Author Topic: Peet Brothers Ultimeter 2100  (Read 4013 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline WX9TRS

  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 11
Peet Brothers Ultimeter 2100
« on: April 23, 2019, 04:15:34 PM »
Sensor refresh done.  Good for another 10 years.
« Last Edit: April 23, 2019, 04:25:38 PM by WX9TRS »

Offline Stormtracker

  • Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 111
Re: Peet Brothers Ultimeter 2100
« Reply #1 on: June 07, 2019, 11:17:50 AM »
How has your experience been with Peet Brothers instruments?   Is that their PRO rain gauge?   I was considering them a decade ago but seem to remember reading about some glitches in that rain gauge.

Offline WX9TRS

  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 11
Re: Peet Brothers Ultimeter 2100
« Reply #2 on: June 07, 2019, 11:58:24 AM »
I've replaced it once, (main box, lightning strick) about 2 years ago and I just replaced everything except the main box. Thought it was time to refresh things this Spring.
So the original lasted 6 years. 
Had to replace the board once as some bugs ate up some of the connections.
Other than that all has been well.
Rain gauge needs to be heated for winter/snow.
« Last Edit: June 07, 2019, 03:22:30 PM by WX9TRS »

Offline DaleReid

  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 2002
    • Weather at Eau Claire, WI
Re: Peet Brothers Ultimeter 2100
« Reply #3 on: June 07, 2019, 12:18:26 PM »
I have a 2100 from just after they came out.  Got it at Dayton Hamvention when Peet Bro still had a booth there at the old Hara Arena.  So long ago i can't recall when I got it, pushing 15 years I'll bet.

I have had zero problems with their pro rain gauge (I think it is identical to the RainWise big one) and decided to go with the bigger one over the little egg shaped standard one.

Amazingly even the humidity and temp sensors are comparing closely to the other sensors I have in the same general area.

My only problem was with a lightning strike close to my house taking out lots of stuff, including the box and display.  I found a 2100 on eBay that no one bought quickly and made an offer, got it and plugged in the new box and left the rest alone.  Works like a champ.

I have a big display that I got for much less than their list price on eBay, also, and love it.  You sure can see it across the room.

Being a hard wired unit, there is more than just slapping a instrument cluster up on the post outside and mounting the box and display inside.  but it updates wind speed quickly and as I said, just keeps chugging along.

I understand that a year or so the company changed hands.  I hope they will stay in business, understanding their basic design is older but does work well.  And their technical support/sales have been terrific.  When I had the issue with the lightning, the person on the phone was very gracious, answered questions, and won my loyalty by being so helpful. 

Like anything else, times change.  But things that don't change are temperature, humidity, wind values and rain.  If you measure them with quality well designed components, it is the same no matter what.

The little box does have a backlight which you can leave on, and the visibility of the display seems superior to the Davis Vantage console to my eyes.

The nice thing, too, is that the Peet Console does have an output that my weather software, Weather Display, reads and is able to display and post to my web page, and hasn't been touched in maybe 5 or 7 years.

Like all stuff in the sun and weather, the plastic and cables do get nailed by radiation and over time may craze or crack, at least not seem as shiny as when I put them up. But they use UV resistant black cable and so far no failures or even appearance of having to be replaced.

The only thing I wish I had the ability to (easily) add would be solar values. I don't need UV for my personal needs, but with Davis and others there are a host of add on items from solar to leaf wetness and soil temps.  I'm fascinated by the solar and inferrred clouds with my other stations that have this feature, but back when these basic stations were designed, that wasn't so much of a need, I guess.

I'd like to hear what you finally end up with as your station.  If you are worried about the rain sensor, just get a Rainwise or similar bucket off eBay and wire a plug to it and set the console to accept 0.01" tips for input.  By the way, I have an old original Rainwise green tipping bucket that came with my ID-5001 Heathkit which has to be 20+ years old and is still working.  I did have to replace a reed switch (too bad the mercury wetted ones aren't easily available any more). 

Good luck.  Dale
ECWx.info
&
ECWx.info/t/index.php

Offline DaleReid

  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 2002
    • Weather at Eau Claire, WI
Re: Peet Brothers Ultimeter 2100
« Reply #4 on: June 07, 2019, 12:25:47 PM »
Tim,
Nice pictures of your station.  I have more yard work to do before I'd even try to take photos like your's!

the rain sensor looks like the smaller one that they sold, at least when I could see what they had to offer other than in a catalog.  Not many places to see hands-on and look them over.


