in the neighborhood of $2,000 with installation, and an ultrasonic sensor installed could be $7,500 or more. Multiply the cost of the latter by five for serious racing boats where knowledge of wind speed and direction determines who wins or looses cup trophies; and where 20 meter long boats cost $10,000,000 and up. In addition, there are the commercial markets (primarily container ships and passenger liners) and military applications where, in both examples, sales of this kind of equipment is immense. Please get back to me in a way that we can converse more easily. Google has my email address, and if you have them contact me, I'll be sure to respond. As a content creator, you may already have access to such information. I'd love to consider a collaboration with you in some kind of development enterprise. I've started a few successful small businesses, I have an advanced degree in business and as I said, I'm a degreed engineer. At the very least, we could use my boat as a test-bed and I would be happy to cover the costs of mounting and dismounting prototypes for evaluation during the development period. I hope to hear from you soon. - w.c.

[@alangaughran]

A cheap and cheerful one to fit on my dinghy mast would be good. If my boat goes over ( it does, sometimes) my birgee gets wrecked by impact on the water, lake beds or at least cakes in mud. I've been trying to make a simple fixed vane burger to run data to display to save my neck craning.

[@ssolomon999]

Yes! I clicked on this video exactly for that application - I’d envisioned something along these lines, with the idea you could use it to calculate true wind direction and speed, but I don’t have the expertise to actually design the thing. Please collaborate on this, I think there’d be a market for it.

[@ssolomon999]

Ideally you’d mount one at the top of the mast and another at deck level, then you could leverage the data for all sorts of useful stuff. Seems like this device would be great for identifying changes - wind shifts, puffs, etc. - which is more useful than absolute values anyway. And it’s inherently more robust than those finicky flimsy twisty spinny things.

[@edeaglehouse2221]

You bring up a let of great points that highlights some of the differences been a stationary platform and a moving one. You can do more averaging in the software to account for all the yaw/pitch/roll moments of the top of the mast. There is probably a more elegant algorithm far that, since most of those movements are cyclical. A commercial version would benefit from an inertial sensor to factor out those movements. The nice thing is all the components are available off the shelf and the modifications would only require adding their outputs into the basic formulas.

[@washingtoncowboy7295]

@@ssolomon999 Thanks for both of you're responses. I have been disappointed not to hear from the party who posted the original piece with his invention. I hope he's not focused solely on the low-cost stationary application such as use with a home weather station. While such devices are fun to have, they really don't compare to the need for reasonably accurate information and the cost of operation for the serious marine environment. Yes the market is much larger, in terms of units sold for home weather stations, but overall sales for professional use could be equal to or greater than one could realize for the home market due to the relatively high price per unit for the latter. While it's pretty easy to get a cup-and-vane sensor and display for home use at around $200 per copy (install it yourself,) a good, rugged wind data system for a sailboat that sees quit a bit of time 200 to 1,000 miles offshore (one that I'd trust my life to) would be valued by most serious cruising sailors at $3,000 to $4,000 or more, installed. I couldn't tell from your responses how you use your boat, but I infer that it's primarily for day or weekend use with the occasional week of "camping-while-gunkholing" and that it is seldom used to transport you from one place to another over the sea. The reference you make to "changes in wind direction" and "puffs" depict different modes of operation than "blue-water" sailing, where one doesn't make landfall more frequently than every week or so. On my Kutter, I have two autopilots. One is for when I'm motoring and the other for when I'm cruising under sail at some distance from land. The "motoring" autopilot is tied into either my GPS compass (when motoring on a fixed heading for long periods - no wind conditions) or into my chart navigation system (also GPS based) for when I want to correct course at certain predefined waypoints, such as when making way to a marina from open water. She won't take me into a given slip, but almost. Cruisers often use a second type of autopilot that "locks" into the wind called vane-steering. In very general terms, the farther one is offshore, the less variable are changes in wind over time. It's not uncommon for me to set my steering vane to a given optimum course for "speed made good" and not return to the setup for course adjustment for a day or two at a time. The boat always sails to the apparent wind. While the actual wind may vary by a point or two between adjustments, the ease and safety of not needing to retrim the sails makes up for the slight inefficiency in average direction until the course legs become short as when approaching land. In addition, while there are sometimes gusty conditions offshore, such situations are less frequent than if sailing near land, or in a bay, lake or river. At 11 tons and with a 3 ton, deep-draft iron keel, I don't have much trouble with puffs except for the most unexpected wind changes such as those seen when approaching a squall line. In those cases, I'm always at the helm. I'd love to collaborate with you, but I don't know how to exchange contact information without exposing both of us to unwanted email or phone traffic. If you do, let me know here and we can try to get something started. I do have an anonymous P.O. Box that's not obviously tied to my home address, that I'd be willing to provide to you so we could privately exchange information for more convenient contact. If you'd like to start something like that, contact me again here and I'll risk letting everyone know what my P.O. Box number is. For a general reference, my boat's home port is Astoria, Oregon, U.S.A. - w.c.

