Topic: Suddenly WS-1400-IP not resetting rain count at start of day

[chicoDaMan]

I have two Ambient Weather WS-1400-IP units on a large property. One unit properly resets the rain accumulation to zero at midnight (0000 hours) but the other one recently stopped resetting back to zero.

Thus, the Weather Underground site shows one unit with the correct daily rainfall reading (say, 2"), but the other one shows the accumulation of the previous days plus the current days (say, 7" or so, depending on when I last reset the rain accumulation value).

Both units are running up-to-date firmware, AmbientWeather 4.5.8.

Anybody have any ideas on what's wrong and how to fix it?

[galfert]

The ObserverIP is flakey device. I recommend replacing them with a GW1000. You'll lose Ambientweather.net reporting though, but gain the similar Ecowitt.net. They differ and each have their pros and cons. You could still run the ObserverIP simultaneously if you want (to keep Ambientweather.net) but just use the GW1000 for WU and see if that solves your problem. There is much to gain from the GW1000 as it opens doors to even more options like running Cumulus, Meteobridge, Weather-Display, and WeeWx.

[chicoDaMan]

Thank you for the response.

Yes, over the years I've found the ObserverIP to have a number of issues. I've got four deployed in different locations.

Are you saying that the GW1000 will work with the Ambientweather Sensors, or are you suggesting replacing the whole Ambientweather setup with one from Ecowitt?

[galfert]

Yes the Ecowitt GW1000 will pick up all the Ambient sensors. You don't need to do anything special...just plug in the GW1000 and there they all are. Much much nicer and more reliable than an ObserverIP. It also will perform at a longer range from the sensors than the ObserverIP.

[chicoDaMan]

Well, if I can keep my existing sensors, the price is right! I'll give one a shot, see how it goes, then replace the others if it goes well.

Thanks for the advice...

[chicoDaMan]

BTW...

The fine print on the Ecowitt site says:

"Frequency: 915/868/433Mhz(please add a note for your prefered frequency) ."

However, the one on Amazon says:

Specifications
Frequency: 915MHz

....with no way to choose frequency.

So, as I recall, the Ambient Weather sensors use 915 MHz...so that's the GW1000 that should work with them, right?

[galfert]

Yes all Ambient branded stations use 915 MHz. As Ambient only sells to the US. If you buy the Ecowitt GW1000 from Amazon.com (US site) then you'll get the 915 MHz version which matches. What you'll get is technically the GW1000B but nobody differentiates the model name to that level when discussing the GW1000. It is just GW1000 no matter which you have as they all run the same software. That facilitates sharing and talking about the GW1000. It makes it easier when doing web searches for information. So I'm glad that Ecowitt calls them all GW1000 even though technically there are three versions; GW1000 (433 MHz), GW1000A (868 MHz) and GW1000B (915 MHz) and so the only difference between them is the frequency they use. The other frequencies are used in other countries. That is why the Ecowitt website which allows orders from around the world requires that you specify the frequency to match your station. The Amazon.com (US site) only allows US address accounts to buy it so no need to specify frequency as it only sells the 915 MHz.

[chicoDaMan]

Got it. Thanks much.

[Mandrake]

Actually I don't think that's strictly true about Amazon.com
many folks in the UK use the US version but of course you have to pay the taxes and shipping.
If the item you are interested in is available to ship internationally to your normal Amazon address then it automatically calculates the extra costs and displays those for you as part of the overall cost.

[galfert]

I didn't say people outside of the US could not use the US version of Amazon.com. What I said was that for this particular product it would not ship to a non-US address. It would get flagged because that is how the seller has this particular listing set up. The same holds true for an Ambient station sold on the US Amazon site. If you try you'll see that it won't complete the purchase. For other items yes you are correct there is no restriction and then yes tariffs/taxes and possibly extra shipping get tacked on as required.

[Mandrake]

Sorry I am pretty sure you are wrong.
I know of folks in the UK who have ordered the Ecowitt kit via the Amazon.com website rather than go direct to Ecowitt.com
I just tested the theory myself and it let me order it. (and immediate cancel)
 [ You are not allowed to view attachments ]
You can also order the Ambient kit via Amazon.com and was something I was considering until Lucy offered to sell me what I needed via Ecowitt at the correct frequencies.
The only reason I did not go down this path is that I am a licenced Radio Amateur and consequently I am bound by the frequency limitations and would get the book thrown at me if I caused issues with non UK/Europe compliant kit. But....and I stress this, there is no law to stop you buying it in the UK, just operating it!

[galfert]

Hmmm, okay. I'm just going by what others have said that they have wanted to order from Ambient and they won't ship outside of the US. I thought that pertained to both Ambient directly as well as Amazon. That is rather interesting that Amazon let you order the Ecowitt with 915 MHz. I suppose this means that we need to ensure when giving advice that people realize to order directly from Ecowitt for non-915 MHz. But I think we've been good at that.

