Author Topic: WS-80 Ultrasonic Wind sensor array  (Read 22479 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline mauro63

  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 391
Re: WS-80 Ultrasonic Wind sensor array
« Reply #50 on: September 12, 2019, 08:47:02 AM »
If you like you can follow my ws80 vs wh31 in a Barani Meteoshield Standard comparision at this link
Mauro
http://www.kwos.org/marinadimontemarciano/indexDesktop.php

Mauro

Offline henry

  • Senior Member
  • **
  • Posts: 56
Re: WS-80 Ultrasonic Wind sensor array
« Reply #51 on: September 20, 2019, 08:34:47 AM »
I have read all your comments with interest and promise to keep the community advised of what I see having the benefit of both bits of kit especially with rain in mind.
I am sure Mauro in Italy will also as he has the benefit of a VP2 to compare with as well.

The transducers seem to be well recessed (see previous photo) and on the top of the sensor housing so I hope this might help on the rain droplet issue.

As for build quality, I don't disagree that there is a risk for anything mass produced at a cost point that you will get build issues, but in general I think the fine offset kit has come on leaps and bounds over the last 5 years in terms of technical design and quality of product. They also seem to be genuinely interested in what the community say about their products and keen to improve them when something is observed. Not many companies seem that invested these days and I know that they are developing all sorts of nice technology for the PWS market.

I agree, and you can be sure, I will post every positive or negative impression without filters
from yesterday I've turned the ws80 sensor to North, same exposition of vp2 and same height of vp2 anemometer
Ecowitt staff has my tests to learn what is good and what is wrong, and I think nobody low end company can have same attention, this is a very great value in my opinion
I cannot ask them to test the ws80 on water triple point, this is not a professional sensor factory

 [ You are not allowed to view attachments ]

Mauro


Actually we made a lot test inside a high raining intensity simulation chamber and we can confirm that this rain water accumulation on sensor issue is not a problem with our design. I have this installed on roof through a typhoon with heavy rain , all the readings seams normal. We would like more testing result from you guys to see if there are problems there. Thanks for all the efforts and help.

Offline Mandrake

  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 1102
Re: WS-80 Ultrasonic Wind sensor array
« Reply #52 on: September 20, 2019, 08:53:44 AM »
Thank you Henry, that's very positive information and good to hear!
Hopefully our real world observations will follow your Typhoon testing and lab work.
Mind you I really don't want to see anything as extreme as a typhoon here!
G1ZFO

Ecowitt HP2551A + WH65 Tri-Wing (Wunderground: IGUILDFO67)
Ecowitt GW1000 (Wunderground: IGUILDFO68)
Ecowitt GW1000 (Mk2) test environment driving CumulusMX on a RPi 3b
Ecowitt GW2000 (Test)
Ecowitt WS90 Wittboy - Test
Ecowitt WH51 (x6) Soil Moisture Sensor
Ecowitt WH41 PM2.5 AQM Sensor
Ecowitt WH31 (x8) Thermo/Hygro Sensor
Ecowitt WS80 Ultrasonic Anemometer (pre-prod test)
Ecowitt WH57 Lightning Sensor -test
Ecowitt WH32-EP (SHT35) + Davis 7714 Screen
Ecowitt WH45 CO2/PM2.5/PM10 -Test
Ecowitt WN34 Soil Temp Sensor -Test
Ecowitt WN34 Water Temp Sensor -Test
Ecowitt WN35 Leaf Moisture

Offline mauro63

  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 391
Re: WS-80 Ultrasonic Wind sensor array
« Reply #53 on: September 24, 2019, 08:12:29 AM »
Yesterday we have had a very powerful thunderstorm, with downburst, lightning, and thunders
from the start of this event, the ws80 wind sensor show this:?

 [ You are not allowed to view attachments ]  [ You are not allowed to view attachments ]

Mauro

Offline Mapantz

  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 756
    • Wareham Weather
Re: WS-80 Ultrasonic Wind sensor array
« Reply #54 on: September 24, 2019, 08:13:39 AM »
Can you show a graph of the wind direction?


Offline mauro63

  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 391
Re: WS-80 Ultrasonic Wind sensor array
« Reply #55 on: September 24, 2019, 08:17:10 AM »
Can you show a graph of the wind direction?