[@ChristopheBoudeauDivisionRuine]

We need more people like you.

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

That’s nice of you to say! Thank you :)

[@ZeedijkMike]

You make very interesting and likable videos. Great job.

[@HolmgrenJensen]

Lovely project, and fantastic build quality in the end 🙂 One note, a cutout beneath the trace antenna of the ESP can do wonders for the RSSI from my testing - even if you have remembered to pull back the ground plane. I'm working on a similar project with very different application (I hope to get a set of strain guages to monitor and transmit the weight of a load of between 25kg and 200kg twice an hour for a few months between battery changes) and I was able to save a decent bit of transmission strength from letting the antenna end of the ESP dangle before going to an external antenna.

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

Of course, I made sure there was no ground plane under the antenna. I tried both cutting out the entire PCB and just removing the copper, but I didn’t notice a difference-though to be fair, I’ve never done any serious testing. I assume you’re right, though-the less around the antenna, the better :) As for your device, you should easily be able to get a few months, maybe even a whole year. It really depends on how often you wake up the ESP from deep sleep and what kind of batteries you use.

[@dougaltolan3017]

​@@SmartSolutionsForHomeIt's one thing to put the ESP32 to sleep, but the ADC should have its power turned off as well (need to be careful about back-powering it) Also a LoRa solution (point to point, not via the cloud) will save a lot of power vs WiFi, and have better range.

[@txkflier]

I never would have thought of such a device. Excellent work!

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

Thanks!

[@fschatz12]

Really great job and idea! I don't know why this isn't more popular. One question, How do you power the ESP32?

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

Right?? :) I was surprised too that no one had thought of it yet. As for the power supply, I'm using a 5V charger, and I have an LDO on the PCB itself.

[@Renouveaux_dev]

@@SmartSolutionsForHome Very good video, as usual :). I will ask the same, and thinking about adding a tiny solar pannel to avoir using power cable with a tiny battery for night and rainy day.

[@l0gic23]

Awesome build. Thx for open sourcing it. When i build it ill be sure to use your affiliate links. Very glad this video was sponsored

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

Thank you! I really appreciate it! :)

[@stigantonnielsen]

Great video! Do be careful with those holes in the chimney cover-tile. If you get frost the water in those holes will expand and break the tile.

[@kania363]

Dodajesz filmy naprawdę rzadko, ale zawsze czekam z niecierpliwością, ponieważ są one wysokiej jakości i widać ile pracy w nie włożyłeś! Trzymaj tak dalej!

