Topic: Acurite Wireless Signal Strength FIX!!!

[pursuit1980]

Morning everyone,

First time poster, avid reader 


I recently received my Acurite 02032C 5-in-1 Weather Station and wow, impressive unit. BUT after setup, I simply couldnt achieve a decent signal, nothing more than 1 signal bar, perhaps 2 at times, but mostly NONE!

I couldnt work it out, as the outdoor unit was only 10-15m away from the indoor unit, I was tearing my hair out trying all different locations, heights etc...

So, I decided to open her up and see if there was a magic button inside that I could set to MAXIMUM POWER, but unfortunately not.

What I DID discover, was the tiny TX aerial/antenna inside, a little spring mounted on a small PCB, there wasnt any markings, but it simply had to be the antenna, so time to experiment and glad I did!

I cut a piece of electrical wire approximately 250mm long, stripped each end, and placed the long stripped end down into the spring, replaced the black cover, and went in search of a better result......and.....SUCCESS!!!  I finally had FULL 4 signal bars, the maximum it can achieve! Solid and strong signal, never dipped below 3 bars in over an hour.

Therefore, I decided to hang the other end of the wire out through the bottom, using one of the rain gauge drain holes, and put it all back together. It has been rock solid ever since, with GREAT signal, never losing a beat, I have even moved it further away now to my ideal location.

Therefore, I hope this little modification will help others, and save alot of stress! (Why Acurite dont have a better antenna such as this, i dont know.)

You can watch my youtube video below to see how its done.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bMycrI7maY

I hope it helps!

Thanks

[SlowModem]

Welcome to the forum and enjoy your stay! 

Nice video!  Clear and understandable.   

For everyone's convience, I converted:   

250 millimeters = 9.84251969 inches   

[nincehelser]

Interesting, but the coiled antenna provides a more consistent radiation pattern than a straight wire.

I'm glad it worked for you, but everyone's situation is different.

Personally, mine has worked fine for over three years without modification.  I haven't heard of too many people actually having problems with transmissions from the 5n1, either.

It's also important to note that the bars on the consoles aren't an indicator of signal strength.  They are an indication of missed data packets per the transmission schedule (every 18 seconds).  For every packet that isn't received on schedule, a bar is subtracted.

The bridge, however, does use a more typical RSSI algorithm to indication signal strength.  It's a very different animal.

[pursuit1980]

Interesting, but the coiled antenna provides a more consistent radiation pattern than a straight wire.   -   Good to know, evidently not the case in my situation unfortunately.

I'm glad it worked for you, but everyone's situation is different.    -    I may just have more interference around my area, therefore, this modification solved that issue.

Personally, mine has worked fine for over three years without modification.  I haven't heard of too many people actually having problems with transmissions from the 5n1, either.  -  Yes that part surprised me also, as I couldnt find any online reference to anyone else experiencing signal issues. So it was quite a let down to me after waiting so long to receive it (USA to Australia, took 17 days!!! Ridiculous!)

It's also important to note that the bars on the consoles aren't an indicator of signal strength.  They are an indication of missed data packets per the transmission schedule (every 18 seconds).  For every packet that isn't received on schedule, a bar is subtracted.   -   Excellent information, and I'm no longer missing any of the 18 second transmissions now, therefore the bars stay FULL and the modification definitely works, and will hopefully help others, should it happen to them.

The bridge, however, does use a more typical RSSI algorithm to indication signal strength.  It's a very different animal.

[DoctorKnow]

Impressive! If you have anymore ideas, be sure to let us know.

[nincehelser]

All I can say is good luck with that.  I think something else is wrong. 

If the signal is solid, it shouldn't drop below full bars, but he says: "Solid and strong signal, never dipped below 3 bars in over an hour."  Which indicates there is still a problem and data is still being lost.

Acurite likely doesn't make the 433MHz modules. They're a pretty basic commodity, including the coiled antennas.  If there were a problem with the antenna length, the industry would realize it.  Physics abides.

