Topic: Ecowitt Hardware Confusion - Looking for alternatives

[Pickers]

I have been looking to buy my husband a new weather station and wanted to spend around the £150-£300 mark, ideally nearer £200. He has had for many years I think an Aercus Instruments WS1093 Touchscreen Weather Station which was cheap and cheerful and lasted for years but now the wind measure doesnt work properly any more so hence my wanting to get him a new one for Christmas, although I now wish I hadnt started looking. It seems many people on here rave about Ecowitt (or the various rebadged options). I have been looking into them, unfortunately it seems they are really only through Amazon in the UK and the prices fluctuate by the day. I was thinking of the following until the price hiked by £26.00 last week and then a further £44.00 over night to £290 so now wouldn't buy that now knowing its been so much cheaper in the last week
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08342SLWH/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_1?smid=A3BKNHPQNWVVB9&psc=1

The biggest problem I am finding with Ecowitt apart from the frequent price changes & the rubbish 1 year warranty is that I can make no sense of their model numbers. Even the matrix on the sticky thread doesnt help this query. what is the difference between these two models below. The pictures are slightly different in that one shows the metal pole, the other difference appears to be the the wind direction sensor is on the top of one and on the bottom of the other. There is no model number for this array to be able to research the differences. has anyone come across this before is one array older or cheaper than the other. Ecowitt EU should list ALL the part numbers on their pages on Amazon otherwise you have no idea what you are buying.

HP2551AE-DE
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B099255R6C/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A3BKNHPQNWVVB9&psc=1
‎HP2551AE-DE-US
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07XR745RH/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?smid=A3BKNHPQNWVVB9&psc=1

Also the other issue I have is that the Ecowitt consoles run on mains, so what happens in a power cut. All these consoles seems so outdated for the kit. I appreciate many people use their laptops and phones but the reason we have a weather station in the first place is for an instance glance on the kitchen wall.

Bresser seems to get slated on here, can I ask why, they seem to have a far better warranty - 3years, dont appear to be re-badged generic chinese hardware (although I maybe wrong) and their consoles look to be better although now wont arrive in time for Christams.  Were Davis a better price and has a decent console/display I would go for them but they are way beyond our price point with displays that belong to the early 1990's.

May have to give up on this as being a bad idea.

[Pickers]

I had also asked Ecowitt re a couple of my question listed in the previous post

Got a reply promptly which was great but were very unhelpful. So they wont be getting my hard earned cash. So any other recommendations would be welcome

[box]

I had also asked Ecowitt re a couple of my question listed in the previous post

Got a reply promptly which was great but were very unhelpful. So they wont be getting my hard earned cash. So any other recommendations would be welcome

Can I suggest weatherspares.co.uk who stock ecowitt and all their competitors and can advise  for your particular situation

The Amazon.uk store is really just a warehouse outlet, good if you know what you want

On the console front if you want ot to work during power cuts you will need to invest in some sort of UPS. Do you really need that capability or can you just wait for the power to be restored and it will sort itself out?

[Pickers]

thanks so much for the info, had already looked at weatherspares but their prices are basically the full RRP and their delivery dates are post Christmas.

Ive now pretty much given up anyway as a bad idea. I really dont like the fact that everything seems to come out of the same factory and just gets re badged - there doesnt appear to be any original manufacturer hardware May just get another very cheap one and wait until someone brings out something new and innovative, think my old one was under £100 and lasted for many, many years, really nothing much has changed other than wifi capability since I bought my last one which is amazing considering there wernt smart phones when I bought that

[broadstairs]

I think the issues is that there are not a whole load of manufacturers in the hobby end of the market. If you want a system which has battery backup and a logging mechanism and all at a cheap price then you are out of luck. A Davis system does all you want apart from having a rather old style console but you have to pay for it.

Adding loggers and battery backup will increase the price of all the Fine Offset (Ecowitt etc) clones probably quite a lot. Many people use the cloud now and use phones or tablets to display their data from the cloud and many of these solutions allow flexibility. You can add battery backup in the form of a UPS as has been mentioned but that needs to cope with your router as well with these systems as the cloud is the only way to archive easily. You either buy cheap and cope or expensive and have everything you want.

