El cheapo weather station. - Page 4

astroron (Ron) · #61 06-04-2008, 04:36 PM

We had a shower this morning, and the rain gauge said 5.7 mm when my glass gauge didn't even read 1.
I have tried to reset it to zero but it refuses to go.
Will it reset itself to zero after 24hrs?.
I have mine set up about 30 mts from the house.
If I was to put a shade over the temp gauge would that be sufficiant to keep the direct sunlight off it and make it more accurate?

sprocket · #62 06-04-2008, 04:54 PM

Im using a template from http://saratoga-weather.org/scripts-WD-AJAX.php#. Mine is far from complete but i am getting there http://home.exetel.com.au/sprocket/weather/index.html

Using a lacrose WS-3600 and weather display
Cheers
Brett

snowyskiesau · #63 06-04-2008, 05:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by astroron

We had a shower this morning, and the rain gauge said 5.7 mm when my glass gauge didn't even read 1.
I have tried to reset it to zero but it refuses to go.
Will it reset itself to zero after 24hrs?.
I have mine set up about 30 mts from the house.
If I was to put a shade over the temp gauge would that be sufficiant to keep the direct sunlight off it and make it more accurate?

One of the problems that I had with my weather station was that I could not reset any value to zero. Didn't try with the PC software.
I'll send mine back to the supplier tomorrow and hope the replacement is better.

gts055 (Mark) · #64 06-04-2008, 05:42 PM

Hi.
I am returning my unit for a refund. The Davis unit I have is about 18 years old, with all components hard wired. Its been very reliable. Only maintenance required has been replacement of the bearings in the anemometer every 6 years or so . The rain gauge is a much larger unit altogether than the Ebay one. Yes, the Davis is perhaps 10 times the price, but it has served very well and continues to do so. The readings update much quicker in the Davis also. The Ebay unit is an absolute bargain if u get one that functions correctly.
Regards Mark

Gargoyle_Steve (Steve) · #65 14-04-2008, 09:26 AM

Has anyone else got any other feedback, positive or negative, on these cheap weather stations?

I'm pretty keen to buy one but I'm waiting to hear more about whether you guys have sorted the issues / sent them back / given them up as a dead loss.
Would be great if you guys could let us know how things have worked out.

rogerg (Roger) · #66 14-04-2008, 10:27 AM

Some more information I can provide..

Overall I am extremely happy with the product considering the cost, and would easily recommend it based on my experiences. If it weren't so cheap, I'd still be sitting here wishing I had a weather station.

Things that seem to be compromised for the price:

- Screen contrast is quite poor. You can read it, but need to be at a good angle, it doesn't have good viewing angle and doesn't have good contrast when looking directly at it. The backlight is strong, but doesn't help contrast.

- To access min/max/total figures it's quite a few presses. For example to get to max temp you need to press the temperature several times, cycling through over functionality befor reaching the max/min which are the last functions in the cycle.

- As mentioned in another post of mine previously, the temperature thing is best put somewhere other than on top of the roof where mine is currently setup. However all the other outdoor sensors plug into the temperature unit. So to put just the temperature unit under shade, I'd have to extend 2 cables not just one. I think it's a shame it's designed this way, rather than the temperature being completely seperate only connected via one cable.

I haven't tried the PC interface yet. Waiting to get a USB <--> bluetooth/wifi converter so I can connect it to my PC elsewhere in the house (display unit is in the kitchen, where the PC isn't).

As I said, overall, I'm very happy with the unit, the above drawbacks are obviously things that would be better on a more expensive unit, but I do'nt expect them to be better for such a cheap unit.

Roger.

astroron (Ron) · #67 14-04-2008, 10:34 AM

Hi Steve,I agree with most of Rogers reply, I have not had any results of the rain gauge as we have had no rain to speak of since I have had it.
I also have not attached it to the computer as I need to learn more of it's functionality, and also waiting to see if the rain gauge works.
When you next come up you can have a look first hand.
Cheers
Ron

Gargoyle_Steve (Steve) · #68 14-04-2008, 12:39 PM

Thanks Roger for that detailed and speedy reply, and thanks likewise Ron. As expected these units do seem to have some design "flaws" but for the price they do seem pretty good.

As stated above - if they weren't so cheap it would be a very long time before I owned one either! Since I've just been over the weekend I may have a bid or 2 on ebay and see what I end up with in the next day or so.

I am looking forward to coming up (hopefully) sometime soon to catch up with you Ron (apparently not via my favourite old bridge though it seems, sadly), and checking out your weather station face to face. I'm still on holidays but since returning from Barambah I've had my 9 year old son staying with me, we've had a ball but keeping him occupied does seem to leave me with zero spare time.

