Author Topic: Fine Offset weather stations.  (Read 3907 times)

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Offline Skywatch

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Fine Offset weather stations.
« on: May 18, 2017, 01:59:07 PM »
This board is about as relevant to Fine Offset as that's where Ambient weather stations come from.

I have an Excelvan WH2310 which I love a lot. I installed it on the roof of a car wash and it's providing valuable data for the business. However I'm not too happy with the PC interface. It constantly crashes and I can't keep the weather station running 24/7 for sending data to Wunderground.

I've been looking at the Ambient Osprey which has the Wi-Fi capabilities but it seems Ambient is having inventory issues keeping it in stock.

Here's my question, does anyone know if the Osprey receiver is compatible with the WH2310 sensors? Like if I wanted to buy the display itself and continue to use the existing sensors already installed?

Thanks.
I live in an apartment and for the moment am not a home weather watcher.

I am a storm chaser.

Offline DoctorKnow

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Re: Fine Offset weather stations.
« Reply #1 on: May 21, 2017, 11:53:40 AM »
http://www.ambientweather.com/amws2902.html

Above is the link to the station Skywatch is asking about. I had never heard of it. It has everything I want, but again, it is an "all in one" station, and is "wifi". So does fine offset hardware communicate with all of it's other consoles? I think they may depending on the sending frequency of the hardware.

Offline dport

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Re: Fine Offset weather stations.
« Reply #2 on: May 23, 2017, 04:52:47 PM »
I'd be interested in any comments on the osprey as well. $120 is a nice price point. As many of you know I'm not a huge fan of the ws-1400. Temps spikes are a problem in the sun (4 degrees or so) and not sure this fixes the issue.
« Last Edit: May 24, 2017, 08:49:47 PM by dport »

Offline Skywatch

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Re: Fine Offset weather stations.
« Reply #3 on: May 24, 2017, 12:33:41 PM »
My Excelvan weather station works great. For the price it seems very accurate and reliable. I have to admit that I've gotten pretty attached to it.

 But there's no real way to send to Wunderground consistently. Thanks computer Interface is very buggy. Almost makes me wonder if that's where they get you given how inexpensive the weather station is.

When I try to run the station's WeatherSmart software it will work for several minutes before the USB drops out. I've found that it's better to use the computer interface for uploading the data. But it won't run 24/7 without dropping out which makes the Wunderground uploads pointless.

If I recall the Osprey and Observer weather stations are designed where the outdoor sensor sends the data to the indoor receiver via RF like any weather station does but the receiver then transmits the data to Wunderground via WiFi.

If the sensors were intercompatible I could add an Osprey receiver to the Excelvan weather station and have that automatically posting on Wunderground.
I live in an apartment and for the moment am not a home weather watcher.

I am a storm chaser.

Offline DoctorKnow

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Re: Fine Offset weather stations.
« Reply #4 on: June 03, 2017, 12:46:58 PM »
dport,
some of the 1400s work great for temp, others are way off as you already know. The humidity is way off also on certain older ones. It's way low in the day. This is why I can't buy one... with my luck, I would get a dud.

Offline DoctorKnow

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Re: Fine Offset weather stations.
« Reply #5 on: July 31, 2017, 10:06:05 AM »
Skywatch,
I've got a 2310 I'm close to installing. It is now compatible with Meteobridge, so that was why I decided to get one. Any tips for the settings? Have you tried extending the wind cable? This is something I'd like to do for a permanent install... I don't want the rain gauge and thermometer where I can't access them.

Offline DoctorKnow

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Re: Fine Offset weather stations.
« Reply #6 on: August 30, 2017, 03:18:15 PM »
I've installed the unit. Mine is close to being junk. The USB drops out constantly, or reboots itself sometimes as little as every minute. The rain gauge is not even close, and is only reading about once out of eight tips of the see saw. The UV / Solar is the only thing that is good really...

I keep playing with it. I took off several calibrations, and now the USB is not rebooting as often... Must be too much memory usage.
« Last Edit: August 30, 2017, 04:18:50 PM by DoctorKnow »

Offline Skywatch

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Re: Fine Offset weather stations.
« Reply #7 on: August 30, 2017, 04:51:33 PM »
I solved the problem by increasing the interval to 15 minutes. Mine doesn't drop out anymore. I use the Weather Smart software to send to Wunderground and use Weather Display software to send to CWOP and PWS Weather.


