LoRaWAN® Optical Rain Sensor with No Moving Parts

A sensor that detects rain and measures how hard it is falling, and sends that over LoRaWAN® radio, kilometres to a gateway, on a battery. The MacSync LORS X1 does it optically — an infrared sensor reads drops on its surface — and reports rain intensity up to 200 mm/h equivalent and a four-level rain class, with alerts the moment rain starts, crosses a limit or stops.

No. A rain gauge collects water and counts a total in millimetres; it is the reference instrument for official records and it needs cleaning, levelling and sometimes emptying. The LORS X1 reads rain intensity and class optically with no moving parts, which is what a drain pump, an irrigation controller or a site alarm needs. Totals can be estimated on your platform from the intensity record, but that is an estimate, not a gauge reading.

From the datasheet: rain intensity from 0 to 200 mm/h equivalent, at 1 mm/h equivalent resolution and ±5 % typical accuracy, and a rain classification of 0 (no rain), 1 (drizzle), 2 (moderate) or 3 (heavy), with rain-level threshold alerts and the battery level in every uplink.

Infrared light inside the sensor refracts differently when water sits on the hydrophobic surface; the sensor turns the change into an intensity and a class. The datasheet describes filtering against insects, dust, vibration, stray droplets and ambient sunlight, and there are no moving parts to tip, clog or seize.

The datasheet states the intensity range and resolution as 'equivalent' rates: the rain rate the optical reading corresponds to, expressed in the units a gauge would use. It does not define the conversion or name the reference gauge, so this page quotes the figures exactly as stated and recommends a comparison against a reference gauge on site for the first weeks.

The datasheet states '±5 % (typical)' for the intensity reading and does not name the reference or the conditions, so this page does not claim a comparison. For context, a wired optical sensor that leads the result pages publishes a nominal ±10 % with 'field accuracy will vary', and independent tests of compact rain sensors found them within roughly ±8 % of a reference across units; see the sources linked on this page.

The datasheet states the four classes — 0 no rain, 1 drizzle, 2 moderate, 3 heavy — but not the mm/h at which one becomes the next, and this page does not map them to any meteorological classification. For a rule that must act on a number, use the intensity reading and your own threshold; ask us for the engineering note on the classes.

The datasheet specifies rain and says nothing about snow, hail, fog or dew. Optical rain sensors in general behave differently in those conditions — one maker states detection stops when freezing — so for a hill station or a site with fog, ask before ordering and compare on site.

Integrate the intensity record on your platform: the sensor reports intensity on every interval and on every event, and a time-weighted sum gives an estimated total for the day. Treat it as an estimate with the intensity uncertainty; where a total in millimetres must stand on its own, a reference gauge beside one sensor in the ring gives the figure and the comparison.

The datasheet states IP65 (IP67 optional) for the enclosure and lists an optional IP68 cable extender; it does not state a separate rating for the sensing head or a cable length. Tell us the mounting arrangement and we confirm what ships.

A threshold event is reported within the sampling interval you set, from 1 minute upward, as a normal Class A uplink. Class C, set in the Maya app, keeps the receiver open so a downlink — a changed threshold, a command to a MacTalk controller — arrives at once; it costs battery, so it suits the DC variant or a site that needs fast commands.

Yes. The network server you run — ChirpStack, The Things Network or another — publishes the decoded readings over MQTT and HTTPS, so a SCADA, a BMS, a flood cell or any MQTT-capable platform subscribes to them; there is no Macnman platform in the path.

One per point where rain must trigger something or be recorded separately — each outfall or sub-catchment, each block, each section — because rain varies over a few hundred metres. For context, India's national network aims at one automatic rain gauge per panchayat; an operational ring is denser than that around the drains and blocks that matter, with one reference gauge for the record. A pilot of two or three sensors settles the count.

No. The datasheet publishes the sensing figures; it does not publish a comparison against a reference gauge, and this page does not claim one. The honest route is the one we recommend to every buyer: a pilot through one monsoon with a reference gauge beside one sensor, and we are glad to publish the comparison with a partner institution.

Not as a gauge reading. The sensor reports intensity and class; your platform can integrate the intensity record over time for an estimated total, which is useful for irrigation credit and for comparing points, but an official total in millimetres comes from a reference gauge. The usual design runs a ring of LORS X1 sensors around one reference gauge.

No conformity is claimed. India's WINDS programme, per the Cabinet release of January 2025, places an automatic rain gauge at panchayat level through accredited agencies, and those gauges are installed to a standard and validated. The LORS X1 is the operational sensor for the drains, blocks and sites between those gauges; Macnman does not present it as ARG-grade.

A rain switch is a wet-or-dry contact wired to one controller. The LORS X1 has no local dry contact of its own: it reports intensity and class over LoRaWAN, and the switching happens on the network, through a MacSet LX1 controller that holds the valve or pauses the schedule, or device to device with the MacTalk variant where the controller has no network. One sensor serves every controller on the site, and the record is kept.

The 19 Ah battery variant is rated about 2 years at 5-minute reports, 4 years at 15-minute reports and 7 or more years at hourly reports (datasheet estimates); event reporting during long storms adds uplinks. The DC variant runs from 9–36 V at the site, and the datasheet lists a 20 W solar option with an 8,000 mAh battery. Battery level is sent in every uplink.

