Anemometers

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LARanger
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Anemometers

#1 Postby LARanger » Fri Oct 16, 2020 12:31 am

So after 2020-Delta I decided to start considering an anemometer. I didn't want anything expensive or fancy . . . this is idle hobbyist-grade curiosity, not stormchasing or science . . . and didn't want anything I had to mount, so my mental picture was one of those little handheld digital units I've seen in some videos. As it turns out, most of those are pretty disappointing. Most cheap anemometers peg out at about 30 meters/second, or 67mph. A few will go up to 40m/s and are probably great choices, but to get anywhere near hurricane speeds you have to either build your own or find something awesome used.

There are some awesome used units, I would add, but most of the better ones still exceeded my budget. Several old military units really gave me the fizz, such as a big cup-based mechanical monster that required no batteries, and since I like things that don't require batteries (e.g. my hand-crank night-vision device) I ended up looking further in that direction, but with price still a criteria. The blue cup-based Didax/Invicta only goes up to 30mph or so, though, so was right out, as was the (battery-powered-but-fascinating) Kurz Pocket Anemometer that uses thermal energy removal rate as a way of estimating wind speed.

Had I not found the one I did, I probably would've ended up spending a bit more for one of the 40m/s electronic models, which can be had for $35ish.

I ended up making a choice already . . . for about $20, or the cost of one of the 30m/s electronic ones, a vintage Sims BT, which appears to basically be the same thing as the Maximum Commercial BTC994 that costs around 8-10 times more and is basically identical but for being not-a-cup-based. It's wind-powered, which seems pretty genius to me.

That said, I'm curious to know what the folks here would recommend.
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(* Pseudo-Scientific Wild-A** Guesses Generally Expressed Ridiculously)
The GFDL would've had all this figured out by now.

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Extratropical94
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Re: Anemometers

#2 Postby Extratropical94 » Fri Oct 16, 2020 3:28 am

LARanger wrote:So after 2020-Delta I decided to start considering an anemometer. I didn't want anything expensive or fancy . . . this is idle hobbyist-grade curiosity, not stormchasing or science . . . and didn't want anything I had to mount, so my mental picture was one of those little handheld digital units I've seen in some videos. As it turns out, most of those are pretty disappointing. Most cheap anemometers peg out at about 30 meters/second, or 67mph. A few will go up to 40m/s and are probably great choices, but to get anywhere near hurricane speeds you have to either build your own or find something awesome used.

There are some awesome used units, I would add, but most of the better ones still exceeded my budget. Several old military units really gave me the fizz, such as a big cup-based mechanical monster that required no batteries, and since I like things that don't require batteries (e.g. my hand-crank night-vision device) I ended up looking further in that direction, but with price still a criteria. The blue cup-based Didax/Invicta only goes up to 30mph or so, though, so was right out, as was the (battery-powered-but-fascinating) Kurz Pocket Anemometer that uses thermal energy removal rate as a way of estimating wind speed.

Had I not found the one I did, I probably would've ended up spending a bit more for one of the 40m/s electronic models, which can be had for $35ish.

I ended up making a choice already . . . for about $20, or the cost of one of the 30m/s electronic ones, a vintage Sims BT, which appears to basically be the same thing as the Maximum Commercial BTC994 that costs around 8-10 times more and is basically identical but for being not-a-cup-based. It's wind-powered, which seems pretty genius to me.

That said, I'm curious to know what the folks here would recommend.


I have a Kaindl Windmaster 2. Got it from my parents as a child (~18 years ago or so), and it's still alive and working quite well. It runs on one of those button cell batteries, which I had to replace twice in almost 2 decades. The official range is 0-150 km/h (~42 m/s), but it actually measures up to 199 km/h. I've used in countless chases at the coast and so far it has survived despite eating a lot of sea spray and rain.
Unfortunately, the company doesn't produce these anemometers anymore and everything else in the same price range (~70$) seems to either be less robust, less accurate or less suited for high wind speeds.

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LARanger
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Re: Anemometers

#3 Postby LARanger » Sat Oct 31, 2020 7:13 pm

So a possible issue with antique anemometers is bearings being shot due to ancient lube long since giving up. Just because it spins when blown upon doesn't mean it works.

In the case of Hurricane Zeta, I didn't have time to verify the anemometer before the storm (my high-tech plan being a car and open window), but knew it was reading loowwwwww. And yeah, I attempted (in desperation because this is not a good idea) to disassemble and lube it a little. While I did manage to get it spinning more easily I still never got a reading above 8mph, which was totally bogus since it was at least three times that at the time.

So, I may try to rebuild it (a new one of the same type is like $250 and I'm only $20 into it), or may break down and get one of the electronic fan-gizmo ones.
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Baton Rouge area cyclone dilettante, PSWAGGER* tropical weather & hydrology model developer
(* Pseudo-Scientific Wild-A** Guesses Generally Expressed Ridiculously)
The GFDL would've had all this figured out by now.


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