Hi Guys,
The weather station has been running unaided for nearly 3 years so it's now time to do a bit of maintenance. It is planned to start this process tomorrow (Tues 18th) morning with help from Maritime's contractor, Solartech.

Maintenance will include;
1) Cleaning the solar panels, webcam and ultrasonic anemometer
2) Installing a new main electronics board
3) Checking the seals on the boxes
4) Connecting a new ultrasonic probe to measure tide height
5) Install new bird deterrent spikes

It is hoped to re-install the weather station this Wednesday.

Thanks go to Oak Flats Bowling & Recreation Club operating at the Illawarra Yacht club for providing the funds to maintain and upgrade the weather station.

Job done!
The level measurement is an arbitrary distance from the ultrasonic sensor to the water. Over time we will get an idea on what the measurement means with respect to real tide height.
Thanks to the Solartech guys for the two trips out to the "green pole" today!

The new water level gauge seems to measuring ok but the reading is not graphing correctly. Also the level doesn't currently show on the mobile app. I'm working with the Holfuy guys to fix the issues.

The guys at Holfuy have now fixed up the level graphing on the Holfuy website. To make any sense of the level graph create a thin box over the measurements from about 620 cm to 685cm by dragging your mouse, so that the graph "zooms" in. There are some measurements outside this range but they seem to be "noise"
It is interesting to compare to the sea tide measurements (say at Port Kembla);

Sea Tide : approximate amplitude = 1.5m (varies according to time of month and year)
Primbee Tide : approx amplitude = 0.6m, peaks/troughs delayed about 3 hrs 15 mins compared to sea.

The Primbee tide will also be affected by heavy rainfall in the catchment and probably wind direction.

So in summary : 625cm = pretty shallow, 680cm = plenty of water!

Nice comparison Jet.
It also shows that the tide amplitude gets progressively less the further you go from the lake entrance.

???
Holfuy are the company that makes the weather stations. They are based in Hungary. There are hundreds of Holfuy weather stations around the world.

peterowensbabs said..

Mr Milk said..

peterowensbabs said..
I wish we could crowd fund one for Narrabeen, I reckon it would pay for its self in fuel savings on wasted trips in the hope there is wind!

Holfuy, whoever they are, already has a station at Long Reef

holfuy.com/en/weather/177%C2%A0

Yep the one at Longey is paid for and maintained by the Paragliding Club, its handy but the lake is in such a bowl and so unpredictable it could do with its own. A SSW works but a WSW will be gusty as hell as, a for instance. Or NE works but an ENE tends not to , the lake can be top fun ( e.g yesterday I believe people even pulling off forwards off the chop) but it can also be a pain in the ass!

Does the Long Reef weather stn work ok for wavesailing in the vicinity of the reef, north or south?