Author Topic: WS-80 Ultrasonic Wind sensor array  (Read 22488 times)

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Offline Mandrake

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WS-80 Ultrasonic Wind sensor array
« on: August 23, 2019, 07:42:39 AM »
As promised here are the first shares of the new sensor from Ecowitt
This is a combined Ultrasonic wind speed and direction (anemometer) with integrated UV, Temp and humidity
The range for this device has been improved and Ecowitt say they expect this to work up to 300M in ideal circumstances in conjunction with the latest version of the gw-1000

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Features:
1.Measures wind speed/direction, temp/humidity, solar radiation/uv
2.Supports updating firmware with USB cable. (in the photo's I have attached this port can be seen with a plastic plug covering it just underneath the solar cell at the top)

Specifications
1. Wind speed: Range: 0~40m/s; Starting wind speed: 0.5m/s; Accuracy(pending).
2. Wind direction: Range: 0~359 degrees; Accuracy: 10 degrees.
3. Temperature: Range: -40~60ˇăC; Accuracy: 1C.
4. Humidity: Range: 1~99%; Accuracy: 5%.
5. Light intensity: Range: 0~300Klux; Accuracy: 15%.
6. Ultraviolet: Measurement level 1~15; Accuracy: 2.
7. Battery voltage measurement: Range: 0~3.3V; Accuracy: 0.1V.
8. Static current: 30~50uA.

When the maximum wind speed of the last 4s is >=5m/s, the wind speed is detected by 1s; when the maximum wind speed of the last 4s is >=3m/s and less than 5m/s, the wind speed is detected by 2s; when the maximum wind speed of the last 4s is <3m/ s, the wind speed is detected by 4s.

Please note the wh80 sensor can have a heater under the sonic reflecting surface and this can be used to melt the snow builds up during wind season and make the item still functional.  Among the sample we sent, we didn't have the power cable installed for heater use.
G1ZFO

Ecowitt HP2551A + WH65 Tri-Wing (Wunderground: IGUILDFO67)
Ecowitt GW1000 (Wunderground: IGUILDFO68)
Ecowitt GW1000 (Mk2) test environment driving CumulusMX on a RPi 3b
Ecowitt GW2000 (Test)
Ecowitt WS90 Wittboy - Test
Ecowitt WH51 (x6) Soil Moisture Sensor
Ecowitt WH41 PM2.5 AQM Sensor
Ecowitt WH31 (x8) Thermo/Hygro Sensor
Ecowitt WS80 Ultrasonic Anemometer (pre-prod test)
Ecowitt WH57 Lightning Sensor -test
Ecowitt WH32-EP (SHT35) + Davis 7714 Screen
Ecowitt WH45 CO2/PM2.5/PM10 -Test
Ecowitt WN34 Soil Temp Sensor -Test
Ecowitt WN34 Water Temp Sensor -Test
Ecowitt WN35 Leaf Moisture

Offline krojan

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Re: WS-80 Ultrasonic Wind sensor array
« Reply #1 on: August 23, 2019, 11:36:19 AM »
Have you already activated the WS80 sensor?
Have you compared his readings with another anemometer?
Sorry for my English.
GW1000, HP2551-C, HP3001, HP1001.

Offline mauro63

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Re: WS-80 Ultrasonic Wind sensor array
« Reply #2 on: August 23, 2019, 02:59:11 PM »
Just arrived today for me also, tomorrow I will install at about one meter far from my vp2

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another good news, hope you like it  ;)

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Mauro

Offline mauro63

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Re: WS-80 Ultrasonic Wind sensor array
« Reply #3 on: August 24, 2019, 03:13:03 AM »
ws80 installed now
on the rear of ws80 there is a meteoshield standard with wh-32 sensor

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Mauro

Offline krojan

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Re: WS-80 Ultrasonic Wind sensor array
« Reply #4 on: August 24, 2019, 04:16:35 AM »
Are the WS80 sensor and Davis anemometer too low? It should be 10m (about 33 feet).
Trees that can be seen in the background do not affect wind measurements?
Sorry for my English.
GW1000, HP2551-C, HP3001, HP1001.

Offline mauro63

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Re: WS-80 Ultrasonic Wind sensor array
« Reply #5 on: August 24, 2019, 04:38:16 AM »
Are the WS80 sensor and Davis anemometer too low? It should be 10m (about 33 feet).
Trees that can be seen in the background do not affect wind measurements?

of course, but this is only a first test, at the moment I am interested in evaluating the performance of the solar radiation shield compared to the davis, after the test it will be moved

Mauro

Offline Mandrake

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Re: WS-80 Ultrasonic Wind sensor array
« Reply #6 on: August 24, 2019, 07:26:07 AM »
OK, I have got my WS-80 setup and installed on a new mast co-located to my Tri-wing sensor array for comparison.

