The Good Old Internet

My WS-5000 is still going strong. I was questioning that recently, though. First, a week or two ago, the solar/UV sensor stopped functioning. I looked into buying a new one for it but wanted to give a few things a try first.

More recently, I noticed some inconsistency with the rainfall measurement. A couple of weeks ago it measured way low in a thunderstorm, so I thought maybe I would have to clean it out. The next night it rained and was in line with the local stations, so I left it be for the moment. I did intend to take it down this summer to give it a good cleaning. This week I noticed it was off again.

It was a pain in the ass to get access to it, so I was hesitant. Yesterday, I came up with the idea of removing one bolt to tilt the pole down, and it worked like a charm. Normally, it is just a little too high for me to reach from the ladder we have. Our ladder is only a short stepladder. I wouldn’t trust anything leaning too much on the shed where it is mounted either because the wood is a bit rotted but still serves its purpose well. I do not like ladders. With being visually impaired, it takes away a fair amount of balance, and to reach that, I would have to do awkward reaching from the top of the ladder.

There were a couple of tree scraps in the rain thing and some sludge in the bucket, so I cleaned it up. While at it, I changed the battery. I tipped the bucket a few times, and it measured again, so I was happy to not have to buy a new one.

I gave the other sensors a good cleaning, and my UV and solar sensor data came back! That saves me the fifty bucks or so that I was looking at to buy a new one eventually. There must have been something on it that I didn’t see. It was probably bird shit that I did not notice, or maybe dust and pollen.

I love when things work out like this!