Solar Radiation Shield for Outdoor Temperature Sensors (Variable Height w/ Chain Link Fence Mount)

About

This is a customizable / generic solar radiation shield for temperature sensors. By printing one roof and however many 15mm tall main body pieces are needed you can hold whatever height sensor you need.

Instead of being specific to one kind of sensor this has a large, flat rear mounting plate to which sensors can be attached with adhesive tape.

The rear of the roof/body piece stack has a 5mm x 15mm groove. This can be used with the provided chain link fence post mount (for 1-5/8" / ~42mm posts), a BrickClip fastenener (held in place with VHB tape), or you can easily design your own mount.

Layers stack and align with pegs and holes, and provide shade to the horizon (0° from vertical) while still offering plenty of airflow and little thermal conductivity to the object on which it's mounted.

Printing

I printed this using white Overture PETG, printed at higher than normal temperatures and very slow speeds to ensure a shiny finish and good layer adhesion. For printing the chain link fence piece a tree support was manually added, but no other supports are needed. The included Bambu Studio .3MF includes the printing details.

Setup / Installation

While this'll work with a bunch of different sensors I designed it to hold a La Crosse TX141-BV4 and a ZOOZ ZSE44 while having a bit of room left over if I wish to add another. This required nine main body pieces.

For additional shade, and because the roof is mildly translucent, I lined it with foil HVAC tape to make it more opaque. The mount was attached to a chain link fence around 1m above ground using UV-resistant black cable ties with pieces of VHB 5925 to help keep things in place.

The roof, main body layers, and fence post mount were glued together with J-B Weld PlasticBonder epoxy. A small dab in each hole is all that's needed to fit it all together securely.

The temperature sensors were then attached to the mounting plate with VHB 4910 tape.

Notes

Originally I was going to use this with a QUEEN SIZE BrickClip fastener, but due to the weight of the complete assembly and wanting a better location for the sensors I changed to the fence mount. The 5mm x 15mm slot on the back works for both of this and also serves as a solid platform for any other mount design.

A bit longer writeup about the whys behind the design can be found here on my blog: https://nuxx.net/blog/2025/12/19/solar-radiation-sun-shield-for-temperature-sensors/