Stuart

[box]

thanks so much for the info, had already looked at weatherspares but their prices are basically the full RRP and their delivery dates are post Christmas.

Ive now pretty much given up anyway as a bad idea. I really dont like the fact that everything seems to come out of the same factory and just gets re badged - there doesnt appear to be any original manufacturer hardware May just get another very cheap one and wait until someone brings out something new and innovative, think my old one was under £100 and lasted for many, many years, really nothing much has changed other than wifi capability since I bought my last one which is amazing considering there wernt smart phones when I bought that

Fine Offset is the OEM and their retail outlet is Ecowitt, AFAIK you cannot buy direct from Fine Offset

My ecowitt station has been going strong for 2 years and most users on this forum recommend Ecowitt as a budget alternative to Davis

I have no experience with Bresser but they are still in business - if they meet your needs why not stick with them?

[Arkadiusz_w]

I have been looking to buy my husband a new weather station and wanted to spend around the £150-£300 mark, ideally nearer £200. He has had for many years I think an Aercus Instruments WS1093 Touchscreen Weather Station which was cheap and cheerful and lasted for years but now the wind measure doesnt work properly any more so hence my wanting to get him a new one for Christmas, although I now wish I hadnt started looking. It seems many people on here rave about Ecowitt (or the various rebadged options). I have been looking into them, unfortunately it seems they are really only through Amazon in the UK and the prices fluctuate by the day. I was thinking of the following until the price hiked by £26.00 last week and then a further £44.00 over night to £290 so now wouldn't buy that now knowing its been so much cheaper in the last week
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08342SLWH/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_1?smid=A3BKNHPQNWVVB9&psc=1

The biggest problem I am finding with Ecowitt apart from the frequent price changes & the rubbish 1 year warranty is that I can make no sense of their model numbers. Even the matrix on the sticky thread doesnt help this query. what is the difference between these two models below. The pictures are slightly different in that one shows the metal pole, the other difference appears to be the the wind direction sensor is on the top of one and on the bottom of the other. There is no model number for this array to be able to research the differences. has anyone come across this before is one array older or cheaper than the other. Ecowitt EU should list ALL the part numbers on their pages on Amazon otherwise you have no idea what you are buying.

HP2551AE-DE
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B099255R6C/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A3BKNHPQNWVVB9&psc=1
‎HP2551AE-DE-US
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07XR745RH/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?smid=A3BKNHPQNWVVB9&psc=1

Also the other issue I have is that the Ecowitt consoles run on mains, so what happens in a power cut. All these consoles seems so outdated for the kit. I appreciate many people use their laptops and phones but the reason we have a weather station in the first place is for an instance glance on the kitchen wall.

Bresser seems to get slated on here, can I ask why, they seem to have a far better warranty - 3years, dont appear to be re-badged generic chinese hardware (although I maybe wrong) and their consoles look to be better although now wont arrive in time for Christams.  Were Davis a better price and has a decent console/display I would go for them but they are way beyond our price point with displays that belong to the early 1990's.

May have to give up on this as being a bad idea.

Ecowitt for its HP2560_C and HP2550_C products and related consoles and the GW1100/GW2000 has released this solution.

https://shop.ecowitt.com/products/6700mah-power-bank-with-plug-1

[HaraldS]

This year, I switched to Ecowitt from Ambient due to broader sensor support and have been happy so far.
I use a small LiIon based passthrough backup battery to power both the HP2561 panel and a DSL router/Access point in case of power failures. They run for at least 24hours off this.

[alanb]

This year, I switched to Ecowitt from Ambient due to broader sensor support and have been happy so far.
I use a small LiIon based passthrough backup battery to power both the HP2561 panel and a DSL router/Access point in case of power failures. They run for at least 24hours off this.

Could you tell us the brand/model of the passthrough battery power bank you use? Thanks!

