Contact   Imprint   Advertising   Guidelines

Help me design a Kitesurfing Wind-gage.

Forum for kitesurfers
Don Lester
Frequent Poster
Posts: 240
Joined: Thu Mar 31, 2005 10:36 pm
Local Beach: Sherman Is.
Favorite Beaches: Sherman Is. Ca.
Los Barriles, Mx
Style: All
Gear: TT, Surf, Foil
Brand Affiliation: None
Location: San Francisco Bay Area
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 3 times

Re: Help me design a Kitesurfing Wind-gage.

Postby Don Lester » Wed Jun 08, 2011 7:25 pm

How about this.............
Attachments
wind meter.jpg

User avatar
southflorida
Medium Poster
Posts: 167
Joined: Sat Apr 09, 2011 1:15 pm
Style: flat water, go fast, practice tricks
Brand Affiliation: None
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 0

Re: Help me design a Kitesurfing Wind-gage.

Postby southflorida » Wed Jun 08, 2011 7:38 pm

Don - lol, nice

no batteries, no service contract, no jiggly micro usb connector, no chargers, waterproof, visible from many yards away for all to see, dirt cheap manufacturing cost, virtually theft proof, customizable: instead of knots, mark it with "14m", "12m", "10m", "8m", "beer"

User avatar
Laughingman
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 2979
Joined: Mon Mar 16, 2009 4:35 pm
Local Beach: Kettle Point, Mitchell's Bay, Rondeau Bay
Favorite Beaches: Kettle Point, Mitchell's Bay, Rondeau Bay, Long Bay, Cayo Guillermo, La Ventana
Gear: Ocean Rodeo Gen6 Flites 10m, 12m Gen2 Roams 6m and 8m, Cloud D 4.8, 6.2, 8.0, 10.4
Xeon Laluz, Mako Wide 150, Jellyfish Custom surf board quad fin 6', LF Impulse Foil and Kanaha Shapes 37" board
Engine Harness with slider
Location: Southwestern Ontario
Has thanked: 17 times
Been thanked: 17 times

Re: Help me design a Kitesurfing Wind-gage.

Postby Laughingman » Wed Jun 08, 2011 7:41 pm

plummet wrote:Ok i'm going abit left feild here.

But i think that any device you have to plug into the phone is pointless. you might as well have an separate wind meter.

So.... you need to use the phones exsisting sensors to make the reading. Therefore you need to design the app around photo/video evidence and then have the app cross reference it against the Beaufort scale to give an indication.

As a cross reference to this you give local all known current weather stations in the world. The app would locate the closest weather station and give you that reading, historical data and current forecast for you location so you can have all data at your fingure tips.
It could be wireless by using bluetooth, wifi or even better yet, GSM. Wifi would be great since it would give you enough range that you could place the sensor in a spot that has good fetch while you can be someplace remote and you would not need an additional data plan, while GSM would allow you to place the sensor any where and receive reports from it anywhere in the world...
a model that plugs into the phone would really just be a toy...imho

abo
Rare Poster
Posts: 15
Joined: Sat Jun 04, 2011 5:03 pm
Local Beach: Denmark, Dragør
Gear: North Rebel 2010
Brand Affiliation: Vaavud
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 0

Re: Help me design a Kitesurfing Wind-gage.

Postby abo » Thu Jun 09, 2011 2:18 pm

Don Lester wrote:How about this.............
Thats awesome :) Looks like it does it's job.


Well I think we can all agree that it would be nice to have a local weather station at every spot. feeding the web with live images and wind reports. The problem is that's pretty hard to realize. The beach is a harsh environment. There is wind, there is sand, there is water, it's remote so might be prone to theft or vandalism. Often there is often no electricity or wired internet.

I think there is a lot of kiters who has though about setting up a anemometer, hooking it up with some gsm module a battery and some solar cells. The problem is the cost is too high if you need a robust enough system.


On the danish forum where I have posted this aswell http://www.kitesurferen.dk/index.php?op ... 2&id=54870
Some have come up with the idea that maybe an analog stationary device could be set up. You then hook up you phone to this device using a custom app. When the app gives a reading it will at the same time send the info to a online service, so other people can use the info. That way you will know if there is people at the spot and what the latest windspeed reading were.

I really like this idea :) If some have an idea how the hardware (the device on on the beach should look like) I would gladly look into the app design.

Please share if you have any ideas :)
Last edited by abo on Thu Jun 28, 2012 4:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.

joller
Rare Poster
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed May 25, 2011 9:27 am
Brand Affiliation: None
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 0

Re: Help me design a Kitesurfing Wind-gage.