I stretched out a coiled antenna recently, and it was around 350mm, which is pretty close to being 1/2 wavelength for 433MHz.  The straight wire on the typical receiver module is about the same length so it's also a 1/2 wavelength antenna for 433MHz.

The wavelength of 433MHz is 693 mm.  Therefore a 250mm wirelength would give a 0.36 wave antenna, or roughly 1/3rd.  Not the type of antenna you'd expect to resonate well for 433MHz.

[DaleReid]

I don't want to start any big discussion here, but I learn through reading and also being skeptical.

First, what frequency is this unit running on, in the 450 MHz range or so?

Second, the photo shows the 'spring' antenna. Is that ALL there was?

Depending upon the frequency, adding many inches to it, if it were optimized and resonant at the design frequency, may not match or load to the transmitter correctly.  And at higher frequencies very small changes in the length affect the SWR dramatically.

Next, if the spring were made of non-insulated material, then where it touched would essentially be (except for capacitance) the same as a straight wire.  That's why the old CB antennas could have a spring for shock absorption and bending located at the bottom and still be the same physical length and the non-sprung antennas were.

An open coil, of correct dimensions, can make the antenna appear to be the same impedence of a physically longer one, the loading coil effect, and it can be a matching device for a dual band antenna, for example a 2 meter/440 ham antenna.  But those coils are not touching.  And while the antenna is physically shorter, its performance is less than a properly tuned 1/4 wave straight wire.

The comment that the coiled spring is a better radiator than a straight wire seems a bit odd unless this is insulated wire and there is separation between the windings and it is a circularly polarized radiator and a gain antenna.

I know we used to spend an afternoon with a wire clipper, hack saw, allen wrench and Bird Wattmeter trying to optimize a new install of ham antennas on vehicles, and all sorts of things made it vary, including someone being near the antenna while transmitting and the shape of the surface of the roof, and those ubiquitous tie down rails.

I'm just thinking, too, of my Rainwise units.  I have the standard unit with an 8" or so wire straight down for the sensor package, and similarly on the little receiver box.  Then look at the LR unit, which really reaches out a longer range at a much higher frequency band, and that is about 3/4" long.  Unless one is trying to do some sort of gain antenna, just adding a length of wire to the current one may not help, needs to be optimal to match the impedance of the transmitter (and receiver in reverse) correctly, and so on.  But it might help a unit that didn't cost government contract prices and the designers didn't have a load of time to really peak the performance and took a guess at the best length, only to have production coil the wire and stuff it at a 90 degree bend.

Just opening it up for discussion.

[vreihen]

Acurite likely doesn't make the 433MHz modules. They're a pretty basic commodity, including the coiled antennas.

FWIW, I was reading the FCC certification documents for the tower sensors.  They didn't mention buying the modules from someone else, and I don't know how that would have affected their need to test if they did.  The FCC filings included pictures of the test environment, signal strength versus orientation, and all kinds of other boring stuff.....

[DaleReid]

Neat.  Is this online and  you have a link you might share, or did those docs come with your unit?
Dale.

I can only imagine the engineering nightmare of designing the antenna farms on the tops of big buildings, or hanging off the sides of towers with reflections,etc.

A hard to model problem, I'd think, but maybe someone has gotten a few PhDs by working it out.  Those grad students haven't much to do otherwise.

[nincehelser]

Acurite likely doesn't make the 433MHz modules. They're a pretty basic commodity, including the coiled antennas.

FWIW, I was reading the FCC certification documents for the tower sensors.  They didn't mention buying the modules from someone else, and I don't know how that would have affected their need to test if they did.  The FCC filings included pictures of the test environment, signal strength versus orientation, and all kinds of other boring stuff.....

The FCC wouldn't mention that the modules were made by someone else. The FCC doesn't care about that.  They just test the devices as a whole for emissions.

[nincehelser]

I don't want to start any big discussion here, but I learn through reading and also being skeptical.

