Topic: ws2813 won't connect to sensors

[JoesHouse]

After nearly a year of flawless operation, came home the other day and display had dashes for all sensors. indoor temp and humidity read fine, date and time also.

Pulled all the sensors together and changed batteries and did the same for the display. All duracells just like when I setup.

Same result, hit the "/\" key to help it keep trying. No dice.
So I did a reset. Following all the instructions. Still nothing.

Have tried resetting 3 or more times giving plent of time to connect, and also just doing it with the out temp sensor since everything else runs through it and was getting tired of pulling batts from rain gauge and hitting the wind sensors button.

So, any ideas or is A.) the temp/humidity sensor done? or B.)the display toast?

interesting thing is with my batt tester (doesn't read voltage but as 5 leds from red 0% green to 100%....the rain gauge and temp sensors read 80% and the display read 0%.

Guess the display uses a lot of power since it is receiving and sending to the uSB dongle in the computer to upload.

I really love this setup and want to get back up on line.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions. I'm pretty much burned through everything I can find online, including all the great info here.

[DanS]

I would bring the temp/humid sensor inside and just try to get it connected to the console (Without the temp/humid and the console talking with each other the rest of the sensors won't matter.). I'm not sure about trusting a battery tester but do know these LaCrosse stations are sensitive to lower battery voltages. Healthy batteries at 1.5 volts or more usually work fine but when they die down below 1.5 volts you can start having these problems. If your tester is showing 80% power on these batteries that would be my first guess for a problem. I'd try new alkaline batteries in the temp/humid and console first thing. Put the batteries in the temp/humid sensor first and wait a couple minutes before putting batteries in the console (not just pressing re-sync button, battery out and in). Just try to get the outside temp and humidity reading (only, for now) to appear on the console. If/when you're successful then the remaining sensors should return once they "see" the temp/humidity sensor is up.

[JoesHouse]

I would bring the temp/humid sensor inside and just try to get it connected to the console (Without the temp/humid and the console talking with each other the rest of the sensors won't matter.).Brought all the sensors inside about 5 feet from the display from the get go.

....I'd try new alkaline batteries in the temp/humid and console first thing. Did that first several times before going full "reset". The 80% observation was on the ones I took out of the temp sensor.. All sensors and display got new Duracells first thing.
Put the batteries in the temp/humid sensor first and wait a couple minutes before putting batteries in the console (not just pressing re-sync button, battery out and in).I gave the "resynch" a try in between the many times I did a full "Reset"

 Just try to get the outside temp and humidity reading (only, for now) to appear on the console. If/when you're successful then the remaining sensors should return once they "see" the temp/humidity sensor is up.Read that suggestion from an earlier post you made to another member, was hopeful that would fix things but no joy

Thank you so much for the suggestions and I'm doing it all again in hopes I missed something, but, ive been working this for days trying everything I could find and then some.

Sadly I think the question now is bad display or bad temp sensor.

[DanS]

Have you checked the battery contacts inside the t/h sensor for oxidation/corrosion to ensure it's getting power?

Maybe worth a shot then at swapping the temp/humid sensor. Maybe contacting LaCrosse or these guys could get you back in business. It seems to be pretty much a "coin toss" between who's not transmitting or who's not receiving without lab test equipment (spectrum analyzer, freq. counter, etc.).

[JoesHouse]

The temp/humidity sensor has been under the eave of the house so is very very clean. I did spring the battery contacts so they were tighter on the batts.

I'm leaning towards the temp sensor first, although I see some that run 915hz cheaper on LaCrosse's site. That one's def the one I have and my firmware is 333.

I also have a line on a display though not sure about condition.

I'm going to try to connect some more tonite and then break down and order.

[blizzardof78]

This very same issue is what made me decide to literally decommission my LaCrap, uh, LaCrosse station and but a Rainwise MK-III. I tried all of those suggestions and even went up on the roof with the T/H sensor and indoor console and tried all of the re-sync stuff more than once and still no luck. I hate LaCrosse... hate their "13 second update times" and other items which their "Customer Service" never gave me complete satisfaction on. If you have a few hundreds $'s to spend, get a Davis. If you have 7, 800 or more to spend, then go with the MK-III. DITCH the Lacrosse, unless you have just a couple hundred to spend, then I'd suggest buying a brand new station.