Yes I can, the same problem

 [ You are not allowed to view attachments ]


Offline Mapantz

  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 756
    • Wareham Weather
Re: WS-80 Ultrasonic Wind sensor array
« Reply #56 on: September 24, 2019, 08:18:44 AM »
heh - that looks familiar!


Offline mauro63

  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 391
Re: WS-80 Ultrasonic Wind sensor array
« Reply #57 on: September 24, 2019, 08:21:57 AM »
heh - that looks familiar!

if I understood well, you can confirm same problem?
so, the ultrasonic wind sensor inside the ws80 is absolutely not good in very strong environmental situations?
this is not a good news

Mauro

Offline weather34

  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 1068
    • https://weather34.com/homeweatherstation
Re: WS-80 Ultrasonic Wind sensor array
« Reply #58 on: September 24, 2019, 08:22:47 AM »
Yesterday we have had a very powerful thunderstorm, with downburst, lightning, and thunders
from the start of this event, the ws80 wind sensor show this:?

 [ You are not allowed to view attachments ]  [ You are not allowed to view attachments ]

Mauro

just as i thought wind sensor fails or becomes erratic under intense rain ,your chart vento see it straight line for almost length of rain event or did it dry it out and come back to life .. now anyone sez to me these are or its more accurate than a traditional cup design or comparable go and wait for an intense rain event like this guy just had ,then make that quotation..this replicates what i had seen using an ultrasonic sensor for last two years . low end consumer versions like these or weatherflow versions are inconsistent during
adverse conditions , no point in having sensitive at low end speeds when it cant meet the needs when things go a bit wild on the weather side of things.. another unconvincing attempt at this technology.

Offline Mapantz

  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 756
    • Wareham Weather
Re: WS-80 Ultrasonic Wind sensor array
« Reply #59 on: September 24, 2019, 08:23:27 AM »
heh - that looks familiar!

if I understood well, you can confirm same problem?
so, the ultrasonic wind sensor inside the ws80 is absolutely not good in very strong environmental situations?
this is not a good news

Mauro

I don't have the WS-80 but I can confirm that the same thing happened to two different models of ultrasonic anemometer I owned.


Offline weather34

  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 1068
    • https://weather34.com/homeweatherstation
Re: WS-80 Ultrasonic Wind sensor array
« Reply #60 on: September 24, 2019, 08:28:24 AM »
just to throw in for fun the use of piezoelectric sensors , we had three earth tremors this morning one deemed as an earthquake at 4.9 all recorded rainfall using a piezo sensors . epicenter was 30km aprox from home..
thing im saying piezo types be it wind or rain are prone to so many adverse things involving sound and vibrations ,water..  piezo sensors make good low cost acoustic guitar pickups ...

ps you can replicate wind sensor issue when wet by just getting your garden hose out and spray on the wind device for 10 minutes or so...
« Last Edit: September 24, 2019, 08:38:18 AM by weather34 »

Offline weather34

  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 1068
    • https://weather34.com/homeweatherstation
Re: WS-80 Ultrasonic Wind sensor array
« Reply #61 on: September 24, 2019, 08:31:18 AM »
and mauro thanks for your honesty it will make it better product in the long run if they listen..
« Last Edit: September 24, 2019, 08:39:04 AM by weather34 »

Offline galfert

  • Global Moderator
  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 6822
Re: WS-80 Ultrasonic Wind sensor array
« Reply #62 on: September 24, 2019, 09:18:37 AM »
Heavy thunderstorm rain is like every other day occurrence here in central Florida in the Summer. No thanks, I'll keep my wind cups and vane.
Ecowitt GW1000 | Meteobridge on Raspberry Pi
WU: KFLWINTE111  |  PWSweather: KFLWINTE111
CWOP: FW3708  |  AWEKAS: 14814
Windy: pws-f075acbe
Weather Underground Issue Tracking
Tele-Pole

Offline henry

  • Senior Member
  • **
  • Posts: 56
Re: WS-80 Ultrasonic Wind sensor array
« Reply #63 on: September 24, 2019, 09:40:51 AM »
Yesterday we have had a very powerful thunderstorm, with downburst, lightning, and thunders
from the start of this event, the ws80 wind sensor show this:?

 [ You are not allowed to view attachments ]  [ You are not allowed to view attachments ]

Mauro

Mauro: what is your Mac? Is it publishing data on ecowitt.net?

