Entropy continued

[MicMaven]

Finally... (re: comparing gauge volumes)

Duh. - Um ... er ... Mr. JR and Mr. @cyrano ... perhaps I WAS missing something.

I mean, it seemed like a good idea at the time. My only defense is I majored in Philosophy and my doctorate is in a vastly different field from electronics (although I suppose I should have see this one coming...)

Can I use a Mulligan and escape a flogging? James

 

[JohnRoberts]

Duh. - Um ... er ... Mr. JR and Mr. @cyrano ... perhaps I WAS missing something.

I mean, it seemed like a good idea at the time. My only defense is I majored in Philosophy and my doctorate is in a vastly different field from electronics (although I suppose I should have see this one coming...)

Can I use a Mulligan and escape a flogging? James

No flogging needed, but perhaps you didn't need to keep reminding me about it. It's logical except that it doesn't work.

JR

 

[MicMaven]

but perhaps you didn't need to keep reminding me about it.

Occupational hazard. I can be rather persistent. I either got an answer or the respondent softened up in the clink until he answered. A guy gets spoiled by that sort of clout. This time I pursued a line with an obvious dead end I should have seen ahead.

 

[JohnRoberts]

Occupational hazard. I can be rather persistent. I either got an answer or the respondent softened up in the clink until he answered. A guy gets spoiled by that sort of clout. This time I pursued a line with an obvious dead end I should have seen ahead.

I learned when I first started working at Peavey, that if I only asked for something once, people ASSumed that I didn't really want it. I thought that was perhaps just a personal problem.

JR

 

[JohnRoberts]

I just got my first rain accumulation results with all four rain gauges deployed. One 9" diameter plastic bucket, one copper freeze proof rain gauge, and two cheap plastic rain gauges, one completely vertical and the second tilted back at a 30-45' angle.

The results were not very surprising, the most believable is the cheap rain gauge oriented vertical reading 0.4" rain. The exact same rain gauge tilted back reads 0.3", a larger difference than expected but in the expected direction. The copper rain gauge has trouble with small rain falls and was stuck at 0.0 until I freed up the internal float. It is reading well less than 1/2". I notice some water caught inside the float. The 9" diameter plastic bucket agrees with the just under 1/2" accumulation. So results are not definitive but in agreement with expectations.

JR

 

[JohnRoberts]

I figured out one problem with the copper freeze proof rain gauge.
the foam inside the float level indicator somehow became concave at its top. For small rain accumulations water tends to just pool on top of the foam instead of running down the hole in the middle causing the float to rise up on top of the water. I removed the foam and reversed it so now the flat bottom is facing up on the top . That should resolve the difficulty with reading small rainfalls. Originally it was glued in with some rubber cement , I used a drop of gorilla glue.

JR

 

[MicMaven]

should resolve the difficulty with reading small rainfalls. Originally it was glued in with some rubber cement , I used a drop of gorilla glue.

​

Oh No! Gorilla Glue CURES WITH MOISTURE which will further skew your results !! Also, how do you know it will now float properly? Instead of the foam collecting and pooling water above, now it will cup over the water and not float properly - either way you should cut it perfectly flat ... right?

(OK, never mind, just kidding.) James ​

 

[JohnRoberts]

Here is this morning's image of my rain gauge array. Our first rainfall since I reversed the float insert inside my copper freeze proof gauge. All four rain gauges are now in relative agreement. The copper freeze proof is still difficult to read for small amounts but now more accurate because rain does not get caught inside the top of the float. There is a tiny difference between the tilted vs the straight up cheap plastic rain gauge. We have more rain expected tonight so I reset the gauges to zero.

My conclusion is that all of the rain gauges when properly used are merchantable. In hindsight the cheap rain gauge would be completely adequate, and easier to read. A second backup gauge kept safely out of freezing weather would still be cost effective. The results of my experiments is that there is less difference between them than I expected.

JR

 

[JohnRoberts]

Another set of data and my old conclusions do not look so good.

The vertical cheap plastic rain gauge captured 1.5" the leaning back cheap plastic gauge only caught 1.25", surprisingly the copper freeze proof logged 2 3/4". The 9" diameter plastic bucket grabbed around 2 1/2".

The leaning rain gauge capturing less rain is logical, but aperture for the copper freeze proof is not large enough to explain how/why it received more rain than the cheap plastic puppies.

If anything I trust the bucket most, but it is hard to easily read.

JR

 

[JohnRoberts]

Entropy updates... Since my four rain gauges do not agree, I decided to add another one. Today I ordered adhesive backed 12" rulers that I can mount inside two 9" diameter plastic buckets so I can collect more data with the two 9" buckets physically located apart. I'll see if 5 is better than 4.
===
My back up (cheap) meat thermometer arrived today and the temperature probe is interchangeable (no surprise). While roughly the same price as the first one, it looks better and is easier to program.

