Lake Temperature Gages

[Ben Gillispie]

Thanks for the words @m&m...incorporating in lake levels is very easy. That data is readily available and can be shown along with temperature no problem. Logs, historical data, etc. are a part of the site. Easy features. The hard part is the money to place my devices in relevant areas of the lake like you said. Showing the data along with levels and other metrics is a walk in the park, comparatively.

[dtrs5kprs]

2 hours ago, Champ188 said:

Ben, I think for it to be relative to the readings anglers are accustomed to seeing on their boats, about 18 inches would be perfect. This is the depth of most trolling motor-mounted sensors.

Wrench has a good point in that temps from various depths would be nice, but for starters I'd say go with data that is relevant to what we are accustomed to working with.

Indeed. 18"-24" would keep it closer to comparing apples to apples. Obviously temps reported will vary, they usually vary between two graphs on the same boat. Instead of being caught up in the minutia of how the data was recorded, I would be more focused on it being a very useful snapshot.

[fishinwrench]

Are you planning to use standard temp guages that will have to be read manually, or something that allows you to check them remotely ?  

[Ben Gillispie]

6 minutes ago, fishinwrench said:

Are you planning to use standard temp guages that will have to be read manually, or something that allows you to check them remotely ?  

These will be entirely remote, with readings all reporting to a single, simple map interface showing where the device is and what it's most recent temperature reading is. I would do my best as far as placement of these devices for accuracy and also include information about whether a particular device is typically in the sun/shade/other factors. These will all report temperature readings every 15 minutes. 

 

22 minutes ago, dtrs5kprs said:

Indeed. 18"-24" would keep it closer to comparing apples to apples. Obviously temps reported will vary, they usually vary between two graphs on the same boat. Instead of being caught up in the minutia of how the data was recorded, I would be more focused on it being a very useful snapshot.

You are spot on @dtrs5kprs ... I'll get them as accurate as possible, but for now, it would be a great guide for planning...not as much running around the lake. 

[Ben Gillispie]

13 hours ago, Phil Lilley said:

How helpful would it be to know real-time what the surface water temperatures were on various area on Table Rock?  How valuable would this information be?

There's a young man here in Branson that may help.  He wants to install temperature devices at marinas on Table Rock to take water temperatures and broadcast them on the internet.

But he needs your help.

Interested?

https://www.gofundme.com/trlwatertemps

Just to fill everyone in...if anyone were to happen to 'donate', that money is donated. There is no 'threshold' that must be met, the 10K 'goal' will cover lots of expenses particularly pertaining to the website development and other initial costs, but after that, adding more 'stations' (devices reporting temp to my website) would be much much cheaper. Any amount smaller than that will surely get me off to the races in getting this up and running. 

[fishinwrench]

You should be able to add a few other lake data resources to the site and generate enough advertising income to not only float it, but profit from it.    

[Ben Gillispie]

4 minutes ago, fishinwrench said:

You should be able to add a few other lake data resources to the site and generate enough advertising income to not only float it, but profit from it.    

You're right sir...while the thing will need at least some income to float it for years to come, my goal for now is not profit, just wanting to get moving and see how useful it can be...

[Champ188]

Just a couple more thoughts, Ben. As you mentioned yourself, the lake levels info is readily available in many forms, including websites and phone apps. For now, I would certainly concentrate my efforts on your original idea ... water temp, which is NOT readily available. Don't dillute the formula, in other words.

About location of the sensors ... If there was any way for them to be in the shade 24/7 (inside a boat slip, maybe?), that would eliminate the potential of "false" readings caused by sunlight. I would also suggest that the probes be placed over water as deep as possible, so as not to be affected by the tendency for shallow water temps to fluctuate greatly.

[Ben Gillispie]

Excellent input @Champ188...they could absolutely be in a slip so as to have permanent shade. Just an FYI from some conversation earlier, adding two probes, one at one depth another at a different depth, is more than doable, but as you even mentioned, I'm trying to narrow the goal here and that is to get temperature data that reports to a single place. One thing that I think would be very neat also is to have a sensor that records 'turbidity', or 'conductance'. My website could translate the numerical value of that metric into something we all care about...i.e. a 'Turbidity' reading of 0.3, once a simple scale was established, could be determined to be roughly 6ft of visibility to the naked eye...could help with determining where the stained or clear water is throughout the lake...just a thought...crap, I'm supposed to focus on temperature!  

[cheesemaster]

"Turbidity" - That would be awsome too!!!!