Types of sensors to detect pressure of rain

Hello!

I’m looking for a sensor that can detect/ react to the pressure of rain (from drizzle to heavy rain thunderstorm).

Will be sticking the sensor underneath a waterproof material so it won’t get wet.

I have tried Piezo Element / SEN-10293 ROHS but it didn’t work as there were a lot of noise and also while I see a difference in the plotter, I couldn’t get a wide range of readings from it. I think the humidity might have played in factor?

I’m planning to try out the Piezo Vibration Sensor.

Wondering if there are any more reccos to what I am looking for?

Thanks!

Hi hoshhigata,

That is a neat idea to measure the intensity of rain. This is not something I am sure we’ve ever tried here at SparkFun so I cannot give any specific recommendations from experience. That said, a vibration sensor with a weight like [this might help to stabilize the sensor and the output data. It’s most likely going to take some experimenting with sensor type, position, and your code to get reliable data from this project.

One other suggestion you may or may not have taken a look at would be to use a typical rain gauge like the one included with our [Weather Meters kit. This may not be what you’re looking for with this project since it’s measuring the accumulation of rain, not the intensity of the drops but you could pretty easily determine the difference between a light drizzle and heavy rain/thunderstorm based on the volume of rain measured. We have a few different Weather Combination boards that are designed to work with these meters like the [SparkFun Weather Shield.

I hope this helps you find the right sensors for your project. Let us know if you have any other questions about these or another of our products or tutorials and we would be happy to help.](https://www.sparkfun.com/products/13956)](Weather Meter Kit - SEN-15901 - SparkFun Electronics)](Piezo Vibration Sensor - Large with Mass - SEN-09197 - SparkFun Electronics)