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Weather Station Hardware => AcuRite Weather Stations => Topic started by: nincehelser on October 08, 2018, 03:17:59 AM
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I'm taking apart my beta Atlas. Here's what I have so far. Note that production models could be different.
This is the bottom piece of the pagoda. You can remove it with no tools.
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After removing the pagoda bottom, you can reach the temp/humidity module. It can also be removed with no tools.
Note the slots in the "cage" that houses the SHT31 chip. It has a fine mesh screen, apparently to keep out critters.
I imagine this is how Acurite would offer a replacement module. I could get down to the actual chip by removing some small screws, but that seems to defeat the purpose of tool-free installation.
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This is the pagoda middle. It's all held together by three long screws.
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This is the top tier of the pagoda, holding the aspiration fan (view from bottom).
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This is also the top tier of the pagoda, but a view from the top. Note the little plastic cap covering the motor.
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To be continued...
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With the plastic cap removed you see the top of the motor.
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Here is a close-up of the motor top. Note the black material. Initially I thought this was some sort of sticker I could peel off, but it seems to be some sort of soft potting-like material. You can see some scrapes my screwdriver made when trying to peel it off.
The motor doesn't seem removable and is permanently mounted in the pagoda top. Also, the wires don't have a plug in this section. That makes this section hard to remove. There is a plug to the main board, but the wires are still routed in such a way to make things difficult.
In short, this makes it really hard to replace the motor section. A motor plug in the pagoda bay would make it feasible, though, but I wonder why they didn't do that like everything else. Perhaps that's just because this is a beta unit?
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This is the battery bay with the 4 little screws removed. Note the red lightning sensor module is installed.
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This is the flip-side of the battery bay module. Note all the wiring nicely labeled. Marking of the receptacles is embossed in the plastic for easy identification.
Obviously the main board must be between the battery bay and this level. I'll need to remove some more screws to show it (haven't done that yet).
Note the vertical plastic portion... that's probably to cover the antenna.
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To be continued...
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nice photos!
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Connector/Antenna side of main board.
Note "LIGHTNING MOD" is misspelled. RECALL!!!!! ;)
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Component side of main board.
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The conformal coating on the boards looks decent. Is there any silicone grease on the connectors?
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Great pics!
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The conformal coating on the boards looks decent. Is there any silicone grease on the connectors?
None that I can tell. The connectors still work smoothly after a year or so of weather exposure, though.
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Underside of rain bucket assembly. This houses the 3 solar panels and the UV/Light intensity sensor.
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This is the wind section removed from the main body. Note that I've already removed the bottom cap which is setting to the side.
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This is the bottom of the wind section with the bottom cap removed (also a few screws). I assume this chip is what is measuring wind direction. The thing jutting out of the bottom is the attachment cable. I think it's a mini-USB connector if I have the names straight. There's a "hood" over the end of the USB connector which makes it a bit difficult to see.
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This is another view of the wind section with the tip of the wind vane removed.
I'm still trying to figure out if the wind section can be disassembled further without risking breakage, but I saw a screw just under end of the vane.
Removing the screw removed the wind vane tip. Apparently this is just to cover some extra weights that were added. I guess this improves dampening so it doesn't "flutter" as easily as the 5n1.
It didn't help in my disassembly quest, though.
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This photo is lookup up under the "flare" under the anemometer section. You can see two magnets that are being sensed to gauge how fast the cups are turning.
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The tipping bucket mechanism. Note the two calibration screws in the bottom half, and the covered reed switch in the top half.
The tipping buckets are easily accessed by lifting up the rain bucket for easy cleaning (which I've obviously never done).
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The tipping bucket reed switch. The tipping buckets and the reed switch cover have been removed.
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The lightning module disassembled.
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Back to the temp/humidity module.
The basket covering the actual sensor removes with two screws. You can now see the SHT31 circuit board clipped in between two plastic prongs.
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The SHT31 circuit board after being removed from the plastic prongs.
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Note "LIGHTNING MOD" is misspelled. RECALL!!!!! ;)
Maybe if it is detecting every light ting, as opposed to only heavy lightning strikes, it explains why some are reporting such high readings.