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

Dzięki, doceniam! Ostatnio publikuje wręcz niewiarygodnie rzadko, ale zamierzam to zmienić. Kolejny projekt jest już na całkiem zaawansowanym etapie, więc mam nadzieję, że tym razem przerwa między filmami będzie krótsza :)

[@kania363]

@SmartSolutionsForHome pamiętaj, że nadrabiasz jakością. Jeśli masz mozliwość zmonetyzować swoje filmy, to powinieneś to koniecznie z tego korzystać :)

[@mumbucorporation7243]

Wiedziałem że to jest 'Made in Poland'...zajebisty sposób mierzenia wiatru

[@joku5150]

Excellent project! I might have to give this one a go, as I love all of the work you put into it and how accurate it appears to be. Very well done!

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

Thanks! I’m glad you like it! Be sure to show it off once you make the device yourself!

[@joku5150]

@@SmartSolutionsForHome Absolutely I will! Gotta clear out the current queue for the printer, but I can get the electronics ordered while the other projects 'finish themselves', haha.

[@MarkHopewell]

I too came to the conclusion that strain gauges would be a good solution to removing moving parts in these exposed outdoor sensors. However, in all my designs I couldn't make the breakthrough about how to accurately measure wind direction in more than one direction. Yet you have done that and I congratulate you on your absolutely smashing design!

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

Thanks! I won’t lie, I put quite a bit of thought into it, but it turned out pretty well in the end :)

[@MarkHopewell]

@@SmartSolutionsForHome I thought it was smashing. Again many sincere congratulations to you.

[@sergeantseven4240]

Have you seen ultrasonic wind sensors? no moving parts and very accurate.

[@MarkHopewell]

@@sergeantseven4240 Yes and the cost!

[@apalrd8588]

One of the (mathematical) problems you might encounter is that the sensor responds to dynamic pressure, not velocity, and pressure changes with air density. Your barometric pressure probably won't change massively, but density will change with air temperature as well. The 'real' equation for dynamic pressure also has velocity squared, so your power function (when solving for velocity *from* dynamic pressure) also is on the right track.

[@Okamika44]

Wouldn't most use cases for knowing wind speed be really be knowing dynamic pressure, such as sailing fishing or surfing? more pressure more chop ect.?

[@apalrd8588]

​@@Okamika44 eh depends on what you are doing with the numbers Aircraft actually measure using a 'fake' velocity (KIAS - knots indicated air speed) which is actually just the dynamic pressure converted to speed without density corrections in a trench coat. This is because the density affects would also directly affect the performance of the wing, so at a given indicated airspeed the performance of the aircraft is the same regardless of density.

[@andreazanobetti]

Hi, I have bought your great kit! 😊 Your suggested Strain Gauge Sensor is the BF350-3AA, 350 ohms? Thanks!

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

Yeah, I use them, and so far, I haven’t had any issues with them. P.S. Thanks for the nice comment! :)

[@billyjoe3309]

I've missed your videos, always super interesting to watch!!

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

Thanks!! :)

[@itsumonihon]

Woah. Great channel, instant subscribe from me. You're doing very important work getting science and engineering out into the world in these dark times. Keep at it please!

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

Welcome aboard! :)

[@yaroc07]

+1!

[@alflud]

That's an awesome approach to wind measurement. Good job. This device would surely sense the vibrations of an earthquake too - do you think it would mainly be a matter of writing additional code to interpret the signals [calculate a Richter value] or would different hardware be needed? In any case, this is awesome as it is. I love it.

[@diedrichg]

Absolutely amazing! Fine job!

[@felipenavas]

I saw a project that used normal SMD resistors as strain gauge. He used the ones with larger packages. It was a force sensor to calibrate the distance of the 3D printer nozzle.

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

And it actually worked? Do you have a link? I have to admit, I’m intrigued! :)

[@felipenavas]

@@SmartSolutionsForHome 1Kohm 2512 resistors

[@1hdsquad]

I'd like to see the link as well!

[@aleksin92]

Maybe they are referring to this one Z-probe-on-smd-resistors-2512?

[@felipenavas]

KZbin deletes my links. I tried to post here 3 times

[@reyespe]

That last thumbs up sealed the deal for the Subscribe button.