It seems to be quite solidly built, with the battery box being well sealed with a seal. I have taken a couple of photo's to show this and also upside down so you can see the sonic transducers.
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Once I had installed two lithium AA cells I noticed that the on the top central UV sensor I could see a small LED flashing showing that it was alive.

On the device is an arrow showing the direction to align it to the North.
There are a couple of tiny holes marked reset and calibration but I have no info on these but there use is obvious I guess.

« Last Edit: August 24, 2019, 07:30:44 AM by Mandrake »
G1ZFO

Ecowitt HP2551A + WH65 Tri-Wing (Wunderground: IGUILDFO67)
Ecowitt GW1000 (Wunderground: IGUILDFO68)
Ecowitt GW1000 (Mk2) test environment driving CumulusMX on a RPi 3b
Ecowitt GW2000 (Test)
Ecowitt WS90 Wittboy - Test
Ecowitt WH51 (x6) Soil Moisture Sensor
Ecowitt WH41 PM2.5 AQM Sensor
Ecowitt WH31 (x8) Thermo/Hygro Sensor
Ecowitt WS80 Ultrasonic Anemometer (pre-prod test)
Ecowitt WH57 Lightning Sensor -test
Ecowitt WH32-EP (SHT35) + Davis 7714 Screen
Ecowitt WH45 CO2/PM2.5/PM10 -Test
Ecowitt WN34 Soil Temp Sensor -Test
Ecowitt WN34 Water Temp Sensor -Test
Ecowitt WN35 Leaf Moisture

Offline Mandrake

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Re: WS-80 Ultrasonic Wind sensor array
« Reply #7 on: August 24, 2019, 07:26:52 AM »
I have installed the sensor about 12 feet off the ground.
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Both GW-1000's I have auto picked up the new sensor and registered it. At this stage I am unsure how to force one GW-1000 to look at the all-in one and the other at the ws-80.
For my HP2551 I have to assume that it still looking at the All-in one as I don't seem to have any setting screen that can choose. I am awaiting some guidance from Lucy on this and will post back.
For reference the Mark2 GW-1000 shows no distinguishing marks or clues to show that it is in anyway different from my first edition.

PS. Sorry about the rototated photos' I don't know why that's happening as they are fine on my PC!
« Last Edit: August 24, 2019, 07:28:47 AM by Mandrake »
G1ZFO

Ecowitt HP2551A + WH65 Tri-Wing (Wunderground: IGUILDFO67)
Ecowitt GW1000 (Wunderground: IGUILDFO68)
Ecowitt GW1000 (Mk2) test environment driving CumulusMX on a RPi 3b
Ecowitt GW2000 (Test)
Ecowitt WS90 Wittboy - Test
Ecowitt WH51 (x6) Soil Moisture Sensor
Ecowitt WH41 PM2.5 AQM Sensor
Ecowitt WH31 (x8) Thermo/Hygro Sensor
Ecowitt WS80 Ultrasonic Anemometer (pre-prod test)
Ecowitt WH57 Lightning Sensor -test
Ecowitt WH32-EP (SHT35) + Davis 7714 Screen
Ecowitt WH45 CO2/PM2.5/PM10 -Test
Ecowitt WN34 Soil Temp Sensor -Test
Ecowitt WN34 Water Temp Sensor -Test
Ecowitt WN35 Leaf Moisture

Offline galfert

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Re: WS-80 Ultrasonic Wind sensor array
« Reply #8 on: August 24, 2019, 08:23:01 AM »
The GW1000 can choose which sensor to use by using the WS View app.

More / Sensor ID
Select pencil icon of sensor you want to not listen to
Then select Disable for that sensor
Then Save

The sensor is still transmitting. It doesn't disable the sensor itself, it just disables the GW1000 from listening to it.
Ecowitt GW1000 | Meteobridge on Raspberry Pi
WU: KFLWINTE111  |  PWSweather: KFLWINTE111
CWOP: FW3708  |  AWEKAS: 14814
Windy: pws-f075acbe
Weather Underground Issue Tracking
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Offline Mandrake

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Re: WS-80 Ultrasonic Wind sensor array
« Reply #9 on: August 24, 2019, 02:37:07 PM »
Thankyou Galfert, I did figure it out though it caused me some head scratching today until I did. Still its worth recording here for future readers.
I still question what the HP2550/1 console will do though with multiple sensors as I cannot see a menu that controls the sensors in the same way. I know that some folks are using the HP2551 with the individual sensor stacks so it must be possible. I will await and see what Lucy says.

