That is very nice indeed! I want first to collect some data before trying to predict rain, but I’m sure it should be possible to predict at least obvious moments.
How did you do the box? 3d printed?
The box is off the shelf - Jaycar part HB6219.
Ah ok so you then just applied the holes for the sensors I suppose. I actually used as well a waterproof junction box with transparent lid, and sensors are outside and weatherproofed with cling film, that takes water away but allows all the sensors (including IR) to work properly.
I don’t leave the box out in the weather when I’m not imaging because the observatory roof for my setup is manual so I can’t have 100% automation. I just use it to warn me of potential rain so I can close the roof. If it detects cloud then Voyager stops the image and the scope moves to the home position.
The sensor is a tight fit in the hole in the casing however it wouldn’t be a big deal to seal around the sensor if I needed to.
Understood, makes sense. I was also leaving the box outside only when observing, but I wanted then to have it always outside like with the one managing temperature/humidity at the mount, and to collect data over time to build a better algorithm (potentially) in the future.
I do turn on when imaging only the portable radio display alert I have in the house.
G
Hi all. Some weeks ago I started reading this thread and I take a cue from it realizing how to use usefull service like openWeatherMap and SafeMonitor feature.
So, I wrote some a simple script in Vbs, (I’m not an expert, just googled how to call api, how Get data from xml and write in a file…) to ask the actual cloud cover percentage and rain state and write “safe/unsafe” into the SafeMonitor file. The issue now is how to set the treshold of coverage. Actually my idea is to put 25%-30% max coverage before set the SafeMonitor at “Unsafe”, but probably someone of you have more experience with this king of stuff. Do you have any suggestion ? What are your tresholds ?
PS : if anyone is insterested in the vbs script, I can share it.