[@zaggery]

same

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

Thanks! ;)

[@jordestay]

dobra robota, bardzo mi się p̵o̵d̵o̵b̵a̵ pogoda

[@BACRULES]

Nice to see at new video from you. Your videos are the best,

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

Glad you like them!

[@electronics.unmessed]

Really nice idea! Thx for sharing!!

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

Thanks for watching!

[@neogeo8267]

Brilliant - really! Simple. Love it. Thinking outside the box like this makes me thing using several pito tubes may work also though Wheatstone Bridge strain-gauge setup is a great solution

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

Hmm... very interesting idea! And definitely thinking outside the box

[@philb1466]

Oh! No! Here's another channel I've got to subscribe to! There'll be no time for me to actually build anything after watching all these videos! 😂 .... Great video, both video and project build were very professionally done, well done sir! Things left for me to do: Thumbs up the video.. Check. Hit the subscribe button.. Check. Right, now i can watch your rain guage video. Curse the KZbin algorithm, it knows me too well! 😁👍

[@studioatkinson6210]

A brilliant construction. I hope you don't mind, but I generally replicated your "hot air baloon" sail outline for a floating fish finder project I'm working on. I needed an omni-directional one to get pushed by the wind.

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

Of course, I have no problem with that! Let me know how it works once you finish the project.

[@sinkingputts]

How about using some type of of whistle that changed pitch depending on the speed of the air moving through it. Then you just need a microphone

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

I love thinking outside the box! That would definitely be something new! :) However, I think it might be a bit prone to “sound interference” from the surroundings, plus you’d need a whistle that changes frequency based on the force and works in all directions.

[@marcus-b4x3h]

More interesting than I was expecting

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

I’m really glad you think so!

[@HolmgrenJensen]

I wonder if the non linear relationship between resistance and windspeed follows a prredictable pattern with the main variation being mounting and individual guage calibration. It may be possible to characterize the sail once, then calibrate by mounting the sensor horizontally and hanging 2-3 known weight from the tip. If the curve generally fits the drag dynamics of the sail, with minor coefficient drift due to mounting and sensors, that might give a fairly decent curve fit without much equipment other than a good kitchen scale. That would also mean you won't have to break out the leaf blower and anemometer every time you decide to tinker with the mount, as long as the sail retains its drag characteristics.

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

Thanks for the comment and the thoughtful analysis! :) I think there are just too many variables for it to be feasible.

[@sjamesparsonsjr]

This DIY wind gauge is incredible! I’m working on something similar, but using load cells to measure large-scale forces.

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

Thanks! Could you tell me more about your project? I was also considering using ready-made load cells instead of attaching strain gauges myself, but that would probably be a much more expensive solution

[@sjamesparsonsjr]

@@SmartSolutionsForHomeI’m working on a Wing Chun Simon Says, each bar has a load cell and is illuminated with LEDs. The ESP32 sets the pattern and triggers the light, then the user strides the bar in sequence.

[@mitchmalta]

Super cool well done!!

[@robertbass4590]

Good project! Along with previous comments about plastic becoming brittle (industrial sensors get replaced a frequently due to that), I think there will be some interaction with the chimney stack, especially when the weather gets colder.

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

You might be right, but what do you mean when you say that parts in industrial sensors are often replaced? How often is "often"?

[@carstenkochdl8aap280]

Phantastic idea and great job. This is exactly what I've waaited for. Where can I find the sketch for the ESP? I wonder if it can work standalone without Homeassistant just sending the data over a platform of one's choice (WiFi, 433, 868, LoRa, etc)

[@Electronieks]

Its opensource there is a form where u have to enter your emailadres to receieve all downloads But the form is not working. This video is a scam

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

The video is definitely not a scam! Maybe the email with the link landed in your spam folder? Shoot me your email ([e-mail]), and I’ll send you the link to all the files myself.

