This channel, this presenter, these videos are priceless, and show that the age of learning isn't over yet. Thank you Chris, this is classic ExplainingComputers.... Stay well, see you next time....
You may be a modern Renaissance man for bringing all these different disciplines (e.g. engineering, maths, 3D-printing, programming, filmmaking, computing and explaining) so wonderfully together.
Brilliant Chris. You should do alot more of these projects. It's inspiring (especially for younger people) and demonstrates how a small computer can have real uses in peoples lives
Good first attempt. Some refinement would make it more accurate and durable. A hall effect sensor would eliminate bounce conditions and false positives, and coating all the water facing surface with a hydrophobic coating will ensure ALL the water is counted and not left as droplets in the funnel or on the paddles. Otherwise, a good prototype and a great jumping off point for new users. Thanks for sharing.
Can you share with us a product that can be used for hydrophobic coating? (Bounce can be eliminated with code / timing... I note it didn't seem an issue here though. Do you think that might change with long term use?)
@@MatSmithLondon Regarding bounce - we mostly seen "good" cases here. For example, if the rainfall is severe, or maybe if the wind is very high, I can imagine the water coming in weird ways down and then the ... balancer thing starts to tip, if the water it holds isn't static, it can "evacuate" faster / earlier and the coming water from above might come with force, and the tip from one side to another might not finish before it tips back again.
@@MatSmithLondon Well, something like Rain-X would do, though there are many on the market. The problem with read switches is less about 'bounce' as such, but more because it is a spark contact that can have variable effects. That does not make them very reliable for long term. A hall effect sensor has no moving part and as such should be more reliable long term.
Awesome ! Nothing us Brits like more than discussing rain with friends whilst drinking Tea and a fresh packet of Custard Creams on the go ! Now with this fascinating device the pleasure is amped up to 11....cheers.
This is a great little project! It'd certainly come in handy for the storms we get here in Texas. We get so much rain, that it can sometimes trigger a flash flood warning, but I fear that the rain gauge would end up blowing away considering how strong the winds can get in some storms. And of course, a round of applause to Mr. Hosepipe for his contribution at the end. 👏
@@alanthornton3530 I'll have to comb through past videos to get all the names of Chris' tool friends. I can certainly name Mr. Scissors, Stanley the Knife, and Mr. Screwdriver from the top of my head! 😂
Chris, I can’t thank you enough for this presentation and sharing all the resources freely. As an academic who is working on hydroclimatic modelling, I cannot stress enough how important this seemingly rudimentary observation is for a robust understanding of our environment. After watching your other RPi Pico based weather monitoring presentations, I was inspired enough to try to build a soil moisture observation station for my study field myself, instead of buying them off the market. I now not only have a better physical understanding of how my data is collected, but I was able to control the manner in which it was collected too. To top it off, with the same funds, instead of being able to buy 3 stations, I will be able to install 35 stations! To whatever degree you can, kindly keep up your good work. And most importantly, thank you for your contribution. P.S.: I wish I could contribute a larger sum, but perhaps one day :)
Thanks greatly for your support and kind feedback. Your comment is greatly appreciated, not least in the context of some others here. You clearly understand what I am trying to do with project videos like these, for which thanks. :)
Do not miss the new musical « Coding in the rain » ! On a more serious note, this is a brilliantly executed project! We shouldn't be surprised to see it listed on the Raspberry Foundation website soon... Thank you very much for this presentation!
This is amazing, where I work we have equipment that makes rain for IP (Ingress Protection) rating of products. We got a new, larger drip box and we were having trouble verifying the rainfall rate settings. With plastic sheeting and a large bucket we essentially made your funnel except it was 1 meter sq. I was the computer measuring the water with a calibrated beaker after 10 minutes of collection and we were well within tolerance. It took us days to come up with the method so I am very impressed by your design and resourcefulness.
Terrific stuff. "Tipping bucket", "Tipping bucket" "Tipping bucket". Much like the expletive I utter when my attempts at your projects go initially wrong.
