Topic: My Acurite 5 in 1

[DoctorKnow]

I have to say that overall, I am happy with the product. Mine is over 2 yrs old, and still does as good as it did when I installed it. I live fairly close to the coast, so salty spray is likely. Because of this, back in the early spring I took my outdoor unit apart and oiled the anemometer and aspirator fan. (Has anyone else done this)? I cleaned out some cobwebs while I had it apart, but I have only changed batteries once. Now I do notice that when the sun goes over to the far west, that I gain a few degrees. It isn't a huge spike like 10 degrees, but 3 or 4 over the real temp for about an hour is possible. The fan is running during this time, but must not be enough to take care of the solar radiation. First thing in the morning I have no issue, since the sensor is in complete shade up until about 10 AM.

I do not have the new dual solar add on. Once the sun goes down enough, the temperature is back to what it should be, so I don't really see any good reason to order the add on until something goes wrong with what I have.

Just thought I would share my experience with the product, and I think if installed in a good location, it should give good results like mine does.

[Bushman]

With only a couple weeks into it, it is early - but I would have to agree.  Decent unit.  My Backyard Weather is pretty cool, too.

[DoctorKnow]

I also meant to add that my rain gauge was reading  a little high, so I turned the two screws down a third of a turn and now that seems to have fixed it.

I only wish I could adjust the Barometric Pressure on my display. It is 16 too low.

[dschmidt_2000]

I also meant to add that my rain gauge was reading  a little high, so I turned the two screws down a third of a turn and now that seems to have fixed it.

High relative to what?  Localized rainfall can be different.

Pretty sure there's cal instructions  on Accurite's website for the raingauge (I think)

[jonkjon]

I've had my 5 in 1 setup since February. After getting everything calibrated, the unit works fairly well. The display isn't great but I don't rely on it much anyway as I use third party software. The last two weeks however, I have missed several rainfalls as the unit just stops recording rain tips. It seems the bucket is hanging up. So far, i haven't taken it apart but it's looking like I'm going to have to do it as it stopped recording again last night. It also seems to greatly over measure during heavy downpours. I have manual gauges that I use as well and generally, the rainfall amounts jive as well as can be expected except for the noted heavier rainfall events.
I do have the dual solar head and that helps with temperature spikes. I had access to NIST thermometers and calibrated the temps. It still seems to measure too low on the colder end of the scale but it's not terrible.

[DoctorKnow]

My thermometer I've noticed tends to be about a half a degree on the high side, but that's about the extent of it. When I had my 5-1 apart, I checked the fan, and it didn't seem to be a smooth flow when it was running, and seemed to hang up a bit when it would first try to turn on. I oiled it as good as I could, but not sure if it helped much. This morning I noticed that my temp shot up to 91 from 84 briefly, then back to 85, apparently after the fan got going... Low wind conditions seem to make it happen like this.

Does a new fan come with the dual panel top? Does the fan hang up with dual panels that you can tell?

[jonkjon]

My thermometer I've noticed tends to be about a half a degree on the high side, but that's about the extent of it. When I had my 5-1 apart, I checked the fan, and it didn't seem to be a smooth flow when it was running, and seemed to hang up a bit when it would first try to turn on. I oiled it as good as I could, but not sure if it helped much. This morning I noticed that my temp shot up to 91 from 84 briefly, then back to 85, apparently after the fan got going... Low wind conditions seem to make it happen like this.

Does a new fan come with the dual panel top? Does the fan hang up with dual panels that you can tell?

It does come with a new fan and wind cups. I haven't noticed the fan hanging up at all.

[DoctorKnow]

on MBYW, I got the barometer spot on with the two local NWS sites. I like that they let you adjust it! Also my humidity is real close if not exact after I calibrated it up 6%. Rainfall last night was spot on, but wunderground must stop count at midnight, and start over because they only show half of what fell.

[jonkjon]

Finally took the 5 in 1 apart yesterday and discovered a spider had anchored an unbelievably strong web to the tipping bucket......lol. I cleaned it up (and relocated the spider) and put a little insect spray inside. I think that did the trick except now it looks like i'll have to re-calibrate.

[DoctorKnow]

I am trying to get my 5 n 1 dewpoint up a couple of degrees in My Backyard WX. Anyone know how? Right now I am using a tower sensor for the dewpoint and it reads higher and correctly. While my 5 n 1 reads 74, the tower shows 76

[nincehelser]

I am trying to get my 5 n 1 dewpoint up a couple of degrees in My Backyard WX. Anyone know how? Right now I am using a tower sensor for the dewpoint and it reads higher and correctly. While my 5 n 1 reads 74, the tower shows 76

The 5n1 and the tower don't provide direct dewpoint readings.  Dewpoint is calculated based on the temperature and humidity readings.

You can calibrate the temp and humidity readings on MBW, but I'm not sure if the calibrated changes will be used in the dew point calculation or not.  It just depends on how it happens to be programmed.

[DoctorKnow]

My Dew Point is definitely 2 degrees low...