[Mandrake]

Certainly Ambient wont sell direct to the UK and they make it clear on their website. Which is strange that they then allow it via their Amazon.com storefront!
I guess that this is because Amazon is handling the management of it all including probably warehousing and therefore the logistics.
Its good for us in the UK to always have that US option should we want it and I have often used it my advantage to save money or buy things not available on the UK websites.
Whether this applies to just the UK or other territories I cant tell though I would suspect if its OK for the UK shipping wise then it should apply to all European countries.

I do try and be clear when steering folks to Ecowitt.com about choosing the correct frequencies.
I wish there was a obvious guide that made things clear but there is not.
It seems in the Aus/NZ zone that you are most likely to get 433Mhz kit
In Europe its 866Mhz although there are some sellers like Misol that are now selling 433Mhz variants in Europe so its definitely a minefield!

[galfert]

Glad you have the option of buying from Amazon US. I've tried various times for different things to order from both Amazon UK and Amazon Canada and my checkout was blocked telling me they would not ship to my US address.

[Mandrake]

I presume that's down to the US trade wars!
In the UK we can pretty much order from any regional Amazon site.
I have ordered from the French and German regional sites before when the price was cheaper than via the UK Amazon.
Its crazy really and not many folks realise that you can do it.
I have friends and Family in Auz that order stuff on the UK Amazon for Auz delivery though shipping costs can be prohibitive!

[chicoDaMan]

Regarding the original discussion topic:

Can anyone tell me if the end-of-day reset of the WS-1400-IP is a function of the sensor unit or the ObserverIP?

I would assume it's part of the firmware in the ObserverIP, tied to the time-of-day setting and time obtained online...but how could that break, and why so in one unit and not another using the same firmware and similar settings?

I've done a hard reset, and re-entered all settings...same same.

Hard to figure...

[Mandrake]

I cant help much with the actual ws-1400 as I don't have one, but the principles should be the same.

The outdoor sensor array transmits bucket tips which are counted by the console/ws-1400 and converted to a measured value.
So the issue most certainly sounds like it in your ws-1400.
Are you sure there is not a setting to adjust the rain accumulation values?
I am sure that there will be a calibration offset but there might be some other settings that you have missed.
It does not sound like the device is corrupt so I would have to guess a setting value is adrift somewhere.

[chicoDaMan]

The bucket readings are accurate. It's just that at the end of the day they don't reset to zero, they continue on into the next day.

It seems to me the ObserverIP should be where this occurs, since it knows the time (from the internet) and has the real-time data field called "Daily Rain".

In this particular unit, the "Daily Rain" total just keeps accumulating over the days, as if it's a Total Rain count instead of a Daily Rain count.

I'm in the process of downgrading the firmware, trying hard resets, etc. No luck so far, so I was just wondering if anybody knew how this mechanism is supposed to work...

[galfert]

Might be a problem with WU and that particular station ID. Since you have two ObserverIP devices I would suggest swapping them.

The problem is either with WU, the ObserverIP or the network that is preventing the ObserverIP from talking to a time server on the Internet. It is not a fault of the WH24 sensor array.

The ObserverIP can upload to Ambientweather.net. Is there a problem there?
The ObserverIP has its own Live page with daily totals. What does it say there?
Are both ObserverIP devices on the same network? Or separate locations?

The ObserverIP does something very poorly on the network from my testing. It does not pull a DHCP address correctly from the DHCP server. It pulls an initial IP and then at the half life of the lease it does not renew the address. Some other IoT devices I have do this poorly also, but one thing the others do is that they at least renew the lease upon expiration. The ObserverIP doesn't!!! The ObserverIP just keeps using the given DHCP IP address beyond the lease expiration as an entitled millennial. It is really bad. Just terrible. I've worked with Ambient and Fine Offset on many bugs in several models. I've spent the most amount of time working with their engineers on the ObserverIP. They were very nice and they fixed many bugs. They even implemented some improvements that I recommended. But sadly this one particular bug they could just never fix. The ObserverIP is a very limited resource device. It was designed to be inexpensive and just provide basic functionality. Then they started adding more things for it to do like uploading to Ambientweather.net, and keeping track of more and more sensors. It just does not have enough RAM nor CPU resources to so so much. The network stack is not complete. They can't fix the network issues (DHCP) because the building blocks are just not there. It's like trying to ride a bicycle on the highway. It just was not meant to do all that they have put in it. The problem with the DHCP network lease can cause the network to ignore the device. After DHCP expiration it is a rouge device on the network. I've spent a lot of time testing ObserverIP firmware all versions. I kept a log of the good ones (better ones but still none great), and the just terrible ones to avoid at all costs. I too have (in a closet somewhere) two ObserverIP devices. I notice weird things when I had two on the same network. One would be more flaky than the other. But when I ran just one at a time things were better. Either one was better by itself than both at the same time. I want to so desperately forget all this. When I read this OP I thought, "yep the ObserverIP is crap and two of them is quadruple crap." I'm not going to help you further troubleshoot the ObserverIP. I've spent too much time and know it too well to know that I never want anything to do with it. It is so bad that I can't conscientiously sell my ObserverIP devices to anyone. Mine aren't defective. They just are all bad. Are there people using ObserverIP devices with no problems? Probably but they aren't using them to the fullest with Ambientweather.net uploads and with Meteobridges pulling live data from them successfully that is for sure. If you search the forum you'll find many of my ObserverIP work and information. I feel like deleting all those posts because the ObserverIP is just not worth the headache. The day I got my GW1000 was the day I finally rested.

