El cheapo weather station.

[acropolite]

Picked this up on ebay for $105 incl postage. I haven't been able to secure ministerial approval for the one of Davis models (over $1K) but this was affordable and very well featured (wind speed and direction, max, average or gust. Indoor/Outdoor temp + Min & Max, wind chill & Dew point, % RH. Atmospheric pressure & history + trend. Rainfall over various intervals & history. Time & Date).

It's wireless (range 450 feet) and has touch screen as well as PC interface (USB) and comes with software. Setup is simple, the manual is well written and the PC interface is excellent. Build quality is good, all metalwork appears to be Stainless steel, although longevity of the plastic wind detection components could be an issue. Data from the PC software is exportable to spreadsheet.
The only downside I can see is that the screen is not as readable as some I have seen (although it is backlit for 30 seconds at first touch) and the update of wind speed etc is not instantaneous (probably to maximise battery life):thumbsup:

[snowyskiesau]

Phil,
Looks good for the price. eBay? (There's another auction site selling the same unit for $196!) I'd also looked at the Davis weather stations but find it hard to justify the price.

Can it be used unattended i.e. download the data to the pc automatically every X minutes? I want to be able to display data on a web site and if you have to manually download the data, it wont be much use for this.

[RB]

Wow great pickup Phil.
Was this second hand or brand new?

I haven't bought a w.station yet because of price but this looks like it will do what I need.

Is there more at this price?

Sorry noob e-bayer......:ashamed:

[hogly52]

Hi Phil,

Looks very similar to my own unit a La Crosse Pro 3600, also bought through eBay, but for about $400 to $500. Been working well for the last three months. With mine I run it from 240V, and save on battery life. Continuous collection of data, which can be uploaded to a website. I'm happy with it.

Enjoy,

Graeme

[[1ponders]]

Damn you Phil Davies. :tasdevil: I'm trying to build an observatory and I don't need these distractions. How am I ever going to get there if everyone keeps putting up these little temptations. :( :sad: :sad:

[snowyskiesau]

Andrew,
There are more at (close to) this price. I just bought one at $113 but that includes $25 for shipping (even though shipping by AusPost wont be more that $9 :mad2:)
There are two sellers of this on eBay, try a search on 'weather' to find them. There are some at a 'Buy Now' price of $88 plus shipping and a number of them on standard auctions at much lower prices - but some time until the auction closes.
I hope this post doesn't affect the price too much :whistle:

[acropolite]

The site I bought from says it can upload to the web, but I can't find any reference to this in the docs. If the PC app is left running it collects data at intervals set by you, default is 30 minutes. It's saved to a dat file, I would imagine it would be a fairly easy task for a programmer head to extract the data and do an automatic upload. If you only want to view the data yourself then winVNC or remote desktop could be used for remote access of the data. The dealers offering them on ebay are mostly Aussie just do a search for Wireless Weather station. Battery life is supposed to be 12 months on the station and 24 on the outdoor sensors. Batteries are AAA 5 required.

[snowyskiesau]

A bit of web browsing (what else are public holidays for?) turns up a few references to this
product under a variety of names.
I've found one site http://www.pendec.dk/weatherstation.htm that has a program for reading the weather station data on a Linux system which is just what I need.

Now the wait for delivery :(

Edit: Here's a PDF manual for the weather station for those interested http://www.wsplc.com/pdf/wwsmanual.pdf

[KG8]

Here ya go, one outa SYD for $95 + $25 postage ;)

http://tinyurl.com/2qo53j

[snowyskiesau]

Not sure if anything will come of this but, I've contacted the manufacturer in Hong Kong to see what price and quantity they will sell the unit direct for.

Stay Tuned

---
Received an answer from the manufacturer already! Price is $US51 each for an order of 300 - 500. No price given for smaller quantities.
Samples are available for $US157.
Ah well, was worth asking.

[snowyskiesau]

Just noticed this unit soon to be available from Andrews Communications.
At a glance, looks like the eBay model. Scroll down past the MP3 players.

http://www.andrewscom.com.au/site-content-section-17.htm

[snowyskiesau]

Bought one from the same seller an hour ago at a 'Buy it now' price of $88. Maybe they're watching these forums!

[matt]

Looks good.

Been looking for something like this for a while...at a reasonable price.:)

[acropolite]

Here's a Snapshot of the weather here ATM. The unit is saying part sun & cloud as the trend, which is exactly what's happening. I did have an initial problem with the wind direction sensor, but this seems to have sorted itself after I reinitialised the unit. I suspect the outdoor TX does a calibration and I didn't have the sensor plugged in when I first did it. FWIW it seems that the unit can draw power from the USB connection so Battery life may be even better with the USB connected. So far, I'm super impressed. I'm very tempted to give the outside components a coat of good quality marine paint to protect the plastic from the elements. I also forgot to add that you can set alarm both high and low for pretty well everything.:D

[xstream]

Nice find Phil, I know you've been looking for awhile.
But I still love my Vantage Pro2.:D
(http://shop.davisnet.com.au/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=4&zenid=cfd0b4b60e57fb059ce1d2dbc64f8 9b3)

[acropolite]

I'd say there's no comparison but getting the VP2 past the minister for finances was an impossibility.....:P

[[1ponders]]

STOP IT!!! I've gotta buy my Obs posts this week :sad::sad: :rundog:

[acropolite]

OK I've found some XP software that will allow update to a web /ftp site (http://www.weather-display.com/files.php)etc. It's not freeware but the trial is free. There's also FAQ's on the various steps required to build the web pages etc. (It also works on the vantage Pro John). I have it working on a different machine to the one that the weatherstation is connected to and it's reading the data file across the network and displaying very nicely! It works by reading the .dat file that the easyweather software creates. I've also noticed on some weather forums where they have their local weather data displayed in their sigs.

[xstream]

I've bookmarked the page for future reference Phil. :thumbsup:

Not much point at this stage till we know where we are going to resettle.

[xstream]

Go on, be a devil Paul. ;) You know you want and need it. :lol:

[gts055]

Hi, just saw this thread, thanks for the information. I have now bought one for $88.88 plus $25 registered post. Have a Davis unit in the house, this one will go in the shed. Regards Mark

[acropolite]

Here you go proof of concept, uploaded to my web server. The WD software in the earlier link is very comprehensive, I just guessed at a couple of options. Take a peek at the weather in my location at http://tamarvalley.boldlygoingnowhere.org/myweather.htm. The page is uncustomised , just as the WD software has generated.

[[1ponders]]

:sad:

[acropolite]

:rofl:

To quote an old mate of mine "there's only one way to cure yourself of spendthrift fever....spend your way out of it"...:P

[RB]

LOL Phil, looking at all those graphs, you remind me of Gene Kranz.....
"Gentleman, failure is not an option....it will be clear tonight"

[omnivorr]

I tried:P:rofl:
any ol' fashion barometers about that anyone knows.. preferably to suit said "poverty"-level budget ??

[acropolite]

Not my work, that's what comes out as an automatically generated page from the Weather Display software I downloaded. It's possible to take as much or as little data as you want, I just need to take some time to work out how.:confuse3:

[RB]

My apologies Geoff, I forgot to thank you for the info.

Cheers mate.

:thumbsup:

[Moonman]

Hi Phil,

I've got an el cheapo that just has one outside temperature sensor and of course no external output. Made by Honeywell and purchased at Target.

Not half as much fun as yours sounds.:eyepop:

mike

[Kokatha man]

Dunno about spendin' yer way out; I seem to be spendin' me way in!

Leastways a flamin' weather station (home one, that is) ain't on my books: I've already got hi-tech radar and satellite imaging an lots of other bells and whistles online at the friendly BoM site - the radar unit's tower doubles as an alignment target, sitting as it does up there on top of the hills, just 2 Km away as the crow flies: talk about real-time local info!!! (up-dated every 5 minutes)

Regards, Darryl.

[DeanoNZL]

Hi Phil & All,
Don't forget to calibrate your barometer. You can check what the other local stations are reporting in your area. http://www.wunderground.com/global/AU_TA.html
Weather Display is very adjustable, the best site for it & web templates is http://www.weather-watch.com/smf/index.php

Hope this helps.

[Dujon]

G'day, Phil. I've used Weather Display for a couple of years now with my el-cheapo La Crosse 3600. No - it wasn't cheap, but any Davis owner will tell you that it is.

The program has so many variables and bells and whistles it's easy to get lost. The support on the related forum (when you do get lost) is fantastic. There are a couple of add-ons as well (I use Weather Display Live). Given the capabilities of both those programs I reckon they are cheap.

