Topic: Dual Solar 06014RM overheating

[nincehelser]

I wonder if adding a foil coating to most of the unit would help reflect some heat but I'm also still going to wire in another larger panel to the fan to make sure it runs right as the light hits it from sunrise to sunset vs just spotty on the small panels.

Be sure the foil doesn't screw up the radio signal.

The 433MHz transmitter antenna and SHT21 sensor are in close proximity.



Also note the three layers of plastic and air space between the outside and the wind-tunnel. 

[Eric Seaberg]

I'm going to jump in here, too.  I've had a 5-in-1 for quite a while and even bought the two-panel housing for it, thinking it would help keep the aspirating fan consistent.  It's no better than the single panel.  I have spikes of 10+ plus beginning at 10AM, and they're so bad that Weather Underground kicks me off the network until it gets consistent with those around me.

I had thought of modifying the voltage regulator to push a little more voltage to the fan, but haven't done that yet. 

There's LOTS of users on the Acu-Rite list that have complained about this, and we all get the stock answer from the moderator.

My next step is to unload this unit and do an upgrade to an Ambient WS-1001, or better.  I'm stilll doing more research.


BTW, I live in San Diego, so the direct sunlight is pretty consistent and non-difuse.  Thanks for the thoughts...

[pcjunky]

I'm going to jump in here, too.  I've had a 5-in-1 for quite a while and even bought the two-panel housing for it, thinking it would help keep the aspirating fan consistent.  It's no better than the single panel.  I have spikes of 10+ plus beginning at 10AM, and they're so bad that Weather Underground kicks me off the network until it gets consistent with those around me.

I spoke to my neighbor who reminded me of 2 WU stations in our area that had the same temp spikes I'm having.  We don't recall what type of stations they had but both are off WU now.  One of them was the only WU station in our zip for 5 or 6 years. 

My neighbor used to work for Grumman designing temp monitoring systems for 707's.  He suggested somehow dropping the sensor down below the body and protected by a radiant shield. 

[nincehelser]

There's LOTS of users on the Acu-Rite list that have complained about this, and we all get the stock answer from the moderator.

Did you ask for a warranty replacement? 

I seriously don't understand why folks won't ask for a refund or repair if something isn't working for them.

[DoctorKnow]

I know in my case, I don't want a refund. I have too much invested. I have 2 consoles, a bridge, 2 - 5 in 1's, and a tower. I use my tower sensor to send to the internet because of the issue with heat. The anemometer is the best I've seen for the price if you get the one with the dual panel. The rain gauge is very good.

I don't think the foil would ruin the radio signal if it's only on the east side bottom. All you can do is try. What can that hurt?

[DoctorKnow]

I think I may have fixed my problem. I turned my sensor past north toward the west just a bit a couple of days ago when I was positioning it after having taken it down to clear the spider and put some moth balls in there. This seemed to get the fan going right away and not give the bottom a chance to warm up first. The thermometer is tracking right along with my tower sensor. As long as it doesn't heat up late day I should be good now. It seems the sensor is very particular about being positioned in just the right direction.

[Eric Seaberg]

Thanks for the replies, guys.  As far as the warranty question, I did have to return the wireless bridge for it, which was DOA, and had to pay for shipping. 

I also feel this is really just a bad design as so many other users are having the same issue.

I'll try the foil and report back.


Thanks again...

[tmoosetrax]

Did you ask for a warranty replacement? 

I seriously don't understand why folks won't ask for a refund or repair if something isn't working for them.

I take it you have never dealt with calling Chaney for the repair or replacement process.  I do respect you knowledge in your post about technology, I think what your missing is, cause luckily for you you have a unit that works great , their are a lot of people that are having the same issues with the 5 in 1's. Having had my dual solar panel replaced or fixed by acurite and receiving  a unit back that worked no better then when i sent it to them. They tell you its under warranty but you pretty much have to tell them the unit you have is not up to par and you are sending it back. They have never told me over the phone that i had a issue with my unit or display and should send it back for replacement, I had to tell them i was sending it back.  You have to look at it this way people are not buying a davis cause this is cheaper and gives them a nice toy for the price, and for what they would use it for in the long run. Who wants to send 5+ bucks every time the unit does not work properly then wait a month to get it back. I believe thats why people are trying to find ways to fix the problem themselves or figure out what the actual cause of the problem is. If chaney would offer me the money i spent on the unit , the upgrade to a dual solar panel my cost for sending both back to them numerous times for repair work, id take it and run!