I've never been very "excited" by rain! ... Soaked to the skin, yes, often, but excited, no! Thank goodness for Mr. Umbrella? ☂️ Thanks for the Explaining Rainfall video, Chris! 🌧️ 6:24 ... "Our friend, glue!" ... He'll stick by you, no matter what! 🤣
The pico rain gauge certainly lived up to expectations even though you didn’t get the torrential rain forecast, sometimes it doesn’t know when to stop. I really enjoyed the build & the coding for the project, all in all another thoroughly interesting video, cheers Chris looking forward to the next one :)
Great video Chris! Nice to see the total package designed and built in the EC world, 3D printed parts, PICO with code, and also the good 'ole 1602 LCD display! All with a great purpose! Thanks Chris for all your hard work! Take Good Care.
That is such a clever mechanism. One nitpick with your code, instead of having a "while" inside a "while", the outermost "while" is effectively functioning as an "if", so it should be changed to an "if" to improve code readability.
Love the 3D printed rain gauge. There is another type that funnels water through a small and precise hole that forms drops. The drops are counted and the volume is known. For accuracy the sides need to be smooth and from a material that repelles water very well. You need all water to flow and not stick on the funnel sides.
I recently was looking into rain gauges and weather stations for my home assistant setup. This could easily be adapted to that purpose. And now that's it for another EXCELLENT video. I definitely hit that 'like' button. And I'm very glad I've long been subscribed. I hope to see another one very soon.
This is a very interesting project, but i prefer to measure rainfall by checking the expression on the face of my neighbour's cat. If whiskers looks annoyed, it's 10-20 mm over three hours. if he's in a really bad mood, it's at least 40 mm over five hours, and if he looks like he's given up all hope in life, it's 50 + mm and it's been raining for days. Athough I may try this project myself, if I get a 3D printer. 😄
The joy of a new ec video on a sunday afternoon is beyond wonderful! Found myself singing the "see saw" nursery rhyme to myself more often than usual while watching this episode 😅 Edit: for context, due to the actual see saw thing you printed in the video. I'm not completely simple just singing nursery rhymes to myself.
More content like this please ^_^ I'll be honest.... I rarely follow along but sometimes I do, in any case it's great to see this and get ideas. I like your other content too - Linux OS reviews, PC builds, software overviews and I especially enjoy some of your USB explained type videos as they are very thorough and easy to understand. One thing I would love to see but perhaps it isn't the most practical video.. an overview / review / state of play for 3D printers in 2024. Due to not having a 3D printer myself I'm often unable to follow along with these sorts of projects, but if I had a good, inexpensive and easy to use 3D printer!!
As always, another great video. Definitely something to look forward to every Sunday. I really enjoy these projects and appreciate how you explain them each step of the way without any fancy graphics etc. Thank you and see you next Sunday.
Bought a cheap version of this rain gauge several years ago and it is working just fine. Transmission of the signals with Homematic (because there was a free channel nearby) and evaluation using my ioBroker home automation system. Yesterday, we had 30mm of rain, the day before 20mm. Pouring a well defined quantity of water helps to calibrate the system.
this has so much potential !!! use a Esp 8266 and a solar panel and a 18650 and you have a rain measuring device that can send data to the cloud !! im a software engineer loves electronics as a hobby and i built my own 3D printer ,this project is perfect !! now i have to re-watch your wind measuring device
This is so cool. I suggested a few months ago that it would be great to see more projects and builds with SBC and microcontrollers! Glad to see this video!
I have created same construction some time ago with an ESP32. I would say it is not easy to get any kind of accuracy. For light rain there is a large loss from rain sticking to the side and evaporating. Also the bucket need to be very small to meassure light rain. Vind will also create inaccuracy. An other issue is that leaves tend to fall into the funnel and get stuck. I just want to ensure that potential builders does not get their hopes up to hight on the value of the messurement. It is a fun project and great explaining as always 😊
Just finished your video, I have a suggestion for an upgrade: I noticed that there was water that was beaded up and sticking on the funnel sides. My suggestion is to coach your funnel with a hydrophobic coating of some type....maybe some of the stuff you put on windshields? I use something called Rain-X here in the US on my windshield. I thought of that when I first saw your funnel, then when you showed us video in the with beads on it, I knew I had to speak up. This could have changed the amount that you received.... Overall, another excellent video....hope you have an excellent week!!
