On-farm weather stations
Rain often stops at a ridge; a regional forecast never shows that. A mast on your own farm records what actually fell, how hard the wind blew and how much sun the crop got — and it doubles as the internet link for every sensor in the field.
Regional forecasts are built for towns. A farm in a valley, on a slope or behind a ridge can see a very different day. Decisions about spraying, irrigation and harvest that rely on the town forecast are made on somebody else’s weather.
Without your own record, you also cannot separate “my block did badly” from “everyone had a bad season”.
How it works
Clear of trees and roofs so wind and rain read true, and central enough that field nodes can reach it.
A panel and battery carry the mast through the night and through cloudy spells.
The mast raises a local Wi-Fi network and routes it to the internet over 4G, so field probes report through it without a SIM of their own.
Every reading is kept, so this season can be compared against last on the same farm.
What you get
Wind and rain measured where you spray, not where the forecast was made.
Your own rainfall record can hold back irrigation that a timer would have run anyway.
A single mast and SIM carries the whole fleet’s data — no SIM card per sensor.
Neighbouring masts that share build a live picture of rain across your area.
A raindrop board works by passing current across bare traces. Leave it powered continuously and the traces corrode within weeks. Our mast energises the rain board for about 150 milliseconds per reading and leaves it dead the rest of the time — which is why it lasts.
Equipment
Questions
No. It has its own 4G modem and SIM. It also shares that connection with the field sensors around it.
The mast’s Wi-Fi covers the area around it; nodes out of range can report through a neighbouring node. Larger farms may use more than one mast.
The standard rain sensor reports wetness as a percentage, which is what tells you it is raining now. Where you need rainfall totals in millimetres we add a tipping-bucket rain gauge.
The first conversation is a site visit: we walk the farm with you and understand what you grow or keep and what is going wrong. No cost, no commitment. Buy outright, lease, or pay as you go by M-Pesa.