Hi all,
After reading all the posts in this forum, and seeing how inaccurate my daily temp readings were with solar heating sending them about 4 - 6 degrees C above real temps, I decided to build my own, fashioned after the great ones I saw here.
Imediately after finishing the shield, I placed it on the hot back deck and the temps fell to within .5 degrees of the readings for shade!.
The unit has 2 solid plates on top and 2 on the bottom (bottom got the extra one mainly because I had a spare lol)
Here are 3 pics.
First is of the construction about half done with the temp probe wired in place using copper grounding wire to the threaded rods.
Second is with 7 of the 12 plates in place. The plates were acquired at a dollar store for about $3.
I used the tubing in the foreground for spacing between the washers that support the plates (fins) on 5/16 threaded rods. The hole in the centre is about 3 1/4 inches across. Fins are ~10 inch plates.
Third is the finished product on a 6 foot supporting 2 x 6 anchored with 2 tree supports (3 " angle iron.) No paint yet but will when warmer weather arrives, will be all white. I left some room to mount the Rain gauge, and now that the temps are consistent will also mount my solar in a jar sensor and try to convert into a cloud sensor as well.
Many thanks for all the great articles on this forum about solar shields etc., I would never have attempted this without those instructions and advice, as I am a dunce with tools.
All the best,
Jim
