Welcome to the Cumulus Support forum.

Latest Cumulus MX V3 release 3.28.6 (build 3283) - 21 March 2024

Cumulus MX V4 beta test release 4.0.0 (build 4017) - 17 March 2024

Legacy Cumulus 1 release v1.9.4 (build 1099) - 28 November 2014 (a patch is available for 1.9.4 build 1099 that extends the date range of drop-down menus to 2030)

Download the Software (Cumulus MX / Cumulus 1 and other related items) from the Wiki

Photos of the insides of Fine Offset sensors.

Discussion specific to Fine Offset and similar rebadged weather stations
Post Reply
bruce45
Posts: 365
Joined: Wed 07 Jan 2009 10:36 pm
Weather Station: wh1081
Operating System: windows 10
Location: Oban Scotland

Re: Photos of the insides of Fine Offset sensors.

Post by bruce45 »

could check out ebay for MR105.ZZ 5x10x4mm Item number:140892754709 £1.95 free postage

bruce
ramrod
Posts: 13
Joined: Fri 14 Dec 2012 5:41 pm
Weather Station: WH1080
Operating System: xp
Location: Batley UK

Re: Photos of the insides of Fine Offset sensors.

Post by ramrod »

bruce45 wrote:could check out ebay for MR105.ZZ 5x10x4mm Item number:140892754709 £1.95 free postage

bruce
Cheers.
profzarkov
Posts: 99
Joined: Fri 15 Jan 2010 1:51 pm
Weather Station: HP2551
Operating System: Win7 or 10
Location: Trefin, West Wales
Contact:

Re: Photos of the insides of Fine Offset sensors.

Post by profzarkov »

Hello
Following this thread as a friend of mine has had problems with both rotating wind sensors - sticking.
So, I guess they need new bearings.
I think the base model is the Watson W8681 unit?
Would the replacement sensors from Maplins work with this?
Or are we better off getting new bearings for each?
Cheers
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: Photos of the insides of Fine Offset sensors.

Post by AllyCat »

Hi,

Yes the Maplin spares should be compatible and if it were just the anemometer, I would probably buy the whole sensor (much cheaper than the vane sensor), especially as I believe some members have found the bearing held in place by melting of the plastic shaft.

However, the quality of the FO bearings appears to be very poor (many people have trouble and they should never fail in such an application) and they're both the same standard size, so I would be inclined to buy a pair of good quality bearings and do the repair myself.

Cheers, Alan.
Areecki
Posts: 60
Joined: Thu 26 Nov 2009 4:01 pm
Weather Station: Viking 02047 (WH 1090)
Operating System: Windows XP SP3
Location: Poland
Contact:

Re: Photos of the insides of Fine Offset sensors.

Post by Areecki »

Does anyone know what the sensors are located in the base station and the outdoor station that measure humidity and temperature? My station is 02047 Viking is popular WH1090
Viking 02047 ( klon WH 1090)
http://areecki.ihq.pl/pogoda/index.htm
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: Photos of the insides of Fine Offset sensors.

Post by AllyCat »

Hi,

No, I don't think anybody has definitely identified the Humidity/Temperature sensor(s), but they might be manufactured by "Hope RF", because there appears to be a company link with Fine Offset.

However, somebody on this forum did report that they successfully exchanged modules between the Transmitter and Console. But it was essential to replace the (faulty) module into the Console, or nothing worked. It's also possible that calibration data is programmed into the microcontroller, so even a "new" replacement might not be accurate.

Note that the information in the "Photos of the insides.." sticky threads may be out of date now. "Old" transmitters used a thermistor for the external temperature, whilst now (and in the Console) it appears to come from the humidity sensor. I'm not even aware if anybody has identified if these FO units use a SPI or an I2C data bus (or maybe both) for the sensors and the memory, etc..

Cheers, Alan.
Juanma04
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu 13 Nov 2014 10:39 pm
Weather Station: WH1080 - WH3080/1
Operating System: Windows 7
Location: Argentina

Re: Photos of the insides of Fine Offset sensors.

Post by Juanma04 »

AllyCat wrote:Hi,

Welcome to the forum and thanks for those links (which will take me some time to digest in detail).

