Sunshine Recorder

beteljuice · **Posted:** Fri Mar 09, 2012 11:20 am

Glad to hear he is recovering OK :clap:

RayProudfoot · **Posted:** Fri Mar 09, 2012 5:10 pm

I'm also pleased to hear Ole is recovering well. What better way to spend a day than tinker with the sunshine recorder.

smorris · **Posted:** Fri Apr 13, 2012 5:24 pm

Hello all,

I found my way here from a post on another forum, and registered so that I could read through the entire thread and view the photos and graphs. What and interesting device! It would be interesting to see comparisons with the VP2 solar sensor graph. I have my VP2 located in my garden, so the sensor curve shows a rapid drop off toward the end of the day as the sun goes behind a row of trees. One of the B-L sun recorders could be added on my roof for horizon to horizon exposure.

Are these units available for purchase now, or is it still in trials? If you need a trial in the central US (41˚N) I'd certainly be interested in the 75 GBP ($119 USD) trial unit.

I'd be curious to read how the unit performed in the Ontario testing, as we have snow/ice here several months of the year, and high humidity, which might cause misting inside the unit. I was encouraged early on in my reading that there would be a heated and aspirated model available in addition to the less expensive standard unit. But now seeing that the standard unit is 385 GBP plus 35 to ship, that's $668 USD for the basic unit. I'm not sure I want to know what the heated/aspirated model would cost! :yikes:

Thanks for a wonderful device. It was interesting to read the development, growing friendship, and then a business grow in just a few pages.
Steve

PaulMy · **Posted:** Sat Apr 14, 2012 1:45 am

Hi Steve,

Quote:

I'd be curious to read how the unit performed in the Ontario testing, as we have snow/ice here several months of the year, and high humidity, which might cause misting inside the unit.

I have the unit's graph for this past June, December and January on my website that may answer your question. The current software allows for more user data extraction but I have not tackled that as it stretches my ability so still using the console's history feature.

My unit has been extremely reliable and the only short periods of non-recording has been either my shutdown for burying the cable before winter and computer shutdown for maintenance. The sunshine recording has been spot on, or off, as the sunshine occurs or disappears behind clouds, etc. I do have sight line obstruction at sunrise and sunset which then shows as no sunshine recorded as can be seen on the daily graphs, but this is less obvious in the winter. I have intended to go to the Environment Canada station at CYXU here in London, Ontario to discuss their past use of sunrecording but have not yet found the opportunity.

Quote:

What and interesting device! It would be interesting to see comparisons with the VP2 solar sensor graph.

I believe Ole in Denmark has the Davis VP2 with solar and he may be able to give you some information on this.

There are some SR pictures in my website's Pictures tab.

Paul

Olejul · **Posted:** Sat Apr 14, 2012 10:02 am

Correct - I do have a Davis with solar radiation sensor but problems are:

To use the solar radiation to detect sunshine requires a direct solar radiation sensor while the Davis is a global radiation sensor.

WMO has defined a threshold for sun shine as 120W/M2 direct radiation

Our sun recorder is a optical device and it does not 'see' the whole sky - only the part where the sun will be present at all seasons.

So to say it is a mixture of a direct and a global radiation sensor which makes a comparison between the Davis and our sun recorder difficult.

However: we have done a lot of work trying to establish a formula which could calculate the solar direct radiation based upon our sensor signal, but until now it has not been successful as we have no direct solar radiation data to compare with.

Sun recorder trials, sales prices and future developments:

We do have a representative number of trial units installed worldwide and we don't need any more at this time.

Yes - there is a significant price difference between the trial units and our present sales price - the payment for the trial units was only covering the direct material cost while the present sales price for obvious reasons includes overhead to cover for instance warranty and profit.

We do however believe that the price is very competitive taken the sales prices for other types of sun recorders into consideration.

We had the original idea to include both heaters and a small fan to ensure a good ventilation to keep the internal temperature at a reasonable low level and also to have some means of removing internal mist and external rime and snow.

Our present simplified model, which have holes for natural air ventilation, have however proved that such features are not required:

We have one installation just 10° north of equator and the highest internal temperature seen so far is about 50°C - the recorder has been tested in a standard kitchen oven at 80°C without problems.

My own installation has on several occasions been covered with rime during the two last winters and even then a fair bright sun rise were detected without any apparent delay.

The surface of the sun recorder is made of acrylic glass wherefore the surface is very smooth and also because of its tilt, I have not yet seen any build-up of a snow layer even at days with snow and no wind.

Hope this clarifies som the issues put forward by smooris.

Best regards
Ole

smorris · **Posted:** Sat Apr 14, 2012 12:57 pm

Thank you both for the information. I was aware that the sun recorder and the VP2 solar sensor are difficult to compare, as that was discussed elsewhere in the thread. I'll look at the information on both of your sites to see what you've experienced.

I realize costing for small production runs is high, as you can't take advantage of mass produced technologies, such as injection molding and such. I spent my career designing new products for professional tools, and know how expensive prototypes and small lots can be. I just was surprised that the finished product came out at over 400 GBP delivered, which is out of my price range.

Thanks for the replies,
Steve

PaulMy · **Posted:** Sat Apr 14, 2012 2:45 pm

Hi Steve,
Looks like I am just about 100 miles due north of you. If you want to tie down your mo'ped to a raft and paddle across the lake I'll pick you up at Port Stanley, but customs may be a problem :lol:

While we had an extremely mild winter we did have some snow and sleet storms, etc. likely similar to what you get and no issue what-so-ever with the B-L sunrecorder. We also had some near record heat last summer and again no issues with the unit: since the SR installation our high was 35.8°c/96.4°f in July and low only -19.4°c/-3.9°f in January.

