Check out these photo bucket images:
Bucket of Hydrangeas from a Martha Stewart photo reference
Image by jhhymas
uppp
Tipping bucket rain gauge
Image by Nathan Chantrell
This is one of the rain gauges that are supplied with the cheap weather stations, I got it off ebay with a faulty reed switch which I have replaced and connected it to one of my TinyTX sensor boards.
With the cover off you can see the tipping bucket mechanism, when a bucket has 0.3mm of rain in it will tip and drain through the bottom and the other bucket will then start to fill. There is a magnet at the top center of the buckets which passes a reed switch in the upright behind when it tips. Therefore each operation of the reed switch means 0.3mm of rain has fallen.
Here is a nice animated gif showing how it works.
bottoms left
Image by wader
from some kind of bucket
At the dump. This set is from our day at the dump. We needed something to take pictures of as the weather was dashing and a photo excursion was in order. Much can be found at the dump and after talking to site manager we were given flasher vests and set off on our task; great finds are to be found where you'd never expect it.
