OK ~ so we don't get many weather events here in So Cal. and this rain guage works great...as long as it does not rain! The first part of this weekend's storm it properly reported ~ .12-Inches.
The main rain came Friday night and it was reading 0" since midnight ( it had been steadily falling throuought the night) Again, I noted a large ( +3" ) reading on the previous day's graph. What is going on here?
OK I have a theory now! When I went back up on the roof and inspected ~ this time no spiders would be spared~ I noticed some interesting things. First the RG was still there and not blown over in the wind as I feared. Second it did not seem to be sitting level?
I built a mall leveling platform out of a small rectangle of plywood, with another strip at one end to prop up the platform, since this is on the "flat roof" part over a porch the slope is very small and needed only a 1/4" - 1/2" rise on one side to make it level. After I built this platform I primed and painted it and screwed the RG into it. It is not attached in anyway to the roof.
So here is what I think is going on: As the platform gets wet, the bottom side stays wet and the top side dries causing the board to warp. As it warps, it finally starts to move the tipper so it is at a critical angle that causes the sensor to begin flickering causing the big totals. This goes on until the angle become so great the tipper will no longer move past the sensor.
It gets worse...The gauge had some water in it, AND it no longer transmits as well. SO here is what may have happened: Since the tipping bucket was now shifted to one side the rain was deflected along it in a fully tipped position, some of the rain did not properly exit the device and accumulated inside it.
I will dry everything out and make a new platform. I thought the paint would protect the wood, but looks like it needs another type of material or better protection.
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