best placement of temp sensor

Hi...

 

i have 2 options for outdoor temp, but not sure which one to pick

 

option1 is somewhere on my balcony... it has quite some options as where to mount... its facing almost direct south with 5-10 degrees to the east.. so a lot of sun out there.... also when its raning the dominat wind direction will take rain almost to the balcony door.

 

option2 is the big embedded box for the utility meter just outside the front door... this si direct oposite so facing north with the same degrees just towards the west. the box is white outside and grey inside... walls are a good 1cm thick at least.

 

look at attached pics... utility box is in red circle.... there is a small passage through the cavaty wall to the fusebox inside... enough room to feed a 3 core cable with some luck 2 so i can detect use of electricity by the flasher and messure temp with a DS or DHT sensor

on the balcony i can use a emonth...

but which options gives the most accurate reading ?

Robert Wall's picture

Re: best placement of temp sensor

What do you want the temperature sensor to tell you? One on the balcony, but shielded from direct sunlight, will give you some idea of the temperature on that side of your apartment, therefore the amount of solar heat you might be getting during most of the day. If you put the sensor in the meter box, it will give you a more accurate reading of the general ambient air temperature, but with little or no ventilation the box will act as a low pass filter and the ambient temperature fluctuations will be smoothed and delayed.

boelle's picture

Re: best placement of temp sensor

I want the sensor to tell me the temp here and now... is the ideal placement not where there is air movement but no direct sunlight? is that not the way most weather services do messurement?

Paul Reed's picture

Re: best placement of temp sensor

boelle's picture

Re: best placement of temp sensor

thanks... it was the stevson screen i had i mind.... 

 

but i guess it all boils down to no direct sunlight but still have a reasonble amount of moving air...

 

but it was sure food for thought.... in the meter box would be ideal if there was just some ventilation which there is not..

 

time to let my thoughts simmer on low heat

Robert Wall's picture

Re: best placement of temp sensor

Could you use the encapsulated sensor with just the end poking though the front of the meter box into free air? I did something similar to that at a friend's house - it was a window frame, the window faced north and the sensor was close to the stonework on the left side so shielded from the summer morning sun, and shielded from the evening sun by the main part of the house.

(Excuse the roofers - Google's car would happen to drive past just then.)

calypso_rae's picture

Re: best placement of temp sensor

Maybe that was the same van as got me ...

 

boelle's picture

Re: best placement of temp sensor

I wish i could but its a rented flat, and the owners are kind of very restrictive... but i have thought of either 2 bits of white pvc tubes inside each other with vertical holes drilled in  them and then offset it so holes in the outer tube are not direct in front of the holes in the inner tube... and then an emonth inside... but then again the emonth case could prob do the job and is less hazzle... 

 

i would place it on the balcony, but so high up from the floor that the sun will not get to it...

 

what i forgot to tell is that there is another building with flats just on the other side of the road that shields of some of the sun..

if the sun never touches it how much does it hurt that i spray paint it yellow to match the bricks?

boelle's picture

Re: best placement of temp sensor

hmm but think i will feed through the 3 core cable for the blinker tonight and will take some pics of the work... maybe it will tell much better how suited the meter box really is

boelle's picture

Re: best placement of temp sensor

so a few shots of the meter box, i could just feed through the 3 core for the flasher on the meter... with some luck maybe i could feed another for a temp probe...

 

 

 

 

 

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