Ogriv

Greetings,


I just got back from the Christmas shopping spree at the mall. I found an electronic wind gauge at radio shack. They are on sale for $19.00. It seems to work quite well. It will indicate direction and speed. I don't have to guess anymore, just press a button.


Here is a link to it's description -> [link=http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&product%5Fid=63-1119]Radio Shack Wind Gauge[/link]

Geistware

My Feedback: (16)

That is a nice little gizmo and a great conversation piece. It would be nice to have the sensor permantly mounted and just plug the electronics in so that it can be kept at the field!

SaviCatses

Actually, i find that pretty expensive for something you can do just by feeling the breeze on your face, or throwing a couple blades of grass in the air. Unless you *really* need to know that the wind is blowing at exactly 7 kph

DBCherry

My Feedback: (4)

Well, it might keep people from saying they were flying in 25 to 30 mph winds, when they were actually 10 to 15.
Dennis

Ogriv

Well, I'll be honest with you. If I throw grass in air, that just tells me if the wind is blowing or not, and perhaps I suppose the direction also. But I am new to this hobby and I don't have that instinct to calculate wind speed yet. That is why I posted this in the beginners section, I assume many others can't calculate it correctly either. I guess it's like calculating the RPM's of the engine. Some people can do it by sound, but I use a $20 tachometer. Is that expensive to me, nope.


Merry Christmas!!!

Mike

NOVAflier

My Feedback: (21)

You know there is one in every crowd... Someone who has to throw cold water on a fun topic...I think gadgets like that are neat, regardless of the necessity. You know what they say "He who does with the most toys, wins"

tommy157

My Feedback: (1)

I'm always trying to guess the wind speed just something to do I guess but if your discussing a certain crash it always helps to make a point if you can say the wind was gusting to 25 instead of just saying the wind gusted. Anyway I'm headed to the local Shack and checking it out...

Barland

A member at our club has one of these. Boy, does he take alot of grief when he uses it! But, then we all want to know what info it gave him!! I think it is neat.

Jim Thomerson

Knowledge causes successful flights. Ignorance leads to crashes.

Jim

tiggerinmk

"displays the wind speed and direction so you can adjust your activity accordingly"

Anything that allows you to "adjust your activity accordingly" sounds like a good device to me

Tom Nied

I think its a great find. I wish I had it the day I cracked up my Avistar. My AM radio news/weather report was stating 21 gusting to 25, which I can fly in. Little did I know that it was actually gusting to 35, I checked the wind speed history the day after. I think you can slope soar an Avistar in that kind of wind, and I did practice a lot of hovering and flying backwards. But the winds made it extremely tough for landings and thats what did me in when I ran out of fuel and had a deadstick. I'd like something with a larger envelope of measurement, (hi/lo). Also wish the degree of accuracy it can measure was listed in the specifications. Add a simple compass and it really looks like it could be quite helpful. I'm going to take a look at it after the holidays.

Nice find Ogriv. Thanks.

Tom Nied

MajorTomski

Is that the one from Radio Shack that doesn't register below 6MPH?

nilo

Besides being a beginner and a electronics lover, I like it a lot and in fact, it could be much inexpensive if the club could keep one of these in the field wearhouse (we have a small "tend" in our club) so whoever wanted could use it.
I posted a threat about flying under windy and gusty situation for a beginner and this could be some help. Does this record just the wind average speed or also gusting mesurements?

I found the device wich I'm wondering to know the name, in the field which tries to show the pilots the wind direction of kinda poor fedback. It stands close to the runway with couple plastic stripps hanging and being blown by the wind.

Nilo

southern_touch9

My Feedback: (3)

Once you get good enough at flying all you will need to know is wind direction. You should be able to judge if the wind is blowing too hard for the airplane you want to fly just by feel. I can see where a wind gauge would be fun to have (you can always make bets on what it will read). It would also be nice with a glider or something of that sort. The wind might be blowing different at 100 ft. up than it is on the deck, depending on your terrain its possible.

Here is a really cheap gauge.