However that all aside, initial views seem to be interesting. Today has been a nice settled day with hazy warm sunshine and little wind.
The new WS-80 seems to be recording much higher windspeed than the tri-wing all-in one.
Today the Tri-wing was seeing 1-2mph and the WS-80 was seeing 2-4mph. Now I will be honest and say since the wind was so gentle and quite erratic that there was plenty of room for error but the general feeling is that the new sensor seems to be reading higher than the old fashioned wind cups. Direction wise they were spot on. I will continue to see what they do over the next few days.

The Ws-80 temp readings were within 0.2C of each other all day so no issues.
G1ZFO

Ecowitt HP2551A + WH65 Tri-Wing (Wunderground: IGUILDFO67)
Ecowitt GW1000 (Wunderground: IGUILDFO68)
Ecowitt GW1000 (Mk2) test environment driving CumulusMX on a RPi 3b
Ecowitt GW2000 (Test)
Ecowitt WS90 Wittboy - Test
Ecowitt WH51 (x6) Soil Moisture Sensor
Ecowitt WH41 PM2.5 AQM Sensor
Ecowitt WH31 (x8) Thermo/Hygro Sensor
Ecowitt WS80 Ultrasonic Anemometer (pre-prod test)
Ecowitt WH57 Lightning Sensor -test
Ecowitt WH32-EP (SHT35) + Davis 7714 Screen
Ecowitt WH45 CO2/PM2.5/PM10 -Test
Ecowitt WN34 Soil Temp Sensor -Test
Ecowitt WN34 Water Temp Sensor -Test
Ecowitt WN35 Leaf Moisture

Offline Mapantz

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Re: WS-80 Ultrasonic Wind sensor array
« Reply #10 on: August 24, 2019, 04:04:10 PM »
It looks pretty good, but it's baffled me as to why they had to stick a temperature sensor on it?

I mean, look at their line up.. they have all-in-one stations and they also sell separate components so the end user can place them accordingly. So, why make an new anemometer and stick a temp sensor on it? They have the UV and Solar sensor built in too, so why didn't they also add a rain gauge while they were at it?

That has to be the strangest sensor arrangement I have seen, so far. If the anemometer didn't have that temp sensor on it, I would have probably bought it out of curiosity, seeing as every ultrasonic one I have had has been crap.

I'm sure they they won't lose any sleep over it, but they've lost a customer due to that.


Offline ukwoody

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Re: WS-80 Ultrasonic Wind sensor array
« Reply #11 on: August 24, 2019, 04:15:28 PM »
Mapanz. I read somewhere the temp sensor is essential for the unit to work, on the basis that with ultrasonic wind speed detection, wind movement/speed varies with air temp so the unit calculates the speed with allowance for temp.
woody

Offline WA4OPQ

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Re: WS-80 Ultrasonic Wind sensor array
« Reply #12 on: August 24, 2019, 04:30:54 PM »
It looks pretty good, but it's baffled me as to why they had to stick a temperature sensor on it?

It looks like temperature compensation is required for accurate measurements.  And as has recently been noted on another thread, if you use the GW-1000 you have the option of selecting which sensors to use or ignore. Just turn off the WS-80 temp/humidity  and turn on a ground level unit. That changed my opinion rather quickly.

Offline Mapantz

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Re: WS-80 Ultrasonic Wind sensor array
« Reply #13 on: August 24, 2019, 04:31:22 PM »
Mapanz. I read somewhere the temp sensor is essential for the unit to work, on the basis that with ultrasonic wind speed detection, wind movement/speed varies with air temp so the unit calculates the speed with allowance for temp.
woody

Well that just makes this whole thing even weirder. Why would it be necessary to calculate the wind speed? That's all you are measuring so it shouldn't need to take temperature in to account. In fact, surely it would be the other way around? ie winds increase with a large temperature gradient.

To put it simply, a standard anemometer with wind cups and a standard ultrasonic anemometer would read the same speeds if placed side-by-side (assuming both anemometers are calibrated correctly)
The wind speed is the same regardless of what temperature it is.


Offline Mattk

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Re: WS-80 Ultrasonic Wind sensor array
« Reply #14 on: August 24, 2019, 05:03:57 PM »
This being an Ultra-sonic anemometer , the sonic velocity and time of flight of the ultrasonic pulse packets will be influenced by air temperature and air humidity but can be compensated for using alternate measurements like north>south / south>north and west>east/east>west. An ultrasonic anemometer using the ultrasound of the sensors can therefore determine a virtual temperature so ultrasonic anemometers being able to determine temp may as well output it as a variable, it is not a physical sensor (as such).