Only problem I'm having now which is irrelevant to the weather station and software, the station runs on a Windows 8 laptop and after updating requires me to enter a 4 digit code to get in which is a PITA as I'm not at my Skywatch Jr. Station 24/7.
I live in an apartment and for the moment am not a home weather watcher.

I am a storm chaser.

Offline DoctorKnow

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Re: Fine Offset weather stations.
« Reply #8 on: August 30, 2017, 06:13:20 PM »
I increased my interval to 20 minutes, but no change. The memory wheel is full on my console and isn't changing. I opened the rain bucket, re-glued and soldered. The connection is a little better I think... I'll wait for rain again. I am not using it online anymore, too buggy right now.

Offline DoctorKnow

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Re: Fine Offset weather stations.
« Reply #9 on: August 31, 2017, 09:00:45 AM »
I changed the batteries in the console. That seems to have stabilized things a bit. The batteries were almost dead in less than a month!

Offline Skywatch

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Re: Fine Offset weather stations.
« Reply #10 on: August 31, 2017, 12:40:48 PM »
Try deleting the internal memory in the console, unplug the console from the computer reboot both Weather Smart and Weather Display then plug the console back in.
I live in an apartment and for the moment am not a home weather watcher.

I am a storm chaser.

Offline Skywatch

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Re: Fine Offset weather stations.
« Reply #11 on: August 31, 2017, 12:44:40 PM »
From what I understood after researching the problem the problem occurs when they console received data at the same moment the internal logger attemts to record the data. I have mine set at 15 minutes and I don't have that problem as much anymore.
I live in an apartment and for the moment am not a home weather watcher.

I am a storm chaser.

Offline DoctorKnow

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Re: Fine Offset weather stations.
« Reply #12 on: August 31, 2017, 02:26:24 PM »
I am using meteobridge, and I don't know where I put the disc for weathersmart... I'll find it one day. lol

I added a usb 2.0 hub to meteobridge. Maybe that will help. The directions don't say it is required, so I didn't have it on with this station.

Offline Skywatch

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Re: Fine Offset weather stations.
« Reply #13 on: August 31, 2017, 06:32:06 PM »
It's probably not a relevant scenario. Mine just runs on a Windows 8 laptop running Weather Smart and Weather Display software. I don't have any experience with Meteobridge (yet).
I live in an apartment and for the moment am not a home weather watcher.

I am a storm chaser.

Offline DoctorKnow

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Re: Fine Offset weather stations.
« Reply #14 on: September 01, 2017, 08:17:48 AM »
All is well now with the console and reporting to websites, but the rain bucket only read 0.01 out of a quarter inch of rain yesterday evening. Anyone know why these rain buckets don't register each tip? The reed switch must not be getting the signal? All the cables are in the right place at the pod and transmitter...

Offline WeatherHost

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Re: Fine Offset weather stations.
« Reply #15 on: September 01, 2017, 09:11:55 AM »
Mine has been reasonably close to the official totals despite being 50 miles from the NWS site.  Showing .94 this morning but it hasn't rained as much here based on radar images and estimates.

I took mine off-line a long time ago because of the USB issues mentioned above.  It's used only for my own personal information now.

One word of warning about dumping memory.  I did it once from Easy Weather and it trashed the console.  Apparently it dumped a lot more memory than just the measurements.  Seller sent me a new console though, but I won't try that again.




Offline DoctorKnow

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Re: Fine Offset weather stations.
« Reply #16 on: September 01, 2017, 10:31:52 AM »
I think my board is bad with the reed switch on it. I can hear the read switch, but I don't get a reading with each tip, only about every 5 tips reads on the display.

Offline DoctorKnow

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Re: Fine Offset weather stations.
« Reply #17 on: September 09, 2017, 11:42:28 AM »
Well, I feel dumb. The stupid console was set to where it wouldn't record many tips. The calibration was supposed to be on "1.00", but was set to 0.10. there was no error with the rain bucket, and it works fine. If you buy one of these, be sure to check the calibrations carefully! Going down will cause the console not to read tips!