WXforum.net
Weather Station Hardware => Ambient Weather and Ecowitt and other Fine Offset clones => Topic started by: trellend on January 30, 2013, 07:32:13 PM
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My weather station is randomly reporting 390 inches of rainfall, and 147 mph winds. Repeatedly.
I suppose that is noise/interference, but the location I chose is best for where my computers are.
There is another place I could put it, further from the power lines, but a USB extension fails to work with the device, even a 6 foot one.
What i'd like to do is extend the antennae of the display so the unit is where I want it, the antennae is where it needs to be, and the station is in a good spot. Anyone familiar with the device tried anything like that?
Layout of house/property and such is difficult to place, as the sending unit/sensors need to be at least 100' from the house. I don't want to put my lcd in the window either. I like it on the wall (wont reach from window). House is 28' tall, so it has to be 90' away or so. Then a batch of trees. Placement is very difficult and I need to extend things to get this to work properly.
I have alarms set at rainfall rate, and wind speed. Anything over 50 mph, I want it to alert so I can batten down the hatches before it hits 90 mph. Same on rainfall, if it starts to dump at night while I'm sleeping, I need it to alert so I can do something else preparatory. It has the alerts, and they work, but they false alarm so often.
Any help is appreciated. I can solder, have tools, and could care less about a warranty.
I'm also using cumulus to report to WUnderground. Even though I clear the memory on the device, each time I restart (battery pull), I get additional crazy readings that didn't happen - like it's stored in it's memory. I know it's a low cost station, but I didn't expect that much grief from it.
Last night was funny, it blew hard all day yesterday, gusting to 55.3 mph for hours. Then, 2:45 am - there goes the 147 mph alarm. I get up, look at it - like hmmm... Look outside, mobile home is still there, another false alarm. The humor in this is that 147 mph is a possible gust speed here. 90 Mph for 6 hours straight in late winter and spring is common place. This is why I bought the unit, I didn't know the exact speeds, but I can tell the violence and shaking of the house, and noise level. So I got this thing to verify winds/temp. Gusting 55 mph is pretty quiet inside. When it really starts to blow here, its like an earthquake inside (high frequency shimmy.)
Ramble, ramble. Anyways... Any tricks folks?
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Well I have a 1080 clone and have never had it report wind and or rain off by that much. My system is closer at around 35ft away through a couple walls and one level up so not near the distance you have. I'm not sure it's the distance as I would think it would just not report anything. Could be some interference I suppose, if you bring the unit closer for a day or so and still have the issue, then I think you can safely say the WH1080 is probably bad.
Todd
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You could try running the wx station for a while with the USB cable unplugged from the P.C. to isolate it and see if the erroneous readings still show up on the console. If they are no longer present then there may be a ground issue with the P.C.
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Was your station reporting correctly at one time?
Be sure you are set to mph and not kph.
Have you tried pulling the console back from the wall a foot or two? (wiring in wall may be interfering?)
Updated: found something similar, read through this post:
http://www.wxforum.net/index.php?topic=16617.0
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I got this mostly fixed.
Put a 6' USB A->A cable on instead, with a 6' extension to get it FAR away from computer, up high on the wall.
Moved the weather station about 50' South, and rigged up a pole on a tilt so it's now at 14' elevation.
Communication was the problem, especially noise from the PC's.
I still get fake rain readings from 0.01-0.10 inch (from pole shaking in the wind), but since you can graph both, it's pretty obvious and its okay.
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Update:
Station is dead, direct lighting hit.
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Sadly, my station suffered a loss after this last severe storm. Hail took out the anemometer cups. I guess after 3 and half years in the sun the plastic was brittle enough to just give up. Have to order new ones now, wondering why Ambient charges so much for every part.
T