Sandaysoft

Mine failed a couple of days ago - It lasted almost exactly three months on the Eneloops

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Kirby Cross Weather on Twitter

had the solar portion locked up at all during that time?

Hi
One of my PWSs is now the solar variety and was going fine but it failed a few weeks ago.
The guy on site replaced the rechargeables in the sensor with standard duracells and it all works now.
Even giving light readings so the solar panel is working but maybe over our winter it was not enough to keep the cells charged?
Will this cause a problem - having non rechargeables in the sensor unit? I don't think so . . . .
We'll see. Seems we now have the best of both worlds - a working PWS and now worries about cells running down.

On a seperate issue this station uploads via Cumulus to a website OK but it won't Tweet or upload to WU . .
It's in a school and I guess it's their firewall problem . .
Cheers
Steve

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See also Vivatek and Wow websites.

Hi,

Feek: Was the "Low TX battery" Icon (on the console) ON or OFF for most of the time with the Eneloops?

Steve: For how long did the rechargeables work? The Duracells will probably run for only slightly longer because the chemistry/technology is very similar (but IMHO the supplied "rechargeables" are of rather low quality).

If you meant to write "no worries" you may be disappointed. My (supplied) rechargeables and then replacement standard alkalines each ran for only about 3 months because (I now know) the Solar Pod was draining about ten times too much average current from the batteries (so the PV panel certainly couldn't cope).

My Pod was replaced by the supplier (thanks to Martin) and all now appears to be working correctly (but of course I cannot be absolutely sure until literally years have elapsed). Note that the Solar readings do not necessarily confirm that the PV cell is actually charging the batteries because the IR, Lux and PV sensors all use separate circuits.

Cheers, Alan.

Greetings

I had a similar problem with my old wx200 talking to freewx losing outside temp & humidity on sunny days (sun shining directly on the external sensor).

The solution was to cover the onboard intergrated circuit within the sensor with black insulation tape, the photo that 41south posted on 8 Jan shows a similar intergrated circuit under the circular black blob in the solar sensor, I have just put a couple of layers of tape over mine and appear to be working again.

I don't know what the long term damage to the ic is from excessive exposure to light / uv ?? dead sensor ?? empty processor memory.

Regards

Colin

As I posted, mine stopped about three weeks ago and I now know that the Eneloops clearly aren't charging any more because I noticed a low TX battery warning on the console this evening. I'll have to take it all down over the weekend and that saddens me.

/edit - I just noticed that I didn't answer the questions.

I only realised the low TX warning display was on this evening, it certainly wasn't on all the time I was getting a solar reading and all the time I was getting a solar reading, I only had to do a down arrow reset once in those three months.

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Kirby Cross Weather on Twitter

Hi all,
I'm new to the the forum and a new weather enthusiast also, buying the Fine Offset WH-3081 weather station as my first, bought from ebay seller "ozplaza.living".
I am experiencing a problem with my solar/uv sensor, however I am not sure if it is the same problem as what everyone else is experiencing!

If I set up the WH-3081 weather station as per the instructions, with solar sensor into the rain port and rain gauge into the solar sensor, I get UV and light readings but --- for all others, including wind, rain, outdoor temperature and humidity.
If I disconnect the solar sensor, and plug the rain gauge directly into the rain port, bypassing the solar sensor altogether, I get all the instrument readings, except for (obviously) the UV and light readings.

It looks like a case of being able to get one or the other but not both!

Has there been any solutions to this and is there any way I can get in contact with the manufacturer for support on this?

Thanks

Wojtek

Hi,

Hardware (and maybe even software) faults seem to be rather common on this model, but before you jump to conclusions:

The Solar Pod and the "Transmitter" (other extenal data) use entirely separate data packets (transmitter every 48 seconds, Pod every minute) although they share the same radio module. So it's quite possible for one set of data to be received and not the other. Therefore, the first thing to try is to hold in the "Down Arrow" button on the console for about 8 seconds. Wait for 5 or 10 minutes (even longer for the Radio Time Controlled models in other countries) to see if data appears, and repeat several times if no success.

If that doesn't get all the data, then pull out all the batteries wait for a few minutes and start everything again. To be sure you might also try changing the order that the batteries and/or cable plugs are inserted. Look for the flashing red LEDs on the transmitter and Pod (rather dim) at periods as mentioned above. The icon at top-right of the console LCD should flash in unison.

If you get consistently incomplete operation then we have to assume that there is a hardware fault. A few people in Australia do seem to have been in direct contact with Fine Offset, use "3081" (and maybe 3080) to search for some recent threads (although I think this is the major one).

Cheers, Alan.

Check the modular jack (RJ12) under the solar pod and ensure none of the pins are crossed or making contact with each other. Modular jacks, especially those of the cheaper variety, tend to have more problems with pin alignment than the better ones. If there are crossed pins, see if you can try to straighten/right them with a pair of fine tweezers. Also check on the thermo/hygro unit itself.

A short circuit on one of the sensor lines can wreak havoc with the A/D converter in the thermo/hygro unit. The ADC relies on voltage readings (e.g. through resistor networks within the wind direction sensors), and a short circuit would completely wipe out any readings - especially if the short is causing an unintended drain on one of the voltage supply lines that are shared with the wind sensors.

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I bought a wh3080 from ebay a couple of weeks ago, and I'm having this same issue (losing solar/uv sensors). I tried contacting fine offset to see if they would send me a new sensor, but no luck so far, does anyone has any other email from them besides sales@foshk.com (I also tried foshk88@hotmail.com but it keeps bouncing back).

I highly doubt FO will respond to emails from individual end users. I'd only bother if you're a reseller or distributor. And now that their email addresses have been made 'public', they are probably less inclined to respond.
Having said that, they do acknowledge the issue (as discussed elsewhere on these forums).

The ones selling on ebay are generally 1/2 the price of the retail shops. But that's where you pay the price (in terms of customer service) - cheaper from a no-name seller means you won't get the same customer service as from a bricks-and-mortar shop.

Have a look at this thread for more information on what myself (and others) have done to work around the issue.

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As it seems that now they will be less inclined to help (yes, great customer service), does anyone knows if there's a store that sells the v.2 solar/uv sensor?

I'd held off contacting FO until I was sure the updated sensor seemed good, and so only emailed them a week or two ago. A first email to the sales2@ address wasn't replied, but on resending to sales@ got a rapid response, apologising that our previous name, Laurence, had left. The responder tho was happy to help and has arranged to ship me a sensor free, on my payment of the shipping cost.

interesting point, tho. They requested Paypal payment to an address at this domain:
http://www.hoperf.com/

notice the street address is the same as FO's?

Nice find.

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Terry Wiltshire
http://www.janter.co.nz/weather/index.htm

This has been found before - but not the address tie-in.
viewtopic.php?f=13&t=2685&p=38795&e=38795

Though it looks like the barometer module has gone up a model since then from HP01S to HP02S

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Mark
Wilmslow Astro Weather