Should you decide to use the program, then I wish you all the best. I don't think you will find a better result for the dollars spent.


*edit*

Please don't take my site as a true example of what one can do. Being something of a minimalist I've done my best to present facts and figures and not involved myself in dressing it up.

[[1ponders]]

Frankly I think this thread should be locked and purged :sad:

[h0ughy]

ok go on lock it:P

phil will just openit again... to tease:rofl::rofl:

[acropolite]

Back from the shack, it was good to see how much rain we had.

John, I already have WD running although I need to spend some time and do some serious adjustment. One thing that I have noticed and will be addressing is that the outdoor temp/hygro/baro tends to pick up some heat from direct sunshine, I'll be trying to do something about that, perhaps a spray of white paint over the cover will minise the heat gain and I will be siting the outdoor temp somewhere where it's mostly in shade.

[snowyskiesau]

Phil,
If there is overheating, it may be that the enclosure for the temp/hygro sensor is too small.
Here are (http://www.loganvillageweather.com/station/stevenson.html) the instructions for making a larger enclosure - known as a Stevenson Screen.

[Still waiting for the eBay seller to respond on how I pay for my weather station.]

[acropolite]

Thanks Geoff, I'll be knocking up a larger enclosure I suspect. It may be that the PC software has some bugginess when it comes to calculating rain data, I'm fairly certain the data is collected correctly, it's just the interpretation by Easyweather that's slightly out. I will upload my data to Excel and check when I get the chance. So far I'm very impressed, for so little money, it's a great little gadget.

[rogerg]

Got word today that my weather station has been shipped (bought via ebay thanks to info in this thread). Thanks for the heads up on this what appears to be a great bargain! I can't wait to get it installed when it arrives.:thumbsup:

[snowyskiesau]

I've just picked mine up from the post office, assembled it and so far, I've managed to set the time.
Now I need to find a WIndows PC so I can try out the software.

Now where is that laptop?....

Edit: Installed (temporary) on the clothes line. Now all I need is some rain and wind to test.

OMG! What am I saying

[acropolite]

The day I installed mine (temporaily as well) it bucketed down on several days and we had more rain than we've had in a long time. After checking the easyweather data (PC) I can confirm that there is a small bug in the PC software. The rainfall bucket graphics and figures associated with the buckets are incorrect. Looking at the history data there seems to be some kind of anomoly in the rainfall data, hopefully it will be rectified in future releases of the software.

Good news is that the station readouts and the PC rainfall hourly/24hr/weekly/monthly/total figures however are correct, so the inaccuracy in the buckets is of no consequence.

[norm]

Hi Phil,

In the LaCrosse model weather station it states that it has an auto self emptying rainfull gauge.

Out of curiosity how do you do it for yours or is it a manual process?

I'm tempted to purchase one as well, but where I'm planning to mount it, I don't really want to climb a ladder each time to empty it out:whistle:.

Cheers,

Norm

[snowyskiesau]

Looks like I got a dud weather station.
After following the setup procedure, all appears to work except the rain gauge.
When you spin the anemometer gadget, it not only register the wind speed but also an ever increasing amount of rainfall. :mad2:
I've checked the wiring and it's as it should be.

Contact the seller tomorrow.

[acropolite]

Make sure everything is plugged in correctly before putting the batteries in the remote, then after you put the batteries in and power up the main unit. I think it does a calibration at power up. My direction vane didn't work at first until I replugged everything and gave it a full 360 degree spin and reset. FWIW the direction is done with 8 magnetic reed switches and resistors so it must read the resistance value and use that to compute the direction. The cover comes off the rain guage quite easily so I'd check that as well to see if anything has been displaced in transit.

[acropolite]

It's a little see saw type split bucket, self empties.

[norm]

Thanks Phil :thumbsup:

Norm

[snowyskiesau]

Tried all of this - I even read the manual ;)

The problem still exists even when the rain sensor is not plugged in - you spin the anemometer and the rainfall indication goes up (it shows the wind speed too).
No obvious shorts or bent pins visible.

I've asked the seller so I'll wait to see what he says.

[astroron]

Ive assembled mine but have not set up the touch screen or computer, that will be done today 01/04/08.
I hope it works.
Ron

[astroron]

Everything seems to be working:), only one problem Butcherbirds keep perching on the thing:mad2:
Ron

[snowyskiesau]

Still trying to get a useful response from the eBay supplier of my weather station.

The only answer I got when I reported the problem I was having was to make sure that the
rainfall and wind speed sensors are not too close together as they may affect each other.
As I have the unit assembled as per the instructions, I don;t see how this can be the case.
Besides, I get a rainfall indication from the wind speed even if the rainfall sensor is not connected!

[gts055]

Hi,
The rain reading on my unit also fails to operate correctly. The reed switch makes and breaks the circuit fine as the magnet on the tipping bucket passes, but nothing is registered. The rain fall value shown on the receiver is just some spurious figure and will not reset to zero either. The anemometer does not seem to affect the rain fall reading on the unit I have. I have emailed the seller twice this morning, with no reply as yet.
Mark

[astroron]

We've had no rain yet to test it up till now, but everything seems to be working.
I havn't set it up on the computer yet as I am still getting used to all the settings.
Ron

[gts055]

To test the rain sensor, unclip the funnel/cover of the tipping bucket, and manually see/saw the bucket to send signals via the transmitter to the receiver/display. The cover unclips by depressing the tag on each side of the cover adjacent to the screw down lugs on the base.
Regards Mark

[acropolite]

or simply dribble some water in to the device. I've been intending to test mine to see how accurate (or inaccurate) it is. My station rainfall update has been consistent, somewhat lower than BOM figures, but given the location of the sensor (at the side of the house in a rain shadow area) I am assuming it's reading correctly.

[gts055]

I played some more with the anemometer and rain sensors, and it seems the unit I have, behaves similarly to the unit that "snowyskiesau" has. The anemometer movement results in readings in both the "rain" and "wind" segments of the display, and that is with the rain sensor disconnected from the transmitter.
Mark

[acropolite]

Mine is still working fine, although as I've stated before, there appears to be a bit of a bug with the easyweather software. I found today I had a last hour rainfall of 9.6mm on the easyweather reading, but the correct zero reading on the main unit. I deleted the easyweather.dat file and re-read the station and the figures were then correct in the easyweather app.

[rogerg]

Unpacked mine and installed it today, all working great so far :thumbsup:

[Analog6]

Really interesting to get some feedback on weather stations, I've had one on my shopping list for a while. As one of my prime reasons is for it to measure rain without me having to go out and slither down the muddy slope to where my (manual) gauge lives at the moment, I'm waiting to see how the 2 folk with problems get on.

The Andrews site looks a better bet than eBay, does anyone know if they have an email, couldn't find one.

[turbo_pascale]

I got this unit about a week ago too (based on this thread), and only got around to setting it up on the bench last night (couldn't sleep!).

After a few minor annoyances getting it set up (instructions are a bit poor - one of the screws is shorter than the others!), all worked OK. I manually toggled the rain gauge and the readings on the unit and the PC are the same.

Have had none of the problems mentioned in earlier posts.

The examples in the manual seem to show 1 minute interval readings are possible, but the software only allows minimum of 5 minute intervals.

ps. I initially installed the files on C:\easyweather, but it appeared not to be writing to the DAT file. I don't know if this is a Vista security thing, but when I moved the program directory on to my desktop, it worked. I am assuming Vista's "moron proofing" was to blame, so head's up to anyone trying to keep their PC logically organised on Vista!

Slightly annoying that the manual mentioned the "web publishing" software, but there is none. I've referred to the other website mentioned in this post, and it looks like the way to go.

Now, just got to find somewhere to hook it up outside!

[rogerg]

I'm quickly finding that the outdoor temperature readings are vastly inaccurate with the sensor up on our tile roof. I thought there'd be some influence from the sun and roof but not as much as has been observed. I don't think this is a particular fault of the system, just that it's up on the roof. I plan to split the system up sometime, put the temperature sensor down under the roof. But unfortunately the temp sensor has the others plugging in to it, so not sure exactly yet what I'll do.

Roger.

[acropolite]

Roger, that's to be expected, the heat off the tile roof would be significant, I'm going to mount my thermo/hygro sensor component below the eave level on the shady side of the house. I found that even direct sunlight on the sensor cover is enough to raise the reading above ambient.

[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?

[sprocket]

Im using a template from http://saratoga-weather.org/scripts-WD-AJAX.php# (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]

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]

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]

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]

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.

:thumbsup:

Roger.