If I recall one of my friends bought that same station as you have, and his rain sensor had a little siphon emptying setup rather than tipping bucket.  It seemed the mud dabbers and spiders loved to plug it up.  Do you have that siphon unit?  Did they make a better shield to keep the critters from setting up housekeeping in there?  I always wanted to get something like that as another way to measure rain, along with all the other ones I have scattered around. 

Just curious if it has worked well for you.  Andy had a real access problem with a small lot and lots of trees so he couldn't have as nice a set up as you have for checking it out and cleaning when the pollen and maple seeds and oak tree stuff would clog it.

Dale
K9ELD
ECWx.info
&
ECWx.info/t/index.php

Offline WX9TRS

  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 11
Re: Peet Brothers Ultimeter 2100
« Reply #5 on: June 07, 2019, 03:14:06 PM »
I do have to clean items out of it from time to time but other than that it has worked well.
No more issues with electronics eating bugs.
It and the anemometer/antennas are connected to lightening suppressors and grounding rods.
It has been struck by lightning once. Knocked out the Ultimeter box and one antenna.
Fixed and back up in a week.

Peets seems as good as ever since the sale. 


Just added a webcam and website this week.  Still tweaking streaming. 

« Last Edit: June 07, 2019, 03:24:31 PM by WX9TRS »

Offline WX9TRS

  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 11
Re: Peet Brothers Ultimeter 2100
« Reply #6 on: June 28, 2019, 05:33:41 PM »
Weather station live and weather cam. 
www.eyesonthesky.net

Offline DaleReid

  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 2002
    • Weather at Eau Claire, WI
Re: Peet Brothers Ultimeter 2100
« Reply #7 on: June 28, 2019, 08:00:31 PM »
Nicely done.
What did you choose for webcams?
ECWx.info
&
ECWx.info/t/index.php

Offline txweather.org

  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 1597
    • Texas Weather
Re: Peet Brothers Ultimeter 2100
« Reply #8 on: June 28, 2019, 08:25:39 PM »
Very nice and clean! Well done!

----
Davis Vantage Pro2 Plus +FARS|Meteobridge Nano SD|Meteohub|Meteobridge MR-3020|WU KTXSPRIN75/PWS JRARGWX75/CWOP EW2972/WBB TXWDVUE75/Blitzortung ID: 1142|AWEKAS: 12095
Donations are welcome: https://paypal.me/ffuentesb

Offline WX9TRS

  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 11
Re: Peet Brothers Ultimeter 2100
« Reply #9 on: June 28, 2019, 09:06:18 PM »
Nicely done.
What did you choose for webcams?

Thanks!
AmCrest HD Pro cameras.

Offline blizzardof78

  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 651
    • Ohio Weather
Re: Peet Brothers Ultimeter 2100
« Reply #10 on: June 29, 2019, 12:01:43 AM »
I have a 2100 from just after they came out.  Got it at Dayton Hamvention when Peet Bro still had a booth there at the old Hara Arena.  So long ago i can't recall when I got it, pushing 15 years I'll bet.

I have had zero problems with their pro rain gauge (I think it is identical to the RainWise big one) and decided to go with the bigger one over the little egg shaped standard one.

Amazingly even the humidity and temp sensors are comparing closely to the other sensors I have in the same general area.

My only problem was with a lightning strike close to my house taking out lots of stuff, including the box and display.  I found a 2100 on eBay that no one bought quickly and made an offer, got it and plugged in the new box and left the rest alone.  Works like a champ.

I have a big display that I got for much less than their list price on eBay, also, and love it.  You sure can see it across the room.

Being a hard wired unit, there is more than just slapping a instrument cluster up on the post outside and mounting the box and display inside.  but it updates wind speed quickly and as I said, just keeps chugging along.

I understand that a year or so the company changed hands.  I hope they will stay in business, understanding their basic design is older but does work well.  And their technical support/sales have been terrific.  When I had the issue with the lightning, the person on the phone was very gracious, answered questions, and won my loyalty by being so helpful. 

Like anything else, times change.  But things that don't change are temperature, humidity, wind values and rain.  If you measure them with quality well designed components, it is the same no matter what.

The little box does have a backlight which you can leave on, and the visibility of the display seems superior to the Davis Vantage console to my eyes.

The nice thing, too, is that the Peet Console does have an output that my weather software, Weather Display, reads and is able to display and post to my web page, and hasn't been touched in maybe 5 or 7 years.

Like all stuff in the sun and weather, the plastic and cables do get nailed by radiation and over time may craze or crack, at least not seem as shiny as when I put them up. But they use UV resistant black cable and so far no failures or even appearance of having to be replaced.

