Weighing the hive

dlmarti · April 15, 2007, 03:16:37 PM

Would it be beneficial to know the weight of the hive automatically?
I'm contemplating installing a stress gauge under the hive to continually weigh the hive. My gadget loving mind would love this kind of thing, I'm just wondering if it would really be useful.

My thought is that knowing the hour-by-hour weight of the hive would be useful information.

You would know when the hive is foraging.
You would know if the hive is increasing or decreasing in weight from day to day.

Kathyp · April 15, 2007, 03:33:00 PM

my cluttering my mind with to much data mind would love something like that in the winter!

Galaxy · April 15, 2007, 03:54:15 PM

I am also very interested in being able to track the change in weight of at least one hive? Does anyone have an inexpensive and low labor method for doing this? This should enable one to gauge the nectar flow over time.

Thanks,

James

dlmarti · April 15, 2007, 04:01:29 PM

TI makes a new type of load cell for weighing drivers in cars, so my current thought is to see if this is a common practice.
If I can get 4 load cells out of the junk yard, and hook them up to an embedded ARM board with built in A/D and Wifi, I could continually weigh the hive from inside the house.

Basically weigh the hive every 15 minutes and pipe the data to gnuplot for graphing and web display.

The key is that I need to find a source for used load cells, new ones are too expensive. I need to keep the total parts cost below $100.

Kathyp · April 15, 2007, 04:27:02 PM

got anything with springs and a dial?

dlmarti · April 15, 2007, 04:40:37 PM

Quote from: kathyp on April 15, 2007, 04:27:02 PM
got anything with springs and a dial?

I was originally thinking to stay with a mechanical solution, but I couldn't think of a way to make it work simply.
Also the automated solution appeals to me, and its invisible. Four load cells between the hive stand and the bottom board, wouldn't even be noticed.

MarkR · April 15, 2007, 04:45:54 PM

You could find an old tobacco scale (a huge investment in and of itself) or something like that and just set a hive up on it. There's a guy near me, actually my mentor, who had done it, but that hive died over the winter and he's not going to set it up there again.

Mark

Galaxy · April 15, 2007, 04:52:32 PM

dlmarti:

This is a great idea if you can do it inexpensively. You could gather data to help answer such questions as:

When do the nectar flows start and stop?
Which hives are doing better or worse?
Does it really make a difference whether hives are in full sun vs. full shade?
Which strains of queens do better?

There are many other questions that this data could help address. The bottom line is that experiments and the collection of data is one of the best ways to gain valid information. In fact, I would be surprised if university researchers are not already using wireless, automatic collection of hive weights.

Thanks,

James

Kathyp · April 15, 2007, 05:20:19 PM

winter would be the best use for me. i could tell if stores were getting lite without having to open the hive. easier on the bees and me!

woodchopper · April 16, 2007, 05:04:59 PM

A gentleman who took the same bee classes as my wife and I bought a Jennings Ultra Sport 50 to weigh all of his hives with. It was under $30 and he picks up the back of his hives with it to get his measurement. I've never seen it in action but he's happy with the results. He bought his from a company called "Top Notch Scales".