[astroron]

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]

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]

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, 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:rofl::rofl::rofl:
Thanks :thumbsup:
Ron

[acropolite]

Don't hold your breath.:rofl:

[Gargoyle_Steve]

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


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]

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]

Hi Daniel,
Welcome to IIS.:welcome:

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]

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]

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 (http://turbopascale.sytes.net/)

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

[astroron]

I've had mine nearly three weeks and no rain :(so I don't still know if it works:rolleyes:
Ron

[Dannysky]

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]

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]

There have been some showers today and the gauge seems to be working:)My glass gauge reads about the same as the weather station:D
I am looking forward to getting some real volume going through it, but at the moment all seems well:thumbsup:

[acropolite]

Hopefully the weather display software author will develop support for the USB. The eayweather software seems to hog resources if left running for a long time.

[GTB_an_Owl]

which of the 2 dealers did you lot get your stations from on ebay ?

any difference ?

geoff

[snowyskiesau]

I got my weather station (WH-1080 I think) from LCH Trading.
No problems with delivery, communication with them was a little slow but they did respond.
My unit was faulty (see earlier posts) and there was no problem is sending it back for replacement.

[GTB_an_Owl]

so they are the one without the screenshot bit under the pic
shipping $22

geoff

[astroron]

Geoff I got mine from this company eBay Member: ce-technologies
Postage was $15:00 and it seems to be working just fine :)
Ron
Ps the Boots are still going strong, nice and comfortable.:thumbsup:

[snowyskiesau]

There is a photo of the display but no details/screenshot of the PC software.
Shipping charge was $25 (actual Auspost charge $6.95!). eBay user is bbxvolcano

[astroron]

This is how mine is set up, distance from the house is about 35metres and it works just fine. Note concrete pads for telescopes.:D
Ron

[GTB_an_Owl]

allright ! - who started this caper ?

i just snagged one for $93-55

now who has the FREE software to be able to upload to a website

geoff

[astroron]

Geoff, ours came with the unit,so should yours:thumbsup:
Ron

[GTB_an_Owl]

guess i better be patient and see what comes huh!

geoff

[turbo_pascale]

Huh??? Mine didn't come with anything to upload to a website. Just the download to the PC. I'm currently using the "weather-display" software.

Are you talking about the "easyweather" software?

[astroron]

You maybe right, I havn't downloaded the disc yet .
I thought that what Phil had put on the site a few weeks ago was on the disc.
Sorry for any misinformation.
Ron

[astroron]

Is This what you are looking for?
Ron

[GTB_an_Owl]

yep - something like that Ron

but FREE would be better

geoff

[Gargoyle_Steve]

My new weather station was delivered sometime today, have just come home and it's sitting here. :thumbsup:

I'm glad it's here of course, but lately I get the feeling that I just can't win! Let me explain why....

Over the last 2-3 days (well AFTER the station was paid for but BEFORE it arrived of course) we've had the most spectacular run of HEAVY DOWNPOUR (39 mm in 45 mins at one point) followed by nil rain for a while then DOWNPOUR again, intermittent bursts of HIGH WINDS followed by almost none, temps up and down like crazy - all the very things I would have LOVED to have been able to measure and chart with the weather station ..... it was some fo the most amazingly changable weather, almost like nothing I've seen living here over the last 20 years.
:shrug:

Tonight I'm probably off out to do my "intermittent" public outreach gig with the local Council's "Moon Walk" night (held on weeknights nearest Full Moon). It's worth going off course as the skies appear clear (typical every full moon lately) so I won't get much of a chance to play with my brand new weather station tonight at all.:(

So now I have the station, no rain, no wind, clear skies dripping with moon glow, and no time to play Weatherman anyway!
:sadeyes:

I used to only berate the "Useless clouds and damn rain!" but over the weekend I was savagely bemoaning the "Useless clouds and the damn UNMEASURED rain, wind, etc!"
:screwy:

I need a new hobby......

;)

[Gargoyle_Steve]

PS : I bought mine from oz-auction on e-bay, looked exactly the same as the one bbxvolcano was selling. I paid $73.60 plus the now apparently standard $22 postage & handling. There is no "Actual" postage cost to be found on the outside of the parcel anywhere to compare.

[Gargoyle_Steve]

Ok .... it's set up out back now, in a temporary fashion for now anyway. The remote sensors are all relatively clear of buildings, trees, etc, though once I prove it's all ok I'll extend the pole and mount them up higher.

I assembled the outdoor sensor "tree" in the lounge-room tonight, proved that all sensors seem to be working ok (reading something when they should, not reading anything when they shouldn't), I have the main unit plugged into the pc here, running EasyWeather, and watching the on screen display.


AND ... I hear thunder nearby!

:D

[astroron]

There is no EXE setup file on the disc that I have .
I can read the disc but it wont let me install the file to the computer?
Steve you might have to bring your disc out when you come up in a couple of weeks time.

[Gargoyle_Steve]

Ron the instructions on my CD say to just create a new folder called "Easyweather" (or whatever you like really) on your hard drive somewhere, even straight onto your desktop, and then just copy the files straight from the CD into that directory. (There's only about 6 files or so on the whole disk)

Then from there just run the 'easyweather.exe' file, that IS the program, there is no other installation process as such.

I'll bring my disc along anyway if I'm coming.

:thumbsup:

[astroron]

Everything is working fine now:):)
Ron

[snowyskiesau]

Anyone know if there is a website to which we can upload our weather station data for others to look at?
Seems to me this is the sort of data that can be shared to the advantage of other IIS members.

[GTB_an_Owl]

Gee - bidding on these units is still fierce on Ebay

how many of you are trying to outbid one and other ?

geoff

[acropolite]

There's nice free web server software for XP that you can use at home called Xerver can be downloaded here. (http://www.javascript.nu/xerver/) To use it you will need to open a port up on your DSL router, usually port 80 but you can use any port if you wish. It also has an FTP server capability and it's easy to set up and very effective. I've also seen on some weather sites that some users have a script in their sigs that plucks the weather data from their site and displays in their sig. http://tamarvalley.boldlygoingnowhere.org/myweather.htm is served on a spare PC at home and is running Xerver. The weather data isn't current as I have some reconfiguration to do before I re-enable the weather display software.

[Dujon]

Yes, Geoff. A couple of addresses for you.


http://www.wunderground.com/

http://www.localweather.com.au/

The last one requires you to be running Weather Display Live which in turn requires Weather Display. I'm not too sure about the wunderground site but it does accept information from my programs - the two mentioned. Whether it will work with yours I don't know, though it shouldn't be too hard to check that.

[GTB_an_Owl]

16 bids on one item with an hour to go !

and looks like a new seller in the market

hopefully mine will be delivered to-morrow

geoff

[GTB_an_Owl]

well - only 8 bidders now i have a closer look
and it's an hour and a half left

geoff

[turbo_pascale]

For those interested, I just paid for my copy of "weather display", and asked the author about direct support for these stations, rather than the reliance on the data file reading.

He told me in an email last night:

"yes, direct support of the ws1080 station should be only a week or so away now"

ie. you don't have to run the bloody stupid easyweather software that chews up ridiculous amounts of CPU all the time and is really unstable!

As soon as the new software comes out to support it, I'll let you know how I go.

[GTB_an_Owl]

Ok - progress so far

http://www.gtbastrowise.com.au/weather/wx.html.html

"easyweather" data displayed by "weather display"

geoff

[Gargoyle_Steve]

Looks good Geoff!!
Hoping to create a new personal webpage myself soon to include my astro and weather interests.

I've got my station sending data up to Weather Underground (station ID IQLDAROO2 (http://www.wunderground.com/weatherstation/WXDailyHistory.asp?ID=IQLDAROO2&day=24&year=2008&month=4)) but I've got a problem with Weather Display reading data wrong somehow.

Eg station says it's 21.4°, EasyWeather on PC shows 21.4°, but Weather Display somehow reads this as 22.6° and sends online to WUnderground the same way. Similar thing with humidity - figures move up and down pretty much in accord with what the station says, but there's this difference and I don't think it's due to any "offset" settings.

Initially my inside temp and humidity showed correct, only the external temp and humidity were wacked - so I did as someone else suggested, powered down/reset the station itself, deleted the .DAT file, then started it all up again and got it logging.

Now I have BOTH internal and external figures being read wrong by Weather Display! :screwy:

When I get home I'll try the reset again, but I'm curious to know Geoff (and anyone else!) if your ebay cheapiestation is also the 1081 model, and have you set Weather Display to treat it like a WS1080 model or something else?