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Interesting photos, thanks for posting. =D>
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Thanks, I just opened the snap out cage and the flip up rain bucket assembly to deal with a stuck fan and the u/v sensor not reading suddenly. Fan cage was out of alignment and one of the pins for the solar panels and the u/v sensor wasn't all the way in the plug. Got both working and it looks pretty similar to your unit. Very useful shots for anyone needing to swap out parts eventually or troubleshoot issues with out breaking things UU
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George, great pics. Thanks for all the good work.
Regarding the potted motor, I think it would make sense to have a bypass capacitor right at the motor terminals, to mitigate some of the noise the motor might produce. With the potting material in place, we don't know if there is a capacitor present or not. Should you choose to remove that stuff, please look for a cap and let us know?
Thanks, OM.
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Mounting bracket disassembled.
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I cant believe thats all thats holding it to the pole, does anyone have theirs on a mast at 10m? I wouldnt trust that on my mast (its got a 40mm top) i would want that more than hand tight but ive seen what happens in that scenario :/ I am gonna assume that these are not really for mounting to spec?
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I cant believe thats all thats holding it to the pole, does anyone have theirs on a mast at 10m? I wouldnt trust that on my mast (its got a 40mm top) i would want that more than hand tight but ive seen what happens in that scenario :/ I am gonna assume that these are not really for mounting to spec?
What isn't shown is the other half of the clamp, which is a v-notch the mounting pole is pressed into. It's grips quite tightly with 3 points of contact.
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This is another view of the wind section with the tip of the wind vane removed.
I'm still trying to figure out if the wind section can be disassembled further without risking breakage, but I saw a screw just under end of the vane.
Removing the screw removed the wind vane tip. Apparently this is just to cover some extra weights that were added. I guess this improves dampening so it doesn't "flutter" as easily as the 5n1.
It didn't help in my disassembly quest, though.
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This photo is lookup up under the "flare" under the anemometer section. You can see two magnets that are being sensed to gauge how fast the cups are turning.
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All that is required to get the vane off is pull it straight up, it pops right off. Also the same with the cups, pull them straight off. The bearings on my beta model were full of grit. There are two bearings in there with a sleeve between them. It should spin very loosely, but mine was rough and binding up. I sprayed them down good with lube and you could hear the grit in there.
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Thanks for that. It encouraged me to disassemble it further tonight.
I was imagining 5n1 wind-cup type tightness, but the vane and cups pulled off without immense force. I didn't notice any grit, but I did notice what looked to be graphite on the tip. Maybe that was to ease assembly.
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Close-up showing attachment screw. There's another one on the other side. Remove them and you can remove the "outer core" of the spindle.
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Outer core removed and set in relation to other parts.
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Close-up of outer core. The second tier spins freely.
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When the inner spindle turns, that's obviously picked up by the circuit board affixed at the bottom (I assume via a magnet and Hall effect).
However, I'm not sure how the spinning of the outer spindle (wind speed) is being transferred to the electronic board. It couples mechanically to the plastic cups. There are two magnets in the cup cowl. Are the magnets in the wind cups generating a voltage that circuit board can pick through the shaft?
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Found the answer. The spindle shaft can be pushed out through the bottom of the assembly.
There's a reed switch near the shaft, held in place by slots in the outer plastic cover. That's what the magnets are triggering.
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If you pull up the central shaft, it will pull apart from a black piece of plastic that holds the end-magnet for the Hall effect sensor. You'll also see a bearing here that slides off the shaft.
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Close-up of the Hall effect sensor chip board. Note I've disconnected the main cable (it's socketed to the board underneath). The gray ribbon cable goes up to the reed switch.
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That's an AS5600 chip. You can read about it here: https://ams.com/as5600
Interestingly, it is from the same company that makes the lightning sensor chip.
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I was imagining 5n1 wind-cup type tightness, but the vane and cups pulled off without immense force. I didn't notice any grit, but I did notice what looked to be graphite on the tip.
The grit I was indicating was just dirt, or sand that must have blown into those ball bearings. The anemometer is spinning like brand new now that I lubed it, even better than the new one on the Atlas I was sent for Christmas. When I put the lube on the bearing, and spun it by hand, the first few spins you could hear the dirt in them, and then as you kept spinning it, it was very smooth, and loose like it should be.