However, I believe that the following quote from several of the threads is "misleading":

"The Fine Offset weather station switched over to a new RF transmission protocol somewhere in 2012. While the old protocol was a On-Off-Keying (OOK) protocol, the V2 protocol used Frequency-Shift-Keying (FSK). "

As far as I can discover, FO still produce various models using both OOK and FSK and have done so for some years. My "evidence" for this is that my "Clas Ohlson" WH1080 purchased in 2011 appears to use FSK, whilst a very recent "Maplin" transmitter (purchased a few weeks ago) uses OOK. Furthermore, my "old" Maplin WH1080 (c2010) appears to use FSK, whilst the "new" protocol, described by Kevin above (and confirmed by examination of my recent Maplin purchase), is OOK. So the "Maplin" versions appear to have changed from FSK to OOK. :o

Also, the "Solar" versions (WH3080/1) so far appear to use OOK, since I've sucessfully decoded the three data packet formats ("Normal", "Solar" and "Timecode") using a simple OOK receiver. Incidentally, a Raspberry Pi or Arduino is almost "overkill", I'm simply using a PICaxe chip which cost around £2 and runs off a couple of AA cells. ;)

Cheers, Alan.
Hi Alan, I'm developing a RF -> GSM gateway for WH1080 and WH3080/1, and only remains for me to implement the Solar message for WH3080/1. Do you have any description of that msg?

Thanks in advance!
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: Photos of the insides of Fine Offset sensors.

Post by AllyCat »

Hi,

Welcome to the forum.

Yes, the WH3080 (or at least my version) transmits three different messages (IIRC of 8, 10 and 11 bytes) of a similar format but with different addresses. The normal message (external temp, humidity, rain and wind) and the RCC message are the same as the documented (OOK) messages for the 1080 (the RCC message replaces the "normal" message for a few minutes after the hour).

The Solar message is transmitted once each minute, generated within the "Pod" but passed to the transmitter via the 6-core cable (so it's possible to monitor/test it without a radio receiver). It contains the Lux in three bytes (a pure binary 24-bit number) in tenths of a Lux and the UV in pure binary in one byte (nybble), but I'm not sure of the exact contents of data bytes 2 and 3. The following is part of the header code from my (unfinished) PICaxe decoder:

; Fine Offset (Solar Data) message BYTE offsets (within receive buffer)
; Examples= FF 75 B0 55 00 97 8E 0E *CRC*OK*
; =FF 75 B0 55 00 8F BE 92 *CRC*OK*
symbol FOrunio = 0 ; Fine Offset Runin byte = FF
symbol FOsaddo = 1 ; Solar Pod address word
symbol FOuvo = 3 ; UV data nybble ?
symbol FOluxHo = 4 ; Lux High byte (full scale = 4,000,000?)
symbol FOluxMo = 5 ; Lux Middle byte
symbol FOluxLo = 6 ; Lux Low byte, Unit = 0.1 Lux (binary)
symbol FOcksumo= 7 ; CRC checksum (CRC-8 shifting left)

Cheers, Alan.
Juanma04
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu 13 Nov 2014 10:39 pm
Weather Station: WH1080 - WH3080/1
Operating System: Windows 7
Location: Argentina

Re: Photos of the insides of Fine Offset sensors.

Post by Juanma04 »

Dear Alan,

First at all thanks for you quickly and descriptive answer. The station that I use in my project transmits the "Nomal" message in FSK (433MHz). The "Solar" message is in FSK modulation too? Or don't care the "Normal" message modulation, the "Solar" message is always in OOK?

Thanks in advance, regards...
AllyCat wrote:Hi,

Welcome to the forum.

Yes, the WH3080 (or at least my version) transmits three different messages (IIRC of 8, 10 and 11 bytes) of a similar format but with different addresses. The normal message (external temp, humidity, rain and wind) and the RCC message are the same as the documented (OOK) messages for the 1080 (the RCC message replaces the "normal" message for a few minutes after the hour).

The Solar message is transmitted once each minute, generated within the "Pod" but passed to the transmitter via the 6-core cable (so it's possible to monitor/test it without a radio receiver). It contains the Lux in three bytes (a pure binary 24-bit number) in tenths of a Lux and the UV in pure binary in one byte (nybble), but I'm not sure of the exact contents of data bytes 2 and 3. The following is part of the header code from my (unfinished) PICaxe decoder:

; Fine Offset (Solar Data) message BYTE offsets (within receive buffer)
; Examples= FF 75 B0 55 00 97 8E 0E *CRC*OK*
; =FF 75 B0 55 00 8F BE 92 *CRC*OK*
symbol FOrunio = 0 ; Fine Offset Runin byte = FF
symbol FOsaddo = 1 ; Solar Pod address word
symbol FOuvo = 3 ; UV data nybble ?
symbol FOluxHo = 4 ; Lux High byte (full scale = 4,000,000?)
symbol FOluxMo = 5 ; Lux Middle byte
symbol FOluxLo = 6 ; Lux Low byte, Unit = 0.1 Lux (binary)
symbol FOcksumo= 7 ; CRC checksum (CRC-8 shifting left)

Cheers, Alan.
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: Photos of the insides of Fine Offset sensors.

