Topic: Ambient Weather WS-1000 WiFi beta review

[JohnN]

First off, I hope Ed doesn't mind me posting this. Just let me know, and if you do I will take it down.

I got my second Ambient Weather beta test product today, and I will post my thoughts on it here.

First, it is a very nice weather station. The console is a great color TFT screen, something I have not seen on any weather stations in my (limited) experience on weather stations. It is easy to set up. The wind vane and batteries are the only things that need to be installed. I like the WiFi connectivity, because no computer is needed. The solar and UV sensors are a nice addition. I have a Davis Vue, so there is nothing I can compare them to for accuracy. The anemometer reads in 1/10s of a mph, which is nice. However, the anemometer has a negative (see below).

Now, because this is a beta product there are some negatives. It seems that the anemometer reads low, and requires a good wind to get it started spinning. The console has internet time synchronization, but that has not been working. It was set by default to time.nist.gov, which does not seem to be a valid website. I changed it to nist.time.gov, and I still get an error. To set up WunderGround and connect to the WiFi network, you have to use the on-screen keyboard, which is navigated using arrows. I would like to see a touchscreen or physical keyboard, but I know that would be expensive. Another negative is I can not figure out how to reset daily totals, like rainfall. When I installed this, I had a few false rain bucket tips, so it recorded .21" of rain, even though there really was none today. I also noticed the humidity seems like it may read a bit low, which can easily be fixed with an offset. I will have to wait a few days to see if it really does read low. I saved the biggest negative for last, and this is a really big one. In fact, it is so big it would prevent me from buying this station. That negative is that it can only upload to WeatherUnderground. Currently there is no PC connectivity, which is understandable. That means no uploading to PWSWeather, CWOP, UK Met Office's WOW. As much as I like the station, this truly would be a deal-breaker. In the final version, however, it is possible that more than just WeatherUnderground would be offered.

Here is a picture of the console.

Here is the ISS.


So this is my current thoughts on the WS-1000 WiFi, and I will post an update in a week or so. I just want to note that this is my first draft of this post, and I did no editing. That is why it is so long and rambling. If you read this far, give yourself a cookie.

[Dr Obbins]

I also received a WS-1000 for beta testing. I do agree with you about the console screen - it is different than anything I have seen also. It looks like something my wife will allow in the living room, instead of a utilitarian  weather station. I hope that this is the direction new consoles will be going.

I am comparing the WS-1000 to a VP2 non fars with the anemometer and solar up 22'. The WS-1000 wind vane is changing direction while the wind is reading 0mph on both units. The VP2 wind vane is not moving at this low speed. Now the VP2 does read up to 2 mph before the WS-1000 and sometimes the WS-1000 reads with out the VP2 showing any wind (but it is 22' higher).

The WS-1000 is transmitting across a 2/3 acre lot and through a brick house with out any troubles.

I found that setting up the wireless network was very intuitive with little need to reference the manual. Setting up WU was also easy. Here is the WS-1000 and here is the VP2. Side by side can be seen at the bottom of this page. Cave City is the VP2 and Hiseville is the WS-1000. While the temps are off a little, he did state "The temperature shield has not been optimized, resulting in 2-6 degF temperature rise in the shield. This has to do with the shape of the shield and lack of air flow due to the angle and curvature of the plates. This will be fixed in production."

My time server came set to time.nist.gov and connected right away. Now about your biggest negative - I guess that it would depend on what your intentions are for using this station. Looking at it from a weather geeks point of view, I agree with you that it would be nice to have PWSWeather, CWOP, etc... But look at it from a non geeks point of view.
I think this would be perfect for a non rural setup where there will probably be other houses and trees, so the wind gauges not being up high is not an issue. The non geek will probably not have his own weather website or care much for those other services. Me being a geek, I would not want the non geeks data polluting the CWOP database if the station is not positioned correctly. This unit can be taken out of the box and easily set up. I had mine mounted, set up, and transmitting to WU in under 2 hours. Get your WU account and you are uploading to the internet where you can see your data anywhere / any time. The display is pleasing enough that the wife might not mind it in the kitchen. It comes with more sensors than my VP2 (solar and UV) and at far less cost.

My question is - how does the barometer know how many feet above sea level it is in order to provide an accurate reading. We are expecting 2" - 3" of rain this weekend, so we can see how the measurements will compare.