Ultrasonic anemometers do generally have a separate air humidity sensor which is required for accurate wind determination

Offline Mapantz

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Re: WS-80 Ultrasonic Wind sensor array
« Reply #15 on: August 24, 2019, 05:07:56 PM »
This being an Ultra-sonic anemometer , the sonic velocity and time of flight of the ultrasonic pulse packets will be influenced by air temperature and air humidity but can be compensated for using alternate measurements like north>south / south>north and west>east/east>west. An ultrasonic anemometer using the ultrasound of the sensors can therefore determine a virtual temperature so ultrasonic anemometers being able to determine temp may as well output it as a variable, it is not a physical sensor (as such).

Ultrasonic anemometers do generally have a separate air humidity sensor which is required for accurate wind determination

Why does it need to be compensated for? The wind is either blowing at 10mph or it isn't. I've owned three ultrasonic anemometers in the past and I haven't seen any reference to measuring temp or humidity in them.

Surely, unless you're NASA, there really is no need for anything 'virtual'?


Offline WA4OPQ

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Re: WS-80 Ultrasonic Wind sensor array
« Reply #16 on: August 24, 2019, 05:36:28 PM »
Being an ultrasonic measurement, the speed of sound is used in the calculation of the wind speed. From 0 F to 100 F it changes almost 7 percent. The temperature reading is used to back out this error.

Offline the beteljuice

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Re: WS-80 Ultrasonic Wind sensor array
« Reply #17 on: August 24, 2019, 06:38:42 PM »
Quote
The wind is either blowing at 10mph or it isn't.
What every one is trying to tell you Map is that the speed of sound varies markedly with the density of the air ( which is affected by temp / humidity)  ;)

In other words the length of the measuring stick keeps changing !!
Imagine what you will KNOW tomorrow !

Offline galfert

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Re: WS-80 Ultrasonic Wind sensor array
« Reply #18 on: August 24, 2019, 10:06:50 PM »
In summary:

- The WS80 needs its own temperature sensor to accurately calculate wind speed as it is using sound waves that change based on temperature/humidity

- You don't have to use the WS80 temperature sensor for your reported station weather data. Just use a different temp/hum sensor (situated where you want) and tell the GW1000 to use it instead. The WS80 keeps using its own temp/hum sensor internally for its thing.

That said I still like the look of the spinning cups and  direction wind vane. Just because it is what looks like a weather station to me. Had the WS80 read more than 100 Mph I would have been interested.

Ecowitt GW1000 | Meteobridge on Raspberry Pi
WU: KFLWINTE111  |  PWSweather: KFLWINTE111
CWOP: FW3708  |  AWEKAS: 14814
Windy: pws-f075acbe
Weather Underground Issue Tracking
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Offline krojan

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Re: WS-80 Ultrasonic Wind sensor array
« Reply #19 on: August 25, 2019, 03:36:14 AM »
I have a question for Mandrake.
Are the stations from my attachments yours?
It seems to me that the WS80 detects even low wind speeds that the cup sensor doesn't measure.
Your air pressure measurements are strange. Have you tried calibrating them?
Sorry for my English.
GW1000, HP2551-C, HP3001, HP1001.

Offline krojan

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Re: WS-80 Ultrasonic Wind sensor array
« Reply #20 on: August 25, 2019, 03:45:57 AM »
Are the WS80 sensor and Davis anemometer too low? It should be 10m (about 33 feet).
Trees that can be seen in the background do not affect wind measurements?

of course, but this is only a first test, at the moment I am interested in evaluating the performance of the solar radiation shield compared to the davis, after the test it will be moved

Mauro
It seemed to me that we are writing here about the ultrasonic anemometer WS80.
We should probably start a separate thread about the effectiveness of the sun visor.
Sorry for my English.
GW1000, HP2551-C, HP3001, HP1001.

Offline Mandrake

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Re: WS-80 Ultrasonic Wind sensor array
« Reply #21 on: August 25, 2019, 07:34:37 AM »
I have a question for Mandrake.
Are the stations from my attachments yours?
It seems to me that the WS80 detects even low wind speeds that the cup sensor doesn't measure.
Your air pressure measurements are strange. Have you tried calibrating them?

Correct those are my 3.
The Barometer readings for the 3 need to be looked at as I might have mucked up the calibration (very probably)
The station reporting as Gw-1000 Mark2 is the one using the WS-80 as you have probably guessed.

