Rainfall volume provides important information for people's decisions and actions in weather and climate studies, hydrological network monitoring, agriculture, food delivery, and many other industries. Taking agriculture as an example, rainfall is one of the most important sources of water for plant cultivation. With the precipitation information accessible, farmers can make sound decisions for the irrigation schedule and amount, thus make sure there is sufficient water for crop growth, and not too much water that leads to waste, root rot, or other diseases.

Accurate and reliable measurement of rainfall is of vital importance. And this industrial-grade Optical Rain Gauge RG-15 is a perfect fit. It's a reliable, cost-effective, and rugged rain gauge that uses light beams to determine how much rain has fallen at what intensity.

This industrial-grade optical rain gauge is intended to replace conventional tipping buckets rain gauges. It uses beams of infrared light within a plastic lens about the size of a tennis ball. It's maintenance-free; with the round surface of the lens, there are no collections of debris, no moving parts to stick or water-pathways to clog.

The RG-15 Optical Rain Gauge features an open-collector output that emulates a conventional tipping bucket, as well as serial communications that provide more detailed data and allow for configuration of the device. It can be configured through the serial port, or optionally via DIP switches. A built-in mounting arm allows for convenient mounting to weather station masts, buildings, and other infrastructure. It's also suitable for solar-powered applications.

Features:

Industrial-grade: reliable, accurate, and rugged
Easy-installation: on weather station masts, buildings, and other infrastructures
Maintenance-free: no debris and no clogging
Wide application scenarios

Specifications:

Parameter	Value	Connection Pins
Nominal Accuracy	±10%	J1 Terminal J1 - Out J1 - V+ J1 - GND
Input Voltage
Input Voltage	protected to 50V or 3.3VDC through pin 8 on J2
Current Drain (Not final)	110 μA nominal. (No outputs on, dry not raining) 2-4 mA when raining	J2 Header J2 - 1 GND J2 - 2 V+ (Same as J1 V+) J2 - 3 OUT (Same as J1 OUT) J2 - 4 RS232 OUT J2 - 5 RS232 IN J2 - 6 J2 - 7 MCLR J2 - 8 3.3V
Current Drain (Not final)
Output	NPN Open Collector Output 100 mA / 80V Max
Operating Temperature	-40°C to +60°C (Will not detect rain when freezing)
Output Resolution	0.01in / 0.2mm or 0.001in / 0.01mm
RS232 Port	3.3 V
Supported Baud Rates	1200, 2400, 4800, 9600, 19200, 38400, 57600