Anemometer Implementation

Development Boards MicroMod
1

I’m by no means an electronic expert, but am willing to learn a little to achieve an end.

I’ve come into the posession of a CSIRO weather station. I want to set up it’s anemometer at my gliding club. There isn’t any grid power. There are solar panels that charge the glider batteries.

The anemometer has a magnetic reed switch that closes each (approximately) 200 revs of the head.

I’m thinking of something along these lines -

  1. The unit only runs when there is sufficient power comming from the solar panel. (we don’t fly at night)

  2. A timer records the time between reed switch closures.

  3. If the timer runs for less than the previous length of time, display shows a higher wind speed.

  4. If the timer runs longer than the previous value, the display shows a lower wind speed, and decrements the displayed speed until the reed closes again.

A variable in the program will hold a calibration value.

I’ll calibrate it by mounting the anemometer on my car and connecting a LED to the reed, driving at a fixed speed, and recording the time between LED flashes. I’ll have a helper for this :smiley:

What hardware would you suggest I use for this very small project?

Best regards

2

I’d recommend something like an Arduino, driving a display, either one of the common HD44780-style 2-line [LCD modules, or a handful of [7-segment LED digits. (LEDs are self-illuminating and maybe easier to read, but draw more power. The LCD could potentially display more information than just a number, like maybe keeping track of gusts or something.)

You could also use a bare microcontroller instead of an Arduino, but I think the Arduino makes for an easier learning curve without much more expense.](http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=8546)](http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/categories.php?c=148)

3

I second the previous post’s advice to go with an Arduino. Don’t forget to debounce the reed switch with a .1uf cap. It made a world of difference in the data I got off an interrupt driven feedback counter for an Arduino project I’m working on.