Author Topic: La Crosse Personal WiFi weather station (C83100)  (Read 9682 times)

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Offline madkiwi

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La Crosse Personal WiFi weather station (C83100)
« on: October 31, 2018, 02:00:21 PM »
I know this is a low end consumer model (purchased from Costco last week for $95) but I need something to remotely monitor conditions at a 2nd home. Seemed ideal.

I am having a hard time figuring out the anemometer. The base station shows the wind direction, but there is no wind vane on the LTV-W1 anemometer. It has vents under the wind cups on the body, so I guess theoretically there may be something in there that can react to wind pressure coming from different directions but the instructions included (worthless) don't require the user to orient the anemometer in any specific direction. The downloadable instructions from La Crosse are not much better.

Any ideas about this?

Mark

PS The La Crosse app is the worst piece of software I have had the misfortune to use. Boy is it worthless!
WS-2902A WU:KMTFLRE23
WS-2813 WU:KMTMISS015

Offline nincehelser

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Re: La Crosse Personal WiFi weather station (C83100)
« Reply #1 on: October 31, 2018, 02:12:10 PM »
I know this is a low end consumer model (purchased from Costco last week for $95) but I need something to remotely monitor conditions at a 2nd home. Seemed ideal.

I am having a hard time figuring out the anemometer. The base station shows the wind direction, but there is no wind vane on the LTV-W1 anemometer. It has vents under the wind cups on the body, so I guess theoretically there may be something in there that can react to wind pressure coming from different directions but the instructions included (worthless) don't require the user to orient the anemometer in any specific direction. The downloadable instructions from La Crosse are not much better.

Any ideas about this?

Mark

PS The La Crosse app is the worst piece of software I have had the misfortune to use. Boy is it worthless!

If I remember correctly, it has to get the wind direction from an internet weather source.

Offline Jstx

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Re: La Crosse Personal WiFi weather station (C83100)
« Reply #2 on: October 31, 2018, 03:04:59 PM »
From the LaCrosse product page (below). It states that wind direction is an "enhanced feature" available only when IP connected. Presumably from a 'nearby' NOAA ASOS, real accurate and contemporaneous local readings  :roll: . Great for precisely tracking when that front blows in...

I'd take it back, then get a real system (unless actual local wind direction doesn't matter to you).
It looks like it was dreamed up by some marketing genius without a WX clue. In brief, it's a POS.
Who the h3ll thought of obtaining the wind direction remotely? How much product cost did this save? What a waste of the rest of it. But they seem to have pretty well switched over to purely 'WX bling' units now. Look nice, but WX flawed in various ways.


  And I'm currently using an old LaCrosse system (w/ spares), a decent, fairly accurate and reliable one (but it must be using that same age-afflicted T/H sensor that Davis used, as griped about hereabouts).
Awaiting 'somebody's' decent, reasonably priced, ideal all-around system.
That new WeatherFlow looks nice, but its' "haptic" software synthesized rain sensor will never fly.


https://www.lacrossetechnology.com/c83100-connected-weather-station/

Quote
Enhanced Station Features When Connected*

AccuWeather Weather Service
6 Additional Forecast icons
7 Days of Forecast
Hourly and Daily forecast
Temperature forecast
Chance of precipitation
Wind Direction
Daily Forcasted High and Lows
Time and Date automatically update
View Data Stream (VDS) Technology including:
    - Additional Weather Data
    - Personal Message
    - Add-on Sensors

Offline DadCooks

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Re: La Crosse Personal WiFi weather station (C83100)
« Reply #3 on: October 31, 2018, 04:20:30 PM »
I know this is a low end consumer model (purchased from Costco last week for $95) but I need something to remotely monitor conditions at a 2nd home. Seemed ideal.

@madkiwi I recommend you take advantage of Costco's liberal return policy and return it. Besides being nothing but a "toy" (with horrible software, as has been mentioned) it also goes "on sale" Nov. 16 to 26 for $69.99 (still too expensive for what it is).

And, yes, I speak from experience as Costco had the same model on sale last year for even less. I bought one, tried it out, and returned it the next day.

Offline madkiwi

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Re: La Crosse Personal WiFi weather station (C83100)
« Reply #4 on: November 03, 2018, 01:05:27 PM »
Thanks for the replies guys. Here's what happened:

At first my issue was that the app software would not allow me to add the sensors. They showed up as being available, but when I clicked on Add, nothing happened. I eventually figured out from reading a review that the only way to add them was to do it manually, which meant scanning the barcode on each sensor or typing in the serial number. Wonderful, the anemometer was on top of the house, out came the ladder. Took photos of each barcode as a backup.

Got everything hooked up, was moderately pleased. Except it started raining, and the rain gauge showed dashes (no reading/no connection) on the app, and when I went back to the house that day the base station indicated it was not connected. Forced the base station to re-scan for the rain gauge numerous times. Retrieved the rain gauge from outside, put new batteries in it... nothing.

Boxed everything up except the anemometer (it was raining steadily and I did not feel like climbing up to retrieve it) and took it back to Costco yesterday. Got a new system (I know, I know) took it back to the house and went through the setup. The base station discovered the old anemometer quickly, even though it was 60 feet away (on the roof). Paired up with the new rain gauge and outside thermo-hygro sensor. Cool.