In summary, ease of setup, ease of use, pleasant esthetics, and a competitive target price, I think the WS-1000 will be a winner.

[JohnN]

Just changed the time server back to time.nist.gov, and it successfully synchronized. I am looking forward to comparing the readings to my Davis Vantage Vue.

[Dr Obbins]

Me too.
Another cool thing to mention about the console is that it has auto brightness settings. It also has times that you can set to automatically turn on and off the screen. Mine is set to turn on at 5:00 am and off at 20:00pm. The indoor temp sensor is a separate unit so having the display illuminated will not affect the indoor temp reading.

[smorris]

I got my review unit yesterday, as well. As noted, it was easy to assemble, and I mounted it near my Davis VP2+ for comparison (although my VP2+ anemometer is at 33 feet.)

The manual needs a lot of work regarding order of information. One of the first things it goes throu is telling you how to view the history. But you haven't set the time or date yet, and the history has wild numbers and dates from a year ago. It is a few chapters before you find out where to set the time and date, and near the end of the manual to tell you how to reset the history.

And once you do get to setting the time and date, you can do it manually or via the Internet. But you don't learn how to connect wifi for several chapters. Same with Weather underground connection instructions coming before setting up wifi. WU is looking for W/M^2, but the unit defaults to lux. so unless you know this ahead of time, your WU graphs are screwy, requiring deliting the lux data. This area needs some work!

Largest discrepancy I saw was the solar/UV readings. The Ambient unit was generally in the neighborhood of 100-150 W/M^2 lower than the VP2+, but the UV was substantially higher. Late morning, the VP2+ showed a UV of 4 while the Ambient WS-1000 showed 9. Later it was VP2+ showing 5-5.5 and the WS-1000 gave UV readings of 11-15. This is in northern Ohio in early spring with a light cirrus cloud coverage. I was afraid to go outside for fear I'd burst into flames!

[hankster]

Just got mine setup. While not in an optimal location, it is OK for now for prelim checkout. The first thing I noticed was the UV was way high, reading 15 before noon. Setting the "gain" to .6 brings it down to what appears to be close to normal readings. It does take a bit for the anemometer to start spinning, hopefully the bearings will free up a bit over time. It has a display for wind chill but nothing for heat index, would be nice if that changed with the temp. range as we seldom have a wind chill in SWFL.

While to color display is nice, it uses very little color on the main display screen. At least having the icon change colors according to the readings would be a nice touch. i.e. from blue to red for low to higher temps.

The WU setup allows you to change all the server settings which leads to hope you could change the settings to upload to a private web site. The beta questionnaire leads me to believe that uploads to multiple sites may be possible. If this is the case you could get a personal weather web site up and running (with 15 second updates) without a computer needed.

[JohnN]

Figure I'll post a link to my Wunderground page: http://www.wunderground.com/weatherstation/WXDailyHistory.asp?ID=KNJHOWEL15

[JACK10562]

Just got mine late yesterday, and I'm setting it up today.

My outdoor sensors are not being detected at all on the console. They are less than 20 feet apart.

I removed and reinstalled the batteries, the transmitter LED does it's blinking thing, I did the outdoor sensor re-register steps in the console, and I still see all dashes for all the outdoor readings.

There is no listed outdoor device in the "about" page.

I was able to set up the wi-fi and sync the time server.

Inside seems OK, however I did not compare them to any other sensors for accuracy.

I guess it's DOA.

The manual order definitely needs sorting out.

[hankster]

Update: I relocated the WS1000 up above the roof from the back fence where I started my test. It is located about 25' from my Vue. Both are at about the same elevation above the roof, but the WS1000 is located at the south end of the roof where the Vue is in the middle. It was a windy day and the WS1000 recorded a gust of 27mph, the Vue recorded a high gust of 22mph today.

WU site is at http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=26.693%2C-81.879&sp=KFLNORTH40

[hankster]

Update 2: Was a clear sunny day so was able to study the solar data. It has been established that solar radiation is ~1350 w/m2. But about 30% of that never reaches the earth and is absorbed in the atmosphere. It is generally believed that the maximum hitting the earth is 1050 w/m2 at the equator, on the summer solstice at noon. Since we are not located on the equator and it's not summer solstiice a little dirty math shows the maximum I should get here in SWFL is about 1015 w/m2.

It appears the WS1000 solar sensor is reading a bit high as I had a reading 1040 w/m2 today. That's only a 2% off so not bad really. Of course the only way to know for sure is to get a hold of a calibrated solar radiation detector.