[JoesHouse]

Okay, got my hands on a fluke to read battery voltage.
I have four Duracells I had purchased the this weekend from local grocery when I figured my problem was batteries.
Dated Dec 2022 and read as follows
1.504,1.504,1.524 and 1.555

I also had 4 Alkalines from CVS pharmacy.
Not dated and read 1.601,1.601,1.601 and 1.649

I've been working with this group with the Duracells in the display and the CVS batts in the temp sensor.

Lacrosse says 1.48 minimum...but I assume your 1.5 is from experience.

i'm going to try the CVS batts in the display and the Duracells in the Temp sensor.

Or should I just replace the whole group?

[DanS]

That's good that you have a meter to see what's going on.  1.5 volts from a "new/unused" battery may be alright but questionable. More than likely when they're installed and under load their voltage will quickly drop lower than 1.5 volts. I would go with the 1.6 volt ones all around (T/H sensor and console). These sound more like what's expected from fresh batteries.

[JoesHouse]

Thank you for all your help and suggestions.
I really appreciate it.
okay, since it takes 3 for the display and two for the temp sensor...

I went to Lowe's who had some brand new displays of batts in their aisles.

Bought an 8 pack of Duracell Dec 2023 dated batteries and they checked out at 1.61 to 1.63 volts. That's 10 years out!

Have done the battery dance three times....nothing but "-----" on outside temp and humidity display fields. Indoor temp and humidity read along with date and time if I reset them. The bars in the upper left display right to left as well.
(Not trying to start rain or wind).

I did open up the temp/humidity sensor today and its clean as a whistle inside. No problem with wire or connections. Its amazing how little there is to the board ....and they want $50+ for it?

Anyway, kind of at an impasse. I think after today, any battery problem is ruled out.
I run my business servers, built websites and brought computers back from the dead.
But this pretty much has me frustrated.

[JoesHouse]

After the last post I started a ticket with Lacrosse.
Went through their routine and answered a boatload of questions.

Anyway, I was assigned a case number, UPS'd the whole shebang on the 10th.
It arrived after a 6 day journey on the 16th (harder to ship to wisconsin than California) and amazingly several hours later I receive from UPS a notice that I had a package shipped to me from Lacrosse that will arrive on the 22nd.

No email from LaCrosse support....Guess we'll see what I get back.

[JoesHouse]

I'm a very happy camper! 
Lacrosse turned my set around that fast!

An enclosed paper said the display and rain sensor tested good.
The wind sensor and all important temp and humidity sensor tested bad.
They replaced those with new ones. The wind sensor seems to be an improved version too!

Two thumbs for Lacrosse.
Sadly after all the display resets I've lost this years rainfall. I sure thought it would be in the files on the pc it comms with.

Anyway JoesHouse is back on line.
http://www.wunderground.com/weatherstation/WXDailyHistory.asp?ID=KFLFERNA7

Thank You Dan for your help and inspiration to keep on going. 

[DanS]

Good to hear a successful ending came out of it all.

[WVZR-1]

So La Crosse accommodated you with replacements for a product that was still in a warranty situation or accommodated you with replacements for a product that was out of warranty as a courtesy? Ether way despite the down time and aggravation it seems they've done you well.

I had been offered a 2811 system to get my "feet wet" and had been very reluctant after some comments from La Crosse users. Maybe I shouldn't have been so reluctant to turn it down.

[JoesHouse]

What would you have to lose if its free?
If you read these forums, all brands can have issues.
I would bet as a percentage of systems sold, the Lacrosse is no more
a problem than others.

Besides its a great way to get your feet wet with the weather! 
jump on in!