There are more tips to running an ObserverIP more successfully. But the best advice is to just get rid of it.

[chicoDaMan]

, great post! You called it a POS every which way but directly... 

As to the DHCP stuff, totally agree. I've tried static IPs and DHCP and both gave headaches. What's worked for me over the past few years has been to have my router assign a fixed DHCP address based on the MAC address...for some reason, that has worked without issue for me. YMMV, as you pointed out...

The ObserverIP live page shows the totals without zero'ing them out. Both the Ambient and WxU pages track that, so the problem seems to be in the device at my end. Just can't figure out how the firmware would "break" in one unit but not the other. But as you so eloquently stated, these things can be PITAs as well as POSs.

I intend to take your advice and try a GW1000. But I suspect I'm like you, if it's not working right and I can't figure out why, I work overtime to figure it out.  But since you've told me that path leads to dark places, I guess I'll drop it while I'm still somewhat sane...

Thanks for the responses...

[chicoDaMan]

btw, if you know the current state of microcontroller devices, it's hard to imagine that Ambient wouldn't just trash the innards of the current ObserverIP and replace it with one of the new do-everything $1-$2 chips (in qty) like the ESP8266 or ESP32. Built-in wifi, bluetooth, lots of RAM and erasable ROM, quad-core processors...and easy to code, can even use Arduino...it could send email alerts, host a decent web-based user interface, wouldn't need an ethernet connection, yadda yadda yadda...

Would just need a 915 MHz radio (coupla bux on eBay) to make a new, powerful unit. Hardware cost could be rock bottom for them, but be a much better solution...

[galfert]

The GW1000 is basically the ObserverIP 2. Fine Offset designed the GW1000 to be the successor of the ObserverIP. The GW1000 truly amazing. It does everything right. It is more powerful and has the new ESP chips. The fact that the GW1000 has a proper API rather than requiring a Live page to be scraped for data is just incredible. I'm really shocked that Ambient is yet not selling the GW1000. True to Ambient's form is probably the fact that they have to be different and they can't just sell the same GW1000 that every other Fine Offset reseller will sell. Other resellers just keep the stock firmware. Like Froggit has done with the DP1500 as that is their version of the GW1000. But Froggit may brand it with their name and call it a DP1500 but under the skin of a different brand and different plastic color is the exact same device as the Ecowitt GW1000 down to using the exact same firmware. But Ambient can't do that as they are the only reseller with their own version of Ecowitt.net which is Ambientweather.net. So Ambient has to modify the GW1000. Probably seems minimal but there is more.....that they have to do and remove like MetOffice WOW (because they don't want to need to support it). Ambient probably wants to also change other features to be in control. For example it has always intrigued me that the Aercus version of the ObserverIP has a upload to custom server feature but Ambient's doesn't. I flat out told Ambient this was important and they said they'd look into it and many months later it never happened (still hasn't). This customization of the firmware is what has probably delayed the Ambient version of the GW1000. I do know that Ambient is working on this project and currently it is estimated to finally come out sometime Q1 or Q2 in 2020. I would not be surprised if the Ambient version when it comes out does not disappoint in some way.
 

[galfert]

, great post! You called it a POS every which way but directly... 

I said crap a couple times. That is literally POS 

The ObserverIP live page shows the totals without zero'ing them out. Both the Ambient and WxU pages track that, so the problem seems to be in the device at my end. Just can't figure out how the firmware would "break" in one unit but not the other. But as you so eloquently stated, these things can be PITAs as well as POSs.

If a factory reset didn't fix it then you have corrupt flash storage most likely. It's done. All flash devices have a limit and the ObserverIP is not a good specimen.

I intend to take your advice and try a GW1000. But I suspect I'm like you, if it's not working right and I can't figure out why, I work overtime to figure it out.  But since you've told me that path leads to dark places, I guess I'll drop it while I'm still somewhat sane...

Thanks for the responses...

If you end up missing Ambientweather.net after you retire the ObserverIP devices, you should consider adding a WeatherBridge from Ambient. This will allow the GW1000 to send data to the WeatherBridge and then from there upload to Ambientweather.net. A WeatherBridge is a Meteobridge with added Ambientweather.net license. Internally it looks and is exactly like a Meteobridge and it calls itself Meteobridge and never WeatherBridge. You can so so much more with a Meteobridge that I recommend one anyway.