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

I didn’t prepare a "sketch" as such because I wasn’t using the Arduino environment. There’s only a config file for ESPHome. However, the programming pins are accessible on the PCB, so you can connect a USB-UART adapter and program the ESP32 exactly how you want. For example, to make it a standalone device. As for LoRa and other radio frequencies, you’d unfortunately need additional hardware. But if WiFi or BLE is enough for your needs, modifying the firmware should do the trick.

[@Electronieks]

@@SmartSolutionsForHome the yaml file is also named a sketch According spam filter. No mails in my spam. Maybe if possible upload it to a github file ?

[@donaldhoudek2889]

Great video! My only question is does being mounted next to the furnace exhaust vent deflect the wind and not give a true wind pressure?

[@tinker10011]

Great idea but I see a bird perching problem if I had one here in Australia. How about a 3mm stainless rod sticking up out of the top center? It needs to be about 200mm long to deter birds landing. Would this affect the performance?

[@malquiss]

Amazing! Spotted a Mate on the Workbench!

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

Without a Mate, I can't solder at all! :P

[@rocketagro]

Hi, Nice Project, I have an Idea .... can you combine these 3 wind gauge + rain gauge + bme280 in a compect chesis ... chellenging but this has the potential to be a very well build full featured compect weather station ...

[@dougaltolan3017]

Not totally temperature independant, the cross piece pliability will change with temperature. Can be temperature compensated. Your final mounting location will suffer from exaggerated wind speed due to the wind squeezing up and over your roof. Can be calibrated by comparison to real weather data. I live in Scotland, despite the large overlap you have with the vane base over the bottom part, rain will easily get to the electronics. A membrane seal would fix that, can be super flexible to avoid interfering with the measurement. Or WD 40 in its original designed usage. 👍 For pronouncing anemometer 😊

[@ericwineteer7673]

This is really cool! I'm an environmental scientist and I'd love to build one of these for my research. Do you know how accurately it can measure small wind speeds (on the order of 0.05 m/s)? If there's a way to build and calibrate it for lower speeds, I'd definitely publish a paper on it and cite your website.

[@simonsayshomeassistant]

Great video mate!

[@pooson]

Wow, nice idea and project! But what about temperature influence? There will be difference in flexibility in summer and winter.

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

I don’t think the temperature changes are significant enough to noticeably affect the material’s flexibility or the readings. Plus, there’s an aluminum pole inside to keep everything rigid.

[@tcurdt]

@@SmartSolutionsForHome day and night? that could easily be a 20+ degC difference

[@anniebooo]

Can you make an automated rain gauge with no moving parts as well?

[@ChozoSR388]

How do you measure off-cardinal wind directions, like NNW, SSE, etc...?

[@hu5116]

Great project, thanks so much!

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

Thanks!

[@cornebistouille]

astonnishing ! i ws looking for a solution to monitor the wind to protect my banes for years. the best i got was to built a tiltometer on them, (not visible, in the tube) but its not accurate enough and the sensitivity is bad.... you should improve it with a little battery and solar... how do you power it? thanks for the work, and for the video. and thanks for open source it !

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

Thanks! About your idea for protecting the banes. Did you mean stingers on the boat, or something else? Are you talking about reacting when they’re tilted too much? Could you write a bit more?

[@cornebistouille]

@SmartSolutionsForHome i first try to put a tuya zigbee vibration sensor( the cheap one aprox 40x10x10mm) in the tube at the end of my bane, hold by a printed cap... but it was not enough sensible to the movements, only to vibrations. At least i created a counter automation successfully, as i am a beginner in HA. Then i recently found another sensor sensible to orientation and tilt ( also tuya zigbee round 40mm diameter for 6 euros) but this one is to sensible and i must work on the automation (my counter goes up to 30000 movements in 10 minutes😁. I have to work on it. ... ill send you more etails via your site

[@rklauco]

This is fantastic idea! I'll hack something similar together just so I don't have to order PCBs, but the credit is all yours.

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

Thanks! Let me know how it works out once you’ve done it! :)

[@NicksStuff]

What an amazing idea! But doesn't the flexibility of the sail depend on the temperature? I.e. they will flex more when the plastic is hot and your readings will be lower?

