Sun Cam - Project

I've been contemplating a method for viewing sun/cloud coverage with a long-term plan to use these images, weather data and ML to automate some aspects of my smart devices (raise/lower house temp, close blinds, etc). I found a solution for the sun cam and figured I'd share what I did. Of course, it's only been up a week or so, long term durability still TBD.

I already had UI Protect cameras, and wanted to keep within that product line. I wanted broad lens coverage, and landed on the AI 360.

Since I would be mounting this facing upwards, I needed a protective dome. At first, I searched for a smoked dome to protect the camera but couldn't find one that matched what I wanted and settled on clear. For the AI 360, this dome was the best fit.
I also needed a J-Arm to mount somewhere on my roof with little obstructions for viewing. My chimney was the best location (and easy to get to).
Next I needed a way to mount the camera and dome cover to the J-Arm and using Inventables Easel, designed a CNC carve that also pre-drilled all the mounting holes, bolt holes and CAT6 cable ingress. For the mount material, I went with a sheet of 1/2" PVC from the orange box store. Way more material than I needed, but I generally find other uses for it over time. For cable, I used UV rated CAT6.

Below is a diagram of the Easel CNC design:

Here is the finished product:

And. most importantly, the output:

Timelapse of morning to noon:

Waiting for a good thunderstorm to timelapse, however rain on the dome will impact visibility.

 

[zƬesla]

Great project! While not as accurate as you'll likely have, I use NWS Sky Cover data such as found at:

Hourly Graphical Forecast for 30.34N 81.65W

 

[wwu123]

Very cool to watch the sun (and the moon) travel across the sky. Interesting that the camera image looks exactly like that of a Solar Pathfinder, which was an analog tool, that my solar installer used to map my tree shading against the sun path, to optimize panel placement...

Except with the Pathfinder you shoot down instead of up, using the reflection off the dome, and the sun's location all year round is pre-charted by those curved lines under the dome. They only care to capture the reflection of the trees, not the sun, against the sun chart.

Since the sun's location is already known ahead of time, did you consider using a simpler off-the-shelf weather station to measure and log the solar radiation? My cheapo Acurite weather station includes a light intensity sensor that records lux, and the data can be logged and accessed by API on both the Acurite site and via Weather Underground (the latter can also cross-reference weather forecasts and other realtime information for your locale). Alternatively, Weather Underground probably already has a neighbor's Personal Weather Station that is logging same for their house, probably only slightly different from your conditions....

 

[Rccarps2]

Very cool to watch the sun (and the moon) travel across the sky. Interesting that the camera image looks exactly like that of a Solar Pathfinder, which was an analog tool, that my solar installer used to map my tree shading against the sun path, to optimize panel placement...


View attachment 951503

Except with the Pathfinder you shoot down instead of up, using the reflection off the dome, and the sun's location all year round is pre-charted by those curved lines under the dome. They only care to capture the reflection of the trees, not the sun, against the sun chart.

Since the sun's location is already known ahead of time, did you consider using a simpler off-the-shelf weather station to measure and log the solar radiation? My cheapo Acurite weather station includes a light intensity sensor that records lux, and the data can be logged and accessed by API on both the Acurite site and via Weather Underground (the latter can also cross-reference weather forecasts and other realtime information for your locale). Alternatively, Weather Underground probably already has a neighbor's Personal Weather Station that is logging same for their house, probably only slightly different from your conditions....

Stalking the OP photos. Looks like he is already running a Tempest weather station. Likely already pushing the data to WU.

 

[wwu123]

Stalking the OP photos. Looks like he is already running a Tempest weather station. Likely already pushing the data to WU.

ha ha, so true. It's obviously right there in the videos, I was so mesmerized by the sun/moon movement. When I saw the extra arm in the rooftop photo, I figured prob a satellite TV dish.

So it's really a case of "there's no such thing as too much data".... I can totally empathize with that

 

[Matt-FL]

Never too much data... You can see the weatherflow solar radiation and UV index just below the PW charge. I wonder if I have enough data, but then I think of 'Home Improvement', and do the grunting laugh and look for more ways to get data.

 

[wwu123]

Added bonus, assuming you're archiving all the video from the suncam: the U.S. government will be able to rapidly sift through all that footage using AI, to identify Chinese spy balloons traversing the coast of Florida...

New images show Chinese spy balloons over Asia

 

[Matt-FL]

Today looks like a great production day... 9am and already at 8.154kW

 

[opasenBG]

"Waiting for a good thunderstorm to timelapse, however rain on the dome will impact visibility."

Appling Rain-X or similar water-repellent might help with the rain.