[nincehelser]

Did you ask for a warranty replacement? 

I seriously don't understand why folks won't ask for a refund or repair if something isn't working for them.

I take it you have never dealt with calling Chaney for the repair or replacement process.  I do respect you knowledge in your post about technology, I think what your missing is, cause luckily for you you have a unit that works great , their are a lot of people that are having the same issues with the 5 in 1's. Having had my dual solar panel replaced or fixed by acurite and receiving  a unit back that worked no better then when i sent it to them. They tell you its under warranty but you pretty much have to tell them the unit you have is not up to par and you are sending it back. They have never told me over the phone that i had a issue with my unit or display and should send it back for replacement, I had to tell them i was sending it back.  You have to look at it this way people are not buying a davis cause this is cheaper and gives them a nice toy for the price, and for what they would use it for in the long run. Who wants to send 5+ bucks every time the unit does not work properly then wait a month to get it back. I believe thats why people are trying to find ways to fix the problem themselves or figure out what the actual cause of the problem is. If chaney would offer me the money i spent on the unit , the upgrade to a dual solar panel my cost for sending both back to them numerous times for repair work, id take it and run!

Actually, I have had some pretty severe dealings with Acurite... severe enough that at one point they wanted to buy back all the Acurite gear I had.

So, yes, I know exactly how bad it can get.

If you have bad equipment, return it or ask for it to be repaired.  It's as simple as that.  Yes, that might mean you have to ask to return it, saying you aren't satisfied.

Here is the public Acurite policy: http://www.acurite.com/returns

If more people returned their problem gear, it would speak more loudly than the impotent threats and constant whining and something might change.

[DoctorKnow]

nincehelser,

Why do you keep defending acurite on their forums? People are having issue after issue with the temperature on their 2 panel solar sensors. I am seeing the very problem myself. Watching it, I believe it is a problem with the regulator. My temperature rapidly goes up and down. That should not happen. The motor is speeding up and then losing speed due to a lack of power. It gets good juice as the sun is setting, and the temp is spot on every day at that time. All other times it's a crap shoot. I cannot use that temperature to send to the internet. There is no way to tame it even with offsets. Something needs to be changed, and if you keep denying the problem, it isn't going to help people get anywhere.

[Inverno]

George is saying that instead of complaining and looking for some magical fix, send it back and let acurite know you are dissatisfied. If enough people do that, Acurite will have no choice but to fix whatever is causing the dual panel problem or lose profit. I don't think he is defending them at all. In fact, quite the opposite.

[DoctorKnow]

He is saying the right thing above on this site, but then he is on the acurite site saying there is no significant problem when new people come in trying to get their voice heard to acurite staff. The folks are not exaggerating on there, but when I read what he wrote, it seems to send the message that their installation is the problem or something to that effect.

[nincehelser]

When people make crazy claims, I'm going to refute them.

If you have problems with your gear, send it back. 

I've made that statement several times on the Acurite forum.

And yes, there are a lot of people who simply don't understand their hardware and how to position it.

I'd say folks are exaggerating when they make claims they can fix Acurite's "design problem", but can't figure out how to get to the circuit board.

[vreihen]

I'd say folks are exaggerating when they make claims they can fix Acurite's "design problem", but can't figure out how to get to the circuit board.

I've found that a falling tree limb provides easy access to a 5-in-1's internals..... 