Offline mauro63

  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 391
Re: WS-80 Ultrasonic Wind sensor array
« Reply #64 on: September 24, 2019, 09:50:00 AM »
Yesterday we have had a very powerful thunderstorm, with downburst, lightning, and thunders
from the start of this event, the ws80 wind sensor show this:?

 [ You are not allowed to view attachments ]  [ You are not allowed to view attachments ]

Mauro

Mauro: what is your Mac? Is it publishing data on ecowitt.net?

Yes Henry,
MAC DC:4F:22:58:B6:B4

Offline Mandrake

  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 1102
Re: WS-80 Ultrasonic Wind sensor array
« Reply #65 on: September 24, 2019, 01:26:26 PM »
Oh dear that's disappointing to see.
Here in the southern UK former Tropical storm Humbert blew through in the early hours with heavy rain and thunder. I expected to see some sort of impact on the sensor but it all looked ok.
WS-80 sensor
 [ You are not allowed to view attachments ]
Normal Tri-Wing sensors
 [ You are not allowed to view attachments ]

As you can see huge amount of rainfall but nothing odd observed on the Ultrasonic sensors.
G1ZFO

Ecowitt HP2551A + WH65 Tri-Wing (Wunderground: IGUILDFO67)
Ecowitt GW1000 (Wunderground: IGUILDFO68)
Ecowitt GW1000 (Mk2) test environment driving CumulusMX on a RPi 3b
Ecowitt GW2000 (Test)
Ecowitt WS90 Wittboy - Test
Ecowitt WH51 (x6) Soil Moisture Sensor
Ecowitt WH41 PM2.5 AQM Sensor
Ecowitt WH31 (x8) Thermo/Hygro Sensor
Ecowitt WS80 Ultrasonic Anemometer (pre-prod test)
Ecowitt WH57 Lightning Sensor -test
Ecowitt WH32-EP (SHT35) + Davis 7714 Screen
Ecowitt WH45 CO2/PM2.5/PM10 -Test
Ecowitt WN34 Soil Temp Sensor -Test
Ecowitt WN34 Water Temp Sensor -Test
Ecowitt WN35 Leaf Moisture

Offline mauro63

  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 391
Re: WS-80 Ultrasonic Wind sensor array
« Reply #66 on: September 24, 2019, 02:33:14 PM »
Oh dear that's disappointing to see.
Here in the southern UK former Tropical storm Humbert blew through in the early hours with heavy rain and thunder. I expected to see some sort of impact on the sensor but it all looked ok.
WS-80 sensor
 [ You are not allowed to view attachments ]
Normal Tri-Wing sensors
 [ You are not allowed to view attachments ]

As you can see huge amount of rainfall but nothing odd observed on the Ultrasonic sensors.

Only a question, 26,4 mm is the maximum rain rate?
thanks

Mauro

Offline Mandrake

  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 1102
Re: WS-80 Ultrasonic Wind sensor array
« Reply #67 on: September 24, 2019, 02:43:52 PM »
Yep, 26.4 was the peak rain rate....OK, so not massively heavy but fairly heavy rain for my location.
I think we topped out at 26.7 mm of rainfall which is a lot for a few hours when the annual rainfall is approx. 400mm here.
G1ZFO

Ecowitt HP2551A + WH65 Tri-Wing (Wunderground: IGUILDFO67)
Ecowitt GW1000 (Wunderground: IGUILDFO68)
Ecowitt GW1000 (Mk2) test environment driving CumulusMX on a RPi 3b
Ecowitt GW2000 (Test)
Ecowitt WS90 Wittboy - Test
Ecowitt WH51 (x6) Soil Moisture Sensor
Ecowitt WH41 PM2.5 AQM Sensor
Ecowitt WH31 (x8) Thermo/Hygro Sensor
Ecowitt WS80 Ultrasonic Anemometer (pre-prod test)
Ecowitt WH57 Lightning Sensor -test
Ecowitt WH32-EP (SHT35) + Davis 7714 Screen
Ecowitt WH45 CO2/PM2.5/PM10 -Test
Ecowitt WN34 Soil Temp Sensor -Test
Ecowitt WN34 Water Temp Sensor -Test
Ecowitt WN35 Leaf Moisture

Offline Mapantz

  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 756
    • Wareham Weather
Re: WS-80 Ultrasonic Wind sensor array
« Reply #68 on: September 24, 2019, 02:54:54 PM »
Yep, 26.4 was the peak rain rate....OK, so not massively heavy but fairly heavy rain for my location.
I think we topped out at 26.7 mm of rainfall which is a lot for a few hours when the annual rainfall is approx. 400mm here.

