Topic: Ecowitt Wittboy (WS90 + GW2000) initial review

[Ra1nman]

Just noticed in the device options via Ecowitt.net there is a reset, which may or may not erase all data as suggested, that might do it, thoughts welcome.

[Ra1nman]

Been pretty happy with my WS90 wind gain setting at 1.60 and sensor height of 4.5 meters. I actually think it could be reading under slightly still, but, certainly better than 1.00 or 1.15 gain which was suggested by Ecowitt. It is now closer to Beaufort scale by eye, similarly in line with trusted local stations. For anyone who has their sensor mounted below 10 meters it might be something to consider, depending on location and other factors such as nearby buildings.

[Mapantz]

Been pretty happy with my WS90 wind gain setting at 1.60 and sensor height of 4.5 meters. I actually think it could be reading under slightly still, but, certainly better than 1.00 or 1.15 gain which was suggested by Ecowitt. It is now closer to Beaufort scale by eye, similarly in line with trusted local stations. For anyone who has their sensor mounted below 10 meters it might be something to consider, depending on location and other factors such as nearby buildings.

I don't get this..

You're basically creating fake wind reports, it's not the wind speed your device is measuring.

[Ra1nman]

Been pretty happy with my WS90 wind gain setting at 1.60 and sensor height of 4.5 meters. I actually think it could be reading under slightly still, but, certainly better than 1.00 or 1.15 gain which was suggested by Ecowitt. It is now closer to Beaufort scale by eye, similarly in line with trusted local stations. For anyone who has their sensor mounted below 10 meters it might be something to consider, depending on location and other factors such as nearby buildings.

I don't get this..

You're basically creating fake wind reports, it's not the wind speed your device is measuring.

Hello Mapantz, if you read the previous posts again hopefully it will be clearer. Even at 5m height I believe the WS90 is under reading for wind, if I am stood on the ground getting blown sideways and the WS90 say 12mph gusts, keep in mind it is 3.5m above me, then something isn't quite right - especially if less exposed stations at similar heights are reading almost double. Hence the reason I have compensated for now at least, if I get it 10m high as previously mentioned, we will see then how it reads.

I have no interest in fake statistics, if the Ecowitt can't deliver at the end of the day it will be returned. Pretty thorough in my analysis and comparisons, of course opinions can differ

[Mapantz]

Hello Mapantz, if you read the previous posts again hopefully it will be clearer. Even at 5m height I believe the WS90 is under reading for wind, if I am stood on the ground getting blown sideways and the WS90 say 12mph gusts, keep in mind it is 3.5m above me, then something isn't quite right - especially if less exposed stations at similar heights are reading almost double. Hence the reason I have compensated for now at least, if I get it 10m high as previously mentioned, we will see then how it reads.

I have no interest in fake statistics, if the Ecowitt can't deliver at the end of the day it will be returned. Pretty thorough in my analysis and comparisons, of course opinions can differ

That points to a faulty anemometer.

My Davis anemometer is at 10m. I also had a WS68 on a pole, but at 4.5m. Many many times, the WS68 recorded higher gusts than the Davis did. There's no way you could calculate a given wind measurement at 10m - as if the anemometer was situated at that height - the wind speed may actually be lower than at 4.5m.

[Ra1nman]

Hello Mapantz, if you read the previous posts again hopefully it will be clearer. Even at 5m height I believe the WS90 is under reading for wind, if I am stood on the ground getting blown sideways and the WS90 say 12mph gusts, keep in mind it is 3.5m above me, then something isn't quite right - especially if less exposed stations at similar heights are reading almost double. Hence the reason I have compensated for now at least, if I get it 10m high as previously mentioned, we will see then how it reads.

I have no interest in fake statistics, if the Ecowitt can't deliver at the end of the day it will be returned. Pretty thorough in my analysis and comparisons, of course opinions can differ

That points to a faulty anemometer.

My Davis anemometer is at 10m. I also had a WS68 on a pole, but at 4.5m. Many many times, the WS68 recorded higher gusts than the Davis did. There's no way you could calculate a given wind measurement at 10m - as if the anemometer was situated at that height - the wind speed may actually be lower than at 4.5m.

Lets see how the WS90 reports once it is at 10m, otherwise like yourself I will probably finally end up with a VP2, been threatening to get one for years, just been waiting for the prices to get high enough

Nice website setup you have by the way

[wsNoordbergum]

I've had the WS90 for over 6 months now
But some issues are occuring now
For the last week's or so the capacitor does not charge a lot, ok there has not been a lot of sunshine
Battery is half capacity in graph
I have now a constant rain reading on the haptic sensor
Rainfall is thus not correct, it is dry at the moment
I connected my external power supply to the unit t, hope that it improves
Checked the sensor but there was no dirt or fireworks debris on it
I will change the battery soon, see if my incorrect rain reading will stop

If not, maybe my capacitor is dead....

[Rover1822]

Your battery and capacitor levels are not that unusual for short period if there has been a lack of sun. Do you have the graph for a longer period?, like 7 days?

Also can you post you solar/UV data for the same period?

The rainfall is a bit disturbing though. Are you in a constant mist, or fog, or something similar?

[Ra1nman]

Can't comment on the rainfall but this time of year my capacitor is anywhere from 2.8-3.3 during the day and 2.4 at night.

[Rover1822]

wsNoordbergum,

I took the liberty of looking at your ecowitt.net web site. The solar values that you have pretty much agree with you capacitor charge levels. Typically I need over 100 W/m2 for an extended period of time, to start to see a rise in the capacitor values, the higher the W/m2 , the faster the charge, but also note, the capacitor charges slowly. The comparison with solar values  is not exact but gives a feel for how capacitor is doing.

