Author Topic: WS-2902 Questions  (Read 2736 times)

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Offline capella

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WS-2902 Questions
« on: July 11, 2017, 01:51:42 PM »
I am considering purchasing the WS-2902 and, this being my first true "weather station" (vs a simple remote outdoor sensor that reports just temperature), I have a few questions before I jump in and spend that much money on something I'm totally new to (over $100 purchases require approval from the treasurer - i.e. the wife :grin: ).

(Sorry this became a wall of text!)

Question 1:
Looking at the product description at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N5TEHLI/_encoding=UTF8?coliid=I2I091Y2GSAING&colid=2A5AGCC20XO30, it says this under "Wireless Specifications":
Quote
Requires 2.4 GHz router. If you own a dual band router, you will need to connect your mobile device to the 2.4 GHz band. This often requires temporarily switching off the 5 GHz band.

I have a dual band router, but I'm not clear on what is meant by "you will need to connect your mobile device to the 2.4 GHz band". What mobile device is this referring to? The weather data receiver? A phone that would access the weather data that is being reported by the weather station?

Then the part about "temporarily switching off the 5GHz band". The answer to my question above about the 2.4 GHz comment may answer this, but I'm not clear on how/where one would "switch off" a 5 GHz band.

How easy/hard/complicated is the WiFi connection setup process overall?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a complete home WiFi idiot, I just want to be clear on what is being said and what needs to be done.

Question 2:
Placement
Would it be okay to place the sensor unit itself at the peak of my garage? I have a single-story house, so aside from trees, it would be at the highest point in my yard there. Will the dark shingles throw off the temperatures significantly? Would raising the unit up a bit on a mast help? I'm not terribly concerned about extreme accuracy, so if it's within maybe 2-3 degrees difference I'm fine with that.

Question 3:
Mounting
Does the product come shipped with everything needed for mounting or will I need to purchase a mounting kit separately?

Offline bthoven

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Re: WS-2902 Questions
« Reply #1 on: August 03, 2017, 12:49:50 AM »
Q1. You have to use your mobile phone with Ambient Tool app to configure your station. This requires your mobile phone to connect to your wifi router to search for your weather station console unit (which has only 2.4ghz wifi connection) . In case your wifi router has dual bands, ie. 2.4ghz and 5ghz. You have to connect your phone wifi to the 2.4ghz band, not the 5ghz one; otherwise the app cannot find your weather station console.

Once the app found your console, you an then perform the configuration setup. Upon completing the setup, you can then switch your phone connection to 5ghz, if you wish, to view your weather data.

Q3. It came with u-bolt ready for attaching the outdoor unit to your own supplied pole.

Sent from my F5321 using Tapatalk
« Last Edit: August 03, 2017, 12:56:43 AM by bthoven »

Offline dtidmore

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Re: WS-2902 Questions
« Reply #2 on: August 04, 2017, 09:51:43 AM »
Question 2:
Placement
Would it be okay to place the sensor unit itself at the peak of my garage? I have a single-story house, so aside from trees, it would be at the highest point in my yard there. Will the dark shingles throw off the temperatures significantly? Would raising the unit up a bit on a mast help? I'm not terribly concerned about extreme accuracy, so if it's within maybe 2-3 degrees difference I'm fine with that.

Question 3:
Mounting
Does the product come shipped with everything needed for mounting or will I need to purchase a mounting kit separately?

Q2: placing the outdoor sensor package atop a dark roof WILL influence the temp readings and depending on your winds and the distance from the roof to the sensor package, could be a LOT!  The higher you can mount it above the roof the better, but a location away from the roof entirely would result in more accurate temp/humidity readings.  Station siting is always a compromise on these all-in-one sensor packages as the anemometer/wind vane SHOULD be 10m (ie 30ft) above ground, but the temp/humidity should be about 2-3m (6-10ft).  This is why you find higher end units always have the anemometer/wind vane on a separate arm that can be separated from the other sensors. I mounted mine at the back of the fence, near a corner on a 12', 2 3/8" steel pole lashed to a 2 3/8" fence post that is buried in concrete and further supported by the perpendicular fence lines (ie the corner).  I raised the sensor pole up about 2 additional feet along the fence post.  As the sensor packages WON'T accept such a large post, I used the Ambient Weather TF Observer-2-38, (www.ambientweather.com/amtfobserver238.html, which fits inside the larger post and reduces down to a short, smaller diameter suitable for the stations.  It makes for a nice installation BTW.  This combination and installation put my sensor suite about 15' above the ground, away from all buildings and trees.  I would also mention that you might consider that installing on a roof SHOULD include proper grounding of the mast as it may well act as a lightning rod!

Q3: As was mentioned, NO, you do NOT get ANYTHING other than JUST the brackets on the station.  You must supply your own mast/etc.