R&D sunshine recorder and limitations
 

Does anyone have one of these?

http://www.instromet.co.uk/sunsensor.html

I was wondering whether it would be possible to connect a data logger like
this to it

http://www.picotech.com/e_loggers.html

It would appear from the control box which is an integral part of t he
system that it would not be difficult to connect this up to a PC someway and
record the data much more comprehensively than at present. Instromet have
quoted me over £400 to achieve this - There must be a cheaper way

Any ideas welcome

Thanks

R&D sunshine recorder and limitations
 

Rob,

I have the R&D Instromet sunshine logger connected via a Pico ADC16 to a PC,
and it has been working continuously since July 1999 without fault. The
Picologger software gives a spreadsheet output that you can import onto
Excel for post processing, and it also produces a graph of the output. The
sunlogger has an analogue output of 5V when the sun is shining, and 0V when
it is not. The ADC 16 accepts +/- 2.5V, so you will need to step the 5v down
to less than 2.5v using a simple potential divider. I set the Picologger
software to take one reading per minute, but it samples the sunshine input
every few msec, so the logged data at the end of a minute is the integrated
voltage for that period, thus if the sun is out for the whole minute it will
give a maximum value, but if the sunshine is intermittent, the value it
gives will be 'value/max value' fraction of a minute's sunshine.
The ADC16 is an 8 channel converter, and so can accommodate other
instruments if you wish. ADC stands for 'analogue to digital converter'. The
digital output connects to a serial COM port on the PC.

Contact me direct if you want further advice.

--
Bernard Burton

Wokingham Berkshire.

Weather data and satellite images at:
www.woksat.info/wwp.html

"Rob Brooks" wrote in message
...
Does anyone have one of these?

http://www.instromet.co.uk/sunsensor.html

I was wondering whether it would be possible to connect a data logger like
this to it

http://www.picotech.com/e_loggers.html

It would appear from the control box which is an integral part of t he
system that it would not be difficult to connect this up to a PC someway
and record the data much more comprehensively than at present. Instromet
have quoted me over £400 to achieve this - There must be a cheaper way

Any ideas welcome

Thanks

R&D sunshine recorder and limitations
 

"Rob Brooks" wrote in message
...
Does anyone have one of these?

http://www.instromet.co.uk/sunsensor.html

I was wondering whether it would be possible to connect a data logger like
this to it

http://www.picotech.com/e_loggers.html

It would appear from the control box which is an integral part of t he
system that it would not be difficult to connect this up to a PC someway
and record the data much more comprehensively than at present. Instromet
have quoted me over £400 to achieve this - There must be a cheaper way

Any ideas welcome

Thanks


In answer to your first question, yes and it has proved reliable since 2002.
Just as well as it is on the top of a long pole and becomes less accessible
as the years go by.

I see Bernard has supplied an answer to your second question. This is
something I would also be interested in setting up as just occasionally I
forget to log the sunshine total at the end of the day.

--
George in Epping, West Essex (107m asl)
www.eppingweather.co.uk
www.winter1947.co.uk
COL 36055