[Ra1nman]

For reference anything above 50W/m2 on mine starts to put some voltage back in, today mine has gone from 2.4 to 3.4v in around 5 hours and average 100W/m2, lowest 50W and peak 140W where it was actually charging.

[wsNoordbergum]

We did not have a lot of foggy conditions lately
Here are the graphs of a one week period
As you can see on the solar data, not much of sunshine either.
Last picture is since I use the external power supply, not much of change either 8n voltages.

[androx]

Hi,
I mounted a WS90 ten days ago. It seems working but every day I have from 2 to 6 event of glitch in the rainy sensor.
I have the same exact reading of 0.61 mm/hr any time this occur.
At the end of the week i had something like 3mm of rain..
that's normal or an acceptale measurement error?

[Rover1822]

wsNoordbergum,

Do you have any calibrations set for your WS90 rain? If so what are they?

Also, using the external power supply as you are now, renders the voltage readings for the battery and capacitor meaningless, as they are not being used.

[wsNoordbergum]

My capacitor charged up to 4.1 V today with a good amount of sunshine.
Still spikes to 0.6mm/h today
There is definitely something going on
I also did a WS90 reset, no change
Tomorrow I will update to the latest firmware, first I have to check which version is on it
I did a update a while back so it is not the stock firmware
My calibration settings are 0.74 for all rates
I don't care if the battery readings and capacitor readings are not of any use since I use power cord, it still shows some degree of charging
We'll see how it goes tomorrow, hopefully better than it is now
I do not use the WS90 rain readings on my sites I use the WH40 instead
I haven't installed it very high up still in test setup so easy access🙂

[Ra1nman]

Oddly enough my capacitor reached 4.1v today also! back down to 3.7v this evening though. It is the highest it's been for a week now. See how yours goes after a firmware upgrade.

[Rover1822]

I do not use the WS90 rain readings on my sites I use the WH40 instead

Sadly, that is what I do as well, my trust in the WS90 on rain is, non existent.

[hiljo]

I do not use the WS90 rain readings on my sites I use the WH40 instead

I'm one of the first beta testers for the WS90. I like the design of the WS90, but also use the WH40 for more precise rain measurement. Since the start, the haptic rain sensors have never been precise enough. I installed as a tester every FW version. Just for fun it is ok, but the WH40 is necessary imo for proper measurements.

[Rover1822]

Oddly enough my capacitor reached 4.1v today also! back down to 3.7v this evening though. It is the highest it's been for a week now. See how yours goes after a firmware upgrade.

My cap, for both units , normally top out about 5.3V (the old one and the new one), under solar, with days they don't make that of course.
wsNoordbergum is plugged in now, as previously discussed in many threads, can't compare to a solar only.

[Ra1nman]

Oddly enough my capacitor reached 4.1v today also! back down to 3.7v this evening though. It is the highest it's been for a week now. See how yours goes after a firmware upgrade.

wsNoordbergum is plugged in now, as previously discussed in many threads, can't compare to a solar only.

Interesting, do you have information on whether the power adapter charges the capacitor? from what I've seen it looks like solar continues to charge capacitor when the power adapter is used, of course it won't drain it but maybe solar charging numbers are still relevant in this case, or useful at least.

[wsNoordbergum]

Today I cleaned the unit, removed the external power supply, and new batteries installed.
I've already updated to the 1.2.6 firmware back in September 2022
So I did not do anything with firmware
So far my piezo rain is showing 0.0 mm/h that's good since it is dry right now.
There has been rain forecasted so let's see how it functions with rainy conditions
If it goes bad again, I will contact Ecowitt
I installed my WS90 in may 2022
I got it through the Kickstarter program
On 4 January I installed some extra sensors, two soil sensors, one air sensor outdoor and one temperature humidity sensor with probe
Strange thing is that my rain problem begun on January 5, it could not being a interference of signals?

Time will tell if it is ok now, I'll keep you updated

[Ra1nman]

Today I cleaned the unit, removed the external power supply, and new batteries installed.
I've already updated to the 1.2.6 firmware back in September 2022
So I did not do anything with firmware
So far my piezo rain is showing 0.0 mm/h that's good since it is dry right now.
There has been rain forecasted so let's see how it functions with rainy conditions
If it goes bad again, I will contact Ecowitt
I installed my WS90 in may 2022
I got it through the Kickstarter program
On 4 January I installed some extra sensors, two soil sensors, one air sensor outdoor and one temperature humidity sensor with probe
Strange thing is that my rain problem begun on January 5, it could not being a interference of signals?

Time will tell if it is ok now, I'll keep you updated

Keep updating, interesting to see how you get on, wonder if the early units had some issues possibly, mine was only purchased in the last month through Amazon UK. Rain so far has not been too bad compared to manual gauge, maybe lucky, not had lots of rain but more coming this week. Sounds odd that problems started after extra sensors were installed.

[hiljo]

If you have problems with your device, maybe good to start a new topic instead of using this one about the review?

[wsNoordbergum]

I will make a new topic if I have further problems

[Rover1822]

I agree with hiljolodewijk, but as wsNoordbergum posts have progressed in this topic and only a moderator can move them, I think for others to follow easily just continue in this topic until it is resolved, or comes to an end. I do hope others with an issue will just post a new topic though.

wsNoordbergum, I have been watching your data on Ecowitt.net as you know, out of curiosity as you know. I see today, that after you did a cleaning and other stuff , your rain total is not increasing or at least not at my last check. Maybe this bodes well.

I was also intrigued by your calibration settings, which are less than 1, as that is more inline with the readings from my kickstarter edition , and thank you for posting that it was. Now that I have 2 the kickstarter one always reads high, than the newer one , low, separated by large margin, as described in my topic at https://www.wxforum.net/index.php?topic=44812.0.