First, what frequency is this unit running on, in the 450 MHz range or so?

Devices like this are typically centered at 433.92 MHz.   They're used in many devices and aren't unique to Acurite. 

Second, the photo shows the 'spring' antenna. Is that ALL there was?

Depending upon the frequency, adding many inches to it, if it were optimized and resonant at the design frequency, may not match or load to the transmitter correctly.  And at higher frequencies very small changes in the length affect the SWR dramatically.

Next, if the spring were made of non-insulated material, then where it touched would essentially be (except for capacitance) the same as a straight wire.  That's why the old CB antennas could have a spring for shock absorption and bending located at the bottom and still be the same physical length and the non-sprung antennas were.

An open coil, of correct dimensions, can make the antenna appear to be the same impedence of a physically longer one, the loading coil effect, and it can be a matching device for a dual band antenna, for example a 2 meter/440 ham antenna.  But those coils are not touching.  And while the antenna is physically shorter, its performance is less than a properly tuned 1/4 wave straight wire.

I concur with most of the above, but I can't really tell exactly how he added the wire...it looks like he just stuck it into the coil, so there's a lot of room for slop.

Tuning is important for a device like this as electrical power is at a premium as the 5n1 is expected to run around 18 months on batteries.  An impedance mismatch wastes power.  At worst, an impedance mismatch reflects power back in to the transmitter circuit and could possibly damage it.

The comment that the coiled spring is a better radiator than a straight wire seems a bit odd unless this is insulated wire and there is separation between the windings and it is a circularly polarized radiator and a gain antenna.

The wire isn't insulated.  The coils don't touch.  The number of turns and the spacing of the turns (as well as other things like the wire diameter) all come into play.  Basically the coil of the antenna adds inductance.

The coil is more consistent in radiation in that it holds it orientation well rather than flopping around like a thin unsupported wire. 

I know we used to spend an afternoon with a wire clipper, hack saw, allen wrench and Bird Wattmeter trying to optimize a new install of ham antennas on vehicles, and all sorts of things made it vary, including someone being near the antenna while transmitting and the shape of the surface of the roof, and those ubiquitous tie down rails.

I'm just thinking, too, of my Rainwise units.  I have the standard unit with an 8" or so wire straight down for the sensor package, and similarly on the little receiver box.  Then look at the LR unit, which really reaches out a longer range at a much higher frequency band, and that is about 3/4" long.  Unless one is trying to do some sort of gain antenna, just adding a length of wire to the current one may not help, needs to be optimal to match the impedance of the transmitter (and receiver in reverse) correctly, and so on.  But it might help a unit that didn't cost government contract prices and the designers didn't have a load of time to really peak the performance and took a guess at the best length, only to have production coil the wire and stuff it at a 90 degree bend.

Just opening it up for discussion.

Another thing to keep in mind is that tinkering with *receiver* antennas is generally of little consequence.  Transmitters, on the other hand, hold the potential to cause others a lot of problems.  That's why the FCC frowns on consumers tinkering with custom transmitter antennas unless they system was designed to have antennas swapped out.  In reality, of course, it's unlikely this low-power transmitter is going to cause a lot of grief, but regulations are regulations.

If I were to tinker with this, I would make the antenna wire about 350mm long so as to be a half-wave.  It might not be a perfect impedance match, but it would be close.

However, I've found the 5n1's transmitter to rarely be the source of trouble.  Usually problems are more in the receivers, particularly the AcuLink bridge.  That might be due them snaking the antenna wire around and sometimes it comes to close to touching another component and de-tuning the antenna. 

[vreihen]

Neat.  Is this online and  you have a link you might share, or did those docs come with your unit?

It was all in a search on the FCC web site for the FCC ID# on the label.  I may have had to split the ID# up into two fields on the search form, but you can try the different combinations until you hit the right combination.....

