Author Topic: WS2000 Opinions?  (Read 5560 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline cjtamu

  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 28
Re: WS2000 Opinions?
« Reply #25 on: October 07, 2018, 11:22:09 PM »
Finally got time to set mine up this evening. Smooth like butter. Setup menu and sub-menus are pretty intuitive and easy to follow. The hardest part of the whole process was actually getting registered as a new user on WU. Registering on Ambient Weather site was a snap. Display is beautiful and easy to read from any angle. It didn't see my 5 ghz connection, so assuming they just simplified that. I have a few comments/questions that hopefully will help others:

1) The u-bolt mounting system works great, very secure. I saw a review somewhere from someone who struggled with it. It's not hard, but the instructions could be a little better. The bracket portion has to fit into a slot on the array and that's not mentioned. Didn't figure that out until I was mounting it. Couple minutes swatting mosquitoes and unthreading nuts and it was fixed. I also had to spread the u-bolts slightly to get them to fit around the grooves on the array. Overall it was a pretty simple install and very solid once connected to the 1 1/2" diameter pole I used.

2) Soon as I set it up outside it showed 0.07" rainfall. We keep it cold inside (indoor temp sensor says it's 64.8 F right now) and it's hot and humid outside (it was 88 F and 70% or better humidity at the time). Could this be condensation from taking from the house to outside? I know what happens to my camera lenses!

3) I see nothing in the manual about formatting memory card or flashing firmware upgrades with the card. Small section on saving data to the card for backup/export, but nothing on formatting. Anyone know where to find this info?

4) There's a small number below the wind speed on display. Wind is from SE right now and it's reading 128 with what looks like a degree symbol after. Is this degrees off of true north?

Right now I have it mounted temporarily on a 5' high pole. I have an acre to play with and don't want to mount to the house with the winds and hurricanes we can get. Considering the Ambient Weather tripod mount with extensions and guy wire kit to get to 8-10'. Anyone have experience with this or similar? Thanks.

SupaWX, I'd love to have a lightning detector. I was actually going to email them and ask about the possibility. Maybe if everyone with 2XXX PWS did?
« Last Edit: October 07, 2018, 11:24:27 PM by cjtamu »

Offline davefr

  • Senior Contributor
  • ****
  • Posts: 195
Is mounting clamp ferrous steel?
« Reply #26 on: October 08, 2018, 09:48:24 AM »
One site I have in mind for WS2000 would be oceanfront on the OR coast.  Any ferrous metal will rust in just a few months even if it's galvanized.  Is the WS2000 mounting clamp ferrous steel, aluminum or stainless steel?

If it's ferrous steel, would it be easy to replace or fabricate one with stainless?




Offline galfert

  • Global Moderator
  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 6822
Re: WS2000 Opinions?
« Reply #27 on: October 08, 2018, 10:20:33 AM »
I took a magnet to my mount U-bolt and plate and it is magnetic. So I suppose that means it is ferrous.

As a solution you could fabricate your own plate out of some thick aluminum. Use metal shears or Dremel to cut. Drill slits for ties. I think you might be able to get away with a flat plate and not worry about making it L shaped. But if you want to bend it, it probably wouldn't be too hard. Then use aluminum worm screw drive ties to complete. They are kind of like zip ties but they have a screw so that you can be more precise in tension. With regular aluminum zip ties you would be limited to whenever they click and you might not be able to make it tight enough. The worm screw drive ties are the type you use for clamping down a piece of hose. Make sure they are not too thick so that they fit in the U-bolt plastic slot to hold the device down.
« Last Edit: October 08, 2018, 10:38:47 AM by galfert »
Ecowitt GW1000 | Meteobridge on Raspberry Pi
WU: KFLWINTE111  |  PWSweather: KFLWINTE111
CWOP: FW3708  |  AWEKAS: 14814
Windy: pws-f075acbe
Weather Underground Issue Tracking
Tele-Pole

Offline cjtamu

  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 28
Re: WS2000 Opinions?
« Reply #28 on: October 08, 2018, 10:30:53 AM »
I'm about 30 miles inland from TX coast, so it will be interesting to see how they wear. Just looked at McMaster Carr and they have a selection of u-bolts and plates, including non-metallic. Might be an option if they have the correct size.

Offline davefr

  • Senior Contributor
  • ****
  • Posts: 195
Re: WS2000 Opinions?
« Reply #29 on: October 08, 2018, 10:36:41 AM »
^^^Thanks guys.  I'm confident I can come up with something.

Offline dupreezd

  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 512
Re: WS2000 Opinions?
« Reply #30 on: October 08, 2018, 10:52:05 AM »
Be careful when using dissimilar materials and they are in contact with each other.
Not so much a problem in a dry climate, but here in Texas close to the coast it might be an issue.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galvanic_corrosion

Davis VP2 6163 | WiFi Logger
CWOP - FW0717
Blitzortung 2100

Offline cjtamu

  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 28
Re: WS2000 Opinions?
« Reply #31 on: October 11, 2018, 02:57:22 PM »
I emailed Ambient and one of the questions I asked was about lightning detector. Response was that lightning detector doesn't work unless certain conditions are met. I'm guessing meeting those conditions is cost prohibitive for a consumer grade PWS. Did a little reading of reviews for other systems that do have the lightning detector and it sounds like false positives are an issue. 

Offline Oilswell

  • Senior Member
  • **
  • Posts: 80
Re: WS2000 Opinions?
« Reply #32 on: October 12, 2018, 11:19:07 PM »
Hey all,

I'm a rookie here and just set up this unit today. So far I'm loving it.

Are there any other options to monitor via Android phone apart from weather underground or the ambient apps? I'd just like to find the best option, so far the both look pretty good but is there anything else?

Offline galfert

  • Global Moderator
  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 6822
Re: WS2000 Opinions?
« Reply #33 on: October 12, 2018, 11:33:08 PM »
Well it supports 3 initial weather networks. Weather Underground, ambientweather.net, and WeatherCloud. But there is also the bonus of PWSweather through ambientweather.net.

You can got to those sites on your mobile browser. Only ambientweather.net and WU have apps. For some things I still prefer the browser than the app for WU.

I've tested some apps that read your WU data. But they were not great so I have nothing else to recommend.
Ecowitt GW1000 | Meteobridge on Raspberry Pi
WU: KFLWINTE111  |  PWSweather: KFLWINTE111
CWOP: FW3708  |  AWEKAS: 14814
Windy: pws-f075acbe
Weather Underground Issue Tracking
Tele-Pole