Postby joller » Thu Jun 09, 2011 3:17 pm

I like Don's one.

The wind force is far more useful information. If you are in a cool climate - say 10 deg C average with humid air, you will use at least one kite size smaller than if you are in a warm climate, say 25 deg C with the same wind speed.

The force is a major factor and quite deceiving. Don's guage will actually measure wind force, instead of speed, as the flap measures the force of the wind. That makes it so much more useful as it can be transported anywhere and the same kite size would always correspond to the same meter reading.

frankm1960
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 1229
Joined: Sun Feb 04, 2007 10:48 pm
Local Beach: -Bayshore, at the end sea st. on saint John's west side, bay of fundy.
-Saints rest beach, at the end of sandy point road, irving nature park, saint john, west side.
Gear: Kites: 12m LF Mig, 9m LF Mig, 5m SS Fuel
Boards: LF proof 151cm, Real Wind 144cm, home made light wind board 160 x 50
Brand Affiliation: None
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 0

Re: Help me design a Kitesurfing Wind-gage.

Postby frankm1960 » Fri Jun 10, 2011 12:54 am

Don Lester wrote:How about this.............
I luv that contraption... DAMN good idea :)

I'm gonna make a portable one and keep it in the car, plunk it down on the beach when i rig... so I don't have to keep digging for that damn wind meter :)

I'm gonna have kts, km and kite size ... jus for my kite size though LOL...

Before I was thinkin a wind sock but this is waaaay better.

Man i'm stoked I've been looking for something to build while I wait for wind :)

frankm1960
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 1229
Joined: Sun Feb 04, 2007 10:48 pm
Local Beach: -Bayshore, at the end sea st. on saint John's west side, bay of fundy.
-Saints rest beach, at the end of sandy point road, irving nature park, saint john, west side.
Gear: Kites: 12m LF Mig, 9m LF Mig, 5m SS Fuel
Boards: LF proof 151cm, Real Wind 144cm, home made light wind board 160 x 50
Brand Affiliation: None
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 0

Re: Help me design a Kitesurfing Wind-gage.

Postby frankm1960 » Fri Jun 10, 2011 2:06 am

joller wrote:I like Don's one.

The wind force is far more useful information. If you are in a cool climate - say 10 deg C average with humid air, you will use at least one kite size smaller than if you are in a warm climate, say 25 deg C with the same wind speed.

The force is a major factor and quite deceiving. Don's guage will actually measure wind force, instead of speed, as the flap measures the force of the wind. That makes it so much more useful as it can be transported anywhere and the same kite size would always correspond to the same meter reading.
How would you calibrate Don's device?

I was thinking of calibrating using a car with sun roof and have the driver drive at 10, 15, 20, 25km etc etc, stand there holding the rig and marking the deflection of the flap at each speed interval... but what you say makes me wonder how accurate that method would be. For example if we calibrate in cold (10C) vs hot (30C)... how would that affect the calibrations??... I'm thinking in hot air the flap wouldn't swing up as high as it would in cold air?? At which temp should we calibrate such a complex device :)

Sorry for side tracking on this thread but I really want to build a portable one of these :)

Don Lester
Frequent Poster
Posts: 240
Joined: Thu Mar 31, 2005 10:36 pm
Local Beach: Sherman Is.
Favorite Beaches: Sherman Is. Ca.
Los Barriles, Mx
Style: All
Gear: TT, Surf, Foil
Brand Affiliation: None
Location: San Francisco Bay Area
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 3 times

Re: Help me design a Kitesurfing Wind-gage.

Postby Don Lester » Fri Jun 10, 2011 7:30 am

You know, the beauty of this device is that you don't have to calibrate it, you could inter change the wind speed with just any number you want. After a few days of watching it you'll know what number corresponds to your choice of kite size. You could also make it more or less sensitive by how large or heavy you make the paddle. The heavier the paddle the closer it will read the average conditions, the larger the paddle the more it will fly around, reading the gusts. It's really quite ingenious I wish I had thought of it !

I believe Bruce Sheldon in Rio Vista, Calif. invented it............

frankm1960
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 1229
Joined: Sun Feb 04, 2007 10:48 pm
Local Beach: -Bayshore, at the end sea st. on saint John's west side, bay of fundy.
-Saints rest beach, at the end of sandy point road, irving nature park, saint john, west side.
Gear: Kites: 12m LF Mig, 9m LF Mig, 5m SS Fuel
Boards: LF proof 151cm, Real Wind 144cm, home made light wind board 160 x 50
Brand Affiliation: None
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 0

Re: Help me design a Kitesurfing Wind-gage.