[pursuit1980]

Guys, I appreciate that some of you know alot of technical information on frequencies and waves etc... but the fact of the matter is, this modification works, plain and simple really.

Regarding a couple of questions above, yes the original antenna is just the little spring coil, approximately 40mm high from the PCB, and I simply fed the stripped end of the wire down through the middle of it, ensuring it was tight and in-place.

I have not lost signal since, so all scientific-techno-garble aside, it simply works, plain and simple.

I'm sorry if my average-joe, simplistic, non-scientific, backyard modification attempt to help others has caused an issue.

Remember back when the world was flat. Those were the good old days! 

[DaleReid]

Oh, you missed the point!

You had the interest and courage to DO SOMETHING, which is what I consider a hobby to be all about. 

What you did works, which holds a whole lot more water than us standing around wondering about the science behind it.

However, there are lots of paths I've discovered by reading here, and then going on to learn more.

I certainly hope the discussion here wasn't perceived as minimizing your finding a fix, and even moreso in sharing it so others who may have a similar situation know it is alright to fiddle and go from not working as wanted or expected, to ta-da!

I have coffee some days with a bunch of old engineers and hams and it is amazing to toss out something minor and still have them discussing and disagreeing and yet enthusiastically saying (despite many of them in their 70s and one who is over 90) saying they're going home to read more, try something, and then report back. 

So a hats off to you for starting this, more hats (I'm not taking any more clothes off) off for going the extra mile and sharing. 

You now may consider yourself one who started to fold that old flat earth into a ball because of your observation and experiment.

Dale

[SlowModem]

Oh, you missed the point!

You had the interest and courage to DO SOMETHING, which is what I consider a hobby to be all about.

That was well said.   

[Jack Bowman]

Oh, you missed the point!

You had the interest and courage to DO SOMETHING, which is what I consider a hobby to be all about.

That was well said.   

Love this statement!

[TD22057]

Hey pursuit1980,
Did you attach the wire to anything or just push it into the coil?

My fairly new 5in1 is having problems.  The display rarely gets an update and it's only 30' away and next to a window.  We had some big (30+ mph) wind gusts and it seems like my problems started after that.  I haven't tried resetting the 5in1 yet but I thought I might try your mod while I have it down.

[nincehelser]

Hey pursuit1980,
Did you attach the wire to anything or just push it into the coil?

My fairly new 5in1 is having problems.  The display rarely gets an update and it's only 30' away and next to a window.  We had some big (30+ mph) wind gusts and it seems like my problems started after that.  I haven't tried resetting the 5in1 yet but I thought I might try your mod while I have it down.

Wind gusts and/or wind speed have no physical impact on the 5n1 electronics.  The cups spin a magnet over a reed switch. The reed switch closes when the magnet is over it.  The number of opening and closings over a time period is translated into a speed reading which is transmitted every 18 seconds.  A reading is transmitted every 18 seconds even if the wind speed is zero.  There is no mechanical connection between the wind cups and the electronics... just a moving magnet that closes a switch.

Based on experience, the odds are that problem is likely in your display, not in the 5n1 transmitter.  If you happen to have a second console or a bridge, that will make it pretty easy to pin-point where the problem lies. 

Failures of the 5n1 transmitter aren't very common.  When they do fail and it isn't battery-related, it's typically complete.

If you still choose to mess with the transmitter antenna, be careful not to distort the existing coiled antenna.  If you put a kink in and turns of the coil touch or the spacing changes, it will impact the performance of the coiled antenna, likely for the worse.  Also, the length of the wire from the antenna attachment point on the circuit board should be about 350mm so that it will be a half-wave antenna.

[TD22057]

Thanks - I'm aware how it works.  I was thinking more that the buffeting of the wind had caused something to come loose since before the storm I was getting packets on the bridge very 18 sec and a good connection to my color display.  After the storm the bridge is missing packets and the display has trouble connecting at all.  That would tend to indicate that the problem is on the 5in1 side.

