Topic: Is WH32/915 MHz from Ecowitt that same as WH32G from Ambient?

[willbchap]

My apologies if this information is already somewhere in this great forum, but I'm so far down the rabbit hole that my head is spinning.

Is the WH32 (915 MHz) from Ecowitt the same as the WH32G from Ambient?

I want to run a simple setup with a WH2800/WS2800 as a display for outside (running off batteries during power outage), and a GW1000 (or ObserverIP?) for upload/remote view. I understand the sensors in the 2800 won't be available to the GW1000/ObserverIP, which is fine in my case. I'm trying to avoid two outdoor temp sensors.

[galfert]

You can't use Ecowitt sensors with Ambient branded consoles. This is because Ambient changes their firmware to prevent you from using Ecowitt sensors deliberately. They don't want you buying Ecowitt sensors, nor do they want to have to support you if you did so (if they allowed it).

But the other way around is no problem and it works. Meaning an Ecowitt console such as the GW1000 or HP2551-C would treat an Ambient branded sensor just fine (as long as the frequency matched). Ecowitt sees all Fine Offset sensors.

[willbchap]

That makes sense. Thanks for that perspective. I guess I need to decide if I’m going to buy into the Ambient ecosystem and stay or not. I like the Ecowitt offerings, and I want more than what Ambient has available, but my lack of knowledge in this industry has me wondering how long they will be around. I have too many IoT devices in a bin that have died because the company behind them no longer exists (for whatever reason), and the device can no longer “phone home.”

[Rover1822]

The good news is that Ambient Weather, and the base manufacturer  Fine Offset have been around for a while. You do however have to know what is what from Ambient Weather (there is a sticky post on the top of this forum describing that not all of Ambient Weather's products are Fine Offset, its worth the read). I'd be more worried about a product going into obsolescence  as opposed to the company going away.

Having had a few of the consumer line of products, they all unfortunately, regardless of manufacturer, have a limited life span. IMHO, anything beyond 5 years and you are doing good.

As far as Ecowitt, I would not hesitate to buy their brand either, and I have.

 

[willbchap]

Rover1822, good point on obsolescence. I agree. It seems like as long as I stay with a Fine Offset manufactured product line, I will be ok.

It doesn't seem to be hard to narrow down what is/was manufactured by Fine Offset, what is driving me nuts is all the WH32 sub types. I have now seen WH32, WH32B, WH32E, WH32G, WH32M. The only differences I can see are the amount of channels the sensor transmit on. It seems like most products that will accept these type of sensors will all accept the WH31, but the WH32 compatibility seems to be hard to narrow.

I have more research to do. I am not going to pursue all of the available sensors anytime soon, only temperature/hydro, pressure, and maybe the AQ sensor now that I see it. Finding a cheap display that will: show only one sensor/data field AND run on batteries seems to be the big challenge while also being received by a device for upload. I'm happy to use a display-less console for the rest of the sensors, but what sensors those devices are compatible with seems to be the great mystery.

[Rover1822]

I'm curious about your desire to have the display console run on batteries, if the issue is data loss during power outrages, an UPS may suffice.

If you actually want to run it on batteries, which will need to be replaced or charged, the power jack is DC, you could make your own battery pack. Or if you have a large battery bank as I do under solar, run it from that. (You would of course need a proper regulator to match whatever voltage you have).

I don't run mine off my bank, but I could, be relatively simple. However the draw on LCD display consoles is fairly high due to screen on etc. Here the GW1000 shines for a lower power usage scenario.

[galfert]

I'm happy to use a display-less console for the rest of the sensors, but what sensors those devices are compatible with seems to be the great mystery.

Well wonder no more. The HP2551-C display console can see all the sensors available now and it will be updated to support yet unreleased sensors for the foreseeable near future. Same for the GW1000.

[Rover1822]

I like the HP2551-C display , or its variant which I have with the Ambient WS-2000. But it does not have the built in ability to run from batteries. But plugged into a decent sized UPS unit, should give many hours of use during a power outage. You can size the UPS unit based on your expectations and need and price point. A simple 450VA unit ~ $50 should give you many hours of use when the utility power fails because your load is low. This is a  modified sine wave unit (MSW) (cheapest) which is OK in this application as you will be plugging in your power adapter to it, which converts AC to DC, and they are typically tolerant. I would not attempt to run a modern PC (excluding laptops, but if you have a laptop, silly to plug it into an UPS as it has an internal battery) from such a unit as modern PC units have an AVR (Automatic Voltage Regulation) circuit that will probably not work with it.

I have my WS-2000 display plugged into a 750VA UPS , which also operates a couple of network switches, some other stuff.

And howdy willbchap, you are 90 miles up the road from me (Norfolk)

[willbchap]

Thank you both for your help. I really appreciate it.

My budget is simply too low at this time to get into proper displays and arrays. I like the future expansion of the consoles. I was trying to stay sub $100 for now, so I might need to come back to this project at a later time. Or start with a gw1000 and WH32 and a separate cheap wired probe unit to stick out the kitchen window (yuck).

