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Where to locate temperature sensor

Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2015 3:42 pm
by Jonathan Jefferies
Hello Everyone.

I'm new to the col forum and in the process of buying equipment to make weather recordings. I am going to purchase a plastic Stevenson screen to house my mercury Thermometers as well as an aws temperature sensor from Instromet. I have heard that the radiation shield fitted with the temperature sensor is too small for accurate readings though and as I am after accurate readings to comply with standards I have some alternatives but not sure which is best.

A. Keep the temperature sensor in the supplied radiation shield from Instromet.
B. Put the temperature sensor in the Stevenson screen.
C. Buy an aspirated radiation shield from Apogee or similar to house the sensor.
D. House the temperature sensor in a Met21 screen.

I am tempted with putting the temperature sensor in the Stevenson screen.

Many Thanks for your help.

Re: Where to locate temperature sensor

Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2015 4:22 pm
by Richard Hunt
I would place the sensor in the screen. I use max/min thermometers, but I also have my electronic sensor in there as well. I find it accurate enough.

Re: Where to locate temperature sensor

Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2015 9:25 pm
by Niall Dollard
Same with me. I keep my AWS sensor in the Stevenson Screen.

Generally it keeps very close to the LIG thermometer readings, but there is a bit of a time lag. This is barely noticeable when there are no rapid temperature fluctuations (Winter half of the year). However in Summer, I notice the max on the AWS could be 0.2 or at most 0.3 below the mercury max. But I think I can live with that. :)

Re: Where to locate temperature sensor

Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2015 10:32 pm
by Jonathan Jefferies
Thank you for your information. Well I think putting the aws temperature sensor in the Stevenson screen is the preferred option and would save buying extra equipment too.

Many thanks

Re: Where to locate temperature sensor

Posted: Thu Dec 17, 2015 8:12 pm
by Nicholas Gardner
Hi Jon

I've placed my Davis AWS VP2 temperature and humidity sensor in my Stevenson Screen (see photo). I removed the radiation screen from it as this was no longer necessary and this increased the response time (it was also bulky within the screen).

The AWS is usually within 0.1°C or 0.2°C of my standard MetO LIG minimum and maximum thermometers (mostly within 0.1°C), and are also in the photo just below the VP2 sensor.
ottervalleystevensonscreeninstruments.jpg
ottervalleystevensonscreeninstruments.jpg (212.86 KiB) Viewed 27425 times

Re: Where to locate temperature sensor

Posted: Thu Dec 17, 2015 9:00 pm
by Jonathan Jefferies
Hi Nicholas.
It's interesting to see how you have your sensors arranged in your screen. I have spoken to Instromet and they are able to supply the temperature sensor without the radiation shield so I can then place this within the Stevenson screen as well as the humidity probe.

I'm also after a log book to write down all my measurements from my manual instruments, rainfall, min/max temp, humidity, cloud type etc, i have not found one yet, do you or anyone know where to get one from. I know I could copy these to a computer but I do like a hard copy.

Thank you

Jonathan

Re: Where to locate temperature sensor

Posted: Thu Dec 17, 2015 9:43 pm
by Martin Rowley
Jonathan Jefferies wrote: I'm also after a log book to write down all my measurements from my manual instruments, rainfall, min/max temp, humidity, cloud type etc, i have not found one yet, do you or anyone know where to get one from. I know I could copy these to a computer but I do like a hard copy.
... I use [and have done for more years than I care to remember] an ordinary spiral-bound 'foolscap' sized lined pad, then rule / annotate columns to suit my instrumention and periods of recording. It's labour intensive of course - but frankly I find it quite satisfying every few months! I also transfer everything to a spreadsheet - relatively simple stuff, but it does give you a cross-check for things like means/extremes between spreadsheet and manual computation.

Martin.