I see on acurite website support forum people are finding that the fan motor needs lubing. I put break free on mine, and it ran so much better, so I think they are doing the right thing there. I think it sticks after being in the moisture outside after a while. My solar addition on the west side has also been working very well. I can hear the motor running slowly even when it is overcast. Perfect temps during those times.

[nincehelser]

Finally took the 5 in 1 apart yesterday and discovered a spider had anchored an unbelievably strong web to the tipping bucket......lol. I cleaned it up (and relocated the spider) and put a little insect spray inside. I think that did the trick except now it looks like i'll have to re-calibrate.

Today I noticed my 5n1 was running very warm as if the fan wasn't running (about 10F).  Sure enough, it wasn't.

I took it down to clean it out, and found a "Bold Jumper" spider ( http://www.spiders.us/species/phidippus-audax/ ) with a thick web (egg sack?) totally blocking the throat of the wind tunnel and jamming against the fan.  No problem.  Cleared it all out.

While wiping the dust out the interior, though, a second "Bold Jumper", lived up to its name and leapt out on me.  I'm not particularly arachnaphopic, but it did make be jump, too.

[vreihen]

Mine is 2.5 years old, and still has the original batteries in it.  The humidity has been stuck at 98%, but other than that everything still appears to be working fine.  I can't say that it has had an easy life though, as you can see:



I have a brand new 5-in-1 unit with the dual solar panels waiting to be installed, but haven't had the free time to put up a mast to mount it properly this time around.....

[Borisbadenov]

I do have fan motor problems i have tried 2 aspirating fans/motors and both stick and will not start even when in full sun this causes me to get removed from WU and get i receive bad marks on my MADIS rating. I will be moving on to new equipment soon.

[DoctorKnow]

After seeing so many say they had problems with the dual solar panel fan, I am glad I didn't get it and did my own thing. Now I just want to repaint the whole thing with new white paint to try and reduce heat infiltration. I see the sun hitting the bottom grey part of the 5n1 and just know that is messing up the readings.

[nincehelser]

After seeing so many say they had problems with the dual solar panel fan, I am glad I didn't get it and did my own thing. Now I just want to repaint the whole thing with new white paint to try and reduce heat infiltration. I see the sun hitting the bottom grey part of the 5n1 and just know that is messing up the readings.

All I can do is shake my head over the whole "dual-panel" thing.  Most people don't need it, but Acurite chose to market it as an "upgrade", and that has created a whole new set of problems for people who otherwise wouldn't have had one.  They should have just quietly sold/gave them to people who had serious problems,  not try to up-sell to people who are overly-fanatical about smooth temperature curves.

Unfortunately, I suspect Acurite is having QA problems with these dual-panel devices which is just compounding the problem.  Some seem to have better luck going back to the single-panel unit.  Hopefully those problems will be shaken out soon. 

If you are having a serious problem, the real way to fix this is to add a power source to drive the fan continually, or at least dawn to dusk.  This might be done with an AC-supply, or better yet with a properly-sized battery and solar-panel to recharge it.  Perhaps one of the systems used with hunting/trail cameras might be adapted for this use. 

[DoctorKnow]

I am seeing people report that the dual panel fan is not running as fast as the single panel. I wonder if they have installed a limiter on it that keeps it from running beyond a certain speed? I read on the other topic about dual panels that the chip regulator inside the single panel keeps the motor from running too fast, and the poster (I believe it was "ew" on his link) verified this.

[Borisbadenov]

Mine just doesn't run only when it wants to it may go days and run ok then it may not work for days

[haroldashe]

As George Nincehelser said, I bought the dual panel top to eliminate the 9:00 am and 6:00 pm temp spikes - smooth the curve - and, for a short while, it did that.  After a couple of months, the spikes came back but instead of lasting 30 mins. or so as they did with the single panel, they would remain for several hours and temperatures would climb so high (10-15 degrees compared to any station within miles and even my tower sensor) that I'd get booted from WUG almost every day.

The problem is inertia - it simply takes the dual panel fan much longer to start, especially in the mornings when the sun is not fully bright or it's behind passing clouds, than it does the single panel fan.  Once it starts, it's fine and will keep running.  It does not take much to get it going...the barest little nudge will do it but, for whatever reason, it needs that nudge.  So, I don't think it's a fan speed problem.  In my case, at least, the spikes occur because the fan is not running at all during those "spike times."

I have put my old single panel top back on the sensor and, for the time being, I will live with it.

[haroldashe]

Here's a screen shot from MBW showing one of the spikes I was trying to eliminate by using the dual panel top.  This is from the single panel unit and lasted about an hour.  I don't like it, but it's a lot better than the dual panel top.
 

[DoctorKnow]

Is there any way to get data to PWS weather with the bridge? I can't find a compatible software to push it. Also why doesn't aculink let me share with them?

[Borisbadenov]

I think you have to have PC Connect in order for it to work

[DoctorKnow]

I think you have to have PC Connect in order for it to work

I tried the kevin key app for the bridge, but I couldn't get it to work. I gave up.

[Bushman]

Is there any way to get data to PWS weather with the bridge? I can't find a compatible software to push it. Also why doesn't aculink let me share with them?

If you insert a Meteobridge into the system you can!  http://www.meteobridge.com/wiki/index.php/Weather_Networks