DMS Weather Project: Build Log

I can get a virtual machine going if needed. Would on-prem or AWS be better?

I can help with getting wiring to the roof on the lower indoor portion (running from Server Room to the ceiling by Electronics, but TBH I’m not capable of getting it from the ceiling to the roof. Measuring with Google Earth and our floorplan indicates that 250ft would be the max cable length needed, but I did that a few weeks ago so meh. Keep in mind that Cat5e can only go 300-ish feet.
Any objections to this cable? http://a.co/dZvYVS2

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If you are only planning on using the cat 5 to provide electrical power to your station you may want to look at this

Depending upon the quality of the cable its resistance can be quite high, which equates to a large voltage drop. If just using it for electrical power, I suggest outdoor rated speaker wire.

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The access point we are using to the roof is actually over the water fountain. The conduit has a lot of sheet metal screws in it, and it really tore up the heavy cabling we ran through that. So please keep that in mind if you use it.

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Yes that would be helpful let’s start off with on the premises first.

Ok thanks for your help with wiring. Can we meet sometime on Saturday and scope the roof again and get pics during the day?

Let me know when you are meeting and I’ll try to be there. I realize I should have joined you on the roof last night to have a better understanding of the distances and problems.

Russell

I wasn’t there last night, but I’ll be at DMS on Sunday all day.
I can’t run the wire to the roof, but I can run it to above the water fountain then whoever else can take it up to the roof.

I’ll plan on being there on Sunday too.

Please be careful if trying to utilize the penetration that AR-SIG has coax and control cable going through. Damage to the coax, especially, can be an time-consuming, expensive repair.

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Sweet ok sounds like Sunday works well for all of us. Does 10 a.m. sound good for all of y’all?

  1. Survey and take pictures of the roof
  2. Brooks and whoever would like to help run the wire above the water fountain

I suggest looking at the old Amateur Radio penetration on the wall above hatchers. I believe it will be easier to use, and I believe it will be a straighter run to either the server room or science, whereever you are running this to. It should also result in a shorter overall run.

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Feel free to pull through any old coax out of that penetration. Might want to leave a pull-string for future runs, too.

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Ok I just need some clarification. From what i’ve researched the longer the wire the more the voltage drops. If we run it through the hole above hatchers, then wouldn’t our possible locations experience more of a voltage drop than running it above the water fountain? The brown squares are possible locations. Of course we would have to test the location next to HAM to make sure there isn’t interference with the antenna.

I don’t have the picture but next to where you ran the wire through the pipe above the water fountain, there was another vacant pipe. Is that not usable?

@Gimli @Ebony_Jackson

Ultimately it depends upon where you place the weather station and how the run is made within the building. The main reason I suggested the old hatchers entry was the one Zach and I used was not easy to run the cable in the conduit, and it will be even harder for you’'ll since we have two fairly large cables in there now and no easy way to run a string to pull the cable (like we did)…

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I wouldn’t worry about the voltage drop with PoE, it’s capable of delivering power at up to 325 feet. As long as our run is under that, it will be fine.

I’ve actually had runs that were around 400 ft and not had an issue with PoE.

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If you go with the brown square to the left of HAM blue box, that wouldn’t be excessively long.

@bscharff,

@gimli found that we can drop a wire to through the server room’s a/c vent. The opening leads right above the open area. Let us know if you need help with the wiring.

Wow, you guys really searched for that one! We tried several of those penetrations and didn’t find one that hadn’t been sealed tight with goop.

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Using the server room AC vent is perfect, the cable run will be very short!

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I suppose it’s easily to measure the exact cable length needed, add an extra few feet, and then pre-cut the cables and drop them from the roof, ya?

Yes that sounds about right