Problems started with the app. After getting the new station to pair up with my wifi, added the base station and the sensors to the app, I noticed that no information was appearing in the app EXCEPT wind speed. No inside temp from the base station, no rain, no outside temp. I called their Tech Support and some clueless idiot told me the app was broken when they updated it. No explanation as to why the anemometer readings are getting to me, 18 hours later and still nothing except wind speed. I tried deleting the app from my phone and reinstalling everything (have the serial numbers obviously so I could do it remotely) to no avail. Still able to see the wind speed, which is mind-boggling.

I don't care about the wind direction, so I can live without the local reading. But the house is going to be sitting empty all winter and I would really like to know inside/outside temperatures, big plus if I can see if it is stormy. This home sits next to the Bitterroot River, so colder than most spots in the valley, and temperatures can be as much as 10 degrees cooler than the NWS observed for the area. Will probably bring in the rain gauge once snow starts, as I see no practical way to heat the collector.

I like the theory of the La Crosse station and app. It'll send alerts for anything I specify, so if it is  10 below zero and the wind is blowing at 30 mph I can bump up the inside temperatures to a safe setting (have internet connected thermostats).

I will probably pack everything up and return it for exchange again. I feel morally justified in getting a new system again and again and again until they get the app working correctly, just so La Crosse gets shafted on all the returns.

Looking for a system that will get me the features I am looking for, if anyone has a suggestion I would appreciate it. I need inside/outside temps (anemometer is a plus), email and text/app alerts for user selected triggers.

Mark
WS-2902A WU:KMTFLRE23
WS-2813 WU:KMTMISS015

Offline galfert

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Re: La Crosse Personal WiFi weather station (C83100)
« Reply #5 on: November 03, 2018, 02:35:30 PM »
For just a little bit more you could have a very decent weather station system. Ambient Weather stations priced between is $135 to $240. Or Acurite Atlas priced between $200 and $260 depending on if you need/want a display.

For completeness I've listed some of the most popular choices and also keeping pricing in check. But nothing wrong with going all out and getting the Davis VP2 though. Study all of these carefully. Read a lot of review and posts in this forum. There is no best to recommend.

Acurite:
Atlas 01008M - No display, Ethernet connected receiver hub (called Access).
Atlas 01007M - Includes display and Ethernet connected Access, includes Lighting module

These Acurite Atlas stations only report to Weather Underground and myAcurite.com. The myAcurite site has alerting functions.

Ambient Weather:
WS-1550-IP - If you don't need a display, but doesn't have WiFi and requires Ethernet connection
WS-2902A - Good value with WiFi and display
WS-2000 - Much nicer LCD display with WiFi and extra sensor capability.

You'll be able to connect to Weather Underground, ambientweather.net, PWSweather, and WeatherCloud. The WS-1550-IP can only connect to the first 3 I listed so it can't connect to WeatherCloud. All of these will do the alerting you are looking for via ambientweather.net.

Davis:
Vantage Vue - a bit more costly but gives you the quality and reputation of having a Davis station. A bit dated in design for the console and has no solar nor UV. But this requires additional data logger to get online. There is a 3rd party data logger called WiFiLogger that sells for around $139. So that is about $300 for the system plus $139 for the logger making it $439. I don't believe this has alerting functionality. But it is possible to add it via additional 3rd party hardware/software, for example add a WeatherBridge and you can then also connect to ambientweather.net giving you alerts, or forgo the WiFi logger and get the WeatherBridge Nano (WiFi) and you can do the same. As you can see it starts to add up quick.

« Last Edit: November 03, 2018, 03:26:38 PM by galfert »
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Offline madkiwi

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Re: La Crosse Personal WiFi weather station (C83100)
« Reply #6 on: November 04, 2018, 01:22:09 AM »
Can you upload and view inside temperatures with the 2902?

Do you have to set up a Weather Underground or Ambient account to view your data remotely? It appears so.

Thanks
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Offline galfert

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Re: La Crosse Personal WiFi weather station (C83100)
« Reply #7 on: November 04, 2018, 07:30:58 AM »
Yes WS-2902A does indoor temperature and humidity.

To view data remotely you normally have to set up at least one online service. But only ambientweather.net will show you indoor data. By default ambientweather.net is private, but you can choose to share with private link. These online services are fully featured and free.

It is possible to expand the WS-2902A with an ObserverIP* and then run one of various weather software packages on the same local network (Meteobridge*, WeeWx, Weather-Display). Then you could set up remote access to that device running local software and then you can view data remotely without needing to send data to any online weather service.

*Expansion of the ObserverIP also requires a WS-1000-BTH.

*If setting up your own Meteobridge seems like something more complicated than you can deal with, then you can purchase a completely set up and licensed device called a WeatherBridge.
« Last Edit: November 04, 2018, 07:39:16 AM by galfert »
Ecowitt GW1000 | Meteobridge on Raspberry Pi
WU: KFLWINTE111  |  PWSweather: KFLWINTE111
CWOP: FW3708  |  AWEKAS: 14814
Windy: pws-f075acbe
Weather Underground Issue Tracking
Tele-Pole