[GTB_an_Owl]

yes model is 1081 Steve

and i set it as the ws1080 model using the dat file

stuffed my pages up now playing around

getting a custom page up is a pain

geoff

[Gargoyle_Steve]

Thanks Geoff for that confirmation!

I'll be keen to see how you go customising your data layout, please do keep us posted!

Steve

[waterslinger]

Hey everyone, I'm new to the forums here.
I recently purchased an WS1081 Wireless Weather Station from ce-technologies store on Ebay.
works fine, however the PC download function hasnt worked properly it fails to download the data - does anyone know whether this is because the TX battery Icon is flashing on my receiver? Any help would be appreciated, as the instructions that come with the unit are pretty basic!

Cheers,
waterslinger

[GTB_an_Owl]

i had trouble getting easyweather to download on my win2000 machine

at a guess i think it was USB related problem

worked fine on XP

geoff

[waterslinger]

Hey all,

Here is the email I sent to Sinometer:

ATT MR TONY GUAN

Hello I am from Australia and I own a WS 1081 Wireless Weather Station
It is great however the PC USB connection function doesn’t work anymore.
It brings up error message
Read weather setup data fail
This is with the USB connected into computer and Weather Station properly.
When I first got it, it worked fine, but then I tried again the next day, and it brought up the error.
Whenever I try to go into setup it brings up “read weather alarm data fail , read scope data fail, and wont allow me to save options!
Please help!!!!
I’ve tried it on another computer of mine still with the same error.
Why does the Sinometer site have no information about the WS1081?
Can you please send me an up to date version of the software?


And here is the reply I received:

Well, I'm sorry, no superman knows the problems without checking it on site.
Maybe the USB port is damaged, maybe the software....

But you can try with the attached software.




Best regards
Tony GUAN, Sales manager

SINOMETER INSTRUMENTS CO., LTD.
Addr: Rms 2410-11, 24/F., Sunshine Golf Building., 7008 Shennan Blvd., ShenZhen 518040, China.
Tel: +86-755-8287 2661,2,3; Fax: +86-755-8287 2660
Email: sales@sinometer.com (sales@sinometer.com), tony@sinometer.com (tony@sinometer.com), tony.sinometer@gmail.com (tony.sinometer@gmail.com) (new), sinometer@sina.com (sinometer@sina.com)
Website: www.sinometer.com (http://www.sinometer.com/)

[waterslinger]

So.....
I tried the new attached software, it had a proper install file this time, unlike the drag and drop instructions for the stupid little CD that came with the unit.
Same errors, read weather data fail, then read alarm data fail, read scope data fail. So then I noticed there was a link to another company "Final Offset Electronics" Hmmmm It appears its not made by Sinometer afterall.
Tried this other software, brings up the same damn error, arghh...........

Anyone else having these problems with their station?

Cheers,

waterslinger
:help3:

[acropolite]

Not mine, reads no problem with easyweather, do you have another PC that you can try it on??

[Gargoyle_Steve]

I have to say that I'm not having any problems like that either, but the flashing TX battery thing sounds ominous and maybe that's a big part of whats going on.

Just a thought, you DO have good fresh proven batteries in the remote sender unit (temp sensor) and in the main unit itself?
(I did take mine out of the main unit briefly to see if it would run on USB power, it does - at least for a minute or so anyway, that's as long as I tried it.)

Any chance you can post / give us a link / send the new "attached" software they sent you? I'd be very curious to see what it's like as the only problem I do have is that every now and then (twice a day?) I close Easy Weather for a couple of minutes and start it again to stop it bogging my system right down, if there's a betetr option to running Easy Weather I'd like to see it.

Hope you manage to sort your issues out!

Steve

[GTB_an_Owl]

new version of weather display now available for ws1081

geoff

[acropolite]

Thanks Geoff, I'll download right away.:thumbsup:

........a few hours in to the future....

Done and installed, the USB interface works nicely. Version is 10.37J. I guess it's time to make some real sense customising the web interface, I've had it working but with the default pages. For anyone who needs the WD link it's here (http://www.weather-display.com/files.php).

[GTB_an_Owl]

mine seems to be working ok

check the "weather" link on my web page

geoff

[Sausageman]

wireless weather stations are wonderful, unless you happen to have a radio telescope or two just hanging around listening to the Universe.
They all seem to work around 420-435Mh which will interfere with the freq's we receive.
any frequency that multiplies up to around 1420Mh is no good for us.
Our normal operating freq's are from 1200 to 1600Mh
Where can I get a hard wired system from?

We need an anemometer mostly so it can auto-park the dishes when the wind gets too strong, but it needs to be hard wired into our computer.
Any ideas?

Mike.

[snowyskiesau]

One of the wireless weather stations listed on eBay has a brand name of BIOS.
These models supported a wired as well as a wireless option.

Here's (http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Bios-Wireless-Weather-Station-BW976-with-PC-Interface_W0QQitemZ230248702864QQih Z013QQcategoryZ11752QQssPageNameZWD VWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem) a link to one of them.

[thoona]

Hi there - just new to this forum; have just got a ws1080 and doing some googling trying to get updated software. i see you have been able to get a new version of it, just wondering if you'd be able to let me know how / where to get it from?
cheers,
rob

[acropolite]

Weather display isn't the WS1081's native application, it's a third part application that supposts most commonly available weather stations and is very powerful. It can be downloaded at http://www.weather-display.com/files.php


Back on the USB interface, WD dowloaded just one set of data last night but doesn't seem to want to read the data now, of course it will still work with the data file. I might PM the author and see if he has any ideas. The help file says to use Xp device manager to find the com port used, I couldn't find any USB/com port association whatsoever, in fact the weather station doesn't even show anywhere in my device manager.:confuse3:


Mike FYO the WS1081 specs say this weather station operates on 868Mhz(Europe) or 915Mhz(North America)

[xstream]

Mike, Davis instruments transmit and receive at 915-928Mhz in their wireless models (http://shop.davisnet.com.au/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=4&zenid=cfd0b4b60e57fb059ce1d2dbc64f8 9b3) But they also have cabled models. (http://shop.davisnet.com.au/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=1&zenid=cfd0b4b60e57fb059ce1d2dbc64f8 9b3)

Davis Net Shop.
(http://shop.davisnet.com.au/index.php?main_page=index&zenid=cfd0b4b60e57fb059ce1d2dbc64f8 9b3)

[acropolite]

Mike, I'd have to agree with John, if you want accuracy and reliability, for an application like that the Davis models would be a better option.

[acropolite]

Mine doesn't seem to be working correcly with WD, some of the data is correct, some including wind speed and direction is incorrect; my indoor temp is also incorrect with WD. Is your indoor temp displayed correctly on your local (non web) display Geoff??

[GTB_an_Owl]

wind speed and direction seems to lag a bit i think Phil

other looks ok

geoff

[GTB_an_Owl]

getting erroneous rain readings now to-day ?

geoff

[GTB_an_Owl]

there is another update for weather display on their website

geoff

[astroron]

We have only had 5,4 mm of rain since March. so still no serious test.

[GTB_an_Owl]

what program are you using Ron

geoff

[astroron]

Weather display, I have also joined weather underground.
Steve has just downloaded the latest software, but it is not communicating with the weather station, it just comes up with data not available.
Ron

[GTB_an_Owl]

that's no good

did you close down weather display before you ran the new install ?

geoff

[acropolite]

WD is communicating with my station, I suspect Brian hasn't got the I/F quite right or I've got something set wrongly, it reads data but the data is all over the place and missing in some cases, I've emailed Brian re the problem. I've been unable to find the com port number associated with the weatherstation, despite the fact that WD indicates that you should be able to find it in Xp's device manager.

[turbo_pascale]

Seems to work, but I've got some weird stuff going on....

Every 1.5 hours I get a "blip" in the readings.

Also, my rainfall is climbing out of control, also on the 1.5 hour mark.

I'm going to have to write to Brian, although I just read above there is a revised version. The native software seems to be reading fine.
There should be no reason to find a com port at all. It finds the device on the USB automagically for me.

to view my site to see the problem look here: http://turbopascale.sytes.net (http://turbopascale.sytes.net/)

[GTB_an_Owl]

latest version is 18 that i have downloaded and running

having the same problem as you Rob

rain readings are out - recording when there is no rain
i found a little test program that you can run to see if it is reading the correct data

project1080.zip - found on the forum

geoff

[acropolite]

I have a reply from the author, Brian Hamilton. So it will be fixed. On the plus side, the application can be minimised to the systray, which is nice, and when left running doesn't grind the machine to a halt.