[pcjunky]

I thought I could live with USB/display (02032c) problems if the 5-in-1 readings were accurate, but I'm returning mine to the store.  I'm not going to spend money to ship it to Acurite and have them tell me nothing is wrong.  The fan actually starts up from sun light coming through the little windows in my closed garage door, but it's hit or miss for running in partly cloudy conditions even though the sensor body is getting heated up.  If the 02032c wasn't so flawed I would keep it and modify the 5-in-1 to have the fan run sunup to sundown like other people are trying to do.

I think it says a lot that Acurite is now selling most if not all of their bridge bundles with the 6014RM dual panel sensor.  I'm not sure if it would solve my problem but it's at least a tacit acknowledgement that the single panel sensor is not accurate enough in some locations to report data to 3rd party sites.

People should keep in mind that Davis addresses the varying levels of radiation with different versions of their Vantage Pro2 station.  One w/o fan and another with 24hour solar powered fan.  Could be more versions but I didn't spend much time looking.  I just saying problems related to location and varying levels of radiation are real.

[DoctorKnow]

When people make crazy claims, I'm going to refute them.

If you have problems with your gear, send it back. 

I've made that statement several times on the Acurite forum.

And yes, there are a lot of people who simply don't understand their hardware and how to position it.

I'd say folks are exaggerating when they make claims they can fix Acurite's "design problem", but can't figure out how to get to the circuit board.

I wanted to say your posts on the motors, and particularly your last post in that topic at acurite was very well stated. I still seriously doubt the motor is the issue, as today my sensor again performed almost perfectly even though there was peek a boo sunshine on and off all day. I believe the voltage regulators are causing the current to the motors to drop off at times and the temp is then spiking. Solar panels would not do that when there is full sunshine on the panel In my experience anyway... From my observations, when the outside temp is below 70 mainly between 50 and 70, is where the dual panel has serious issues. Above 70, it seems to handle those conditions much better, and the temp only goes over about 2 or 3 degrees. Below 70 it can run 7 - 10 degrees higher than ambient, and fluctuate up and down with full sunshine on the sensor.

[Inverno]

Something I've never noticed before, today is a relatively gloomy day.  The nearby weather station with a solar radiation measuring sensor was reading at 100 w/m^2 or less. I went out in the yard and the dual panel aspiration fan is running like a champ. Yesterday I was 2 degrees cooler than most other stations locally, which has never happened that I can remember. I did lube the fan before putting it back on in February. My temps were never bad, just 2-3 higher than other stations near me last summer.   It is still too much in my book even if within spec.

[CW2274]

Something I've never noticed before, today is a relatively gloomy day.  The nearby weather station with a solar radiation measuring sensor was reading at 100 w/m^2 or less. I went out in the yard and the dual panel aspiration fan is running like a champ. Yesterday I was 2 degrees cooler than most other stations locally, which has never happened that I can remember. I did lube the fan before putting it back on in February. My temps were never bad, just 2-3 higher than other stations near me last summer.   

It is still too much in my book even if within spec.

Glad I'm not the only anal one.

[Eric Seaberg]

An update for my 5-in-1 brothers... since I opened mine up a couple weeks ago, and confirmed the regulator for the motor (loose, cold solder joints), it has been AWESOME.  We're hitting record highs in San Diego, today climbing towards 94-degrees, but my 5-in-1 is hovering ±2-degrees with the many PWS in my area.  Before the 'fix' I would've seen +6-degrees or higher!

I can't believe it was that simple, but it seems to be the case.  Take the time to check yours.  It's a PITA to get to, but once you're there, move the two capicators up/down and confirm solder underneath on the board.  Do the same with the sensor inputs and output to the motor.  DO NOT HEAT TOO MUCH, just enough to get the solder to re-flow, and that's it!  If necessary, add more solder to help with heat flow.

Good luck

[nincehelser]

An update for my 5-in-1 brothers... since I opened mine up a couple weeks ago, and confirmed the regulator for the motor (loose, cold solder joints), it has been AWESOME.  We're hitting record highs in San Diego, today climbing towards 94-degrees, but my 5-in-1 is hovering ±2-degrees with the many PWS in my area.  Before the 'fix' I would've seen +6-degrees or higher!

