Sandaysoft

Really glad i got the 3080 with uv sensor NOT , should have stayed with old unit worked fine lol, this one ok for a while like most now the the uv/solar side isnt charging ive disconected it, to see if that made any difference but getting lost contact more and more, its only 20ft away. Currently got recharable batterys in it.

Waiting for replacement solar unit from Signatrol when they get stock back in.

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Skegness PWS Data
Skegness Wunderground

Hi,

Have you got the "Low TX battery" icon showing on the console now?

Rechargeables (NiMH or NiCd) will only give about 2.4 volts which will limit the transmitter range somewhat. At least short-term, normal alkalines might be better.

However, FO do seem to have made a backward step with the 308x wireless protocol. It appears to transmit for a much longer period (almost one second compared with the 50ms of the 108x series) so must be transmitting at a lower peak power (or FO are relying on the solar charging to maintain battery life). Certainly reception from my 3080 (admittedly at a different site) appears to be more problematic than the 1081.

Cheers, Alan.

I've had nothing but trouble with my 3081 on bright sunny days.

As soon as the UV index hits 8 or 9 (very high to extreme), the solar pod stops transmitting. Sometimes it's intermittent; other times it will drop out for good and I need to get up to press the reset button on the solar pod to get it going again.

Interestingly, if the solar pod decides to start transmitting again later in the day (when the sun isn't so bright), the base station seems to sync up with the 60-second Lux/UV sensor signal on its own accord. If it doesn't, I just hold the Down Arrow key to get it to re-sync.

The seller on ebay has asked me to return the solar pod and transmitter for further 'testing' after I mentioned to them the problems I was having. I haven't yet had a low TX battery icon show up, even with low self-discharge AA NiMh cells (Varta Ready2Use). Still undecided whether I should just live with the solar pod failing, or return it and lose my PWS for a week or two.

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I have a 3080. I "lost" the Solar readings and then some while later got the LowTXR message. Signatrol replaced the solar unit and the readings returned for a bit then stopped. Signatrol replaced the transmitter (they do it no questions asked - no complaints at all there). It was working fine and then yesterday I lost the Solar settings again. Did a reset this morning - wonder how long it will last? I have a feeling it will fail again in which case I am going to remove the Solar pod and just use alkalines.

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Mick
Lincoln
http://www.lakestudio.co.uk/garden_obs

Hi,

There appear to be two totally different problems with these solar units, although they may have a common theme - the strength of the sunlight. The Australian units (normally 3081s as they don't have the Radio Controlled Clock feature) seem to "crash", perhaps due to a numerical overflow when calculating UV or Lux. Or it might be excessive battery voltage due to overcharging. There have been several reports of curing the problem by adding a light filter to the solar pod, but it should be possible for someone over there to determine which is responsible because there are three independent sensors (i.e. the sloping PV panel, the Lux sensor under the white dome and UV uses the tiny recessed chip on the other side).

In the UK (most seem to be 3080s with a RCC) the issue appears to be that some/many solar pods continuously drain a significant current from the batteries. The seriousness of the drain seems to vary, but typically the batteries are flattened in about 3 months (at least in our UK winter). "Rechargeable" Alkalines don't like being taken into "deep" discharge and are effectively killed in a single cycle.

Cheers, Alan.

I agree with Alan, With mine it was the sunlight strength, Get a nice bright sunny day and whamo lost sensor contact with the uv reading ect. I seen quite a few of the work arounds for it but thought I paid money for this why should I have to be taking it apart and trying things to fix it.
The reseller I purchased it off of was a waste of time and did not really want any part of it so I contacted FO directly and they were fantastic about it and admitted they had a problem with these units and were still in the process of trying to sort out what the excat problem was. They never got back to me saying oh we found the problem it was this but did send me a new solar unit which I have not had a single problem with at all.

The unit itself though still drops out with lost sensor contact at least once a day, Sometimes it will go a couple of days ok before it drops out. Its also strange how most of the time it will just loose sensor contact for one cycle then be back ok then other times may last for an hour at the most (this only happens maybe once a month) before it regains contact.

I am just a real amateur that likes mucking around with equipment and pc's ect so I will just preserver with it as I can't really justify spending large sums of money on something that is just a play thing for me really.

3080 & 3081 are both useless, and should never have been released, I feel for signatrol to be honest, the amounts they must have had returned or parts swapped.

I have gone back to my old & reliable basic FO without UV,

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Rob,
Dyffryn History on WU Dyffryn on Twitter Dyffryn on WOW

Perhaps the solar pod can be disconnected for good. The UV and Lux readings are wildly inaccurate anyway. Unless you keep yourself in a cave, a quick glance out a window will soon reveal how bright (or overcast) it is.

Simply plug the rain gauge directly into the transmitter and leave the solar pod's cable unconnected. You still need to leave the solar pod attached to the so-called Stevenson Screen to keep the hole plugged. Alternatively you could cut the solar pod's cable, completely remove the pod and fill the hole with silicone.

Disconnecting the solar pod has one other advantage - you will no longer suffer from high battery drain. You can then insert normal (non-rechargeable) AA cells into the transmitter and get a good 12 months out of them.

In all, the 3080/3081 is a good unit marred by a badly engineered solar/lux/UV module. It seems to be more of an afterthought than a properly designed upgrade. The only real reason to upgrade from a 1080/1090/etc would be the nicer layout of the LCD base station console. If you're in the market for a Fine Offset WS, steer well clear of the 3080/81 until:
1) FO sort out the issue, or
2) someone comes up with a 'fix' -
unless you happen to be a tinkerer and enjoy the thrill of tackling these issues.

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Well when mine goes screwball again I aim to do just that. I am not going to bother Signatrol again ... I feel rather sorry for them really.

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Mick
Lincoln
http://www.lakestudio.co.uk/garden_obs

Been away for a few days and typical it goes wrong, no twitter updates no rain readings etc, anyway removed the solar lead plugged rain gauge in , removed rechargeables and put duracells in , and all ok for now even the low battery icon is gone for now.

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Skegness PWS Data
Skegness Wunderground

Guess I am lucky, my 3080 works great (other than the UV measurements wildly over).

I did have problems with mine as it had the old solar unit which needed replacing. My batteries lasted about a month in the depths of winter with sensor lost contact getting gradually worse. Started suffering loss of certain readings and ended up getting a replacement transmitter and another solar unit. Since then its been stable with no issues at all. I get the occasional lost sensor contact but that's a single error every couple of weeks that I just put down to a bit of interference. Signatrol were great and now it works I'm very please with it Cumulus' offsets mean I can make up for some non ideal sensor positioning and get consistent readings with weatherpro/meteogroup weather.

I did find that positioning of the unit can be quite critical in terms of the lost sensor contact to the point moving it a few inches can make a difference

Martin

I was thinking to upgrade from a WH-1080. Not anymore. so thanks for sharing.
I installed my WH-1080 in july 2011 and it is running since that date, without any change. I hope my first ever maintenance coming autumn will be a transmitter battery replacement, and cleaning the rain gauge.

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http://members.upc.nl/h.graaf507/weer/index.htm