I saw a commercial version of this 20+ years ago, and thought the double tipping bucket design was very clever, because unlike the vast majority of rain gauges at the time, you didn't need to empty it. It was self-emptying! This was long before 3d printing became popular, so all of the parts were injection molded, but the design stuck in my head. Now, thanks to 3d printing, anyone can have one without having to spend $400+ dollars for a commercial version, AND if you so desire, you can display the rain amount in any measurement system you like (inches per hour, mm per hour, liters per hour, etc, etc, etc.) Although you'll have to do the math yourself! (How many inches in 10 centimeters? - Oh yeah - about 4, more or less. How many tips in a liter? So, tips per liter divided by inches per decimeter - (the metric measure no on talks about ) Gives (brain function throttled to prevent overheating) ....
Fun project for kids, although I don't see the point in knowing how much rain fell. I just can't imagine what I should do with this information. In any case, I'd rather use interrupts to count pulses. This (at least in theory) should work more reliably and in some sense simpler: interrupts work when the signal changes. So you simply increment the counter with each interrupt and you don’t need to adjust the delay, you don’t have to worry about it working twice or not working at all.
Fascinating project Chris! I used to have a commercial weather station at my home for many years, and have always enjoyed playing with it. I was mostly interested in how you "calibrated" the gauge, figuring tips/millimeter.
It is said that 'every cloud has a silver lining', yet in this case it has a Raspberry Pi Pico rain gauge project! How wonderful. Looking forward to your next video!
Loved your project. Thanks for sharing. I'll build it but replacing the local display by mqtt messages to my temperature-pressure-humidity-light sensing setup. Raspberry pico is a great hardware.
@@alanthornton3530 Hi, Alan! It's supposed to be storming again here today, but they said the same yesterday and it was bright and sunny all day, so I'll believe it when I see it. We got a couple porn bots in here this morning that I already reported, so I guess even the bots were excited to see this project this week. ;)
Thank you Chris... love the content as the microcontroller space seems to be dominated by Arduino / ESP-32. I play with the pico a fair amount so its much appreciated. I do wish it was a little more popular among your subscribers to promote more views / additional content. Anyway thank you and keep them coming.
Absolutely great project! But I have a warning issue: The legs of the read relay is not of copper. They are made by steel. Otherwise the magnetic magic couldn't work. One problem with steel is that steel will rust. The rust will creep inside the read relay. And they will stop working. No matter if it made by plastic or glass. So, try to cover the legs with some sealing like paint, melting glue etcetera. (Just sharing some of my experience from automotive industry (Volvo) where it has been a lot of problems with small sensors for antifreeze, windscreen washer fluids).
I believe you can use some blue tack or some modeling clay in each bucket to reduce their volume and make them tip more often, maybe at a more rounder value.
Lovely job, should be very active for Wimbledon 2024. Suggested improvement for the 3D print: slots for the side screens so you don't need glue. This would also reduce the filament needed by a tiny bit.
I would suggest spraying the capture funnel and collection cups with scotchguard or some other hydrophobic spray so rain that hits the funnel just flows faster than any Dune spice.
To slow corrosion of the wires and contacts significantly, I would use a coil instead of a reed switch. This way the wires aren't on a permanent voltage potential and we can measure the pulse of the coil over a great distance. I would also add a powerful spark gap to ground to siphon high potential from thunderstorms to ground.
Thanks Chris for another useful project and I glad to be introduced to “Mr Hosepipe” 😂! Since I live in Tucson, Arizona I would have to create a metric to imperial conversion, while I am waitinggggg for rain😢! I wonder if your gauge will measure the amount of sand in the air?….😂! Have a great day!
@@ExplainingComputers - Hey don't forget us Canadians! I never understood "maths"... Most of our spellings are British (I'm in British Columbia after all) and we Canadians use the best from our British and US cousins. Colour with a U, tire not tyre, zero not nought/naught, etc. (I really don't like hearing "naught" when talking about computers, logic, etc. as it is easily confused with "not".) Not naught or not zero...