[turbo_pascale]

I got the little reader program - interesting.
I did note in the same thread there are some discussions about the fact that depending on how you configure the unit (ie km/h or mph etc), that readings come back different. I would have thought that the readings would all be "arbitrary" numbers that reflect the sensor readings rather than something that changes with the internal configuration. Must make it a bit of a bugger to interpret the data stream.

I must say that leaving it chugging in the system tray is nice - my computer was having fits regularly with the easyweather software - and it's a pretty new machine so when it bogged down constantly (recalculating rain data) it made all my graphs look like a staircase for huge chunks of time.

It is somewhat interesting that there is a "recalculating rain data" step in the easyweather software that takes forever, and the fact that rain readings are out of control. Perhaps there is a fundamental problem with it and that was some kind of software kludge to get around it?? Just speculation on my part.

[GTB_an_Owl]

OK - don't say too much - but

on the console - make sure the time is set to 24hr (and the same in weather display) and that the date is showing as 8.5.08 and not 8.5.th(ursday)

my rain figures have remained zero since i changed those settings

geoff

[acropolite]

Just got this email from Brian Hamilton

[GTB_an_Owl]

just a slight difference to the way the graphs look too :P


maybe it is fixed

now if i can just get that moon icon at the bottom to update :thumbsup:

geoff

[acropolite]

I don't think it updates Geoff, but if you click on it you do get a popup with the correct phase, provided your Lat/Long is correctly set. Fingers crossed, my copy of WD seems to be behaving.

For anyone who is following the WD update the current version is now 10.37J build 19

[GTB_an_Owl]

mine has behaved all day as far as the rain goes

wonder what will happen when it does rain ?

you got yours up on the net ?

geoff

[acropolite]

I've had mine up since I first downloaded WD some time ago. Since reinstalling, I haven't had the time to revisit the HTML stuff, I might do it this weekend. There are enough bells & whistles in WD to keep a tinkerer happy for a lifetime. You can have a peek at my earlier attempt here (http://tamarvalley.boldlygoingnowhere.org/myweather.htm) but it hasn't been updated since the end of march.

FWIW the page is hosted on an old spare machine at home using Xerver, an open source (free) XP web server package, easy to use, has FTP capability as well.

You can upload a snapshot of your weather data as part of your sig, but alas Mojo has (wisely I expect) nobbled the necessary capabilities.

[GTB_an_Owl]

after a full day of the station showing nice graphs and no rainfall, it is back to showing falls of 0.3mm and a spike in the graphing again

anyone else have this problem ?

geoff

[Gargoyle_Steve]

I stopped tinkering around with WD ver 10.37 build 13 since it seemed that the later versions you guys are running seemed to get a bit 'buggy'.
Let me know when you have it all figured out. ;)

Although that version (build 13) supposedly had direct USB support I couldn't get it to run, but everything seems to be running fine using EasyWeather
(as long as I shut down EW and restart it every few hours) with EW logging data from the weather station itself, and Weather Display taking that data and creating it's own graphs and uploading weather data here (http://www.wunderground.com/weatherstation/WXDailyHistory.asp?ID=IQLDAROO2) (Weather Underground station ID IQLDAROO2) and here (http://www.users.on.net/~darklord/aroona.htm) (dumping data to personal webpage).

I do get occasional "negative" spikes in my barometric data only, seems it sometimes coincides with restarting EasyWeather. I've had zero rain since the weather staion arrives so nothing to report re it's behaviour there.

Looking forward to running full USB mode though!

[GTB_an_Owl]

i would download and run build 19 if i were you Steve
runs direct

besides you would help us to see if you had any problems, same as me anyway

geoff

[Gargoyle_Steve]

Ok Geoff, I'll do it tomorrow. I know you wouldn't lead me astray.

:rofl:

[astroron]

When you've done it Steve and it works properly:lol: let me know and I will do the same:thumbsup:
Ron

[acropolite]

Build 19 still has problems for me, seems to either stop or record incorrect data, I've emailed Brian but he seems to think it's a problem with my setup, he asked me to check that my USB port isn't going into power down mode.

I don't think that's the problem as easyweather still gets correct data, although I haven't been able to ascertain which USB port is used by the 1081 to try turning off power management.

Waiting for Build 20......

[GTB_an_Owl]

turn it off on all of them Phil

geoff

[turbo_pascale]

Build 19 made no difference for me whatsoever.
Still choppy spikes in there, and rain accumulating progressively throughout the day.

At least I don't have to continually shut down the software, although it it's very Vista friendly yet (it works, but all my screens have scroll bars and are too small, and there is no button to "minimise to tray" when using the aero theme)

Turbo

[acropolite]

Rob, is your rainfall reading correct with easyweather??

[GTB_an_Owl]

Rob

are the spikes around 1 hour 20 minutes apart ?

and how much rain is recorded at that time ? mine was 0.3

see my earlier post about the settings on your console (the unit)

mine has behaved itself overnite

geoff

[turbo_pascale]

Yep. Spikes are about 1hr 20 minutes apart, and up until yesterday (before build 19) was a constant 3mm (I think).
My site here: http://turbopascale.sytes.net (http://turbopascale.sytes.net/)

I had everything set for 24 hr time, but just noticed the base station was reading american date format for some reason. Just switched that over, and will see if that makes any difference.

As far as I can tell, the main unit has the right rain readings, although everything in there could be rubbish. I haven't attempted to calibrate it to known values at all. Nor have I actually compared base unit readings with what WD is returning to compare.

Thanks for the feedback though - looking forward to it reading vaguely right soon! I want to mount the unit properly, but have avoided putting it up out of the way until I can be sure it's right.

Turbo

[GTB_an_Owl]

Rob

on your console - does the date read as 11-5-08 or 11-5-SU (for sunday) ?

geoff

[turbo_pascale]

OK something odd going on here.
I set the date format on the base station (using the touch screen) to 11/5/2008 dM (there is no day anywhere). It stayed that way until I just looked at this post, it had reverted to 5/11/2008.

Arrrghhh.

[acropolite]

I've found, after disabling power management on all USB ports, that WD stops reading data after being maximised from the systray. I've emailed brian yet again....:shrug:

[GTB_an_Owl]

yes - i sure wish he could get to the bottom of it

it is not the unit
and it is not a problem reading the data, cause Easy Weather does - it no trouble

i am getting tired of changing settings and watching what is happening

geoff

[GTB_an_Owl]

how you chaps battling with your weather stations

there is another minor update for WD - build 20

mine has been steady now for the last 6 hrs

i have noticed the unit seems to not get the outside data sometimes - after a while it comes back ( don't know whether it comes back on it's own or because i fiddle with it) - this gives a crazy rain reading when it comes back on line on the graph

geoff

[acropolite]

OK thanks Geoff, I'll download and try tonight.:thumbsup:

[astroron]

I have given up with mine! it uses to much data,as I only have 500Mb download/upload and anyway weather display is not receiving any data from weather station, and anything I do does not alter the situation , so I have stopped trying.
Ron

[GTB_an_Owl]

never give up Ron

just wait till Steve figures his out - and get him to tackle yours when he next visits

would be nice to have it working on weather display even if you don't upload it

mine seems to be behaving itself at the moment - fingers crossed

geoff

[astroron]

Thanks Geoff, I plan to do that;), also also a member of icinspace is doing me a a web page so it will be available to people who come up here for AstroNights to see what the weather is like here before they leave home, as it can be very different from the coast and Brisbane:D
As they say patience is a virtue;)
:thumbsup:
Ron

[GTB_an_Owl]

and how does the rest of it go
"possess it if you can - often in a woman - never in a man "

well that's how i remember it

yes it would be good for the travellers to get a local look before they head out

geoff

[GTB_an_Owl]

new version (K) of weather display out to-day - again


geoff

[GTB_an_Owl]

PS

from the looks of your graphs Phil - you need to clear the memory on the console

geoff

[StarLane]

Hi guys,

I've recently purchased a WH-1081PC and I've had it for three days now. Purchased from Ebay for $64.30 + $22 postage, I reckon for that price it's a real bargain for what it is. I've already had much enjoyment from this unit. Seems accurate with the local weather according to the local news, air pressure, humidity, min max temps etc. Had some rain the other night and last night, rain measurments seem accurate also, compared to a regular tube guage.

My question is, on top of the original box it has a sticker saying it operates at 433.9 Mhz, on the sides of the box where all the functions are listed it says it operates at 433 or 868 or 915 Mhz. Does the unit automatically change channels when another device nearby is using the same or similar frequency???????

