Topic: Two WS90s (Experiment only)

[Rover1822]

OK, received my 2nd WS90.

I  will use a GW1100 to read the new one, the old one was read by the GW2000 and will continue to be. I used to have both GWs reading the single WS90, no difference in values.

Why I am doing this?, for fun, and curiosity as to how similar certain values will be. The new one came with firmware 1.2.6 so I know it is recent product , I will have to upgrade my other one from 1.2.5 to 1.2.6 to be fair.

Here is a pic, disregard the difference in height , I was out of the same height pipe (older one is on the lower 3 foot), but I had a 4 foot , so I used that. I'm really not that concerned that the height difference will make that much of a deal, but I will , when I get a chance, make them equal.

And yes, I will be running standard 1.0 gains on both consoles.

Just silly stuff


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[Ra1nman]

This will be interesting, appreciate your efforts

[Gyvate]

@Rover1822:
I see you are hijacking my scenario ....
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[Rover1822]

LOL,

Well, repeating an experiment is normally a good idea
And I forgot you had 2, but , one was a Beta (I believe), blah blah, and one not I assume. I'm just looking to see if there is variability between actual units, your readings and calibrations are so outside what would make sense for mine that I wouldn't bother using them, but the point of this is that maybe, yours read differently than mine.

If/when I get reliable data, either they agree, or they don't (mine) , if they agree (within acceptable error) , well I have a friend that needs a weather station and one of the units will get a new home.  If not, then we might dig a little deeper.

[Rover1822]

Well , results were very different from what I expected, from todays rain.

0.82"    Manual stratus
0.85"    WH40 with extension
0.80"    WH40 without extension
0.74"    Old WS90
0.45"    New WS90

The calibrations are the same for all units, the default 1.0, all consoles and the WS90s are running the latest respective firmwares.
I may post a graph later as it gives more clues on the data, for instance, the OLD WS90, appeared to catch up to the WH40 values, which shouldn't happen either, as it means, if the rain had ended earlier, the results from the OLD WS90 would be even lower in comparison.

[Ra1nman]

Well , results were very different from what I expected, from todays rain.

0.82"    Manual stratus
0.85"    WH40 with extension
0.80"    WH40 without extension
0.74"    Old WS90
0.45"    New WS90

The calibrations are the same for all units, the default 1.0, all consoles and the WS90s are running the latest respective firmwares.
I may post a graph later as it gives more clues on the data, for instance, the OLD WS90, appeared to catch up to the WH40 values, which shouldn't happen either, as it means, if the rain had ended earlier, the results from the OLD WS90 would be even lower in comparison.

Interesting, if not a little concerning re the WS90's, graph would be good to see, sounds strange regarding the older WS90 catching up. Both WH40's doing well though

[Rover1822]

Here is the chart.

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[Ra1nman]

OK, looks like the old WS90 suddenly added 0.7 in the same period the WH40 added 0.4, give or take. Is that more luck than judgement on the WS90's part, hard to say

[Rover1822]

What is more concerning, is the large difference between the WS90s , and I don't have an answer for that. The new WS90 reported roughly 1/2 the totals that the old one did.  Other than maybe there was a manufacturer change to the hardware between the old and the new, of course there are other possibilities, that I don't want to go into at this point.

[Vasco]

I'm grateful for any info on Ecowitt stuff, as my WMR200 is nearly dead. . . But based on this thread alone I doubt if I'll be buying a WS90. Stick to the WH40 

[Rover1822]

I do really, recommend the WH40, it is a reliable unit, does require periodic cleaning as all bucket tippers do. Maybe in combo with WH80.
Sadly, again, I can't recommend the WS90. To use common vernacular, appears to be a crap shoot on what you get, and calibration requires a very patient  engineer.

[Ra1nman]

Indeed, that new WS90 is way under, my new one is running gain as follows:

0.90
1.10
1.40
1.10
1.20

Partly settings from another recommendation on here, partly through my initial comparisons to manual gauge. Still lots to like about the WS90 but early days for me.

[Ra1nman]

I do really, recommend the WH40, it is a reliable unit, does require periodic cleaning as all bucket tippers do. Maybe in combo with WH80.
Sadly, again, I can't recommend the WS90. To use common vernacular, appears to be a crap shoot on what you get, and calibration requires a very patient  engineer.

I supposed we need to be realistic, at the WS90 price point we are hoping for a Davis equivalent but for one fifth of the price, sadly that is likely never going to be the case. Seems like accuracy could vary somewhat, calibration might almost certainly be required to some degree, certainly not looking for the most part like a plug a play, not for instantly accurate results at least. Really, I knew that when purchasing, maybe I should know better or maybe I will need to get a VP2 to calibrate my WS90 That will possibly happen at some stage, get them at the same height and see if it can be dialled in.

The WH40 is on my shopping list next, should keep me going for a while.

[Rover1822]

Least you weren't silly enough to buy 2 WS90s , as I did. I do get silly though

[Ra1nman]

Least you weren't silly enough to buy 2 WS90s , as I did. I do get silly though

I wouldn't lose any sleep over it

Currently I am very aware that before too long my Ecowitt spending will be getting close to £300, now that isn't much I suppose for what I've got. In fact it wouldn't even buy a Sonic Anemometer from other brands, but, it would get me almost half way towards a VP2 Pro...almost! which means in reality if I do end up with the latter at some point, it will have cost me £300 more than it probably should. It would also be pretty boring and would not have allowed me to experiment with haptic rain and ultrasonic wind sensors, my budget really wouldn't stretch to a semi pro level sonic anemometer, that is for sure.

