Oldland Windmill now subscribes to Smartmolen, a scheme created by the Friends of Upminster Windmill to monitor working mills of all types in Europe and presents operational data to be available on the internet. Our system works in conjunction with Jill Mill’s internet access.
In terms of the equipment installed at Oldland Mill, we have:
The Digital Magnetometer installed on the rear of the Bin Floor.
Digital Magnetometer
This reports which way the Mill is currently facing. This device acts like a digital compass by measuring the magnetic field around it. Like other electronic digital compasses, it needs to collect a sample of data as it turns to calibrate itself to report correctly.
You may notice, on the website, a warning that the system is manually calibrated and readings may be inaccurate. This manual calibration process completes itself when the Mill has spent a few minutes in a range of positions, covering 10/16ths of the compass (eg. E, ESE, SE, SSE, etc.). Once this calibration is complete, this warning should go away, and the colouring on the website will change from grey to red/amber/green depending whether the Mill is facing into the wind (as reported by a 3rd party weather service).
The Sail (Sweep) Rotation Counter installed near the Tail Wheel.
Sweep Counter
This counts sweep revolutions using a small magnetic reed switch, triggered by a small magnet installed on the Tail Wheel. The sensor stores a count in its memory and transmits a count every 2 minutes when the Mill is turning. There is therefore a slight lag on the display on the website.
These devices transmit directly on 868Mhz frequency. The signals from Oldland Mill are received at Jill Windmill, where a directional antenna has been installed, pointing towards Oldland Mill, which relays the signals to the internet.
The data from the Oldland Mill sensors may be viewed on the Smartmolen website link here: www.smartmolen.com/oldland