Since I was spending money I ordered some heat shrink tubing so I can seal up the leaky probe connection on meat thermometer #1 and i'll have two functional meat thermometers.

Progress.....

[update... I put heat shrink on both temp probes but the later one looks like it already had some plastic sleeving inside the crimp. I prepared a second 9" plastic pail with two inch rulers installed. Now I have 5 rain gauges. Showers forecast overnight but not much accumulation expected. we'll see. /update]

JR

 

[JohnRoberts]

Why can't SKUs break or misbehave more decisively.

My squirrelly GFCI outlet has not misbehaved since I ordered the replacements, so they are patiently waiting for the next failure before I repair a working GFCI outlet.
===
I just removed the transmitter from my mailbox door alarm to check the batteries. I have been getting almost daily false alarms, often coincident with a noisy truck driving past. Both batteries measured a more than satisfactory 1.25 Vdc.
===
Waiting for it to rain again to check my expanded array of DIY rain gauges, I am up to 5 different gauges.

JR

 

[JohnRoberts]

Last night I brewed my first batch of beer since rehabilitating my meat thermometer probe that became contaminated with moisture (I cooked it in the oven to dry it out). I have two working meat thermometers because of the second cheap one I bought JIC. Last night I employed both thermometers inside the wort brew pot and they read temperatures that agreed within one or two degrees of each other up around 210'F.

I am still waiting for the two cheap replacement probes I ordered a while ago. They are apparently coming on a slow mail boat from china.

When they arrive I may do some more accuracy experiments with ice bath to check 0'C and boiling water to check 100'C

For now they are both good enough for cooking (and brewing beer).

JR

 

[cyrano]

FWIW, I have two batches of very cheap Chinese thermometers with a 0,1°C precision. One is with an external probe, providing only temp, in use in aquaria. The other has temp/moisture sensors internally. Both batches agree with the others in the batch and seem pretty precise.

The funny thing is there's exactly 1°C difference for the temp reading between the two batches...

 

[Tubetec]

I picked up a few Elma 711 thermometers with contact and universal probes ,
very useful to have around in all kinds of situations , Ive been meaning to pick up a Fluke non contact thermometer as well .

 

[JohnRoberts]

Cheap non contact thermometers are <$10... I am also looking at thermal imaging cameras that are less than $200 but that a little much for just messing around.

I would like to have that capability for checking for heat/cooling leaks (windows and doors), but not ready to pull the trigger at 2 C notes.

JR

 

[cyrano]

Yeah, but these don't work for aquaria...

 

[dmp]

I got a FLIR IR camera attachment for my phone last month and it's been nice to have. Yes, pricey and I will be really disappointed if it loses app support with phone anytime soon. There's a long screed one could write about how tools have went from a permanent thing you own (hammer) to something you either subscribe too, see ads to have access too, or are at the mercy of App developers for. Anyway, three pics - one shows the electric heating under a tile floor, the drywall ceiling where every screw is a thermal bridge, and finally a tube mic PSU I was working on with a power resistor dissipating heat.

 

[JohnRoberts]

I got a FLIR IR camera attachment for my phone last month and it's been nice to have. Yes, pricey and I will be really disappointed if it loses app support with phone anytime soon. There's a long screed one could write about how tools have went from a permanent thing you own (hammer) to something you either subscribe too, see ads to have access too, or are at the mercy of App developers for. Anyway, three pics - one shows the electric heating under a tile floor, the drywall ceiling where every screw is a thermal bridge, and finally a tube mic PSU I was working on with a power resistor dissipating heat.

Nice... Back last century before these were so inexpensive, I looked into using an IR camera attached to a computer to use in power amplifier production QA testing. Being able to quickly see the temperature of amplifier PCB components during pre-test burn-in, could quickly identify assembly flaws. Components either too cool or too hot could be easily identified by comparing boards being tested to reference baseline measurements,

I was a little ahead of the technology back then (25+ years ago) but it would probably still be useful today.

JR

 

[JohnRoberts]

I decided the revisit the low battery possibility for my mail box alarm transmitter. The rechargeable batteries were down around 1.25V DC each which apparently was inadequate. Loading in two fresh alkaline batteries, has stopped the false alarms for the last few days.

JR

 

[JohnRoberts]

damn the service life of these is getting shorter and shorter...

The sink side sprayer that I replaced less than 6 months ago is already getting squirrelly (doesn't stop spraying when you release the trigger).

I just ordered a metal one for 3x the cost... this one better last longer. According to the reviews the primary complaint is that it gets hot when spraying hot water... I can live with that.

JR

Damn this is disappointing, my new sprayer (actually the hose) just failed spraying water all over my kitchen.
The failed sprayer hose has a braided metal sheath.

But that did not stop it from kinking up and inner hose blowing water out through the unwinding braided sheath.

Arghhh this one lasted just under 6 months my typical cheap plastic side sprayer's expected life duration. This metal and shielded hose promised to be more robust?

JR