All in all I think that for those who like to tweak, the WS90 even just for wind and solar/UV is pretty good value, if you can dial it in.

**Full disclosure - I have the right to change my mind on the last line above in the next few months

[Rover1822]

Spend the time that some of us do with reliable manual gauges, and other gauges, and I look forward to your results. Frankly, you might have gotten lucky, no idea.

[Ra1nman]

Spend the time that some of us do with reliable manual gauges, and other gauges, and I look forward to your results. Frankly, you might have gotten lucky, no idea.

I will do that, be sure to post anything useful here, appreciate all the information I have found on this forum

Should be getting my WH32EP installed in shield this coming week, maybe WH40 at some point, what I've got will keep me busy for a while now

[mcrossley]

All in all I think that for those who like to tweak, the WS90 even just for wind and solar/UV is pretty good value, if you can dial it in.

It puzzles me why people do not buy the WS80, it's cheaper, has a faster update rate, and does not have an almost** useless gimmicky rain sensor. 

** You could use it as an "is raining" sensor.

[Ra1nman]

All in all I think that for those who like to tweak, the WS90 even just for wind and solar/UV is pretty good value, if you can dial it in.

It puzzles me why people do not buy the WS80, it's cheaper, has a faster update rate, and does not have an almost** useless gimmicky rain sensor. 

** You could use it as an "is raining" sensor.

I had the choice and picked the WS90 + GW2000 at £200 for a few reasons. Firstly, it is a newer device, at least I think it is! Secondly, it looked slightly more robust than the WS80, also the radiation shield seemed more substantial. Not entirely sure if the ultrasonic wind sensors looked different on the WS90, something made me think they did from research, anyway, there were a few things. Update rate of 8.8 seconds didn't really worry me, the internal sensors (wind) update faster and this data gets passed to the GW2000 regardless as I understand it, wind above I think 5mph increases the internal update rate to 1.5 seconds from memory, don't quote me on that .

In short I got the WS90 knowing that potentially it would be used as an ultrasonic anemometer, solar/UV sensor with the possibility of tuning the haptic rain sensor, otherwise just add a WH40, the WH32EP was always on the cards as this will make use of my more substantial radiation shield. Also the GW2000 is I suspect is a more powerful hub than the consoles, network capacity, upload etc. Anyway, I did my research and here we are. Might even buy myself a Davis VP2 Pro Plus yet, it's more expensive, has an even faster update rate and a very useful rain gauge

Happy New Year

[CW2274]

All in all I think that for those who like to tweak, the WS90 even just for wind and solar/UV is pretty good value, if you can dial it in.

It puzzles me why people do not buy the WS80, it's cheaper, has a faster update rate, and does not have an almost** useless gimmicky rain sensor. 

** You could use it as an "is raining" sensor.

Might even buy myself a Davis VP2 Pro Plus yet, it's more expensive, has an even faster update rate and a very useful rain gauge

Just as an FYI, I find this the weakest part of the Davis PWS. Whether it's "better" than what you have, no idea, but the old and new versions are both susceptible to inconsistencies.

[Ra1nman]

All in all I think that for those who like to tweak, the WS90 even just for wind and solar/UV is pretty good value, if you can dial it in.

It puzzles me why people do not buy the WS80, it's cheaper, has a faster update rate, and does not have an almost** useless gimmicky rain sensor. 

** You could use it as an "is raining" sensor.

Might even buy myself a Davis VP2 Pro Plus yet, it's more expensive, has an even faster update rate and a very useful rain gauge

Just as an FYI, I find this the weakest part of the Davis PWS. Whether it's "better" than what you have, no idea, but the old and new versions are both susceptible to inconsistencies.

Interesting, thank you. Good to know and hopefully something Davis are working on.

[Rover1822]

And then, it gets even more interesting...
Rain started up again at ~7pm

So the total daily totals are

1.30"    Manual stratus
1.33"    WH40 with extension
1.28"    WH40 without extension
1.70"    Old WS90
1.03"    New WS90

So , the Old WS90 over takes the manual, and the WH40s by a large margin. The Difference between the WS90 continues to be large.

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[Ra1nman]

That is a big gap left by both the WS90's, seems like the new one needs some gain dialling in, starting to suspect they pulled back in this area with the new firmware. Surely that old WS90 either has previous gen hardware or maybe a fault somewhere

Guess I will need to get a WH40 and start comparing mine before too long

[Rover1822]

No idea, both are running the same firmware. What is also interesting, if I use a multiplier on the new WS90 data of 1.65 (which is old WS90/ new WS90, final rain totals) , the curves fall in line together with some minor differences only , full scale.

But no constant can make either them come even close the the WH40 data which I find to be more accurate

[Ra1nman]

I would try this gain on the new WS90

0.90
1.10 maybe 1.20
1.40
1.10
1.20

Seems like the under reading is happening during the heavier rainfall, so gain 2 and 3 should cover it, technically.