[GTB_an_Owl]

just realized to-day - my rain guage is faulty - not recording

looks like a return coming up
website say's to notify them within 7 days - mine has been about 17 days - might be interesting ?

Phill - you need to install the new "K" version - might solve your problem

geoff

[snowyskiesau]

I'm still waiting for my replacement weather station to be delivered, it's been three weeks.
Last communication said that they were checking the returned unit, not sure why this would take three weeks though.

FWIW, my original unit had a faulty rain gauge (or possibly wind speed gauge). When you spun the wind speed thingy, it used to register rainfall as well as wind speed.

[GTB_an_Owl]

mine was from this mob "bbxvolcano"

hope it don't take that long for mine to return

geoff

[acropolite]

Geoff, there's not much in the Rain Gauge except for a tipping bucket, magnet and reed switch. The lid on the rain gauge is just a clip on fit and removes easily. It would be well worth checking that the reed switch is toggling as the tipping bucket moves before returning. I've downloaded Version K and I'll give it a try and report back.

[snowyskiesau]

Same seller I got mine from. They do respond to eBay messages but can take a day or two to do so. I'm hoping they don't try to charge me postage a second time, certainly not at the original rate of $22! It only cost me $6.95 to send it back to them

acropolite: I did take the rain gauge apart when I noticed the problem. The reed switch was working OK and the system did record rainfall if I manually operated the bucket.
The problem was that when you spun the anemometer, you got a wind speed indication but you also saw the rainfall reading increase.
Another problem that I didn;t look into that closely, was that I was unable to zero the readings.
Due to these two issues, I didn't get as far as connecting to a PC.

[GTB_an_Owl]

yep - had a look at the bucket - not registering when you do a manual tip

registers 3mm when you unplug and replug the lead though

which side of the board should be facing the tipper bucket ?

green is furtherest away on mine

anyway - mine is not reading any outside data now
does for a while when you do a reset - but then it dies after a while

geoff

[GTB_an_Owl]

new magnetic reed switch installed and positioned to be closer to the side of the box (closer to passing magnet on tip box) ($1.50 ea at jaycar)
shortened the lead while i was at it

initial dry test ok - and all seems to be working ok

hope we get some rain later to test it out proper

geoff

[acropolite]

I thought that may be the problem, I had to reseat my direction board before the reeds actuated properly. BTW you could work out the area of the sensor, then the volume for 1mm of rain and slowly pour the measured amount in to the beastie.

[GTB_an_Owl]

that's a pretty looking graph Phil :thumbsup:

any one would think, that's what it's meant to look like :whistle:


geoff

[GTB_an_Owl]

so tell me it actually rained at your place Phil !

geoff

[turbo_pascale]

I downloaded the "k" release last night, purged the contents of the "data" and "logfiles" directory, manually loaded in the entire memory from the base unit via the traditional way (Easyweather), then turned on the direct mode.

No blips, constant readings, and no rain weirdness.

In the "last 24 hour" graph, the gap in the graph from about 20:00 to 23:00 was loading in the manual data file (it takes a while to suck in 4079 records!) and then forgetting to turn on direct mode for a while.

Looks like it's right now. Rain graph seems congruent with when it was raining and the kind of intensity of rain. Looks like this version is a winner.

http://turbopascale.sytes.net (http://turbopascale.sytes.net/)


I'm keen to "completely flush" all records from WeatherDisplay completely (monthly totals, yearly totals - everything) and start clean. Anyone know how to do this "properly"?

[GTB_an_Owl]

sorry Phil - i was looking at Rob's site :doh:

sorry Rob --- oh never mind - i think it is called old age

geoff

[StarLane]

Can someone please help me out on this question,

My question is, on top of the original box it has a sticker saying it operates at 433.9 Mhz, on the sides of the box where all the functions are listed it says it operates at 433 or 868 or 915 Mhz. Does the unit automatically change channels when another device nearby is using the same or similar frequency???????

The reason I am asking, I have a wireless door bell than also works at 433Mhz, didn't seem to be causing interference until today. Does the frequency of the weather unit change to avoid interference??? hence the different frequencies on the box.
Last night we had 2.7mm or rain (registered and displayed on screen last night), this afternoon it now says 1.8mm, displaying the 24hr mode at the moment, today was sunny no rain.
Is this interference from the door bell?
How can it delete some of a previous figure? Has anyone else experienced previously displayed data going missing????

[GTB_an_Owl]

don't think it would change automatically Paul
can't say as i have noticed anywhere that it could be manually changed either

funny you should say that it subtracted from the total though
i could have sworn when i was playing around with mine that i saw a smaller total than was there before , but only once mind.

geoff

[turbo_pascale]

They sell them at different settings for different countries, I assume because of regulations in different countries.

Note on the back of the unit I have, it has the 433.9 printed on it (as it did on the sticker on the box).

There might be some way to crack it open and jig some switches (you'd have to do it at the sensor end too), but I'm not game to even attempt it. The entire thing seems a bit fragile to be honest.

I'd just get a new doorbell if it was that much of a problem. How many visitors do you get anyway?

I have to say that having the graph stay "good" for over a day now is very satisfying. I will now actually bother to try to "pretty up" the website it generates rather than the mess of stuff it generates by default.

Has anyone purchased the "live" version (I assume not given we've had headaches just getting it to work) It's much prettier, but I don't know if it's worth it given the 1 minute intervals between readings. For $25 odd, seems like a cheap way to get it looking pretty.

[GTB_an_Owl]

don't know that i will bother with the LIVE version either Rob

i think there is a lot more we can do with what we have - with a little creative html

geoff

[Ian Robinson]

My weather station is pretty cheap :

I look out the front and back windows - if it's cloudy - it might rain (I also note if the little black ants are climbing higher up - if they are it's definitely going to rain) , if it's sunny it probably wont .

If I go outside and it's warm , I smile , if it's cold , I go back inside unless I have to do something outside.

If I want to know what weather is likely tomorrow or later on the same day I go to the BOM and look at the charts , and I visit ABC's Weather Link and see where the radar says the rain is and what way it's going.

Costs me nothing.:D

[GTB_an_Owl]

and i guess we with the weather stations do all that too

but there is nothing like having TOYS to play with

geoff

[GTB_an_Owl]

Rob

don't speak too soon

have you lost your wind direction and speed on the graph ?

geoff

[GTB_an_Owl]

and i think convention say's the rain should be reset at 9am in aus and nz
not midnite

geoff

[turbo_pascale]

Gonna go give it a spin now for laughs.



Why?

[turbo_pascale]

Just no wind!

Admittedly, the sensor pole is just pushed in to the ground, and it wasn't quite level, so it may not be quite as easy to move from a dead stop. Plus, it was quite wet, so the added weight of the water sitting on it probably didn't help.

Jiggling the unit also seemed to register some rain (must have moved the bucket a bit). Seems to be working.

ps. have been reading the wd forum, and discovered the "onepagecustomtemplates.zip" file in the main directory. Will be fiddling with that one next. I agree that the LiveDisplay stuff is a bit restrictive, but it IS pretty.

I'm running the website off my main PC with IIS, so have no idea about PHP/AJAX etc. Will see how far I can go with a custom HTML page before I delve in to that.

My main thrust with this project will be to somehow put together local weather page for my astronomy purposes (linking in BOM weather images and other such stuff). I'd love to somehow get a cloud sensor going (the Boltwood one seems to be the only commercial product and it is priced based on this fact). There appears to be some documentation on a DIY solution on the net, but quite painful as far as I can tell.

[GTB_an_Owl]

AMAZING !

your last post took just 7 minutes to cop a listing on Google Rob

geoff

[acropolite]

A bit hard when you're interstate, at least with a weatherstation and WD you can check your weather from the net and see whether the roof has blown off...:whistle:

BTW the latest version of WD seems rock solid so far for me. I've read on the WD forum that there seems to be a problem with readings as the WS1081 buffer fills. Clearing out the buffer seems to cure a lot of the funnies. Hopefully Brian will write something in to periodically clear out the buffer.

Rob if you want an easy cloud sensor why not get a $20 webcam and point it upwards, WD will support that.

[turbo_pascale]

I had my station when my roof blew off, but it was still inside being tested. Kind of glad it wasn't attached to the shed at the time now, although it would have been interesting to see if it actually got the 100km/h+ winds registered



(a) PC is in the house, wireless IP webcams cost LOTS
(b) would like to know about clouds when it is dark

USD$1500 for the Boltwood is just too steep. One project at a time though!

[KenGee]

Hi All,
I'm working on a cloud sensor based on infrared temp sensor, it will be connected to my observatory pc via usb. Current results look good. Will write it up if it works. Am trying to to keep usb one under $150.