I do love these maker projects. Seems a bit overkill when you can just push a plastic rain gauge into the dirt, but the lessons of the project are well taken. 😉
Very nice design and implementation. You could possibly calibrate your rain gauge with a simple glass tube rain gauge ( I think that they are quite cheap). Your gauge has the great advantage of being able to run continuously, the glass tube has to be emptied manually before it fills up and you have to write down the measurements if you want a cumulative total. Thank you for the effort you put into your videos.
Christopher, it's so interesting to follow you. Previously I had adapted your weather station (Raspberry Pico W as web server and DHT11) to record the temperature and humidity on a detached file from a raspberry PI zero and a crontab schedule (program written in python). Now I just have to adapt it for adding measurement of rainfall ... and wind blowing. Thanks.
This retired meteorologist would just like to offer one comment. If you built the funnel with a deep vertical lip then you wouldn’t lose collected rain when it splashes on contact with the funnel surface. Then you’d get more accurate measurements of heavy rain / large raindrops.
This channel, this presenter, these videos are priceless, and show that the age of learning isn't over yet. Thank you Chris, this is classic ExplainingComputers.... Stay well, see you next time....
Thanks for your support my friend. :)
Hi
@@ExplainingComputers hi
You may be a modern Renaissance man for bringing all these different disciplines (e.g. engineering, maths, 3D-printing, programming, filmmaking, computing and explaining) so wonderfully together.
the value you can get from this channel is incredibly high
The best time of the week has finally arrived. Really cool to see this project from start to finish.
Hell yeah!!!
Brilliant Chris. You should do alot more of these projects. It's inspiring (especially for younger people) and demonstrates how a small computer can have real uses in peoples lives
Thanks for this. I enjoyed making this project video!
+one, love these vids. Maybe a series could be made of a slightly bigger project?
@@RealKamera Definitely agreed. It would be interesting to see all the weather modules Chris has made working together in a weather station!
Good first attempt. Some refinement would make it more accurate and durable. A hall effect sensor would eliminate bounce conditions and false positives, and coating all the water facing surface with a hydrophobic coating will ensure ALL the water is counted and not left as droplets in the funnel or on the paddles.
Otherwise, a good prototype and a great jumping off point for new users.
Thanks for sharing.
Can you share with us a product that can be used for hydrophobic coating? (Bounce can be eliminated with code / timing... I note it didn't seem an issue here though. Do you think that might change with long term use?)
@@MatSmithLondon Regarding bounce - we mostly seen "good" cases here. For example, if the rainfall is severe, or maybe if the wind is very high, I can imagine the water coming in weird ways down and then the ... balancer thing starts to tip, if the water it holds isn't static, it can "evacuate" faster / earlier and the coming water from above might come with force, and the tip from one side to another might not finish before it tips back again.
@@MatSmithLondon
Well, something like Rain-X would do, though there are many on the market. The problem with read switches is less about 'bounce' as such, but more because it is a spark contact that can have variable effects. That does not make them very reliable for long term. A hall effect sensor has no moving part and as such should be more reliable long term.
Awesome ! Nothing us Brits like more than discussing rain with friends whilst drinking Tea and a fresh packet of Custard Creams on the go ! Now with this fascinating device the pleasure is amped up to 11....cheers.
This is a great little project! It'd certainly come in handy for the storms we get here in Texas. We get so much rain, that it can sometimes trigger a flash flood warning, but I fear that the rain gauge would end up blowing away considering how strong the winds can get in some storms.
And of course, a round of applause to Mr. Hosepipe for his contribution at the end. 👏
Ah a new name to add to the list of Chris's associates ;)
@@alanthornton3530 I'll have to comb through past videos to get all the names of Chris' tool friends. I can certainly name Mr. Scissors, Stanley the Knife, and Mr. Screwdriver from the top of my head! 😂
@@Praxibetel-Ix Don't forget another newcomer, our friend Glue. LOL
@@FlyboyHelosim Oops! How silly of me to forget about Mr. Glue.
@@Praxibetel-Ix I forgot about 'Glue' or should it be Gary the Glue
Chris, I can’t thank you enough for this presentation and sharing all the resources freely. As an academic who is working on hydroclimatic modelling, I cannot stress enough how important this seemingly rudimentary observation is for a robust understanding of our environment. After watching your other RPi Pico based weather monitoring presentations, I was inspired enough to try to build a soil moisture observation station for my study field myself, instead of buying them off the market. I now not only have a better physical understanding of how my data is collected, but I was able to control the manner in which it was collected too. To top it off, with the same funds, instead of being able to buy 3 stations, I will be able to install 35 stations!