Postby frankm1960 » Fri Jun 10, 2011 3:46 pm

Don Lester wrote:You know, the beauty of this device is that you don't have to calibrate it, you could inter change the wind speed with just any number you want. After a few days of watching it you'll know what number corresponds to your choice of kite size. You could also make it more or less sensitive by how large or heavy you make the paddle. The heavier the paddle the closer it will read the average conditions, the larger the paddle the more it will fly around, reading the gusts. It's really quite ingenious I wish I had thought of it !

I believe Bruce Sheldon in Rio Vista, Calif. invented it............
I agree.... it is quite ingenious and I know I'm going to have my hands full just trying to copy it :)
That's a good idea with the wind average too...

The simplicity and robustness of the device is what blows me away...AND as said by previous poster... it measures wind force and to a lesser extent wind speed...

It's taking me a while to get my head around the difference but I think I got it.

I will calibrate using a moving car and then go from there and relate kite sizes to the different "wind speed" markings I put on it.

Should have a separate thread for this device :)

ivarelas
Rare Poster
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Jun 12, 2011 6:59 am
Brand Affiliation: None
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 0

Re: Help me design a Kitesurfing Wind-gage.

Postby ivarelas » Sun Jun 12, 2011 11:19 am

hi all! :D

i came across this thread and i am excited because this is what our initial idea was before we ended up with weendy (http://weendy.com)

We were tired of chasing the wind... We were driving 2 hours every day and we ended up with no wind at all.... Forecasts had failed and
there was no weather station or camera in the area.

We were really frustrated when we came up with the idea of turning our iPhone to social anemometer!
The idea was simple: If someone is on the spot, he/she will report wind conditions and everyone else will know!


We were thinking of attaching an external device to the audio jack which would translate wind power to knots/bft/mph whatever, and then would be uploaded to a web server and become accessible to the public :) We were EXCITED!

For measuring the wind,we had the following options:
- using a cap-based anemometer (big in size, lots of moving parts but was the simplest option)
- using an impeller anemometer (smaller but more expensive + external circuit)
- using a thermal anemometer (accurate but really expensive + external circuit)
- using microphone, just like windmeter app does (inaccurate)

We made a prototype using a 20$ impeller anemometer and started asking people on the beach what they thought about.

The majority said that the moving part (external component) is a pain to have with you, plus it is fragile.

Then we went with thermal anemometer. Thermal anemometer is a great option: small size, accurate, no moving parts....
BUT IT WAS EXPENSIVE + it needs an extra circuit that would translate to frequency.

Using the microphone was the next option, but it is not accurate at all, especially in conditions where wind is over 18 knots or less than 5 knots.
What's the benefit of reporting inaccurate data?

We were disappointed :( How the hell are we going to measure the wind?

Drinking some beers with the guys at the beach, some days later, we asked our selves:

What do we usually do, when we want to learn about the wind? The answer is that we start calling each other and asking for wind ESTIMATION.
What size? Does it worth it? Is it too gusty? Is it going to rain? Should i drive to the spot?

If you want to know about the wind, ask a kiter (or a sailor, a windsurfer, a lifeguard etc) who happen to be at the spot.

Our estimation, is the best option to have. We know when the conditions are fine or not. Anemometers provide accurate TECHNICAL
data about wind, not QUALITY data that do matter.

So we decided that we are going to make weendy CROWD SOURCED - HUMAN POWERED!

With weendy you take a 5 sec video of the spot, put your wind estimation and add a comment if you like.
The location is automatically detected and all that info are submitted to our servers and then distributed to all other users.
If another kiter is located < 150 km from the spot, will get a notification about the wind conditions there.

You can define the distance and wind power you like to get notified (for example, only for 17 + knots and in less than 50 km)!

You can also link your Facebook, twitter & foursquare accounts so you can let everyone knows about the reports, even those that don't have the app.


We are currently in the process of beta testing and we hope we will go live by the end of this June.

THE APP IS GOING TO BE COMPLETELY FREE FOR EVERYONE!

Visit http://weendy.com to get early access to the app.

Bye and thanks! :bye:


Return to “Kitesurfing”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Baptiste_FR, bragnouff, Brent NKB, Google [Bot], HALF, headintheclouds, htsc, lollypop, marinjo77, nothing2seehere, Peter_Frank, SolarSet, Turbaani, Van Hunk and 384 guests