This is a DIY wind sensor interface. This connects to various anemometers and wind vanes and provides a serial interface for averaged data from the pulses.

The problem with measuring anemometers and wind vanes for wind speed and direction measurements is that they constantly need to be checked. You need to know at all times when pulses have come in and which direction the wind vane is facing. This requires a bit of microcontroller time and processing.

This unit is designed to solve that. Wire up your vane and anemometer. Power the unit up. Then it will save the averaged data for you. You can then get hold of the data through serial requests and process as you need.

The unit is based on the ATMega328 (the same microcontroller used in the Arduino), which runs at 8MHz so that it can run correctly at 3.3V up to 5V. Firmware is pre-uploaded so you can get up and running quickly.

This unit can work with different pulse output and hall-effect output anemometers and resistive wind vanes. Please double check this is OK for your sensors - if in doubt send us a quick email!

This comes as a tested PCB with all surface mount electronics already soldered. You just need to solder on the screw terminals (if needed).

This is designed for people who are OK with developing their own code to read the serial data from the unit.

Full design details and the full list of serial commands are available in the github repository:

https://github.com/curiouselectric/WindSensor

Note: We do NOT supply the anemometer or the wind vane. This is designed to interface with your own anemometer and wind vane.

An overview blog post was also written, which helps explain the different functions of the unit. A couple of improvements have been added to this project and new circuit boards designed - please see the blog post here about these small improvements.