WXforum.net
Weather Station Hardware => AcuRite Weather Stations => Topic started by: graywoulf on December 18, 2018, 01:27:03 AM
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Greetings, I have the Pro 5-in-1 Color Weather Station setup and my display unit does not show the 5-in-1 sensor battery level on the display. Even the signal strength indicator only shows the tiny antenna icon. Is this normal or is it possible that something is partially blocking the signal? The batteries in the unit are practically new Lithium batteries. All other sensor data is present and updating although I get the message that the display is disconnected from the sensor. My display is less than 150 feet from the outdoor sensor unit but is near other electronics and my laptop PC is the closest. I have other smaller AcuRite sensors around the house as well. I have not tried setting the unit to another channel yet. Any suggestions will be appreciated.
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I’ve got two different 5-N-1 displays (06039M, 06058) and I’ve never seen the low battery Indicator on either display. I believe it only shows when the batteries are low. I’ve been running the same lithium batteries now for 20 months.
If you’re getting updated data, then your display is connecting to the sensor. Where are you seeing the message that your display is disconnected from the sensor? How many bars show for the signal strength on the display? You should always see the sensors signal strength on the display. If the message is coming from MyAcuRite then you may be having problems with the Access dropping the signal. Try moving the Access or simple try rotating it get a better signal.
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If the display is only showing the antenna icon, and no bars next to it, then you aren't picking up the signal from the outdoor sensor. The battery icon should not be on unless the batteries are about dead.
Is this an old system or brand new?
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Bring in the sensor closer to the display and power them both down and then power them both up and see if they pair. If not, try different channels and make sure both sensor and display are on the same channel.
In my experience approx. 150' is pretty iffy for reception. My observation is that 100' is about max. in real world conditions but with RF, there's a lot of variables (and luck).
I've also observed that once the display looses a solid connection to the sensor it gives up trying to reconnect unless you reboot.
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I've never seen a battery level indicator on any of my 5n1 displays.
You might get an indicator when it does go low, though. You'll also get one through myAcurite.
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Thanks guys for the input and questions. The 5-in-1 is a couple of years old. I bought a package deal on ebay. Before I mounted it, I disassembled it and cleaned out the spider webs and cleaned the fan and lubricated the motor bushings as well. The sensor is actually about 100 feet from the display and I have discovered that the problem may be that my display sits too close to my laptop which is on most of the time. Last night when I shut down the laptop, the signal strength meter came back showing three bars. And when I started the laptop this morning, the bars went away. The times that I get a disconnect message, it is on the ticker display. The wifi connection is strong and there is no problem with the hub or internet connection. Just the display connection. I just noticed that the signal strength meter was apparently searching for a signal again and I just got the disconnect message again. I guess its time to relocate the display.
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Thanks guys for the input and questions. The 5-in-1 is a couple of years old. I bought a package deal on ebay. Before I mounted it, I disassembled it and cleaned out the spider webs and cleaned the fan and lubricated the motor bushings as well. The sensor is actually about 100 feet from the display and I have discovered that the problem may be that my display sits too close to my laptop which is on most of the time. Last night when I shut down the laptop, the signal strength meter came back showing three bars. And when I started the laptop this morning, the bars went away. The times that I get a disconnect message, it is on the ticker display. The wifi connection is strong and there is no problem with the hub or internet connection. Just the display connection. I just noticed that the signal strength meter was apparently searching for a signal again and I just got the disconnect message again. I guess its time to relocate the display.
It's not using WiFi. The sensor signal is on 433.92 MHz and has nothing to do with WiFi protocols.
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Thanks guys for the input and questions. The 5-in-1 is a couple of years old. I bought a package deal on ebay. Before I mounted it, I disassembled it and cleaned out the spider webs and cleaned the fan and lubricated the motor bushings as well. The sensor is actually about 100 feet from the display and I have discovered that the problem may be that my display sits too close to my laptop which is on most of the time. Last night when I shut down the laptop, the signal strength meter came back showing three bars. And when I started the laptop this morning, the bars went away. The times that I get a disconnect message, it is on the ticker display. The wifi connection is strong and there is no problem with the hub or internet connection. Just the display connection. I just noticed that the signal strength meter was apparently searching for a signal again and I just got the disconnect message again. I guess its time to relocate the display.
It's not using WiFi. The sensor signal is on 433.92 MHz and has nothing to do with WiFi protocols.
Just the general spectrum RFI and harmonics, factoring in relative RF power levels, is more than enough to bugger up an incoming 433 (or 900) MHz WX system 'receive' signal. The absolute frequencies involved barely matter in many cases (less so when very widely separated).
I have an OTA TV antenna located 6-15 feet away from a whole bunch of various WiFi, DECT, cellular and whatever devices. At certain times and conditions those RFI sources clearly wipe out reception of certain television channels.
Some of those TV channels are in similar bands as the 433MHz WX ones and they get whacked by 1.6-2.5GHz device signals in various bands. I can sometimes watch it happen by starting something like a major download on a computer and see the TV image get badly pixelated or the TV just puts up a "channel no signal" message. It does seem to be limited to the weaker, more distant TV channels most of the time.
(NoAm digital television no longer uses UHF TV channels above channel 51):
Terrestrial television channels are divided into two bands: the VHF band which comprises channels 2 through 13 and occupies frequencies between 54 through 216 MHz, and the UHF band, which comprises channels 14 through 83 and occupies frequencies between 470 and 890 MHz.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan-American_television_frequencies (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan-American_television_frequencies)