[JohnN]

I have no way to know if the solar radiation sensor is correct, but I do know the UV sensor reads high. For example, today at 11 AM it was reading a UV level of 10. It looks like the solar radiation maxed out at about 900 w/m^2. Does anyone know what kind of radiation I should expect in Central NJ, or where I can find that info?

[JACK10562]

Update: My console began recording data from the outdoor sensor array this morning, after another cold-start/repowering! Previous similar attempts did not successfully restore communications.

http://www.wunderground.com/weatherstation/WXDailyHistory.asp?ID=KMAEASTH9

I will allow it to run for a week or so before making any calibration adjustments. I did reset the "rainfall" that recorded as a result of handling during the install.

Solar WM/2 is reporting low and the UV index higher as compared to my Davis station.

[hankster]

Update 3: I had a solar reading of 1370 today and it was mostly cloudy. Seems to be impractical but then I remembered the "cloud edge" effect where the sun coming out (or going behind) a cloud can actually magnify the solar radiation. So it does appear that readings over 1050 can be achieved for very short periods of time. The best way to check this reading is on a clear day at solar noon. But then the solar sensor is only rated a + or - 15% so not sure just how much we should worry about exact numbers anyways

Anyone know how much memory the console has or how many lines of data it can store? Right now I'm up to 8500 lines of data stored.

[JACK10562]

The console has 39MB total storage. Using the console "tool" button click 4 times to the "factory" page, then select the "about-display" tab.

[JohnN]

I've had this station for however long, and am noticing a Wifi problem. It seems to randomly drop its Wifi connection every once in a while. Right now, it is not connected, and so not updating Wunderground. I have it in the same room as my router, so it is not a range problem. I haven't changed any Wifi settings, either. http://www.wunderground.com/weatherstation/WXDailyHistory.asp?ID=KNJHOWEL15
UPDATE: Just re-entered my WiFi password, and it said it connected to my network. Well, the icon still doesn't show up and it still doesn't update WU. For the record, it said it was connected before I re-entered the password.

[smorris]

John,

I had something similar happen, and had to power the console down to get it to work. Even weirder, when I went into the setup screen, the network land WU options weren't even there! That's when I had to power it down. Worked fine after that.

[JohnN]

Just unplugged it for 5 seconds, I will see what happens.

UPDATE: Now that it powered back on, the WiFi and WU options are gone. I'll try unplugging again.

UPDATE 2: Now I had it unplugged again (longer than 10 seconds, because I dropped the wire and had to fish for it) and it seems like it is back up. This is certainly a strange thing...

[Dr Obbins]

FYI, Mine is still working OK here with out any issues. Last weekend I stopped uploading to WU because I didn't think they need/want 2 stations reporting from the exact same location.

[JACK10562]

I have had numerous instances of reporting errors, causing data to be thrown out. I'm getting blank lines on the tabular history with -9999 watts/m^2 showing for solar.

[hankster]

I stopped sending to WU about a month after starting. No need to send them bad data. Just a couple days ago the rain gauge started reading double and has now stopped working. Time for the trash can it seems.

[JohnN]

The only thing I've been regularly checking on mine is temp. and humidity. The humidity seems to vary quite a bit, but temp. has been spot on. It still seems to be having WiFi problems, though. I just checked, and it hasn't been updating Wunderground, and there is no WiFi symbol.

[JACK10562]

On a few occasions my console wifi icon disappeared and WU uploads stopped, but the wifi scan page showed it still connected to my router.

Ed stated in an email this is a known hardware issue that will be resolved in a future build.

I wonder if we'll get to beta-test that one?

I'm game!

[hankster]

Since the rain bucket on mine quit working and the outside temp/hum was never right, it was time to tear it down to see what it's made of. Here are a few pics of the inside of the ISS. Next up is a tear down of the console.

[hankster]

I wonder if we'll get to beta-test that one?

When I asked Ed about this I got the following reply

"Sorry, no plans, otherwise we would have held these."

[smorris]

Did anyone get a reply or any feedback whatsoever after sending in their review? Like many of you, I put a lot of time and detail into the review, and was somewhat disappointed not to hear anything at all back from Ed.

My review was not glowing, and I summarized that for less money than the WS-100-wifi I would recommend the Davis Vantage Vue instead, but I'm assuming they wanted an honest evaluation.

Steve