The only thing I wish I had the ability to (easily) add would be solar values. I don't need UV for my personal needs, but with Davis and others there are a host of add on items from solar to leaf wetness and soil temps.  I'm fascinated by the solar and inferrred clouds with my other stations that have this feature, but back when these basic stations were designed, that wasn't so much of a need, I guess.

I'd like to hear what you finally end up with as your station.  If you are worried about the rain sensor, just get a Rainwise or similar bucket off eBay and wire a plug to it and set the console to accept 0.01" tips for input.  By the way, I have an old original Rainwise green tipping bucket that came with my ID-5001 Heathkit which has to be 20+ years old and is still working.  I did have to replace a reed switch (too bad the mercury wetted ones aren't easily available any more). 

Good luck.  Dale

Nice write-up Dale!!

Say, could you post some photos of the indoor large display you were talking about? Have you ever done any video of it in operation during breezy weather? Just a thought.

Take care!

Don in Ohio.

Offline blizzardof78

  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 651
    • Ohio Weather
Re: Peet Brothers Ultimeter 2100
« Reply #11 on: October 22, 2020, 11:38:18 PM »
Is there anyone here that can give me some assistance on the phone with the "Weather Picture"? I purchased a 2100 and Weather Picture and am having issues with the Weather Picture. Can anyone assist, thanks.

Don in Ohio

Offline DaleReid

  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 2002
    • Weather at Eau Claire, WI
Re: Peet Brothers Ultimeter 2100
« Reply #12 on: October 23, 2020, 07:42:00 AM »
Don,
I'm far from an expert, but what issues are you having?
I am not able to call you at least right now, but would be thinking and researching the info I have and may be able to help, but need some idea what you need help with?

PM me if you wish, or give a few thoughts on what you are running into as a problem.
Dale
ECWx.info
&
ECWx.info/t/index.php

Offline blizzardof78

  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 651
    • Ohio Weather
Re: Peet Brothers Ultimeter 2100
« Reply #13 on: October 23, 2020, 08:25:11 AM »
Don,
I'm far from an expert, but what issues are you having?
I am not able to call you at least right now, but would be thinking and researching the info I have and may be able to help, but need some idea what you need help with?

PM me if you wish, or give a few thoughts on what you are running into as a problem.
Dale
Hi Dale... Last night around 2 a.m. I was up briefly and noticed the Daily High category had an err0 in it. Everything else was normal. It seems the vast majority of issues occur in the daily high category or current temperature, nothing else. I just left it go, didn't bother with a restart of turn off / on at 2 a.m. When I awoke this morning it was back to normal and is currently operating "normally".

Check out my youtube video I produced just yesterday to demonstrate and explain the issue(s) a little better. It is located at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgi6AIZYbBg&t=7s

Thanks in advance for any insight you may have!

Don in Ohio
« Last Edit: October 23, 2020, 08:32:57 AM by blizzardof78 »

Offline DaleReid

  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 2002
    • Weather at Eau Claire, WI
Re: Peet Brothers Ultimeter 2100
« Reply #14 on: October 23, 2020, 10:06:15 AM »
The fact you have 'most' of it working correctly shows the very good setup you already have in place.  Usually they don't work at all and a lot of changing of settings and such seem necessary, but the king's share is already done.

I will watch the complete Youtube later (or my wife will wonder why I'm not in the car for errands and meeting some deadlines she thinks is more important!) and then look into the Err message.  I have had that a couple times and it was something goofy, and even time on the phone with Florida Peet Sales wasn't able to help me completely figure it out.

This is very fixable, I think.

Oh, I really love the Weather Pictures.  Huge display, very configurable (even if you have to take the back off and fiddle with DIP switches) and you can read them in the dark and across the room easily.  Too bad they are as costly as they are, but you see how well they are built when you take one apart.

I've had one up for over 10 years and never a glitch.   A second one has had the Err for one thing and I know there were somethings I noted, but the guy at Peet said all the newer stuff should be completely backwards compatible with the old.  Not sure, but will dig around and try to get back to you by early next week, unless someone else comes up with some suggestions for you.
Dale
ECWx.info
&
ECWx.info/t/index.php

Offline DaleReid

  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 2002
    • Weather at Eau Claire, WI
Re: Peet Brothers Ultimeter 2100
« Reply #15 on: October 23, 2020, 10:16:53 AM »
Curiosity was killing me and I distracted my wife long enough to watch the video.

I know and sense the frustration with it not being 100% on all the time.

I see that you aren't feeding the output from the 2100 to anything else, like WeatherDisplay.  That requires a splitter and of course an RS232 type hook up to a properly configured Weather Display (maybe other software works, too, don't know) but the reason I wonder about that is to see if when you get an err message on the Picture, there is a glitch in the data to the logging/display software, too.