--> If there are 10lb airplanes blowing over while still on the ground then the wind is blowing too hard.
--> If the best pilot of the field is just sitting there and making no attempt to fly then its blowing too hard.
--> If there are trees on the field that werent there last time the wind might be blowing too hard.
--> If you spit into the wind and it comes right back and smacks you in the eye then the wind might be blowing too hard.
--> If you are already flying and mistake your plane for a small dog that has been picked up by the wind then the wind might be blowing too hard.

Tom Nied

Yeah, just click on Orgiv's link in his first post.

Here is a link to it's description -> Radio Shack Wind Gauge
http://www.radioshack.com/product.as...t%5Fid=63-1119

Tom Nied

And in my case, while I was cleaning up and trying to get my cracked up Avistar back to my car, limbs from a dead tree were being blown off. Also I was experiencing great difficulty carrying the Avistar back from the crackup location back to my fieldbox. I think it was too windy. Maybe thats why I was the only guy out that day.

CafeenMan

I'm going to ride the fence on this one. Is it necessary? Well.... no. But I like cool gadgets too. Unfortunately, I don't own any because there's always something more useful I can buy with the same money - like more wood, for example.

iflircaircraft

I read in one of the r/c mags years ago of an inexpensive wind gauge.
Take your whoopy dooopy prop balancer, you know. the one with the magnets and rods and put a 9x6 prop on the balancer.
Using your fancy hoo dad tachometer take a reading of the prop speed.

I'll be &*&*& if I can remember how to figure the mph from the tach reading, but I know it can be done.


Tom

southern_touch9

My Feedback: (3)

Sounds good but wouldnt prop weight and pitch have to be held constant. There is a difference between a Graupner 6X4 and a Bolly 24X8

gus

In theory, you can multiply the pitch by the tach reading and get inches per minute ..... which, if I was not so metrically minded, could "easily" be converted into MPH.

gus

iflircaircraft

By The Way:
If the wind sock is parralell to the horizon it is probably too windy to fly that park flier!

Tom

tiggerinmk

For all those who actually have a TF magnetic prop balancer, I believe the formula is in the instruction manual.....

tiggerinmk

Here ya go!!

"HOW TO USE YOUR BALANCER AS
A WIND SPEED INDICATOR
(ANEMOMETER)
A unique feature of the Precision
Magnetic Balancer is its ability to read
the wind speed. Because of its nearly
friction-free design, it can determine
the wind speed to within 2 mph. All you
need is a photocell tachometer and a
balanced Top Flite 11 x 8 Power Point
prop. Any tachometer will work to read
the wind speed, but the Hobbico
Digital Mini Tach is ideal. You can
temporarily mount it on the balancer
which will allow you to set the unit down
and read the wind speed without
having to hold any of the components.

PROCEDURE
Mount the 11 x 8 Power Point prop on
the balancer shaft and place the shaft
between the magnets. Adjust the
magnets if necessary until the shaft is
touching only one magnet. For stronger
winds, adjust the Magnets so they
touch both ends of the shaft.

Place the balancer unit on a flat surface
(or hold it) in free flowing air so the
back of the prop is facing the direction
the wind is coming from. Turn on the
tach and read the wind speed. The
wind speed with the 11 x 8 Power Point
prop will be the RPM divided by 100.
The Hobbico Digital Mini Tach reads
RPM in thousands so the wind speed
will be in tens. For example, a reading
of 0.5 on the tach is 5 mph. A reading
of 18.8 on the tach is 188 mph (in which
case you should not fly) and so on.

To temporarily mount the Hobbico Digital
Mini Tach on the balancer, use a piece of
2" length of self-adhesive Velcro® near
the middle of one balancer case half.
Position another piece of Velcro® on the
Hobbico Digital mini-tach so that the
sensor faces the propeller blade.

NOTE: The Top Flite 11 x 8 Power
Point prop is the best prop we have
found that will give an accurate wind
speed reading without having to use a
calculator. Other props will work but
you will have to use the following
formula to determine the wind speed.
The accuracy may also be affected due
to the different efficiencies of prop
designs and pitches, but the results will
be reasonably close for approximating
the wind speed.
Wind Speed (in MPH) = RPM x Pitch of
the prop(in inches) x .00114"

Copyright Great Planes blah blah blah....

CafeenMan

Wooooah hoss! That thar be copy writted material... yo goin' tuh jail!

jucava

If the plastic chairs are flying, that means is too windy to fly. The tach is different.