I can't believe it was that simple, but it seems to be the case.  Take the time to check yours.  It's a PITA to get to, but once you're there, move the two capicators up/down and confirm solder underneath on the board.  Do the same with the sensor inputs and output to the motor.  DO NOT HEAT TOO MUCH, just enough to get the solder to re-flow, and that's it!  If necessary, add more solder to help with heat flow.

Good luck

Based on some of the solder-joints I've seen in other Acurite sensors, this is certainly worth checking.

I suspect all the hand-work is done in China, but not by the exquisitely-skilled folk making things like iPhones.

[CW2274]

An update for my 5-in-1 brothers... since I opened mine up a couple weeks ago, and confirmed the regulator for the motor (loose, cold solder joints), it has been AWESOME.  We're hitting record highs in San Diego, today climbing towards 94-degrees, but my 5-in-1 is hovering ±2-degrees with the many PWS in my area.  Before the 'fix' I would've seen +6-degrees or higher!

I can't believe it was that simple, but it seems to be the case.  Take the time to check yours.  It's a PITA to get to, but once you're there, move the two capicators up/down and confirm solder underneath on the board.  Do the same with the sensor inputs and output to the motor.  DO NOT HEAT TOO MUCH, just enough to get the solder to re-flow, and that's it!  If necessary, add more solder to help with heat flow.

Good luck

When southern latitudes like ours start heating up, the solar insulation really gets tough on non aspirated stations. Having a FARS in my book is essential for us if one wants the best accuracy. 

[DoctorKnow]

Eric what you are saying certainly makes sense and I think would account for what I have been experiencing with the fan speed going up and down. A bad connection would likely cause that. I'm glad you found a fix and many can try that without having to send to acurite and be without a weather station for a while waiting. The bad soldering is probably why acurite has folks send the unit back for analysis. I would try mine out but it is all secure and way up on a pole, but when I take it down again in the future I'm going to attempt to check the wires.

[Eric Seaberg]

So sorry, DoctorKnow... but it seems I'm always replying to Kurt, and that freaks me out!!!   

Let me know if this makes a difference to ANYONE'S 5-in-1. 

I was so close to throwing this away, or eBay at whatever I could get, and go for an Ambient Weather WS-1001-WIFI.  Considering it's going to cost more money to get where I want to be than what I've spent.... this seems to work, and I'll wait to see if it's stable. 

I am amazed that THIS could be the issue. 

When I first installed the 5-in-1, it was in an area with full sun most of the time  I ordered the dual-sensor trying to deal with the spikes, which also happened with the original single sensor.  Since I assumed the fan was a problem, I tried to calculate the spikes, but eventually moved the unit to a different position... still having spikes at multiple times. 

Two wees ago I took it apart to confirm solder points/connections on the regulator PCB from the solar panels to the fan motor.  If you do this, DO NOT heat too much, as the regulator chip is suseptible to extreme heat.  If possible, use a controlled heat soldering station to confirm all points.

Everything is working for me now... usually keeping within ±2-degress with outlying stations.  I'm good with this as it used to be +10-degrees or more!

So... I'll keep you posted and let us all know if this makes a difference.  For what I want/need to do with my PWS, this is working.

[DoctorKnow]

Something has changed with my dual panel fan. I haven't done anything to it either. Today, it seems to be running differently, (faster?) and is keeping temps within 1 degree. It is still going back and forth 1 degree, but is not 7 degrees high... I think there is a bad connection in many of our regulators.

[Eric Seaberg]

Yup, mine is still keeping up with the half-dozen units in my immediate area, about 1-mile radius. Interesting that I still have a minor spike but other units have a spike very close to the same time.  Still, it's much better than it was.

I'd really recommend pulling out that soldering iron and touch up all the solder joints, but not TOO HOT!  The little regulator chip can't stand too much heat.  Just heat up enough so you see a little bit of solder flowing, and don't be afraid to add solder to help the heat exchange.