Developing a sensor to measure the snow. If the sensor could be made inexpensively, then the power of the Internet could be used to collect a large number of samples over large areas. The popular weather datacollections sites ( Weather Underground, Citizen Weather Observer Program ) currently don`t provide fields for snowfall, but this is changing. I noticed that WeatherMatrix has started a beta system for
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reporting snowfall. Dan Awtrey has written several articles about using 1-Wire Addressable Digital Instruments for Environmental Monitoring. The 1-Wire devices are very inexpensive and easy to interface with. Many devices can be supported on the 1-Wire bus. I decided to build a system based on them. Using an inexpensive web camera that doesn`t have an IR filter, you can see the beam size and location. In the following images, the sensor beam was aimed straight down (34 CM from sensor face). The spot size has an approximate diameter of 1 CM. Data was taken for an hour (1041 samples) to see the sensor voltage distribution. The mean voltage supply was 4. 98 VDC. The mean range voltage was 0. 799 VDC with a 0. 01 VDC standard deviation. The minimum voltage was 0. 77 VDC and the maximum was 0. 86 VDC. The mean sensor temperature was 78F. The mean light sensor reading was 0. 3 mV. One hundred feet of wire was added between the power supply and the sensor. Another hour of data was collected. The mean voltage supply dropped to 4. 786 VDC. The mean range voltage dropped to 0. 787 VDC with a 0. 01 VDC standard deviation. The minimum voltage was 0. 76 VDC and the maximum was 0. 81 VDC Bright sunlight can interfere with the Sharp sensor. The range sensor voltage and it`s deviation increase when the photodiode reports > 50+ mV. Since it usually doesn`t snow when the sun is out, one approach is not to make measurements in bright...
This project fits more for custom made battery casing that can have more space to hide things inside. This switch with few alterations can be used for any other project as well but is designed based on e-bike needs! This project use a clever functionality of....
The circuit described here uses ultrasonic oscillations and operates based on the propagation velocity of these oscillations in the air. Thus, we can easily determine the distance of two points if the time within which the wave travels this distance is....
Sometimes the precious metals are hidden too deep and are not detected except with complicated devices. In many cases, however, small pieces of precious metal buried near the surface can be detected by relatively simple means. Everyone is very attractive to....
Many times for various reasons we forget or can not water the plants that we have in our homes. And many humidity sensors units just notify us with a beeping sound or with a flashing light, that the pot needs watering. But what if we are away from home? This....
The principle behind a metal detector is really very simple. Proof of this is the circuit that follows, in which it proves that the construction of a metal detector can be done in the minute, with few components that we find very easily everywhere. With the....
The sub-harmonic bass generator is a sound producing unit for guitars. The sound it produces looks very much like that of the bass guitar. The octave generator is sometimes quite unusual since it does not produce any of the usual ways of coloring the sound,....
In the past the sounding (sea bottom measurement) was done with the "bullet", that is, with a heavy lead object that the seamen plucked into the sea hung from a calibrated rope. As soon as the "bullet" reached the bottom, the depth appeared directly from the....
This Amplifier was designed to have the following specifications: Distortion less than 0.1% at full power of 100W even at 20KHz. Power has to be attributed to an extended bandwidth. The output transistors must be protected against short circuits. The power....
A series of LEDs serve to alert the gardener when plants need water. Using two conventional digital integrated LEDs and a series of LEDs, we make a very useful device for gardening. The device detects the amount of water in the pot and alerts the grower.....
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