[GTB_an_Owl]

under $15 would be even better Ken :whistle: :lol:

geoff

[turbo_pascale]

I did a lot of research and found one unit that had USB output measured up to -40C which should do the job (but the only supplier was in the USA and it was not 100% guaranteed to do exactly what I thought it would. Plus, wasn't quite sure how to weatherproof it. Am very, very keen to see how you go.

Turbo

[snowyskiesau]

Finally! my replacement weather station was shipped today.
It took the supplier 2 weeks to decide it was faulty but at least that is sorted out.
Perhaps I'll have it set up in time to report some summer weather.

At least there has been time for you guys to sort out the software issues, thanks :)

[GTB_an_Owl]

new update available on their website
specific to our model

geoff

[acropolite]

I've been running 10.37K build 00, it's fairly stable but seems to have a few spike readings that simply aren't there. Hopefully the last few bugs will be ironed out in this release.

[GTB_an_Owl]

i'm running the latest 01 release and it seems to be crashing/running out of resources or something after a while

geoff

[snowyskiesau]

Received my replacement weather station on Friday and it shows exactly the same symptoms as the last one!
When I spin the anemometer, I get a rainfall indication as well as a wind speed indication.
This time I tried using the supplied software as well as downloading the latest WD software, no difference.
Nothing I do seems to make any difference to it. :mad2:

Anyone want to know what they look like inside??:D

[GTB_an_Owl]

you sure you plugging the wires into the right holes Geoff ?

what happens when you don't have the rain guage lead connected ?

geoff

[snowyskiesau]

Checked and double checked the wires.
If there is no rain gauge plugged in, the result is the same - you get a rainfall reading when you spin the anemometer.
The wind speed reading seems to be correct as far as I can tell.

Installed new batteries.
Switched off the Oregon Scientific wireless rain gauge I have, just in case it was interference.

I thought it might have been the old one returned by mistake but pretty sure it's not.
Outdoor temp and humidity readings seem OK

[GTB_an_Owl]

Oh well

back it goes then

geoff

[coldknights]

:eyepop:Hi All, well i got a ws-1081pc from ebay and found the software that come with it does not work good at all rain gauge ( wrong readings ) so i downloaded the weather display ver 10.37k and have been running it for about a week and have had no problems like other people have had with there ws-1081 weather stations.
Ok the stations work !!!!! the problems i think is EASYWEATHER program.
Iam writting the email; to ebay seller telling him the problems we are all having with this model and asking them to get the manufacturer to get the program fixed if they cant get the program fixed we all want a free full working version of WEATHER DISPLAY VER 10.37K as your ebay listing connect to pc !! software supplied !! so i hope this helps us and will give them a link to this site so they can read the problems we are having or all of us will send them back to you at the same time wanting ALL our money back including postage as i feel we have paid enough for the station that is supplied with the software that does not work why should we pay for more software at a cost of $80AUD OR MORE when the software should work but has a bug in it and they cant supply us with a update to fix this problem.:eyepop::thumbsup::doh::mad 2:

[GTB_an_Owl]

OK - how you all going with your weather stations

who has them ?

are they behaving themselves ?

who has their web pages up and running ?

don't talk too loudly - but - i now have WD running as a service and it is behaving it self nicely and has been running for 2 days without falling over

geoff

[snowyskiesau]

Yes, I have one and No, it's not behaving itself:mad2:

Still arguing with the supplier who doesn't accept that the second unit supplied has the same fault as the original one.

Glad this thing wasn't too expensive:(

[astroron]

As mentioned in a another post mine seems to be going along OK, now and again get some funny readings,but all in all I am Happy for the price.
I to am using WD and after a full uninstall of my weather station and reinstall all is working well.:)
The rain gauge is compatible with my glass gauge and the wind seems right.;)
so all in all it seems to be money well spent for the enjoyment I get:)
I hope to have my website up soon,as it is in the process of being constructed:D
Ron

[turbo_pascale]

Mine has been behaving itself (I have never actually checked the measurements against an alternative source to QA it, but it is about right based on looking up other local WS on Wunderground etc.

Only thing is I don't appear to be able to get it to run as a service properly (could be vista getting in the way), so the other day when vista automatically rebooted at 3am, lost about a day of data (recovered by loading easyweather and back-loading it the old way)

my site is here: http://turbopascale.sytes.net (http://turbopascale.sytes.net/)

[GTB_an_Owl]

good one Rob

would you like some of OUR rain to test your rain guage out ?

we've had 3 inches register here the last two days and it might hit 4 before 9am in the morning

geoff

[Gargoyle_Steve]

I had stuck with running ver 10.37j build 13 of Weather Display for some time, using it to read the .dat file created by Easy Weather - this gave me pretty reliable figures and consistency of data capture, with only occasional hickups, those mostly fixed by manually clearing of the data log in the station itself once it got somewhere past half full, and on 2 occasions powering down and reinitialising the station intself.

However in the last week we've received the first rain since I've had the station, and with something like 248 mm's of rain in the last few days I kept finding the PC bogged down by Easy Weather doing rain history calculations - lower left frame "status" would show it going 1% ... 2% ... 3% etc- for about 30-40 minutes, during which no data would log to WD or WUnderground, and the PC grinding along like a 2 legged dog on tranquilisers. I kept closing EasyWeather and opening it again to free things up but this was a fairly short term solution.

I've updated and am now running ver 10.37k build 04, not running Easy Weather at all but now running via Direct mode (ie USB connect).
I hadn't been able to get this to receive data directly vis the USB connection for some reason on previous versions, but build 04 seems to be doing it all ok. Also uploading to Weather Underground (http://www.wunderground.com/weatherstation/WXDailyHistory.asp?ID=IQLDAROO2) at the same time and WD's full "auto generated" webpage is here (http://www.users.on.net/%7Edarklord/aroona.htm).

Ron if this continues ok we'll get you updated in the next couple of days - next step then is the Skycams!
:thumbsup:


(Just read your post Geoff - I've had my rain resetting at midnight, about 3 days ago I passed 100mm's by 10am. Glad to finally see my rain guage recording something.)

[GTB_an_Owl]

yep - i think Ron is hanging out for that web page Steve

i think the standard reset time for Aus and NZ for rain reporting is 9am Steve - get with it man - COMPLY! :lol:

have you all found mine on my website (weather link in side menu) ?


NOW ---- Dujon - where are you ?

you should be coaching us on this subject

geoff

[Gargoyle_Steve]

:lol:
You're right of course Geoff, the rainfall is always quoted on TV as being "until 9am this morning", etc. I've simply left it at the default midnight setting until now because it mostly suited my purposes, but just to keep you happy mate I've gone compliant!
:thumbsup:


I'll be customising the weather output page that WD produces over the next few days as time allows, with so many weather data "graphic" files automatically uploaded to choose from it won't be too difficult to pick and choose until I get the look I want.

Had a look at your page Geoff, nice job there by the way, it looks good. I've liked the look of that WD background colour you've used (yellow-ochre) for a while, I reckon it fits right in with the "Sunshine Coast" theme I want to generate for my page eventually.

So many things to do ... so little time.

[Gargoyle_Steve]

Another interesting find browsing through the many many pages of settings, etc, within Weather Display - it can also generate a WAP version of the weatherdata while still doing the full html version:

http://www.users.on.net/~darklord/wap/index.wml (http://www.users.on.net/%7Edarklord/wap/index.wml)

:thumbsup:

(I couldn't figure how to type in the ~ part of the address on my phone - so I just left it out - stuff me if it didn't still work just fine on my Samsung phone!)

http://www.users.on.net/darklord/wap/index.wml

[AlexN]

thats very cool steve! :) and I agree, SKYCAMS at Rons! That way every night of the week I could see just how much suburban skies SUCK!

[Gargoyle_Steve]

The plan is also that anyone who isn't sure about heading up to Ron's place can get specific weather data (and eventually an actual sky image) to judge by for themselves, thus removing the guesswork! I reckon it will increase the attendance of "maybe's" from Brisbane by 100%.
;)

I like the WAP bit, even though it's boring B&W it does still include all essential text info & basic versions of the data graphs. Being able to remotely check weather at a specific place (like home or Ron's) while on the run somewhere else might come in pretty handy - I'd know if it's worth rushing back from Brisbane to Caloundra to get my scope out, etc.

[AlexN]

Indeed. say... the web page that the weather station provides, is it customizable at all? I've been slapping together a web page for ron, and If I I could integrate the data into the site seamlessly that would be awesome...

