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anenometer-008 Following the “small wind” presentations that Will Heyniger made on June 10, 2009, the Belmar Borough Council agreed that the first step in the process of deciding whether Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (”VAWTs”) would be a cost-effective renewable energy option in Belmar would be to begin gathering wind data at a variety of locations in town. Greg Hart, the CEO of The Big Wind, a start-up distributor of vertical axis wind turbines manufactured by Urban Green Energy, offered to place several weather stations, capable of recording digital weather information, at various locations in the Borough, including the marina and the Fifth Avenue Pavilion.

Because Kathy and I have been exploring small wind generators for our home for the past several years, we decided it would be a good time to at least install a weather station, and begin gathering data. At Greg Hart’s recommendation, I purchased a Zephyr Weather Center with PC Interface, which is the same model The Big Wind will be using in Belmar to gather wind data. It took me about 30 minutes to assemble the system, and another 20 minutes or so to program it.

My step-daughter, Emily, and I climbed up onto the roof of our house,

Emily poses with the cordless drill we used to drill the screw holes in the chimney. If you click on the photo to enlarge it, you can see the pipe straps we used to connect the weather station to the chimney.

Emily poses with the cordless drill we used to drill the screw holes in the chimney. If you click on the photo to enlarge it, you can see the pipe straps we used to connect the weather station to the chimney.

which is about 45 feet or so off the ground. I used my cordless drill (which isn’t hammer drill), a masonry bit and some self-tapping masonry screws, and attached the weather center sensors to the red-brick part of the chimney with a pair of pipe straps. You need to take some care to align the sensor tree in the right direction (there are small letters on the wind directional sensor denoting north, east, south and west), and I brought along a small handheld sailing compass to make sure I lined up the device as accurately as possible).

The actual installation part took less than 20 minutes. The only snafu was when I dropped the cover to the transmitter, and we held our breaths as we watched it slide down the steep valley in our double-gable roof, and only exhaled when it came to rest in the gutter. I had to slide down the valley and fish it out of the gutter, and climb back up to the ridge. But

This perspective gives a better sense of the height of our roof (that's a 35-foot flagpole). It also shows our proximity to the Shark River Inlet and the Atlantic.

This perspective gives a sense of the height of our roof (that's a 35-foot flagpole). It also shows our proximity to the Shark River Inlet and the Atlantic.

aside from that, all went smoothly. In fact, Emily and I spent more time enjoying the spectacular view from our roof (and mugging for pictures for this post) than it took us to attach the sensors to the roof.

The wireless signal (915MHz) works like a champ. By the time we got down to our kitchen, some 60 feet away from the sensor, we could already read the data being put out by the Weather Center.

As I finish this post, it’s much later in the evening — nearly 4:00 a.m., to be exact. I woke up to hear the wind blowing pretty strongly and came downstairs to see just how fast. According to my new rooftop weather center, the wind is coming directly from the south at a steady rate of 14.5 mph right now directly from the south. If we had a 1kw roof-top VAWT installed right now, it would be generating some serious electricity. Keep in mind that even though it’s the middle of the night, and there’s little electricity being used in the Pringle-Ellis household right this minute, because New Jersey is a net-metering state, our electric meter would likely be turning backwards right now, in effect banking the savings (at current off-peak rates, see my Time-of-Day Metering Posts) from the renewable electricity that’s being generated now and saving us money later in the day when our family wakes up and begins using electricity again.

The display terminal downstairs records the data, up to 4080 sets before its memory is full, which can then be downloaded periodically to a PC and displayed graphically and archived to enable us to analyze the wind data over time. I will write a separate post once I’ve installed the software and we’ve collected some data, and I will post some of the screen shots from the program. In the meantime, here are some photos from our adventure.

Here's the happy homeowner with his freshly assembled Weather Center sensor mast.

Here's the happy homeowner with his freshly assembled Weather Center sensor mast.

Up the ladder we go. My brother, Chris, was kind enough to loan me a Belmar Electric extension ladder.

Up the ladder we go. My brother, Chris, was kind enough to loan me a Belmar Electric extension ladder.

I used a masonry bit and some half-inch pipe straps to secure the mast to the chimney.

I used a masonry bit and some half-inch pipe straps to secure the mast to the chimney.


I used a sailor's handheld navigational compass to make sure the wind sensor was properly to give accurate directional readings.

I used a sailor's handheld navigational compass to make sure the wind sensor was properly aligned to give accurate directional readings.

This shot shows the relationship of our roof to the Ocean and to nearby roofs to the east.

This shot shows the relationship of our roof to the Ocean and to nearby roofs to the east.

6 Responses to “Step 1: Collecting Wind Data”

  1. Greg Hart Says:
    June 18th, 2009 at 11:31 am

    Looks Great!!!

  2. Mayor Ken Pringle of Belmar NJ and Greg Hart CEO of The Big Wind « The Big Wind Says:
    June 19th, 2009 at 10:16 am

    [...] Mayor Ken Pringle of Belmar NJ and Greg Hart CEO of The Big Wind By thebigwind Belmar Mayor and The Big Wind Ceo install Anemometers for Wind Data [...]

  3. Belmar Mayor Ken Pringle and The Big Wind install anemometers. « Shooting the Breeze: The Big Wind Blog Says:
    June 22nd, 2009 at 2:03 pm

    [...] Belmargreen [...]

  4. Belmar begins collecting wind data | The Borough of Belmar New Jersey Says:
    June 25th, 2009 at 7:27 am

    [...] for a vertical axis wind turbine, are welcome to participate in this data collection effort. Click here for an account of Mayor Pringle’s experience in installing his Zephyr Weather [...]

  5. eugene creamer Says:
    June 25th, 2009 at 11:05 pm

    Good job!
    Make sure any building wire penetrations are weather proofed and I’m sure you will get many years of service.

  6. Charlie Tor Says:
    July 15th, 2009 at 2:53 am

    Have been interested in this technology. What’s the next step?

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