Correct on the WS-80 low wind speed detection. The fidelity is very impressive. It is very calm here at the moment with a small heat induced breeze. The traditional wind anemometer is barely moving yet the WS-80 is happy recording wind speeds up to 2 mph when the other record zero. However I don't have a calibrated wind speed meter so I cannot say if one is better than the other though I would have to guess and say it has got to be the WS-80 since the old anemometer does not seem to allow for the latency in its speed measurements.
G1ZFO

Ecowitt HP2551A + WH65 Tri-Wing (Wunderground: IGUILDFO67)
Ecowitt GW1000 (Wunderground: IGUILDFO68)
Ecowitt GW1000 (Mk2) test environment driving CumulusMX on a RPi 3b
Ecowitt GW2000 (Test)
Ecowitt WS90 Wittboy - Test
Ecowitt WH51 (x6) Soil Moisture Sensor
Ecowitt WH41 PM2.5 AQM Sensor
Ecowitt WH31 (x8) Thermo/Hygro Sensor
Ecowitt WS80 Ultrasonic Anemometer (pre-prod test)
Ecowitt WH57 Lightning Sensor -test
Ecowitt WH32-EP (SHT35) + Davis 7714 Screen
Ecowitt WH45 CO2/PM2.5/PM10 -Test
Ecowitt WN34 Soil Temp Sensor -Test
Ecowitt WN34 Water Temp Sensor -Test
Ecowitt WN35 Leaf Moisture

Offline Mandrake

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Re: WS-80 Ultrasonic Wind sensor array
« Reply #22 on: August 29, 2019, 08:31:50 AM »
Just an update on the WS-80.
Still very happy and impressed by the performance and sensitivity.

Here is a graph showing the WS-80
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Here is the GW-1000 data for the normal tri-wing Sensor array (Osprey in Ambient parlance)
 [ You are not allowed to view attachments ]

According to the data the Tri-wing considerably under reads the wind speed and suffers from inertia that the WS-80 does not, which I guess is not a surprise.
G1ZFO

Ecowitt HP2551A + WH65 Tri-Wing (Wunderground: IGUILDFO67)
Ecowitt GW1000 (Wunderground: IGUILDFO68)
Ecowitt GW1000 (Mk2) test environment driving CumulusMX on a RPi 3b
Ecowitt GW2000 (Test)
Ecowitt WS90 Wittboy - Test
Ecowitt WH51 (x6) Soil Moisture Sensor
Ecowitt WH41 PM2.5 AQM Sensor
Ecowitt WH31 (x8) Thermo/Hygro Sensor
Ecowitt WS80 Ultrasonic Anemometer (pre-prod test)
Ecowitt WH57 Lightning Sensor -test
Ecowitt WH32-EP (SHT35) + Davis 7714 Screen
Ecowitt WH45 CO2/PM2.5/PM10 -Test
Ecowitt WN34 Soil Temp Sensor -Test
Ecowitt WN34 Water Temp Sensor -Test
Ecowitt WN35 Leaf Moisture

Offline the beteljuice

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Re: WS-80 Ultrasonic Wind sensor array
« Reply #23 on: August 29, 2019, 09:13:26 AM »
As a matter of interest ...

... are you comparing your two sets of temp / humidity ?
Imagine what you will KNOW tomorrow !

Offline Mandrake

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Re: WS-80 Ultrasonic Wind sensor array
« Reply #24 on: August 29, 2019, 09:45:21 AM »
I have been keeping an eye on the other sensor values, External Temp, Humidity and UV values. The temp and humidity are usually within a fraction of each other and UV on the WS-80 is slightly under compared to the Tri-wing. In short I don't think the values for these sensors are different enough to mention.

I was assuming folks would be most interested in the wind performance.
Happy to post some graphs comparing the other sensors if folks would like to see them?
G1ZFO

Ecowitt HP2551A + WH65 Tri-Wing (Wunderground: IGUILDFO67)
Ecowitt GW1000 (Wunderground: IGUILDFO68)
Ecowitt GW1000 (Mk2) test environment driving CumulusMX on a RPi 3b
Ecowitt GW2000 (Test)
Ecowitt WS90 Wittboy - Test
Ecowitt WH51 (x6) Soil Moisture Sensor
Ecowitt WH41 PM2.5 AQM Sensor
Ecowitt WH31 (x8) Thermo/Hygro Sensor
Ecowitt WS80 Ultrasonic Anemometer (pre-prod test)
Ecowitt WH57 Lightning Sensor -test
Ecowitt WH32-EP (SHT35) + Davis 7714 Screen
Ecowitt WH45 CO2/PM2.5/PM10 -Test
Ecowitt WN34 Soil Temp Sensor -Test
Ecowitt WN34 Water Temp Sensor -Test
Ecowitt WN35 Leaf Moisture

 

anything