As you know, the data output from the box is 'just' a stream of characters, so for one item to be off and the rest OK implies that the 2100 is sending out something that is out of range for whatever reason, or that the display card in the picture is not happy.

One test (and I know how many screws are on the back of the unit!) is to change the DIP switch to the same thing on say the wind speed one temporarily, and when the temperature goes to Err4 or Err0, see if BOTH of the cards show the same thing.  I had an issue with the setup of the output string (there is the most robust string that I ended up using from the menu of choices on the 2100) that seemed to be least glitching, with the one board.  But let me be more specific when I can dig for old notes.

Dale
ECWx.info
&
ECWx.info/t/index.php

Offline DaleReid

  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 2002
    • Weather at Eau Claire, WI
Re: Peet Brothers Ultimeter 2100
« Reply #16 on: October 23, 2020, 10:20:10 AM »
did you see this in the Picture Manual?

"If you have selected a function to be displayed on the
WEATHER PICTURE that requires Complete Record Mode, but
are operating the keyboard in Data Logging Mode, the error
code "Err4" will appear in the red numeric display. Change to
Complete Record Mode by the following key combo: Press and
hold (these icons didn't copy here) and for 3 seconds to enter this mode. (It may
also be necessary to power-down and power-up the WEATHER
PICTURE to reset and clear the error.)"

ECWx.info
&
ECWx.info/t/index.php

Offline blizzardof78

  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 651
    • Ohio Weather
Re: Peet Brothers Ultimeter 2100
« Reply #17 on: October 23, 2020, 01:44:28 PM »
did you see this in the Picture Manual?

"If you have selected a function to be displayed on the
WEATHER PICTURE that requires Complete Record Mode, but
are operating the keyboard in Data Logging Mode, the error
code "Err4" will appear in the red numeric display. Change to
Complete Record Mode by the following key combo: Press and
hold (these icons didn't copy here) and for 3 seconds to enter this mode. (It may
also be necessary to power-down and power-up the WEATHER
PICTURE to reset and clear the error.)"

Yes, I did see that and in fact performed that move a few times to make sure there was no doubt, it was what it should be. Since writing this morning it seems (I haven't been here all day to watch the display) that all is working the way it 'should' be. I'm wondering if, like other digital WX stations, that a bad packet of information is sent time to time and that causes the error (?). For now it seems to be working as intended and all I have to do is mount the wind sensors and rain gauge (if I choose to utilize it). As the saying goes "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" lol. Could you post a current photo from your "picture"? I bet we are both gonna get a good workout from the weather this weekend. West Yellowstone was down to at least -6° this morning and locations along the Canadian / US border in Saskatchewan were down to -13°. BRRRRRR!  :shock:

Offline blizzardof78

  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 651
    • Ohio Weather
Re: Peet Brothers Ultimeter 2100
« Reply #18 on: October 25, 2020, 02:56:01 PM »
Well, I have returned home from being out of town for the weekend. My mom stopped in Saturday to take care of the cats. She checked the Weather Picture (WP) and said it was working normally. I have been here for about an hour so far and all seems well.  [tup]

My next move is to get the wind sensors put up, hopefully today before dark.

Don in Ohio

Offline vladcoroeanu

  • Vremea in Romania: https://www.celsium.ro
  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 6
  • Vremea in Romania: https://www.celsium.ro
    • Vremea
Re: Peet Brothers Ultimeter 2100
« Reply #19 on: October 28, 2020, 06:17:54 AM »
Even if I know that this company is really a good one, I still remember that I had some problems with the anemometer on Ultimeter 100 version. Now, this one is really a pro, probably the material and construction of the multimeter also. But after that problems, I bought a Bresser brand one, a German one. From your images, Ultimeter 2100 look very good...
Vremea in Romania: https://www.celsium.ro

Offline blizzardof78

  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 651
    • Ohio Weather
Re: Peet Brothers Ultimeter 2100
« Reply #20 on: October 29, 2020, 05:18:38 PM »
I posted this earlier elsewhere but thought I'd share it here. Sorry for the cross-posting...

So after looking long and far on Facebook, I failed to find a single FB page dedicated to this fine weather station. So since I've recently purchased a Peet Bros. 2100 and Weather Picture and got it mostly up and running, I decided to create a FB page. If you have ANY of the PB UltimeterXXXX models / the Weather Picture, please go to https://www.facebook.com/Peet-Brothers-Weather-Stations-102012371714766  and give it a LIKE. Your photos and video is more than welcome, that's why I created the group.

I thank you for your consideration and in advance for any of you who decide to follow the page.

Don in Ohio

 

anything