[MrCharlie]

I've had a 2813 system for the last two years and until a few weeks ago it has been the weather station at my house.  I'd purchased it at CostCo around Nov 2011, at a ridiculous discount ($69.99). I'd always wanted a weather station and I knew what the MSRP was for this and I couldn't resist .  Didn't set it up for a few weeks but when I did I went through 3 different sets of batteries and factory re-sets before I contacted Lacrosse for warranty repair (this took more than one submission to even get a response).  Sent it in to them and they sent back a working system a few weeks later (display was replaced).  Lasted 11 months, then I got nothing but "--" on all the external sensors.  Did the factory reset dance again and still no joy.  Again I sent it in for warranty, after a couple of weeks of slow email with their warranty dept.  Again they sent back a working system, the T-H sensor had failed.
A couple of weeks ago I lost connectivity.  Brought it inside and connectivity was restored for a few hours, finally just petered out and couldn't connect anymore.   After the factory reset with 2 different sets of new batteries I contacted Lacrosse who told me that I'm out of warranty, since warranty only extends for 1 year after purchase.  I would have thought they'd guarantee at least one complete year of functionality but that's a customer's view of course.

So I'm out the original purchase price, lots of interaction time, and ~$35 for shipping it to them, twice.   When it worked it was great, but the durability and longevity were way less than I expected.   

They said that they might give me a 45% off another system if I return my existing, still waiting for what I'd have to do to get that deal, and depending on what they say I might give them another chance since maybe I just got a lemon.   

Update:

I did take their discount offer as the cheapest way to get my station back up, so I got the current Model, the 2815, with their 45% discount offer and it worked perfectly out of the box, and connected to the USB wireless connector I had from the previous unit.  The question now is durability.

[VaJim]

I've had a 2813 system for the last two years and until a few weeks ago it has been the weather station at my house.  I'd purchased it at CostCo around Nov 2011, at a ridiculous discount ($69.99).

...

....you may want to ask Costco if they will refund your money. 

[Joe A]

The entire 2800 series experienced connectivity troubles right out of the gate. Some worked for a while then failed. Others failed relatively quickly or were DOAs. From our observation, it is our opinion that virtually all will fail the connectivity test within 1-2 years, at most. The entire 2800 line has now been discontinued by La Crosse. However, a few do remain in stock as of this writing.

La Crosse and Oregon Scientific were the stars of the Chinese manufactured stations 5-10 years ago. While the La Crosse humidity and wind speed always reported inaccurately (±8pts, -15%-30%+ respectively), the barometers and temp sensors were quite accurate. And the La Crosse 2310 & 2315 had the best storm alarm of any weather station. The Oregon Sci WMR968 was also a stellar performer, but the barometer and temp sensors were not as accurate as the La Crosse, in our tests and observations. All the other stations from China have the same characteristics but are less reliable and less accurate. You can spot a Chinese station easily regardless of brand name; it's those that cost less than $300 today. It appears to us, that over the past 5 years, Chinese stations have been dumbed-down for the sake of selling them by the container load to Costco, Walmart and other big box discounters. These retailers wanted lower pricing. And the Chinese can always make worse product for a lower wholesale.

After all our experiences with these stations, we have no confidence that any new models will actually be better, as there has been no sign of that. AC power is gone now for La Crosse and that eliminates the back light. They have apparently changed barometers in at least some models as we do not see the Davis-like accuracy anymore. We have actually just decommissioned our last La Crosse current model for observation here and do not intend to even compare their products to Davis or Rainwise anymore. We still use a few of the older models for temp and forecast. But when we really want to view weather data, the only real choices are now with Davis, Rainwise and Columbia.

There's a new Oregon Scientific model out. But it costs nominally the same as the Davis 6152 with 6510 WeatherLink Software. At last check (2 years ago), Oregon Scientific's support requires you to dismantle and send back your entire station instead of troubleshooting and sending you a warranty part (as we do for Davis, Rainwise, Columbia and La Crosse). So, you must think more than twice about buying from them, in our opinion. Further, the Davis VP2 and VP2+ are of NIST traceable accuracy and the VP reliability will be far, far superior. We're going on our 9th year with a Davis 6162 here. Not even a hiccup... ever.

Joe Amadeo
WeatherBuffs.com
1+ 928 635 1088 MST