To whatever degree you can, kindly keep up your good work. And most importantly, thank you for your contribution.
P.S.: I wish I could contribute a larger sum, but perhaps one day :)
Thanks greatly for your support and kind feedback. Your comment is greatly appreciated, not least in the context of some others here. You clearly understand what I am trying to do with project videos like these, for which thanks. :)
A natural born teacher! Love your work!
It's Sunday night and it's my Sunday night UA-cam session and Explaining Computers is on! 🤟
I love these projects.. a real blend of physical, code, and electrical construction…. So much fun.. thank you so much for your great videos!
Great to see this in so much detail with a lovely clear delivery. As my commercial weather station has failed again, I think it's time to have a go...
Do not miss the new musical « Coding in the rain » !
On a more serious note, this is a brilliantly executed project! We shouldn't be surprised to see it listed on the Raspberry Foundation website soon... Thank you very much for this presentation!
This is amazing, where I work we have equipment that makes rain for IP (Ingress Protection) rating of products. We got a new, larger drip box and we were having trouble verifying the rainfall rate settings. With plastic sheeting and a large bucket we essentially made your funnel except it was 1 meter sq. I was the computer measuring the water with a calibrated beaker after 10 minutes of collection and we were well within tolerance. It took us days to come up with the method so I am very impressed by your design and resourcefulness.
I really love this kind of projects because they connect the digital and physical worlds together. Very well done Chris.
Thanks -- and this is exactly why I like making these kinds of projects!
i just enjoy the videos every sunday my Sunday's are explaining computers Sundays and i like and enjoy it
Your [maker] videos are my personal favorite Chris. It plays right into your gift for concise explanations. I've saved this video for coffee time. ☕😊
These are my favorite videos! I love building projects!
Terrific stuff.
"Tipping bucket", "Tipping bucket" "Tipping bucket". Much like the expletive I utter when my attempts at your projects go initially wrong.
As always, Christopher, your ingenuity and creativity is on display every Sunday. Thanks!
I've never been very "excited" by rain! ... Soaked to the skin, yes, often, but excited, no!
Thank goodness for Mr. Umbrella? ☂️
Thanks for the Explaining Rainfall video, Chris! 🌧️
6:24 ... "Our friend, glue!" ... He'll stick by you, no matter what! 🤣
Our friend, glue! He won't let you down ... because you're glued to the ceiling 😁
The pico rain gauge certainly lived up to expectations even though you didn’t get the torrential rain forecast, sometimes it doesn’t know when to stop. I really enjoyed the build & the coding for the project, all in all another thoroughly interesting video, cheers Chris looking forward to the next one :)
Beautiful simplicity Chris. The amount of work that went into that is not lost on me. Bravo!
Great video Chris! Nice to see the total package designed and built in the EC world, 3D printed parts, PICO with code, and also the good 'ole 1602 LCD display! All with a great purpose! Thanks Chris for all your hard work! Take Good Care.
That is such a clever mechanism. One nitpick with your code, instead of having a "while" inside a "while", the outermost "while" is effectively functioning as an "if", so it should be changed to an "if" to improve code readability.
Excellent project, Chris. And a great demonstration of another use for a Pi Pico. I really enjoyed this episode. Thanks for sharing.
Love the 3D printed rain gauge. There is another type that funnels water through a small and precise hole that forms drops. The drops are counted and the volume is known.
For accuracy the sides need to be smooth and from a material that repelles water very well. You need all water to flow and not stick on the funnel sides.
The ravages of age having ended my tinkering days, I especially enjoy participating vicariously in your adventures 😊
Can't even remember how many things I have learned from this channel. Thank you so much!
Thanks for watching! :)
I recently was looking into rain gauges and weather stations for my home assistant setup. This could easily be adapted to that purpose.
And now that's it for another EXCELLENT video. I definitely hit that 'like' button. And I'm very glad I've long been subscribed.
