Category Archives: Projects

DIY Stevenson screen #3

Posted on January 15, 2020 by james

My Stevenson screen is now finally in place, mounted on the outside wall of the observatory warm room, allowing cabling to be routed into the warm room for collecting the data. Initially the instruments will be connected to the warm … Continue reading →

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DIY Stevenson screen #2

Posted on November 10, 2019 by james

I had to wait a fair while for the paint to dry (and it isn’t really properly hardened off yet), but that wasn’t a major issue as I was also waiting for some stainless screws to arrive. Yesterday I finally … Continue reading →

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1-wire weather sensors on Linux

Posted on November 10, 2019 by james

Some time ago I had a 1-wire weather station and a number of other 1-wire weather-related sensors run from a Linux server. It wasn’t hugely reliable because the cable run was really a bit too long, but with a bit … Continue reading →

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A DIY Stevenson screen

Posted on November 10, 2019 by james

Now the observatory is up and running my mind has turned to wiring up my weather station kit again and getting it all working as I can now connect it all to the PC in the observatory and have some … Continue reading →

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Landmark day for the barn conversion

Posted on November 9, 2019 by james

A large dent in my wallet has arrived in the shape of these: Sadly they’re mostly covered up to stop them getting damaged by builders’ boots. Other than the central post, much of the wood to make them actually came … Continue reading →

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Building an observatory. Construction #80

Posted on August 10, 2019 by james

I didn’t have a lot of time this evening, but took a monitor, keyboard and mouse down to the warm room, connected them and one of the pier computers up to the KVM switch and powered everything on. All the … Continue reading →

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Building an observatory. Construction #79

Posted on August 10, 2019 by james

I’m pleased to be able to relate that all the mains wiring in the observatory is now complete and it is connected up to the existing supply from the house. I no longer have extension leads and trailing sockets all … Continue reading →

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Building an observatory. Construction #78

Posted on August 2, 2019 by james

After a month away from construction because of holidays and other stuff going on, this weekend I spent some time working on the power for the piers. Photos to follow, but each pier now has an IP66-rated cabinet attached (which … Continue reading →

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Building an observatory. Construction #77

Posted on June 25, 2019 by james

I took a detour on the way home from swimming to pick up some trunking and a few other electrical bits from Screwfix. Despite the twenty minute plus journey I was still sweating profusely after swimming which was a bit … Continue reading →

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Building an observatory. Construction #76

Posted on June 25, 2019 by james

Whilst I was fossicking around in the workshop this week I came across about 15m of armoured cable that looked entirely suitable for running the power from the beer shack (which will have power connected from the house) to the … Continue reading →

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