[HaraldS]

TalentCell 12/24V Lithium ion Battery Pack PB240B2, Rechargeable 35000mAh 129.5Wh Li-ion Batteries with DC 24/12 Volt and 5V USB Output for LED Light Strip, CCTV Camera, Smartphone and More

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07YQHG31B/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[Gyvate]

I have been looking to buy my husband a new weather station and wanted to spend around the £150-£300 mark, ideally nearer £200.  ....
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08342SLWH/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_1?smid=A3BKNHPQNWVVB9&psc=1

that's the best choice you can make model-wise

HP2551AE-DE
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B099255R6C/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A3BKNHPQNWVVB9&psc=1
‎HP2551AE-DE-US
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07XR745RH/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?smid=A3BKNHPQNWVVB9&psc=1

apart from the price there is no difference

Also the other issue I have is that the Ecowitt consoles run on mains, so what happens in a power cut. All these consoles seems so outdated for the kit. I appreciate many people use their laptops and phones but the reason we have a weather station in the first place is for an instance glance on the kitchen wall.

yep - what happens to your TV, your fridge etc. when there is a power cut ....
If you have hardware you want to kep "alive" during a power cut, you have to think of some UPS (unterinterupted power supply) - a very simple solution is a cheap so-called powerbank put in between the mains outlet and the console.

Bresser seems to get slated on here, can I ask why, they seem to have a far better warranty - 3years, dont appear to be re-badged generic chinese hardware (although I maybe wrong) and their consoles look to be better although now wont arrive in time for Christams.  Were Davis a better price and has a decent console/display I would go for them but they are way beyond our price point with displays that belong to the early 1990's.

Bresser hardware is also made in China afaik - warranty in general depends also on the country you live and buy.
But Ecowitt are often very supportive and generous beyond the 1-year warranty .... exceptional !!
Their hardware is usually pretty reliable - and the multitude of different sensors makes them special.
Other brands often don't go beyond the very basic weather sensors - even though you can have this also at Ecowitt, even with an inbuilt battery (the WS2320 station) - but not expandable.
even though the reply comes late for Xmas, there is also a time beyond Xmas. 

[Arkadiusz_w]

Take a look at this solution for HP2550_C and HP2560_C consoles:

https://shop.ecowitt.com/products/6700mah-power-bank-with-plug-1

[G.Brown]

am I missing the point here as the console is powered by a mains plug and this device is just usb back up?
Or are you suggesting using it with a usb cable with a compatible jack plug on the end?

https://shop.ecowitt.com/products/6700mah-power-bank-with-plug-1

UPDATE - well having just looked at what is sold now, the console does indeed come with usb supply - mine did not just a mains plug.

[Gyvate]

am I missing the point here as the console is powered by a mains plug and this device is just usb back up?
Or are you suggesting using it with a usb cable with a compatible jack plug on the end?

https://shop.ecowitt.com/products/6700mah-power-bank-with-plug-1

UPDATE - well having just looked at what is sold now, the console does indeed come with usb supply - mine did not just a mains plug.

you can get the USB/jack ended cable here if your console didn't come with such a setup:
https://shop.ecowitt.com/collections/for-display

[G.Brown]

yes thanks Gyvate will bear that in mind, but they charge double the cost of the item in shipping ...and I would want white!

[Gyvate]

I would think that you may be able to find such a cable in white at ebay or amazon ...
(or get yourself some white spray paint  )

[G.Brown]

you would think that every variation of everything would be available somewhere or China, but in this case ie a 2M cable with angled jack in white does not exist...better still with angled USB.
Only one available is this 1.5M with multijack and must be the only supplier as they have sold nearly 3K....imagine their sales if it had an angled USB...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/352288530054?hash=item5206085e86:g:Hg8AAOSwquBajxwd&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAA8DtYA9W2SDuM3%2Bwz4VeJxBdaJzl1voauJ6P4IgutPQ87uW%2FXRedmIqUGEah%2FcMQVnwvYcz2kcJFhYt95%2FPWD0SrTvFgnImjEysOqVtpwlC09HF7%2FyTNB49FGLB7n9UmpYH7bSS2kqds8WF8G6IUcsTu3a1024PRYNRwEwwYZj9VmbstypnTiiA%2BOxbqo8F584%2FJU2hQP3cthBrh6b4vrdcuSNuGHsRcQv%2BfjM8ivsZOUmiQPtZ4SHRU9%2FqLh%2By0OoUrM%2B9P830d3LKsHkrfqM4XlJcFnvbg3Vixm3qY%2BtEdCV2pOUMX16ZK5w9IZY%2FmpIQ%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR7KNgfXaYQ