I hope to see another one very soon.
Chris’s 3D printed rain ☔️ gauge! It works it works!
Yes I had more than 9.1 mill of rain ☔️ this weekend I had more than a months worth! With all the special effects included!
This is a very interesting project, but i prefer to measure rainfall by checking the expression on the face of my neighbour's cat. If whiskers looks annoyed, it's 10-20 mm over three hours. if he's in a really bad mood, it's at least 40 mm over five hours, and if he looks like he's given up all hope in life, it's 50 + mm and it's been raining for days. Athough I may try this project myself, if I get a 3D printer. 😄
Poor kitty... :(
The joy of a new ec video on a sunday afternoon is beyond wonderful!
Found myself singing the "see saw" nursery rhyme to myself more often than usual while watching this episode 😅
Edit: for context, due to the actual see saw thing you printed in the video. I'm not completely simple just singing nursery rhymes to myself.
2:30 "What shall we call our new company?"
Manufacturer: "Yes."
Manufacturer: Gebildet
@@SproutyPottedPlant That's the brand. The manufacturer is that incomprehensible mouthful underneath!
What an awesome project, demonstrating how useful SBCs are!
Chris, a project in the best tradition of Blue Peter, Mr Heath and Mr Robinson!
More content like this please ^_^
I'll be honest.... I rarely follow along but sometimes I do, in any case it's great to see this and get ideas.
I like your other content too - Linux OS reviews, PC builds, software overviews and I especially enjoy some of your USB explained type videos as they are very thorough and easy to understand.
One thing I would love to see but perhaps it isn't the most practical video..
an overview / review / state of play for 3D printers in 2024. Due to not having a 3D printer myself I'm often unable to follow along with these sorts of projects, but if I had a good, inexpensive and easy to use 3D printer!!
I would definitely recommend coating the funnel with a hydrophobic material, but that's quite a neat project
As always, another great video. Definitely something to look forward to every Sunday.
I really enjoy these projects and appreciate how you explain them each step of the way without any fancy graphics etc.
Thank you and see you next Sunday.
As a child, Chris must have been an unholy terror with a screwdriver and a soldering iron :D
Always look forward to Sunday breakfast with EC.
This was so true!
5:35 all I'm thinking right now is RIP to the electronics on your desk! (Though I'm sure you had it in a tray)
Greetings Jeff! :)
Bought a cheap version of this rain gauge several years ago and it is working just fine. Transmission of the signals with Homematic (because there was a free channel nearby) and evaluation using my ioBroker home automation system. Yesterday, we had 30mm of rain, the day before 20mm. Pouring a well defined quantity of water helps to calibrate the system.
Love this video! It's so great that it was all self contained and wrapped up nicely in the end! Thanks, Chris!
this has so much potential !!! use a Esp 8266 and a solar panel and a 18650 and you have a rain measuring device that can send data to the cloud !!
im a software engineer loves electronics as a hobby and i built my own 3D printer ,this project is perfect !!
now i have to re-watch your wind measuring device
This is so cool. I suggested a few months ago that it would be great to see more projects and builds with SBC and microcontrollers! Glad to see this video!
Always good to give electronics projects a soak test.
Nice! :)
This is a neat project! Spray a little RainX on the insides to repel water - if you need that.
that's brilliant. when rain detection came to mind, I was thinking about some complicated sensor
I have created same construction some time ago with an ESP32. I would say it is not easy to get any kind of accuracy. For light rain there is a large loss from rain sticking to the side and evaporating. Also the bucket need to be very small to meassure light rain. Vind will also create inaccuracy. An other issue is that leaves tend to fall into the funnel and get stuck.
I just want to ensure that potential builders does not get their hopes up to hight on the value of the messurement.
It is a fun project and great explaining as always 😊
All agreed. This is indeed a fun project, not a scientific instrument! Accuracy could be significantly increased with a larger funnel.
Just finished your video, I have a suggestion for an upgrade:
I noticed that there was water that was beaded up and sticking on the funnel sides. My suggestion is to coach your funnel with a hydrophobic coating of some type....maybe some of the stuff you put on windshields? I use something called Rain-X here in the US on my windshield.
