Installed AAG CloudWatcher - yay!

[rogerg]

I can't remember how many years it's been that I've wanted a cloud & rain sensor hooked up to my observatory. But I finally have one installed! Yay! :D

The AAG CloudWatcher arrived from OPT in record time about 2 weeks ago. After much consideration over the last couple of weeks of exactly how and where to install it, this weekend I set about the task.

My back neighbour was good enough to weld my 40mm tubing together and to a plate, and rill a hole for wires to be fed though. I then gave it several coats of paint yesterday. This afternoon I managed to get the wires through (after much giggling and tugging) and tech-screwed the assembly in position. The only thing I have left is to put some flexible conduit over the exposed wires, plastic caps on the ends of the 40mm tubing, and conduit over the cable where it runs in to the observatory interior.

Now plugged in and recording data :thumbsup:

Sky temp: 2.9c
Rain: Dry
wind: 2.4km/hr
Brightness: 1k
Ambient: 21.3c

Time will tell if all the sensors are working correctly (should have perhaps tested earlier!), how to interpret the values, and what thresholds I need to set for my location.

Now I just need the roof motor installed.. fingers crossed within a couple of weeks :)

Roger.

[blink138]

that would have had its bloody work cut out for itself at the moment roger ha ha!
pat

[Paul Haese]

I am looking at getting this unit too. Cheaper than buying a boltwood and still does the job.

[rogerg]

It was good to be able to test all three seasons in one day :)



That was exactly my theory.

So far I'm very impressed with the accuracy and various sensors, but it's not working with CCD Commander, so have some diagnosis required there. I have emailed the CCD Commander group.

[BPO]

It's a great bit of gear.

Unless you're in Antarctica or Siberia, the internal temp sensor can be ignored during the day, as it's fully exposed to sunlight, but night time temps usually closely match other instruments.

Another issue for cold climates is the default sky values aren't ideal, but it's trivial to adjust it per the manual, and people in warmer climates such as experienced in NZ's West Island probably won't have to do much adjusting, if any.

The AAG is very reliable and well made: So far mine has survived three Alpine winters unscathed (heavy snow, severe icing, -25 C) while remaining completely accurate.

Also the support from Antonio of AAG (and also in my case supplier Jaime of Lunatico) is just outstanding.