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

Of course, you’re right-every synthetic material gets more flexible at high temperatures. But I think that at the temperatures we can realistically expect outside, it doesn’t make a huge difference. Plus, there’s an aluminum pole inside that helps keep the sail stable.

[@NicksStuff]

@@SmartSolutionsForHome If they're printed in PLA or PETG, I wager there will be a significant difference. I'd love to see you test it some day

[@AriMenachem]

Any chance you would start selling assembled pcb's, maybe everything but the strain gauges?

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

Maybe at some point I’ll be able to put together a few soldered boards, but I can’t make any promises.

[@philipershler420]

A concern would be performance in winter conditions. What might happen if the vanes get packed up with snow and/or ice?

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

"Winter is coming" :) So I guess I'll find out firsthand how it works.

[@Milosz_Ostrow]

Great idea, great project. However, I think in time you'll need to replace the plastic vane assembly with one that is made of metal, most likely aluminium, as the plastic may deteriorate and become brittle relatively quickly from exposure to sunlight.

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

I don’t think it’ll really matter over, I don’t know, 10 years? PETG is pretty resistant to outdoor conditions.

[@olearydj]

This is really well done. Subscribed.

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

Thank you!

[@kaland1968]

great job!!

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

Thank you!

[@felipenavas]

Very cool design! Did you try using scale strain gauge? They are cheap and easy available.

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

Thanks! I used the cheapest strain gauges I could find online

[@DanielSMatthews]

Have you seen the video "How far can I broadcast LoRa packets WITHOUT a radio? - LoLRa" by CNLohr? I suspect that other than perhaps a single wire for an antenna the upgrade would be entirely in software.

[@segwaydave]

This is awesome! Thank you!

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

I'm glad you like it :)

[@3d1e00]

A dimpled dome would work pretty well I imagine.

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

You're right. I tried using a simple dome, but one with indentations might actually work better.

[@3d1e00]

@SmartSolutionsForHome you may want to do a smooth Vs dimple. Surface interactions could cause issues. If you get oscillation may be vortex shedding. Interesting problem to solve never thought about it before.

[@percramer]

Nice project. What would be the minimum wind speed it works with?

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

Thanks! I’m not sure which units you prefer for measuring wind speed, but I was getting stable results starting at 5 km/h, which is really just a light breeze

[@japanskakaratemuva5309]

Great build. By the way, aren't you worried that heat from chiminey will melt it as wind changes the direction of the smoke column?

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

Thanks! I was thinking about it, but unfortunately, I don’t have a better spot on the roof to mount it. Besides, when I checked before, the smoke temperature wasn’t high enough to melt the plastic. This chimney is connected to a fireplace in the room that I use literally a few times a year, and if it ends up affecting the readings, I'll just extend the mount it's sitting on. P.S. Thanks for the great, insightful comment! :)

[@МихаилСеров-ю6о]

Very cool 👍🏻

[@BalugaWhale37]

Does your printed wind gauge need some protection from UV exposure? If so, would a good paint change the power function?

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

Good question! It depends on the material and probably the color you use. In another project - the Rain Gauge - I used white PETG, and it’s been two years without any issues. Of course, the color changed a bit, but it didn’t affect its functionality. I’m assuming it will be similar with the anemometer

[@simonsayshomeassistant]

Do you know when the boards with components soldered on will be available yet?

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

Hard to say. Probably around the New Year. I'll add this item to my store, so you'll be able to join the waiting list. As soon as it becomes available, I'll send out an email.

[@simonsayshomeassistant]

@@SmartSolutionsForHome Awesome thank you, I will make a video about it!

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

@@simonsayshomeassistant Just a heads-up! I had some spare components lying around, so I soldered a few boards. If you're interested, you can find them in my store

[@simonsayshomeassistant]

@@SmartSolutionsForHome Thank you!