That would have been torrential. My Davis recorded 75mm/hr this morning but the Ecowitt was only 16.2mm/hr during torrential rain. Davis calculates the rain rate extremely fast and it always tallies up with the rainfall radar return echoes. The Ecowitt calculates it a different way, so it will never match the Davis.


Offline mauro63

  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 391
Re: WS-80 Ultrasonic Wind sensor array
« Reply #69 on: September 24, 2019, 02:56:35 PM »
Yep, 26.4 was the peak rain rate....OK, so not massively heavy but fairly heavy rain for my location.
I think we topped out at 26.7 mm of rainfall which is a lot for a few hours when the annual rainfall is approx. 400mm here.

ok, just for clarify, I have my ws80 from about two months, we have had some good rainy days, and without problems of ws80 wind measurements but not with same yesterday rain rate :)

we had a very powerful rain downburst, with thunder and lightning in the proximity, my davis vantage pro 2 yesterday rain rate

 [ You are not allowed to view attachments ]

yesterday ecowitt rain rate

 [ You are not allowed to view attachments ]
« Last Edit: September 24, 2019, 02:59:19 PM by mauro63 »

Offline mark014

  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 37
    • Weather conditions in Ślesin (Poland)
Re: WS-80 Ultrasonic Wind sensor array
« Reply #70 on: December 17, 2019, 06:42:45 PM »
I refresh the topic a bit, but I have a reason. Last week finally I received from Ecowitt a new upgraded version of the WS80 anemometer sensor with ultrasonic measurement of wind speed and its direction, detection of temperature and humidity, solar radiation and UV index.

A new feature of my sensor is built-in heater for possible snowfall or freezing rain during winter. For the time being, this does not seem to be the case in my region, to test this maybe I will have to wait until January.
The first thing that catches the eye is the small size. It's an integrated station, so there's little to assembly. You only need to screw the mount. The whole seems to be done solidly.



As you can see, the cable goes off from the device, which is connected to the heater and should be switched on at freezing temperatures or to melt snow / freezing rain.There is a tight connection and a 20-meter cable ending with a USB plug.


In the center of the round solar panel is a light and UV sensor with an LED indicating data transmission (every 4.75 sec).


Here you can see a new element, maybe it is the effect of searching for solutions for some disturbances in very heavy rain.
Aluminum mesh - surface tension conditioner layer - a patented cover that prevents the formation of water drops that interfere with wind measurements.


North indicator.


The sensor is ready for installation. Above the radiation shield for temperature sensor is also a reset and calibration button. In general, they are useful when the measurements faulty indicate the wind in the presence of silence, the data is not read or we insert spare batteries. However, so far I have not had such a case and it is better not to use them for no reason.


On the mounting arm side there is a plug on the USB plug used to update the firmware, although I find it unhandy after installing the sensor on a mast or roof. However, it gives you the chance to fix any defects.


I quickly mounted the sensor to the rain gauge post to compare the sizes of both sensors, which basically form a coherent whole, because the WS80 will not measure rainfall alone.


Eventually I placed the WS80 sensor on the same pole as the WS68 from Ecowitt to have a good comparison of the two. It's about 9 meters above the ground. For now, the first impressions are very positive.

The sensor itself will not work without a GW1000 gateway or Ecowitt HP2553 console (on the right). A console n the left comes from HP3501 weather station.

You can observe differences between both types of anemometers:
Weather data measured by HP3501 (WS68 wind sensor): https://www.wunderground.com/dashboard/pws/IWIELKOP26
measurements made by the WS80 sensor: https://www.wunderground.com/dashboard/pws/ILESIN3

If you have an Ecowitt account, you can also look for differences on the measurement pages on Ecowitt server:
HP3501: https://www.ecowitt.net/home/index?id=7764

WS80: https://www.ecowitt.net/home/index?id=7779
here the data is sent by the GW1000 gateway.