BTW your Long Road Weather Station Sky Cam image is excellent.

Paul

smorris · **Posted:** Sat Apr 14, 2012 5:53 pm

Hi Paul,

Ha! The BBC show Top Gear did exactly that a couple seasons ago. They strapped a Vespa to a raft to cross a lake in Vietnam.

Customs? I'll just come ashore at a beach and be an illegal alien. Sort of the opposite of the rum runners that came south and landed on the beaches near me during prohibition.

Good to see that the sun recorder stands up to the extremes. That it can detect sunrise through Ole's rime ice is a testament to the quality. Both your high and low were more extreme than mine here last year.

Thanks for the comments on the web cams. The garden cam is an outdoor Sharx IP camera, but the resolution is less than I'd have liked. The sky cam is just a cheap Logitech Pro 9000 here in the windowsill beside my computer. It has good quality, but limited controls. I'm running it through my Mac, so it has no driver available. It has worked pretty well for the past six months, but recently has started locking up on me occasionally. Some times every few days, and sometimes several times a day. Makes the time-lapse videos worthless. (plus due to the high resolution, the time-lapse download takes a long time.

Thanks again,
Steve

PaulMy · **Posted:** Fri Jun 01, 2012 5:24 am

I have now completed the first full year of the B-L sunrecorder in Komoka, Ontario Canada. Except for a couple occasions were my computer stopped, and when I shut down for Windows updates, the B-L sunrecorder has been totally reliable and steadily recording the sunshine that we are enjoying. Here is a link to the monthly graphs: http://www.komokaweather.com/weather/sunrecorder/sunrecorder_display_v3.html

Also
http://www.komokaweather.com/weather/sunrecorder/sunrecorder_display_v2_today.html
http://www.komokaweather.com/weather/sunrecorder/sunrecorder_display_v2_days30.html
http://www.komokaweather.com/weather/sunrecorder/sunrecorder_display_v2_months12.html

Paul

yv1hx · **Posted:** Tue Jun 12, 2012 6:38 pm

Amazing figures, Paul! :clap:

Olejul · **Posted:** Thu Jul 05, 2012 10:12 am

Sun Recorder - Summer Sale

(or: Winter Sale in the southern hemisphere).

Although we do have sun recorders spread on representative areas of the world, we now wants to boost the sale a little.

The sales price for the next 5 orders will be GBP 290,- including shipping – that’s 30% off the normal price.

Rules: the first five confirmed payments at Paypal account paypal@sunrecorder.net will have their Sun Recorder system shipped about a week later.

Should the number of payments exceed 5, the surplus payments will be returned via Paypal.

Get started to measure the sun shine duration.

Best regards

Alan & Ole

Gina · **Posted:** Wed Jul 11, 2012 9:43 am

I was thinking of adding a sunshine recorder to my weather station and have been following this thread with interest

When this project started the cost of a trial unit was a bit more than I could afford being a pensioner. I was hoping to climb on board later but unfortunately I now see that the price has soared way above my capabilities so it looks as if I shall again have to try to make my own if I want this facility.

For the time being I shall just have to put up with measuring the light level as I'm doing ATM with my 1-wire station. I guess with all the work that has gone into the Sunshine Recorder project I was naive to think I might be able to afford it. Oh well, that's life...

I do however wish Alan and Ole the best of luck with this project - it's quite remarkable

broadstairs · **Posted:** Wed Jul 11, 2012 12:58 pm

I must admit when I saw the price of this I was somewhat surprised, and if my Davis sensor (again) failed this might be an affordable alternative. The Davis sensor which if ordered from the US to add to my station comes in at well under half the price of this sensor (I know this for a fact as I had to buy a one a couple of years ago to replace a no longer available alternative), and allowing for import duties etc is still under half price. I know these things are not cheap to produce and as yet economies of scale will not apply but even so I was somewhat shocked at close to £300.

Again I wish them well with the project but I fear that at this kind of price (more than many hobby complete weather stations) it will put off all but the most affluent folks.

Stuart

RayProudfoot · **Posted:** Wed Jul 11, 2012 1:32 pm

I've also given this serious consideration. The main sticking point for me is accessibility for cleaning the glass. To record as much sunshine as possible means the recorder being high up which in my case would be attached to the pole which holds the anemometer. I haven't ventured onto my roof for many years and would be a little reluctant to do so now but an aerial contractor could as a one-off.

But if it requires regular cleaning should it become a perch for birds that would be a major drawback. I haven't touched the anemometer in over 3 years but I suspect the sunshine recorder would require more frequent maintenance.

The USB cable is less of a problem if runs of up to 150ft are not an issue. I'd love to be able to support such a wonderful venture providing some reassurance over maintenance could be given.

PaulMy · **Posted:** Wed Jul 11, 2012 5:47 pm

The B-L Sunrecorder has been set up about 13 months now and I have not nor see any need to clean it. On one occasion have I seen a bird (Robin) perched on it. The sun recording continues to be very accurate. We are having quite a good summer with lots of sunshine http://www.komokaweather.com/weather/sunrecorder/sunrecorder_display_v1.html (but more rain is desperately needed).
While it is more than I need, I have a 100m cable from roof unit to computer. http://www.komokaweather.com/pictures/pictures_upload-1.html for some pictures

Paul

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