Rainfall monitor is used for monitoring and early warning of torrential rain and flash floods in mountainous areas

Rainfall monitor consists of a stainless steel rain gauge sensor, a data logger, a solar power system, and a pole support. It can log into an IoT platform to view real-time rainfall status, daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly rainfall data, and is widely used in monitoring and early warning of torrential rain and flash floods in mountainous areas.

Rainfall monitor is a specialized device for measuring rainfall. Its system mainly consists of a stainless steel rain gauge sensor, a data logger, a solar power system, and a pole support. This device adopts an integrated structural design, featuring easy installation and low power consumption. It can operate for extended periods in the field without mains power, relying on solar power, meeting the needs of unattended monitoring around the clock.

The core working principle of this device is based on mechanical tipping bucket metering. Rainwater enters through the inlet, flows through the funnel into the tipping bucket for initial collection, and when the water volume accumulates to a set value (e.g., 0.1 mm), the tipping bucket's center of gravity shifts, causing it to tip over. Rainwater then flows through a collecting funnel into a metering tipping bucket. The tipping bucket has two metering chambers, left and right. Whenever the rainwater in one chamber reaches a set capacity, it tipes over, simultaneously moving a magnet close to a reed switch, causing the reed switch to close and output a pulse signal. The data acquisition unit receives and records these pulse signals; each pulse corresponds to a fixed rainfall amount (usually 0.1 mm or 0.2 mm). The real-time rainfall data can be calculated by accumulating the number of pulses.

For data management, Rainfall monitor has a built-in 4G wireless transmission module or RS485 communication module, which can periodically send the collected data to a remote IoT cloud platform. Users can log in to the platform via a computer browser or mobile app to view real-time data and historical records. The rainfall data provided by the platform includes the current rainfall status, rainfall at each collection interval, and statistical values such as daily, weekly, monthly, and annual rainfall. The data can be exported to Excel spreadsheet format for easy post-analysis and processing. Some systems also feature threshold alarm functions, sending alarm messages to preset contacts via SMS, telephone, or WeChat when the monitored rainfall exceeds a set value.

Rainfall monitor is currently mainly used in mountainous areas for heavy rainfall monitoring, flash flood early warning, and hydrological and meteorological observation. In mountainous areas and small and medium-sized watersheds, this equipment can provide minute-level accurate precipitation observation data, providing data support for flood control departments to analyze rainfall intensity and development trends. By monitoring key parameters such as total rainfall and instantaneous rainfall in real time, this equipment plays a role in preventing geological disasters such as mudslides and flash floods.