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Fed up with lost sensor contact

Discussion specific to Fine Offset and similar rebadged weather stations
AllyCat
Posts: 1124
Joined: Sat 26 Feb 2011 1:58 pm
Weather Station: Fine Offset 1080/1 & 3080
Operating System: Windows XP SP3
Location: SE London

Re: Fed up with lost sensor contact

Post by AllyCat »

kodi wrote:I wish my old 1080 was still working.
Hi,

But doesn't the "solar" version (even when the Pod is not working) still give all the data that you got from the 1080? You should be able to disconnect/discard the solar pod, plug the rain cable directly into the transmitter and still get all the functions of the earlier models (except about 25% shorter effective logging memory). Also discard the "rechargeable" cells and use either normal (non-rechargeable) Alkaline or (better) Lithium AA (1.5 volt) cells.

Alternatively, many of the problems with the (earlier) Solar Pods appear to be associated with high light levels and/or the "rubbish" rechargeable alkaline cells, so it can be worth changing the batteries and trying a "filter" (an old stocking has been suggested) over the Lux (dome) and/or UV sensors and perhaps the sloping PV panel as well.

@Super-T: Yes in general EC/UK law requires products to work for a "reasonable" time, now often 2 years. But after a period (6 months in the UK) the onus of "proof" falls onto the buyer, so in practice some "cooperation" from the seller is usually needed (or at least highly desirable).

@Philcdav: Well, I have mentioned the Solar Pod LED a few times, for example in this thread.

Cheers, Alan.
Last edited by AllyCat on Fri 07 Jun 2013 12:22 am, edited 1 time in total.
captzero
Posts: 363
Joined: Wed 03 Mar 2010 10:20 am
Weather Station: Vantage Pro2 w/ daytime FARS
Operating System: Windows 10
Location: Brisbane, Australia
Contact:

Re: Fed up with lost sensor contact

Post by captzero »

this solar issue is now running over several threads
I don't own one of the units but....

It seems that the maunfacurer and suppliers should be held accountable for making, marketing and selling these obviously dodgey and defective units. I'd encourage everyone to email Fine Offset at sales@foshk.com with their issues. Buyers are being ripped off when they spend their hard earned money on these units.
Other contact details at the FO site are here: http://www.foshk.com/contact/
If I knew how, I'd start a social media uprising as well.
Dan

http://www.brisbaneliveweather.com




A man with a thermometer always knows the temperature. A man with two thermometers, not so sure.
kodi
Posts: 11
Joined: Thu 09 Dec 2010 10:57 am
Weather Station: w-8681
Operating System: Win XP SP3

Re: Fed up with lost sensor contact

Post by kodi »

AllyCat wrote:
kodi wrote:I wish my old 1080 was still working.
Alternatively, many of the problems with the (earlier) Solar Pods appear to be associated with high light levels and/or the "rubbish" rechargeable alkaline cells, so it can be worth changing the batteries and trying a "filter" (an old stocking has been suggested) over the Lux (dome) and/or UV sensors and perhaps the sloping PV panel as well.

@Super-T: Yes in general EC/UK law requires products to work for a "reasonable" time, now often 2 years. But after a period (6 months in the UK) the onus of "proof" falls onto the buyer, so in practice some "cooperation" from the seller is usually needed (or at least highly desirable).
I was experimenting a little with the sensor - looks like it gets stuck around 670W/m2. After few resets I checked the rechargeable alkalines (still 1.55V each), put the white envelope over the sensor and as for now - no issue whatsoever. So my next step will be just putting a voltage divider (1:2 is sufficient, as we don't have more than 1kW/m2 here ;)) and adjust it in the software.

And regarding those 2 years - yeah. In my case the seller wasn't cooperating too much :(
Megachip
Posts: 17
Joined: Thu 20 Dec 2012 4:33 pm
Weather Station: WS3080
Operating System: Windows 2003
Location: East-Germany

Re: Fed up with lost sensor contact

Post by Megachip »

I've joining this thread. Except, we had no Problems with solar readings for years. But since the original RAM Cells died, we have the same Problems as all. After some minutes, hours or a day the solar readings disappear and never came back until you reset the Connection.

so transmitting seems a Problem of the right batteries?
scoobs
Posts: 82
Joined: Mon 23 Mar 2009 2:50 pm
Weather Station: WH3080
Operating System: Windows server
Location: Skegness

Re: Fed up with lost sensor contact

Post by scoobs »

Still running fine no issues without the solar unit conected, Would have been nice to have it working but too much faffing about.
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