Post by AllyCat »

Hi,
Juanma04 wrote:The "Solar" message is in FSK modulation too? Or don't care the "Normal" message modulation, the "Solar" message is always in OOK?
I don't know, because I've only ever seen a 3080 using OOK, perhaps you can tell us? ;)

I would expect the Solar messages to use the same wireless encoding format as the "normal" messages, because they (probably) use the same transmitter module. But the Solar Pod circuit board does appear to be arranged to (optionally) include its own radio transmitter components (and the 1 minute repetition arranged to avoid continuous "collisions" if running independently of the normal transmitter) so almost anything is possible.

Cheers, Alan.
brett
Posts: 7
Joined: Fri 02 Jan 2015 10:34 am
Weather Station: WS-3081
Operating System: Win 8.1
Location: Sydney

Re: Photos of the insides of Fine Offset sensors.

Post by brett »

I'm going over to the Solar/UV offline thread to post my woes there too, but I thought I'd ask in this thread - how did you crack open the transmitter case ? I have gone over that little thing several times over several hours trying to get it open, but no joy. Any tips ? The glue guy must have been working extra hard the day they assembled mine !
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: Photos of the insides of Fine Offset sensors.

Post by AllyCat »

Hi brett,

I think I had to be quite brutal with my first transmitter case, but at least the guy at FO appeared to have used "superglue" rather than a (plastic-) solvent-based type. However, when I recently reopened a second case, I fount 6 plastic "latches" (3 along each long side) although I don't recall if that particular one was glued as well. Probably only attempt to open the case if you feel there's "nothing to lose".

As said elesewhere, try a knife, steel rule or (old) credit card to prise it apart.

Cheers, Alan.
brett
Posts: 7
Joined: Fri 02 Jan 2015 10:34 am
Weather Station: WS-3081
Operating System: Win 8.1
Location: Sydney

Re: Photos of the insides of Fine Offset sensors.

Post by brett »

Thanks for the two replies Alan !

I've literally run a hobby knife around the TX seam for an hour and didn't manage to get into it. I'll have to try a little harder I guess - then again, a few years in the sun may have really cured the glue :)

I probably do need to crack it open to properly clean the connections. The failure state at the moment with the solar pod is potentially draining the batteries and I really like the trickle of charge they get from the solar panel (although strangely the TX battery warning light has now gone out - its probably still charging ok). My latest reset shows that the UV is already 12 with 120.4k lux (before 10:30am :) ) so we might see if it lasts to midday.
aurion45
Posts: 20
Joined: Sun 22 Jan 2012 5:30 am
Weather Station: WH3081
Operating System: Windows 8.1, Raspbian
Location: Australia
Contact:

Re: Photos of the insides of Fine Offset sensors.

Post by aurion45 »

Hi Guy's,
Have issue with losing my external Humidity.
Here the internal pictures of my Fine-off-set.
Can someone help please, I've replaced the batteries, I'm still losing this information, even the red led is coming on and I've to reset to get it too work again, but I'm fed up at resetting it
http://poirus.com.au/20150220_184806.jpg
http://poirus.com.au/20150220_184821.jpg


I thought there would be a dry join in the soldering somewhere causing this problem?
Andrew
aurion45
Posts: 20
Joined: Sun 22 Jan 2012 5:30 am
Weather Station: WH3081
Operating System: Windows 8.1, Raspbian
Location: Australia
Contact:

Re: Photos of the insides of Fine Offset sensors.

Post by aurion45 »

Well I've touch all the large soldering join with a soldering iron, and it working so far, I see how long it will work before dropping out again, cross fingers.
I'll do some more testing before returning it outside.

Edit: Done some more testing I'm find the Solar/UV keep going offline, ("and Displaying just ---") there got to be a problem with the 6 pin plug not connecting properly.
Post Reply