Thanks for the pics. It shouldn't be hard for users to lubricate theirs if needed. The hardest part for me was putting the direction indicator back on the spindle. Getting it on with the flat side of the spindle just right was a little tedious.
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Seems there is always something more to dig into...
Here's the UV module. The wiring is not removable, but you can remove the module from underneath the black upper assembly with only two screws. Note the yellowing due to aging, some have been concerned about if this is a problem or not.
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The cap of the module can actually be removed with another two screws. Note the white insert and foam circle. I assume the white insert must be some sort of filter. I'm not sure about the foam circle function... maybe to prevent light from the side? It seems unlikely that it is for water protection.
The sensor chip is an Si1133. More info about that here: https://www.silabs.com/documents/public/data-shorts/Si1133-DataShort.pdf
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Mine has yellowed as well.
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Mine has yellowed as well.
I've been looking at the application note: https://www.silabs.com/documents/public/application-notes/AN968-Si1133-UV-Index-Sensor-Electrical-and-Optical-Design-Guide.pdf
It states that the "overlay" can't have a UV stabilizer. I guess that's why it is yellowing, and makes sense since you're trying to measure UV. I'm still unclear if the yellowing is a problem, but as long as there is less than 50% attenuation, maybe it doesn't matter.
The white dot is what they call a diffuser which results in better readings. It's probably a thin dot of teflon tape.
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I think the foam ring is to keep any refracted light from getting to the sensor
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A lot of materials including most window glass block some UV. The white dot is most likely a teflon or other UV-transparent window, and the foam is to make sure that stray light from the rest of the cover does not hit the sensor.
They could have used UV-protected plastic for the rest of the cover, but probably saved a few pennies per component by leaving it untreated.....
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Could a guy put a UV protectant on it when its new or would that interfere?
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Could a guy put a UV protectant on it when its new or would that interfere?
You wouldn't want to get any on the circle area. You can't measure the UV properly if it is being blocked.
Makes me wonder about some of the suggestions about using car wax or other such products on weather stations. It's probably best to avoid putting such things on UV sensors.
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Yea that's what I was wondering like a UV protectant wax or something.
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Does anyone know whether the Atlas aspirating fan blows upward or downward?
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Does anyone know whether the Atlas aspirating fan blows upward or downward?
It should be blowing up, pulling fresh outside air over the sensor.
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It should be blowing up, pulling fresh outside air over the sensor.
Thank you!
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Underside of rain bucket assembly. This houses the 3 solar panels and the UV/Light intensity sensor.
(http://www.wxforum.net/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=35220.0;attach=33227;image)
If you take out those two screws that hold the piece in behind the south pointing solar panel, (to the right in pic) there is a board under it with a capacitor. This is where I found my issue on the Atlas I have that dropped signal on the Access out of sunlight. Apparently there is a poor connection on that board. I fiddled with it, and now my signal isn't dropping out permanently, but is still missing some transmissions...
What I need to do is swap rain buckets and see if the issue goes away entirely.
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Did anyone get the part number off the lightning detector chip?
Is it the same chip that the 6045m lightning sensor uses?
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Did anyone get the part number off the lightning detector chip?
Is it the same chip that the 6045m lightning sensor uses?
I can't make out the IC markings, but the MA5532-AE is the coil that is normally used with the AS3935 applications.
Greg H.
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Underside of rain bucket assembly. This houses the 3 solar panels and the UV/Light intensity sensor.
(http://www.wxforum.net/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=35220.0;attach=33227;image)
If you take out those two screws that hold the piece in behind the south pointing solar panel, (to the right in pic) there is a board under it with a capacitor. This is where I found my issue on the Atlas I have that dropped signal on the Access out of sunlight. Apparently there is a poor connection on that board. I fiddled with it, and now my signal isn't dropping out permanently, but is still missing some transmissions...
What I need to do is swap rain buckets and see if the issue goes away entirely.
Ya know my original first run Atlas would drop power and shut down and somebody, maybe you, mentioned that memory cap. I had already ordered a new sensor and the original Atlas is in its box in my shed. Now that I see that picture I can tear it down someday and see if it needs to be resoldered. Hopefully your still active and see this but I doubt I'm going to dig it out soon but now I know what to check [tup]
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RIP, @nincehelser..... :-(