[nincehelser]

Thanks - I'm aware how it works.  I was thinking more that the buffeting of the wind had caused something to come loose since before the storm I was getting packets on the bridge very 18 sec and a good connection to my color display.  After the storm the bridge is missing packets and the display has trouble connecting at all.  That would tend to indicate that the problem is on the 5in1 side.

If the 5n1 was hit by storm debris, then something like that might have happened.  Wind alone, however, is an unlikely cause.

[DoctorKnow]

You may have spiders in there causing shorts or a wire has come loose from the board. If you open up the sensor, and take off the black covering, you will see lots of wires crammed in there with solder connections that can come undone.

[nincehelser]

I just removed a good-sized live jumping spider from inside my CoCoRaHS gauge.

Looks like they're getting an early start this year.   

[pursuit1980]

Hey pursuit1980,
Did you attach the wire to anything or just push it into the coil?

My fairly new 5in1 is having problems.  The display rarely gets an update and it's only 30' away and next to a window.  We had some big (30+ mph) wind gusts and it seems like my problems started after that.  I haven't tried resetting the 5in1 yet but I thought I might try your mod while I have it down.

Hi TD,
As the stripped-down end of the wire was approximately 3-4mm in diameter, it simply fed down through the centre of the coil/spring and was quite snug. As long as it is making contact, I'm sure it will be fine and give you the result you need.

Since doing the modification, my outdoor unit is now approximately 20m away from the house/indoor unit, and has been flawless ever since.

Best of luck, let me know how you go, very interested!

Thanks!

[pursuit1980]

U P D A T E !  - 2020!

Morning everyone,

Well its now February 2020, almost 5 years since my original post.

I now live in the other side of the country, in a completely different house, material and population housing density, much more signal interference from homes with wifi etc...

So, lets re-hash a bit. Since moving across the country in 2018, I hadn't bothered to set up my Acurite weather station, and it remained packed up in its original box until yesterday, 10th February 2020.

The original cable I attached for the antenna gain was removed on packup, and had since been thrown out or misplaced, so I simply thought it may have just been an issue with the old house etc. Therefore, I would take onboard all of the technical advice from the original thread above and simply re-install the weatherstation in its original form and give it a go, the way it was designed.

Only to experience the EXACT SAME SIGNAL ISSUE!

I tried switching channels, A,B,C, all connected as they should, but all lost signal within a minute or two, JUST as they had done 5 years ago.

So, once again, into my shed to locate a spool of 4mm electrical wire, nothing special, just copper core with black plastic coating, normally used in auto-electrical work, 12v upto 10amp situation.

I took the unit down, unscrewed everything, to find that amazing little spring they use for the antenna, and just as before, I inserted a stripped end of the wire down inside of the spring, and ran the remaining few metres of wire out through one of the drain holes, ran a few tests at ground level.......FULL, and UN-INTERRUPTED SIGNAL! 

So, it's up on the roof we go, re-attached the weatherstation to the mast/pole, ran the remaining couple of metres of wire down the mast and cable tied it on, crossed my fingers and headed back down the ladder, back inside the house to the indoor unit......FULL, and UN-INTERRUPTED SIGNAL ONCE AGAIN!!! 

IT WORKS!, for all of the reasons that it shouldn't, from guys that gratefully shared their knowledge above, all I can say is, 5 years later, other side of the country, completely new environment and I've replicated the exact same success I had the first time by attaching some wire.

Absolutely wanting to convey nothing more than HELP for anyone struggling to get decent signal with their Acurite 5-in-1 Weather Station, PLEASE try this and save yourself alot of time.

 

[DoctorKnow]

My displays loose signal also, randomly. I am not sure what causes it... but it seems like the transmitter in the outdoor sensor drops off once in a while. I have extended the antenna wire in one of my indoor displays, and coiled the wire at the top, and even this did not help solve the problem completely.

I may try your idea next, but I may try coiling the wire I add on. I am afraid of shorting out the transmitter completely though.