I thought of that when I first saw your funnel, then when you showed us video in the with beads on it, I knew I had to speak up. This could have changed the amount that you received....
Overall, another excellent video....hope you have an excellent week!!
I saw a commercial version of this 20+ years ago, and thought the double tipping bucket design was very clever, because unlike the vast majority of rain gauges at the time, you didn't need to empty it. It was self-emptying! This was long before 3d printing became popular, so all of the parts were injection molded, but the design stuck in my head. Now, thanks to 3d printing, anyone can have one without having to spend $400+ dollars for a commercial version, AND if you so desire, you can display the rain amount in any measurement system you like (inches per hour, mm per hour, liters per hour, etc, etc, etc.) Although you'll have to do the math yourself! (How many inches in 10 centimeters? - Oh yeah - about 4, more or less. How many tips in a liter? So, tips per liter divided by inches per decimeter - (the metric measure no on talks about ) Gives (brain function throttled to prevent overheating) ....
I love this kind of practical project.
I didn't know about this concept before, while it looks simple but it truly effective.
Thanks Chris!
Fun project for kids, although I don't see the point in knowing how much rain fell. I just can't imagine what I should do with this information.
In any case, I'd rather use interrupts to count pulses. This (at least in theory) should work more reliably and in some sense simpler: interrupts work when the signal changes. So you simply increment the counter with each interrupt and you don’t need to adjust the delay, you don’t have to worry about it working twice or not working at all.
it used for water resources management and engineering. with accurate device it will give valuable information
Fascinating project Chris! I used to have a commercial weather station at my home for many years, and have always enjoyed playing with it. I was mostly interested in how you "calibrated" the gauge, figuring tips/millimeter.
Nice to meet Mr Hosepipe
I love these “practical gadget” type videos!
It is said that 'every cloud has a silver lining', yet in this case it has a Raspberry Pi Pico rain gauge project! How wonderful. Looking forward to your next video!
Greetings Perry!
@@ExplainingComputers Always awesome to be greeted by you!
Loved your project. Thanks for sharing. I'll build it but replacing the local display by mqtt messages to my temperature-pressure-humidity-light sensing setup. Raspberry pico is a great hardware.
Hello from (rainy) France 🙂Thanks a lot for this great project !
Sunday greetings!
Hi! :)
Greetings!
Good morning/afternoon! Don't forget your umbrella. ☂️🌦️
G'day mate it's nice & sunny here today, we've had plenty of the liquid sunshine, Al ;)
@@alanthornton3530 Hi, Alan! It's supposed to be storming again here today, but they said the same yesterday and it was bright and sunny all day, so I'll believe it when I see it. We got a couple porn bots in here this morning that I already reported, so I guess even the bots were excited to see this project this week. ;)
Excellent project, Chris! I really enjoyed the practical application and use of the RP pico.
This channel, I thought, has always been a little surreal.
And then - Mr Hosepipe joins the conversation.
Thank you Chris... love the content as the microcontroller space seems to be dominated by Arduino / ESP-32. I play with the pico a fair amount so its much appreciated. I do wish it was a little more popular among your subscribers to promote more views / additional content. Anyway thank you and keep them coming.
I'm now off out to make myself a rain gauge monitor, a fantastic video as usual and very inspiring, Thanks Chris
Yes the funnel is an excellent part.
Absolutely great project! But I have a warning issue: The legs of the read relay is not of copper. They are made by steel. Otherwise the magnetic magic couldn't work.
One problem with steel is that steel will rust. The rust will creep inside the read relay. And they will stop working. No matter if it made by plastic or glass.
So, try to cover the legs with some sealing like paint, melting glue etcetera.
(Just sharing some of my experience from automotive industry (Volvo) where it has been a lot of problems with small sensors for antifreeze, windscreen washer fluids).
Yes, agreed. They need sealing.
Excellent STEM project for schools and youth organizations
Since the Amiga days I was wondering how "gauge" ist pronounced. Thank you for this.
Amigauge with 1Mb of ram?
@@woldemunster9244 Amiga with a Fuel Gauge Gadget.
I think me building a rain gauge would be the only thing that could possibly stop it from raining in the UK
Thank you, Chris I could watch Video's like this all day. That was a great little project to learn. Pico's are great little controllers.