[@umbraklat]

I didn't catch how you got power to the device and signal back from it. Were there already cables run up to the chimney?

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

I’m using a 5V power supply, and the cable runs up along the chimney before tucking under the roof tiles.

[@patrickdk77]

please conformal coat that pcb, the amount of humidity that will condense from that exhaust of that chimney is going be massive as it gets colder

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

I used a special varnish for the PCB. It’s the same one I used for the Rain Gauge. But great point!

[@jcdammeyer]

Base parts and wing 3D printed now. Parts ordered including the PC boards from Smart Solutions. I have a few questions about assembly. The red and black wires for each strain gauge weren't symmetrical. As in red wire always on the right. Is there a reason for that? Also not a lot of depth for screws to hold down the round PC board. What size and length did you use there? Can't wait to get all the bits and pieces and try this out.

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

Definitely let me know once everything is assembled and ready! :) As for the wire colors, they don’t make any difference electrically. I just like to keep things tidy, so that’s why I did it that way ;) The screws for mounting the PCB aren’t very long (4mm), but there aren’t any forces acting on it. It would hold even without the screws.

[@andrejsersen59]

Great work! Where do you ship from?

[@ChrisOchieng]

Nice, does it flutter causing vibration

[@Tntdruid]

I'm using a ultrasound one whit modbus 👍

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

Ultrasonic anemometers are really great. Aside from being expensive, I’ve got no complaints! :)

[@frozenfritz]

nice work!

[@recon14192]

Can you elaborate how temperature change noise is eliminated with 4 sensors? All 4 change the same amount so are you doing an average to perform the subtraction? I didn't follow

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

I treat them in pairs. N/S is one differential pair and E/W is the second differential pair. The result I use in the calculations is always the difference between two readings, e.g., N - S. When there’s no stress and both show the same value, the result is 0. If the temperature changes but no forces are acting, the values on both strain gauges will increase or decrease by the same amount, so the result remains 0. Only when forces come into play does the result become either negative or positive. I hope this gives you a bit more clarity on how it works!

[@kwindapp]

Cool but how ist with temperature changes ex. 45 degrees and -5 degrees ? i would like to test one

[@jcdammeyer]

A friend watched the video and commented that it appeared that the wings vibrated a bit. He wondered why a 3D printed sphere wouldn't have worked just as well?

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

The sphere worked too, but because it’s more aerodynamic, it caused the wind to transfer less force to the sail. As a result, the readings on the strain gauges were lower. And about vibrations-you’re kind of right. I have to use averaging in ESPHome to minimize them.

[@x-cubed]

How does it handle other sources of vibrations like big trucks driving past or earthquakes? Can it filter that noise out?

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

Great question. I’m assuming that such vibrations don’t have a specific direction, so the wingauge would sway (or vibrate) equally in all directions. And that kind of noise is pretty easy to filter out with software when collecting data.

[@Tavdog]

Wow, love this project. What's the highest real wind speed you have tested ? I've deployed a couple Ecowitt WS85 units coupled with meshtastic sending node for remote install. I would love to be able to make a version that that runs on low power such as the nrf series of chips instead of esp32.

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

Thank you! It was around 65 km/h. Unfortunately, that’s the max my leaf blower could manage. What kind of speeds are you interested in? As for the Ecowitt WS85: does it use up a lot of power? I don’t have much experience with ultrasonic anemometers. And great idea using regular radio instead of WiFi. Though I still think the battery life would probably be too short for it to be really practical. Maybe adding a solar panel could help

[@Tavdog]

I would like up to 80kmh for the very windy days. The WS85 has it's own solar power system running on supercaps but the meshtastatic node also has it's own power system with a 1500 mah battery so an nrf works fine.

[@tcurdt]

I would also like to know if it could withstand 70+ knots of wind. I kind of doubt it.

[@ChazmillsADLT]

Wow! Amazed!

[@simonsayshomeassistant]

Can you build a rain sensor?