The battery source would be for seamless backup to continue to display temp and barometer during power outages. I’m not worried about continued data logging, so the web facing console can go down without concern.

I guess the GW1000 cannot work with the WH32M sensors, right? Those are 3 channel units for the WS2810(A). As far as I can tell, the answer is no.

Can you turn off data fields on the HP2551 (Or the 2000)? If I don’t have sensors for wind, rain, solar, whatever else, can those fields be hidden, or do they simply show a bunch of zeros and laugh at how cheap you are for not buying the rest of the sensors? Hehe

The added interest in this post has indeed been both of your locations. I am originally from Tidewater (I lived all over there for 20 years, and still have family living near NOB Norfolk). I went to college in the Orlando area, Full Sail in Winter Park. I think you both can appreciate what happens when a hurricane comes through. I spend a fair amount of effort in keeping storm ready here. Hence the battery backup.

Again, thanks for the help. Feel free to move this thread to a more appropriate forum, since we have deviated a bit.

[galfert]

I guess the GW1000 cannot work with the WH32M sensors, right? Those are 3 channel units for the WS2810(A). As far as I can tell, the answer is no.

Hmmm probably not.

Can you turn off data fields on the HP2551 (Or the 2000)? If I don’t have sensors for wind, rain, solar, whatever else, can those fields be hidden, or do they simply show a bunch of zeros and laugh at how cheap you are for not buying the rest of the sensors? Hehe

Some zeros and some dashes depending on the sensor. The display would still show the respective parts just with no data.

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[willbchap]

Some zeros and some dashes depending on the sensor. The display would still show the respective parts just with no data.

Thanks for that information. That display looks great.

[Jai Soone]

FWIW:

As far as Ambient Wether is concerned:

WS-2800:  a) Supported only 1 remote wireless WH32G sensor
          b) Replaced by the WS-2801

WS-2801   a) Supports up to 3 remote wireless WH32M sensors
          b) Replaced by the WS-2801A

WS-2801A  a) Adds a scroll mode to the console to what is
             otherwise a WS-2801

WH32M     a) 8 channel wireless Temperature Humidity Sensor
          b) In stock currently for $17.49

WH32G     a) wireless Temperature Humidity Sensor
          b) Not in stock. Discontinued.

WH32B     a) wireless Temperature, Humidity, Barometer Sensor
          b) used as part of WS-0900-IP, WS-1550-IP, WS-2000,
             WS-5000 Weather Stations.

As far as ecowitt is concerned:

WH32      a) "WH32 - WIFI[sic] Weather Sensor Series -- Outdoor Temperature and Humidity Sensor"
          b) Note: One GW1000 can only accept one WH32 sensor.

I'll guess that the ecowitt WH32 is equivalent to
the Ambient Weather WH32G which has been discontinued by Ambient.

[willbchap]

Somehow, I missed that Ecowitt is a retail sales subsidiary of Fine Offset, and now I understand all of the mismatch between what Ecowitt and Ambient Weather (and other retailers?) offer. Good grief, you fine folks are very dedicated to be able to keep up with this stuff. I'm sure the two companies didn't appreciate me asking questions about interoperability, but oh well.

I followed no one's advice, and bought a WS-3000-5 (AW), added three sensors (including two of the new WH31P sensors, working great so far), and the ObserverIP. I got exactly what the Ambient Weather website said would work together. You can put all of that in the cart with a few clicks from the same page. Well, it does, but HUGE CAVIOT. There is no way of knowing from their website, or the manual online, or anywhere that I could find that the ObserverIP apparently will not report an Outside temperature without an array connected. Unless, you are using it configured as a WS-0800, which will only use WH32 (B and E) sensors, and according to the AW support guy, will then not accept any additional sensors (channels 1-8). The WS-3000 of course will not accept WH32 sensors, so now I've gotten close to my planned usage, but still further away than I was expecting. I gave up on a battery operated display.

Yes, I can see all of the sensors on the AW.net dashboard, but now I can't set IFTTT triggers (EDIT: Ok, I found a way to use values for other sensors). I went with the ObserverIP because I wanted the device not on wifi, and I can vlan (and have) it easily. And, I have some other things that was going to do with the shared data (without sharing the entire dashboard).

Now that I know the backstory, it makes sense. I still don't understand why they can't have the option to assign one of the eight "additional" sensors as the "Outdoor" sensor, but I'm sure there is some amazingly business minded reason for it.

Sorry for the short rant. I come from an industry (a/v) where interoperability is paramount for a device manufacturer to succeed. Not just between brands, with a standard communication protocol, which this weather equipment clearly works on that principal. But also within a product line. This ObserverIP should be able to see and use anything AW sells (EDIT: of the Fine Offset manufacturing), and mix and match. It makes me wonder how much of the software engineering AW had control over. Possibly not more than putting the name at the top of the web based GUI.

Anyway, if anyone has a suggestion for me, I'll take it, but I guess I'm going to do exactly what was going to bug me from the beginning: have two sensors outside to accomplish the same task. Adding a WH32E to the cart... Edit: Well, maybe I can find more work around for this.