Cheers!

acropolite (Phil) · #69 14-04-2008, 08:25 PM

After some initial oddities my software seems OK once I deleted the .dat file and let it re-create the file. My readings seem accurate and I agree with rogers comment, for the money it's a great little unit. With regard to the screen contrast, it's still quite readable and (in my case at least) I've found it best when viewed from right angles and or above the display, so if you're mounting the unit make it under eye level.

Roger, once you have the software installed it makes the min/max easily readable.

Ron, I suspect that if you work out the surface area then pour a measured volume (slowly) on to the collection area, that will give a reading and test the unit.

astroron (Ron) · #70 14-04-2008, 10:37 PM

Ron, I suspect that if you work out the surface area then pour a measured volume (slowly) on to the collection area, that will give a reading and test the unit.

Phil, I think I will just wait for the rain

Thanks

Ron

acropolite (Phil) · #71 14-04-2008, 11:02 PM

Quote:

Phil, I think I will just wait for the rain

Don't hold your breath.

Gargoyle_Steve (Steve) · #72 15-04-2008, 10:50 PM

Well 3 positive comments was enough, thanks Phil for throwing your comments in as well.

I took the plunge, and won the bidding on ebay tonight for one of these units. Can't wait to get it set up and start playing, um adding my local scientific weather data to the online meteorology continuum.

Dannysky · #73 17-04-2008, 11:05 AM

Hi friends !
I found this forum while looking for a better meteorological software for my WS 1081. I purchased it last month and have no complaints. It is true that the screen contrast is very poor and the green back light does not help.
I can see that most of you are not running the EasyWeather ( 2.0 ) software.
All parameters of the weather station can be changed, alarms are being easy to set up. I have it all the time connected to the computer.
The remote sensor is 3 meters above the roof.
I get little higher temperatures when comparing with the meteorological station from an airport near my home.
I am trying to find a better software, but I am not sure if there is one that can be compatible with the type of data the WS sends through the USB port.
I live in Buenos Aires, Argentina, about 20 kilometers from the grear city.

Questions are welcome.

Best regards !

Daniel

DeanoNZL (Adrian) · #74 17-04-2008, 03:04 PM

Hi Daniel,
Welcome to IIS.

You could try Weather-Display as an option.
http://www.weather-display.com/index.php
Interfaces with lots of stations, and lots of useful data displays.

CS

Analog6 (Odille) · #75 17-04-2008, 03:54 PM

How much rain does the little bucket hold? And is it self emptying - when it's full does it empty itself, record and reset? If not, what happens?

turbo_pascale (Rob) · #76 17-04-2008, 08:59 PM

It has a little see-saw arrangement. As it's "little bucket" on each side of the see-saw gets full, it drops and empties, then the other side fills up. Each time it does this, it toggles a switch which counts up how much rain has come through. I didn't bother to work out how much "1 click" is worth in millimetres of rain, but it would be easy enough to test.

There are two holes underneath where it empties each side of the see-saw. ie. it never fills up.

ps. for a chuckle, my "weather display" trial website is here:
http://turbopascale.sytes.net

Just turned on all sorts of options - possibly to many - it's one BUSY little website!!

astroron (Ron) · #77 17-04-2008, 09:02 PM

I've had mine nearly three weeks and no rain

so I don't still know if it works

Ron

Dannysky · #78 17-04-2008, 10:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeanoNZL

Hi Daniel,
Welcome to IIS.

You could try Weather-Display as an option.
http://www.weather-display.com/index.php
Interfaces with lots of stations, and lots of useful data displays.

CS

Thank you very much Adrian and all the group for let me read about what you already know.
I was visiting the Rob´s site Turbo_Pascale and it looks really nice. Congratulations !
I downloaded Weather Display. It has a lot of features.
I have to read carefully all the different options in order to make it work with my WS 1081.
I wonder if it can get the data from the USB port or you are reading the Easyweather.dat file that the original software writes.

I noticed that Weather Display has duplicated the .dat file lenght with more data and now the graphs are not well displayed.
I made a backup before running the new software so there is no problem.
The remote unit sends the data in the frequency of 433.9 Mhz. I am listening in my scanner many other signals coming from other weather stations or perhaps are the keys of my neighborg´s cars that also uses the same frequency.

I will try to learn how to use the WD. It seems to be great.

Thank you !
Best Regards.
Daniel

turbo_pascale (Rob) · #79 18-04-2008, 08:06 AM

There were some recent posts on the weather-display forum support size about the author getting "native" support to read the device from the USB, rather than having to rely on the dat file.

The author of the software seems quite active, so should be a possibility soon.

astroron (Ron) · #80 18-04-2008, 06:27 PM

There have been some showers today and the gauge seems to be working

My glass gauge reads about the same as the weather station

I am looking forward to getting some real volume going through it, but at the moment all seems well