Nice pico time an solution for weather (rain) very clever idea you're the best. Have a nice day
Thanks, you too!
I believe you can use some blue tack or some modeling clay in each bucket to reduce their volume and make them tip more often, maybe at a more rounder value.
Lovely job, should be very active for Wimbledon 2024. Suggested improvement for the 3D print: slots for the side screens so you don't need glue. This would also reduce the filament needed by a tiny bit.
A good idea!
😁 my friend is trying to build this exact same thing but using an arduino for processing number of tips, I immediately sent him this!
A rain gauge... just what we need this year!
What a good video.
You should spray some clear coat on the inside of the funnel so water can flow down the sides more smoothly.
I would suggest spraying the capture funnel and collection cups with scotchguard or some other hydrophobic spray so rain that hits the funnel just flows faster than any Dune spice.
To slow corrosion of the wires and contacts significantly, I would use a coil instead of a reed switch. This way the wires aren't on a permanent voltage potential and we can measure the pulse of the coil over a great distance. I would also add a powerful spark gap to ground to siphon high potential from thunderstorms to ground.
The contacts are sealed inside the reed switch, so should not corrode.
Thanks Chris for another useful project and I glad to be introduced to “Mr Hosepipe” 😂! Since I live in Tucson, Arizona I would have to create a metric to imperial conversion, while I am waitinggggg for rain😢! I wonder if your gauge will measure the amount of sand in the air?….😂!
Have a great day!
I have a Hall sensor mounted in a self made tipping bucket with ESP8266
Very cool cool idea for a rain gauge!
A very interesting video. It would be good to combine the code/tipping. Buckets with your earlier temp/humidity/pressure Pico project.
The one thing it does in the UK is rain, so this is useful.
Greetings from Derbyshire.
Kind of surprised to see the nod to our left pondian cousins with 'Math' 😋
Greetings! I pondered greatly on "math" vs "maths"! But four times more people in the US watch this channel than in the UK. :)
@@ExplainingComputersThanks for the explanation. Your usual excellent attention to detail Chris 👍
@@ExplainingComputers - Hey don't forget us Canadians! I never understood "maths"... Most of our spellings are British (I'm in British Columbia after all) and we Canadians use the best from our British and US cousins. Colour with a U, tire not tyre, zero not nought/naught, etc. (I really don't like hearing "naught" when talking about computers, logic, etc. as it is easily confused with "not".) Not naught or not zero...
I do love these maker projects. Seems a bit overkill when you can just push a plastic rain gauge into the dirt, but the lessons of the project are well taken. 😉
Very nice design and implementation. You could possibly calibrate your rain gauge with a simple glass tube rain gauge ( I think that they are quite cheap). Your gauge has the great advantage of being able to run continuously, the glass tube has to be emptied manually before it fills up and you have to write down the measurements if you want a cumulative total. Thank you for the effort you put into your videos.
Indeed it is! Woohoo! 🤩
Thx for the designs i build the hardware tipping buckets but use esphome and homeassistant as software
Christopher, it's so interesting to follow you. Previously I had adapted your weather station (Raspberry Pico W as web server and DHT11) to record the temperature and humidity on a detached file from a raspberry PI zero and a crontab schedule (program written in python). Now I just have to adapt it for adding measurement of rainfall ... and wind blowing. Thanks.
Thanks for this -- and good luck!
Great video! I love these kinds of projects. Simple, yet beautiful.
Wow, thank so much Chris, rally interesting project!
This Is one of the best videos! Love it!
Thanks. :)
This retired meteorologist would just like to offer one comment. If you built the funnel with a deep vertical lip then you wouldn’t lose collected rain when it splashes on contact with the funnel surface. Then you’d get more accurate measurements of heavy rain / large raindrops.
An excellent point. :)
A sharp edge on the funnel lip helps to split rain drops and reduce splashing
Yes!!! We love all the Raspberry projects!!!
6:50 Nuts & bolts in a little box “…so they don’t escape…!” How come I got a _Boeing_ moment from that…? 😅
🤭
:O
💀💀💀😂
Project videos are the best!