Above all, however, I am impressed with the frequency of measurements - every 5 seconds. On the console or on the WSView application you can see these changes almost every now and then, which gives a good impression of catching every gust. There is no inertia when measuring with ordinary vanes. The sensitivity seems to be much higher, which can be seen in the gusts - they are higher for the WS80, although I have no other device calibrated to determine if these readings actually have such strength.

The temperature on the roof is slightly higher than the one on 2 meters, usually to about 0.8 * C, but now we have quite windy weather. In strong winds, sensors at 9 and 2 meters gave identical indications. I don't know yet what the differences will be in full sun.

The light intensity is similar for both sensors, slightly lower for WS80.

« Last Edit: December 20, 2019, 05:33:14 PM by mark014 »

Offline Mapantz

  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 756
    • Wareham Weather
Re: WS-80 Ultrasonic Wind sensor array
« Reply #71 on: December 17, 2019, 06:47:39 PM »
If you get a wind direction that comes from the same angle as that pole, it'll cause measurements to be skewed.


Offline fkapp

  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 333
Re: WS-80 Ultrasonic Wind sensor array
« Reply #72 on: December 17, 2019, 07:28:01 PM »
Upgraded WS80 looks nice.
Heater is good addition.
Wonder when this will be available to purchase and what they will sell it for?

Offline KC5JIM

  • Senior Contributor
  • ****
  • Posts: 231
    • KC5JIM Weather
Re: WS-80 Ultrasonic Wind sensor array
« Reply #73 on: December 17, 2019, 10:08:55 PM »
Upgraded WS80 looks nice.
Heater is good addition.
Wonder when this will be available to purchase and what they will sell it for?

I'm certain they've already lost a large number of potential orders as people have already purchased new weather stations/equipment for Christmas. It's been three months since we heard "available VERY SOON"

I know that personally they lost selling five entire systems to me to be placed at schools, as I purchased two Weather Flow Air/Sky systems and reserved three Weather Flow Tempest systems on kickstarter. The Funding had to be actually invoiced by 12/13/19 or it was lost.

I really wanted to build out Ecowitt for all the schools, but due to the STEM curriculum, the systems are required to have ultrasonic wind and/or rain sensors. I could have gone with the Ecowitt WS-80 and WH-40 and still met the curriculum requirements, but we can't buy half a system and just hope that the rest will eventually make it to market.
Ecowitt Wittboy| FOSHKplugin on Pi 4


Offline Mandrake

  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 1102
Re: WS-80 Ultrasonic Wind sensor array
« Reply #74 on: December 18, 2019, 04:40:55 AM »
Very pleased to see this already capable sensor evolving nicely.
They are really thinking about how to make this the ultimate Ultra-sonic sensor array, and well down the road I think.
I can see the improvements from the pre-production model I have, and I am quite happy with the performance I have observed so far anyway.

As for availability, if people are really desperate the first port of call should always be to e-mail Ecowitt (support@ecowitt.com) to see what options are available.
Just because it and other configurations you desire are not listed or shown on their website does not mean you cannot purchase them.

Also just in from Lucy, the WS80 will be made available on the Ecowitt website by the end of the week for purchase for those after a late goodie for under the Christmas tree!
« Last Edit: December 18, 2019, 07:54:18 AM by Mandrake »
G1ZFO

Ecowitt HP2551A + WH65 Tri-Wing (Wunderground: IGUILDFO67)
Ecowitt GW1000 (Wunderground: IGUILDFO68)
Ecowitt GW1000 (Mk2) test environment driving CumulusMX on a RPi 3b
Ecowitt GW2000 (Test)
Ecowitt WS90 Wittboy - Test
Ecowitt WH51 (x6) Soil Moisture Sensor
Ecowitt WH41 PM2.5 AQM Sensor
Ecowitt WH31 (x8) Thermo/Hygro Sensor
Ecowitt WS80 Ultrasonic Anemometer (pre-prod test)
Ecowitt WH57 Lightning Sensor -test
Ecowitt WH32-EP (SHT35) + Davis 7714 Screen
Ecowitt WH45 CO2/PM2.5/PM10 -Test
Ecowitt WN34 Soil Temp Sensor -Test
Ecowitt WN34 Water Temp Sensor -Test
Ecowitt WN35 Leaf Moisture