Under open sky, level, on a plumb pole or a flat roof centre, clear of eaves, trees and walls that shelter it or drip onto it, and where you can glance at the surface on a site visit. Mount it with the supplied clip and screws; the IP68 cable extender separates the sensor from the transmitter where needed.

The datasheet publishes the sensing figures and no field calibration procedure, so the practical check is a comparison: for the first weeks compare the event record against the nearest reference gauge and note how the intensity relates to its totals. Cleaning is a glance at the surface when you pass: there is no funnel or bucket, but mud or a leaf sitting on the optics will read as something.

Kilometres, depending on terrain, buildings and antenna height. The sensor transmits at 23 dBm with −137 dBm sensitivity on LoRaWAN®; a MacLink Gen-2 gateway on a roof typically covers a ward, an estate or a catchment. The coverage calculator gives a first estimate and the Maya app's Ping test confirms each pole.

One wherever rain must trigger something or be recorded separately: each catchment or outfall in a city, each block or group of blocks on a farm, each section on an estate, each yard on a plant. Rain varies over a few hundred metres, so a ring of cheap points beats one expensive gauge for operations; keep one reference gauge for the record. A pilot of two or three sensors on the points that behave differently settles the count.

Yes. Set a rain-level threshold and the sensor reports when rain begins, when intensity crosses the limit and when it stops, within the sampling interval, instead of waiting for the next scheduled uplink. Reporting can be periodic, event-based or hybrid.

Through a controller on the same network, yes. A MacSet LX1 holds the valve, pauses the sprinkler schedule or starts the pump on the rule your platform sends it, and the MacTalk variants (9202, 9203) talk device to device to a MacSet with no gateway on site.

Yes. The LORS X1 joins any LoRaWAN® v1.0.4 network server — ChirpStack, The Things Network, Orbiwise, Netmore, MQTT platforms or a private LNS — by OTAA with pre-loaded keys, and the readings reach your flood cell, irrigation platform, SCADA or ICCC over MQTT or HTTPS. There is no mandatory Macnman cloud and no subscription.

IN865 for India, plus RU864, EU868, US915, AU915, KR920 and AS923, set when ordering. LoRaWAN in India uses the delicensed 865–867 MHz band, so a city, a campus or a farm runs its own gateway without a spectrum licence; the device is WPC compliant and RoHS conforming.

The LWS X2 is the 6-in-1 station: the same optical rain sensing with wind speed and direction, temperature, humidity and pressure, on solar or DC, for one point that needs the full picture. The LORS X1 is rain only, on a battery, for many points. Most flood and irrigation networks run one station as the reference and a ring of rain sensors around it.

The enclosure is UV-resistant glass-filled nylon, IP65 as standard with an IP67 option, rated from −40 to +80 °C; the optical surface is hydrophobic and there is nothing to clog or seize. Mount it level under open sky and keep the surface clear.

The MacSync LX1 RS485 to LoRaWAN converter reads a Modbus rain sensor and sends it over the same network, so an existing head can join a ring of LORS X1 sensors. Where the project wants one unit per pole with no wiring, the integrated sensor is the simpler system.

Rain intensity in mm/h equivalent, the rain class, event flags on threshold crossings and the battery level, in an AES-128 encrypted LoRaWAN® uplink, periodic or on an event. Decoding is documented with the product; tell us your network server and we send the decoder for it.

The data is yours. The sensor sends to your own network server and from there to the flood cell, irrigation platform, SCADA or ICCC you choose, over MQTT or HTTPS. Macnman supplies the hardware, the documentation and the decoder, not a mandatory cloud.

Mount the sensor level under open sky with the supplied clip and screws, and the transmitter beside it; the DC variant wires to the site's 9–36 V supply. Pair over Bluetooth with the Maya app to set the intervals, the rain thresholds and the LoRaWAN class, run a Ping to confirm the gateway, and the device joins by OTAA. No wire to any controller, no laptop.

The MacSync LORS X1 sensor, a mounting clip, mounting screws, the user manual and the warranty card. The IP68 cable extender and a power adapter are optional accessories ordered separately.

Yes. Readings reach the ICCC over MQTT or HTTPS from your network server, and a rain-level threshold reports within the sampling interval. Paired with MacRay ultrasonic level sensors on the drains and a MacSet at the pumping station, the city sees the cloudburst forming and acts on it; a published Macnman smart-city weather installation is linked on this page.

Yes. The MacSync LORS X1 is designed and manufactured in Pune, Maharashtra. It is WPC compliant for the IN865 band and conforms to RoHS; the datasheet states both. No meteorological conformity is claimed.

Four lines, and the sensor is only one: the number of points, which depends on how much rain varies across the site; battery or DC at each point; the gateway, usually one per site plus one for a far corner; and the integration into the platform you run. Send the point list and we quote the system rather than a device in isolation.

The list of points with what acts on the reading at each, whether there is power at the pole, whether a LoRaWAN gateway and network server already exist, whether a controller must act on the rain, and the platform the data should reach. With that we confirm the variants, the count and the gateway position.

Yes, and it is the recommended way in: two or three LORS X1 sensors on the points that behave differently, one gateway, your own network server, through one monsoon, with a reference gauge beside one of them. The pilot kit on this site is that set; the rest of the ring joins the same gateway afterwards.