[acropolite]

The 3rd Party software Weather Display allows that sort of custonisation. WD will upload graphics (or even a whole page) at specified intervals to either a hard drive location or FTP site.

[rogerg]

Anyone know how to get the history data from the weather station's memory onto your PC with nothing more than the included EasyWeather software? It's manual says how to clear the data and to make sure you upload data first, but it doesn't say how to upload data from the weather station to the PC!

Mine is connecting fine, the EasyWeather software shows current stats fine, but the memory on my unit is getting full so I want to dump it onto the PC.

Thanks,
Roger.

[GTB_an_Owl]

should be a file called easyweather.dat in the easyweather folder on your puter Roger

guess if it does not append data you can save it weekly or whatever

haven't really looked into it

geoff

[acropolite]

Easyweather automatically downloads the history data at the first read when started.... see above for Geoff's explanation for the location of the data file. I've found easyweather isn't too bad if you just start it when you want to do a read or process some data. The resource problems occur when it's left running.

Like the others I'm running WD 10.37J build 4 and it's running sweetly as a systray item. Apart from a few hiccups when I first installed my WS it's been running perfectly. I've had the web upload working in previous versions but haven't got round to doing it again yet.

[Thross]

A while back, there was talk of the test-program project1080.zip
Its original link http://www.weather-display.com/downloadfiles/project1080.zip
seems to be broken.
Can someone post the file, or at least a working url? Thanks.

[GTB_an_Owl]

sorry Thross - i am away for the weekend and don't have access to it

geoff

[rogerg]

Thanks for the replies guy's. For some reason my station isn't downloading anything from history before when I first plugged it in yesterday, even though the memory is nearly full. It is downloading information since then when I plug it in. I'm not sure what's going on.

I've downloaded Weather Display but haven't got it running yet, still working through the setup and how to get it connected.

Thanks,
Roger.

[KenGee]

I've finished and tested the USB interface board (Velleman kit) Have done some testing with infrared and peltier device. The test rig is going to be setup for some longer term testing I will make look a bit better when finished. If the peltier device works well I will use that as I think it will cope better with the weather. I'm now writing the interface program. I'm also playing with a Rain sensor I got from a garden centre.






(see here for link to using a Peltier device http://www.noao.edu/staff/gillespie/projects/cloud-detector.html)

[turbo_pascale]

Great work Ken - looking forward to hearing more as it progresses.

[Snibs]

Hi all, long time no post.
I received one of the 1081's last week (ebay, $64) and have had most of the problems mentioned in this thread, when windy the rain fall go's up but only on the easyweather software, I have WD 10.37k build 7 (11-6-08) on XP but it wont register rain fall at all but this could be id-10-t error as I know absolutely nothing about WD or any other weather software, someone may have a suggestion there:D. Waiting to here from bbxvolcano to see what he has to say. The temp and barometer seem to be steady and accurate, if I can sort out the rain issues it would be a good little unit "for the price".
Thanks for any help guys.
Cheers from Mick.

[rogerg]

Your rainfall is probably dropping due to the period you have it set to show rain for. If you press the rain amount, then press plus/minus, you can cycle through 1 hr, 24 hr, 1 week, 1 month I think it is. If you have it on 24 hour then it stops raining then slowly it will go down, as less rain had fallen in the last 24 hours.

Roger.

[Snibs]

that was the problem Roger, spotted it 2 secs after posting, only the software rain readings to sort now.
Many thanks from Mick.

[ozzie]

hi. i am new here i found this thread off the internet. I bought one of these weather stations off ebay and downloaded the weather display software.

but i have no idea what to do now?
what station do i select from the list?
How do i get the data from my weather station on to the software?

thanks.

[turbo_pascale]

Go in to the control panel, Station type & settings, "Universal Interface ...."
Click on the "EasyWeather" button way down the bottom right, and click "use direct". You won't have to run the "easyweather" software that way.

[ozzie]

thanks very much for the help,

now how do i put it on to the internet or webpage?

[turbo_pascale]

It's quite detailed - there are heaps of options in the software.

There is a forum on their website that might help - I just fiddled around for a while. The one I have (in my signature block below) is pretty much the standard one that comes "out of the box".

There are heaps of ways to upload to an external website, copy files to a web-directory etc. My advice is just sit and fiddle.

[acropolite]

As Rob said it's not that difficult, the best way is to first get WD to upload web pages to your local HDD and browse them there first. Once you're happy with the result you can set up to FTP to your website.

[Helix]

I just picked up one of these, not a bad unit really.

I have an issue with the rainfall on EasyWeather though.

The Last 24 hour, Last Week, Last Month, and Total all say 4.2mm. Last hour did until I figured out how to reset it - but I cant seem to reset the others.

Any guesses how I reset these? I especially thought the Last 24 hour would have reset by now, but its been showing 4.2mm since thursday night when I set it up.

Oh...and no, we havent had any rain :)

I'm attempting to write some code to upload the data from the easyweather.dat file, both in html and wap mobile phone friendly pages, on a 30 minute basis. I'll post the results when I have it running.

[acropolite]

The spurious reading may be from movement of the tipping bucket after initialisation. I found mine didn't behave properly until I had everything plugged in to the remote before installing the batteries. If you reset the station buffer as per the instructions and delete the weather.dat file your readings should all be reset.

[SteveV]

I've got MaxKon WS1081 (eBay), did a bit of digging around, and found Easy Weatger 2.0 (2008) looks like an identical program at http://www.proove.se/ hope you have a better luck with that one,

[Helix]

Acropolite, how do I reset the unit?
I tried deleting the .dat file, no go, seems to be internally stored. I tried reinstalling the software, installed it on another machine etc.
I've even used the clear memory technique (hold down memory for 3 seconds etc). It says it has deleted, but I still get the 4.2mm issue.

Thanks

[acropolite]

Helix, when you clear out the buffer from the Ws1081 does the small Memory pie chart at the bottom RHS go blank?? if not, the memory isn't clear. To clear the buffer, once the "CLEAR" message appears it's necessary to press & hold the round memory icon for a couple of seconds. Other than that, remove the batteries for a few minutes, that will clear everything. Make sure you have the USB connection disconnected as the unit will remain powered from the USB otherwise.

[Helix]

Thanks Acropolite.
The memory section went blank, yep.

I tried deleting the easyweather.dat and removing the batteries for about 30 minutes, still get 4.2

Buggerit. I'll leave it for now, maybe the first lot of rain will do something.

Edit: I checked the log file (easyweather.dat) and it says zeros for all rain (totals). It *might* be a fault with the software. At least the log file is ok, I can get around it with my own software to read the log file if that is the issue.

I've googled easyweather to see if I can download it somewhere, no go, I'll look for alternate software for now.

I've got Weather Display, does anyone have the settings for "Station Type and Settings" for the ws1081?

[acropolite]

Go to menu item Control Panel , Station Type & Settings , Universal Interface/....../Ws1080/81PC/Misc Stations tab, check both Easyweather/WH1080/81-PC and Use Direct.

Specifying the data file isn't necessary as WD reads the 1081 directly. Make sure your units settings match those set in the WS1081, e.g. degrees c, hpa, km/s mm. WD can be set to run minimised as a systray item as well.

[Helix]

Ok, thanks.

I think I might have screwed up with EasyWeather, since we've had rain I've undertood the gui more and I think I was just confused. The rain helped figure it out.

Thanks.

[acropolite]

Easyweather isn't all that bad, just don't leave it running as it's a resource hog.

[WeeGraeme]

Hi, Everyone.

I bought one of these the other day. It arrived today and I thought I'd got a faulty one. It wasn't reading wind readings and the rain reading was excessively high. (50mm in 10 mins and it was only drizzling lightly outside)

I didn't notice when I assembled it that there is a specific socket for the wind detector and a specific one for the rain detector. I initially had them plugged into the opposite sockets. I thought this might be useful for someone else who mightn't have realised they'd made this mistake.

[cahullian]

I see aldi are selling weather stations for $49.00 I wonder if they are any good?

Gazz

[TrevorW]

I got a cheaper one:

"Stick your head at the window around 4:00pm, if there are no clouds little wind and not too cold you'll probably have a good nights seeing", otherwise use the bureaus internet site.

Cheers

[GTB_an_Owl]

what caused your flatline to-nite Steve ?

geoff

[GTB_an_Owl]

just thought i would revive this thread and see if there are any more stations out there

noticed you had a bit of a flat line to-day Steve

anyone bought one from ebay lately ?

geoff

[acropolite]

Mine's still running sweetly, I must get round to reactivating the FTP upload.