light wind sensors

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

Hi all,

There's been a few posts about this in the past, but I'm having some
difficulty working out the best approach to creating a wind sensor.

I want to use some sort of propeller to detect the wind speed, but I
haven't been able to find what I should connect it to.

I've seen some rotary switches in my local electronics shop, but it's
very hard to rotate. This project involves someone blowing, so the force
will be very light.

Can anyone recommend a component that detects rotation that's
exceptionally easy to move?

I'll eventually be creating 6 sensors that will be hooked up to a
microcontroller to interpret the input.

Thanks,

- Kevin
kevin!multiblah!com

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

On Thu, 08 Apr 2004 10:23:56 +0100, Kevin <no@spam.com> wrote:

>Hi all,
>
>There's been a few posts about this in the past, but I'm having some
>difficulty working out the best approach to creating a wind sensor.
>
>I want to use some sort of propeller to detect the wind speed, but I
>haven't been able to find what I should connect it to.
>
>I've seen some rotary switches in my local electronics shop, but it's
>very hard to rotate. This project involves someone blowing, so the force
>will be very light.
>
>Can anyone recommend a component that detects rotation that's
>exceptionally easy to move?
>
>I'll eventually be creating 6 sensors that will be hooked up to a
>microcontroller to interpret the input.
>
>Thanks,
>
>- Kevin
> kevin!multiblah!com


Use whatever mechanical propellar and bearing you like, with a disc on the
center, having notches for an optical sensor. Open up an old ball J(that
is, not optical) mouse and take a look inside, you'll see what I'm getting
at.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

I saw some instruments that measure wind from abut 1.1 miles an hour
and up that use a serial interface but for real instruments like this
you are talking some big money a little weather station could cost up
to $2500.00

I could see how you could use a magnet and a coil and when a propeller
spun it could generate a field or a small amount of electricity that
can be seen on a volt meter. However, I do not see how that
information can be used with a computer. If you had a digital meter
that might be a usable way to use the output.

If you looked around at amazon.com you might find some books that tell
how to build what you want for a little less. I saw a while back a
set of directions to build a wind turbine. I think the directions
were at a solar power magazine called Home Power Magazine. You can
find a lot of interesting things in this magazine I have downloaded
stuff from their site before.

www.homepower.com

I think you could take a toy motor and put a propeller on it and build
something making it hook up to a computer is another issue.

>On Thu, 08 Apr 2004 10:23:56 +0100, Kevin <no@spam.com> wrote:
>
>>Hi all,
>>
>>There's been a few posts about this in the past, but I'm having some
>>difficulty working out the best approach to creating a wind sensor.
>>
>>I want to use some sort of propeller to detect the wind speed, but I
>>haven't been able to find what I should connect it to.
>>
>>I've seen some rotary switches in my local electronics shop, but it's
>>very hard to rotate. This project involves someone blowing, so the force
>>will be very light.
>>
>>Can anyone recommend a component that detects rotation that's
>>exceptionally easy to move?
>>
>>I'll eventually be creating 6 sensors that will be hooked up to a
>>microcontroller to interpret the input.
>>
>>Thanks,
>>
>>- Kevin
>> kevin!multiblah!com
>
>
>Use whatever mechanical propellar and bearing you like, with a disc on the
>center, having notches for an optical sensor. Open up an old ball J(that
>is, not optical) mouse and take a look inside, you'll see what I'm getting
>at.