[@simonsayshomeassistant]

I see you have one already! Time for me to replace my old weather station!

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

Show off the results! :)

[@simonsayshomeassistant]

@@SmartSolutionsForHome I plan to!

[@programorprogrammed]

Beauty!

[@olivier2553]

This is a very clever design. The eagle wings are cool, but the eagles should be facing outward. Alternatively, you could use a rooster.

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

Thanks! You’re right-if they were turned outward, it’d be closer to the center post and more stable. I actually tried something like that at the very beginning, but it just didn’t look good. ;)

[@awesomefeldmanfamily]

Forking genius, and so funny

[@bialy100k]

Don't don't trust budget (say 100€) Chinese anemometers in wind speed ranges of 2-8 m/s. Instead, go to a building with a long corridor, estimate the distance e.g. by counting floor tiles and use a stopwatch to determine the actual speeds while walking/running. It will certainly be more accurate. I also used a centrifuge (I made 8 years ago a video on YT "Wiatromierz HP866A - pomiar do oszacowania poprawności wskazań") - but there is also centrifugal force.

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

That's a great idea for calibration, I hadn't thought of that. I was considering a car moving at a set speed, but at lower speeds, your idea could actually work! Dzięki za pomysł! :)

[@SteveWrightNZ]

Hmm, how to use it on my boat and cancel out the inertia.. maybe with a wind-protected counerbalance below..

[@phillipzx3754]

"The cross beams need to be strong and flexible." In other words, they need to MOVE. 😉

[@askaremresemiz6894]

how do you think it will performe on a sail boat?

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

Not so great, to be honest. The key is a stable base, like a concrete chimney, for example. ;)

[@rampak1]

Impressive!

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

Thank you

[@daynosdr]

SUSCRIBED! What city in Poland are you from?

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

Thanks! GDAŃSK

[@daynosdr]

@@SmartSolutionsForHome No Way! Im going to Gdansk in December! Lets grab a Piwo!

[@SiBex_ovh]

Dzięki Mietek :p

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

Przekaże mu! :P

[@ashleycawley5816]

I’m still holding off making your rain gauge which I want to make but your website is offering old version files which don’t have the screw/adjuster holes on the sides. I tried to contact you via your site/email but didn’t get a response.

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

I'm really sorry. Could you send me the files you're talking about? I'm almost sure the files uploaded to the server are fine. No one has reported a similar issue so far

[@ashleycawley5816]

@@SmartSolutionsForHome Thanks for replying, how do I send them to you though, I tried emailing the address on your website weeks ago but didn't get a response, I'm sure its just Spam filtering or something getting in the way. Thanks for sharing your amazing designs btw.

[@ashleycawley5816]

@@SmartSolutionsForHome If you search your billing records for "ashleycawley" you will find my email address to make contact.

[@revolutiongames2004]

Accelerometer on a plumb bob

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

Basically, yes! :)

[@robertlaudensack376]

A simmilar solution was implemented in the Logitech Wingman Joystick ...

[@Robbedoes2]

Bird: hey let's try that thing out to sleep on

[@arva1kes]

Hmmm...i wonder why wind changes every time there fire in the owen :p

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

Luckily, that chimney is connected to the fireplace in the living room, which I almost never use anyway ;)

[@hakanniemi8369]

What about ICE and SNOW?

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

Good question-I guess I’ll find out soon, since winter is starting here! :) But maybe a small modification to the sail will do the trick?

[@KKJKJH]

wind joystick👍

[@KlenDool]

Why not use a cylinder, instead of the vanes?

[@SmartSolutionsForHome]

I tried, but it offered much less wind resistance, which made the device less sensitive.

[@KlenDool]

@SmartSolutionsForHome i guess you'd have to have quite a large cylinder to match the vanes

[@edeaglehouse2221]

​@@SmartSolutionsForHomeIf it were textured well, the resistance may be comparable. Golf balls are textured for the exact opposite reason - to reduce air resistance.