Author Topic: WMR88A Rain Gauge  (Read 1841 times)

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Offline Phipps

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WMR88A Rain Gauge
« on: September 03, 2015, 09:57:09 PM »
I have a WMR88A weather station and have been having issues with the rain gauge. The base keeps losing the reception from the rain gauge. I have checked the batteries, reset both the rain gauge and the base station, but it keeps dropping the rain gauge. The rain gauge is only about 60ft from the base station. Any ideas on what to check next?


Offline aweatherguy

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Re: WMR88A Rain Gauge
« Reply #1 on: September 05, 2015, 03:44:42 AM »
Is this a new weather station...or has it been in place and working well for some length of time?

OS consoles have known issues with sensor reception and are notorious for not being able to get 300 foot advertised range. Especially if you are going through one or more walls of a building or house. My personal belief is that the signals transmitted by the sensors (e.g. rain bucket) are plenty strong, but it is the receiver in the console that has a sensitivity problem.

If you want to confirm that this is a signal strength problem, then move the rain gauge indoors for a while (within perhaps 6-20 feet of the console and with no obstructions between them) and see if the problem disappears. If you don't lose the gauge like this then you have a signal strength problem -- and it most likely lies with the indoor console.

Turn the console itself to different orientations or move it to different locations, preferably with fewer building walls between console and rain gauge.

Re-arrange the DC power cable routing.

If there's a USB cable try disconnecting it or moving it to different physical routings. Or change the USB cable from one with ferrites (big black cylinders near the end of the cable) to one w/o ferrites (or vice versa).

As a last resort, there are several antenna mods posted on this forum that will work wonders but only if you are willing to disassemble and hack the console (and void your warranty).

Offline aweatherguy

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Re: WMR88A Rain Gauge
« Reply #2 on: September 05, 2015, 04:12:12 AM »
I should also add that it's not inconceivable that you have a defective rain gauge or indoor console...

From that perspective and if you are still under warranty it might be best to talk to OS first to see if they can help...

Offline Phipps

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Re: WMR88A Rain Gauge
« Reply #3 on: September 05, 2015, 04:53:19 PM »
Thanks for the suggestions. I've had it for a little over a year so I'm out of warranty. It had been working fine until the last few days. I've also noticed occasional drop of the anemometer signal. I'll have to look into modding the antenna.

Thanks again!!!

 

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