Jeff's Revel Mods: thermometer

We frequently camp in places where winds and storms come up quickly, and are always curious to know the wind speeds during those events. After looking around for a simple solution, I found the La Crosse 327-1414BW Wind Speed Station that works pretty well for us.

The wind sensor (anemometer) is not suitable for traveling on the roof of the van, so I permanently mounted its mast on the roof, and then mount the sensor on the mast when I want to use it. The mast is a black steel broom handle, cut to size, and then mounted in a black aluminum flag pole holder. I fold the mast down when traveling, then erect it when we're in camp.

The sensor/anemometer is battery-operated, so I put the batteries in it when I want to use it, and take them out when I don't. (I've looked into adding a switch, but found that it's probably more trouble than simply taking the batteries in and out.) I added a small thumbscrew for quick & easy attachment.

The wind station itself is also battery-operated, without an on/off switch, so in order to save battery life when I'm not using it, I built a no-solder battery interrupter and attached it to a simple external switch.

We decided that it should reside near the rest of the instrument cluster in the dinette area, so I mounted it to a folding under cabinet TV mount, and attached that to the bottom of the dinette cabinet. It's about the perfect size, and folds away when we're not using it.

It's admittedly kind of unusual looking, but it works well!

11-Feb-2022

For the first year of the Revel (2018), Winnebago offered an upgraded audio 'infotainment' system that had an external temperature sensor on the screen. After I replaced the audio system, I was always sorry that I also lost the ability to monitor the external temperature.

However, Walter Abercrombie from the Facebook group recently found a good thermometer (ThermPro TP63) that offers a waterproof, rechargeable external sensor, and I bought one for use in our Revel.

The problem, though, was where to mount the sensor. The requirements that I saw were the following:

Must be isolated from the sun's influence;
Must be isolated from engine heat;
Must be exposed to open air;
Must be easily accessible for recharging while on the road.

Unfortunately, the sensor doesn't have good hooks or holes that I could use to attach it to a surface, so I decided to suspend the sensor in a mesh BBQ bag, reasoning that if the bag can survive the heat & punishment of a grill, then it can survive the splashes under the van.

I decided to mount the bag and sensor in a place where it's thermally protected, yet easily accessible for removal when it needs recharged: behind the rear bumper on the passenger side. I attached it with two self-drilling screws.