Mandrake

Already 29.4C and climbing fast. I would say that low to mid 30's is definitely on the cards today. I'm on the side of the North Downs (Guildford) and can see Heathrow so expect the run of 30+ days to start from today

Best that I can do is point you to the Ambient Weather manual for this station which may or may not be better than what you have, It might help http://site.ambientweatherstore.com/Manuals/wh1050.pdf

Need a bit more info to help you my friend! What model of weather station are you using and so on?

Hi Oliver, So to answer your questions.. To get the weather data posted to WOW you will need to register with the Metoffice and follow the instructions in the manual. The WS3500 manual can be found here: http://www.ecowitt.com/upfile/202005/HP3500 Manual.pdf To be able to read the station weather on a device like a Raspberry Pi you will need software to run on the Pi. A good example of this is CumulusMX However in order to read your external sensor data you will need an additional device called a Ecowitt GW1000. The GW1000 will read your sensor data and allow it upload like your console but it itself maybe read by software like CumulusMX on a Pi or on a PC. This allows you to make a website and create a database of your weather data. The Pi cannot read the data from the WS3500 which is why you need a GW1000. Hope that helps, not confuses!

Further to this I note that Misol has some spare parts for these old stations on Amazon UK Amazon.co.uk WWW.AMAZON.CO.UK Misol link above

I have tried spraying flea treatment (insecticide) inside the workings of the rain gauge and that seems to work for a while. I also note that the latest Ecowitt rain gauge has a spring filter that stops debris from entering though I am not sure if that would stop a small spider.

The manual does suggest that as long as you have the latest firmware it will support the Lightning sensor http://www.ecowitt.com/upfile/202005/HP3500 Manual.pdf

Apologies, not been keeping an eye on this forum for a while Firmware for the HP2550/1 can be found here and yes this will work for other clones (though Ambient stations might be problematic) http://www.ecowitt.com/upfile/202003/user.bin Thats V1.60

I am surprised that no one has mentioned the Fine Offset stations here. They used to be fairly low end Maplin type kit, but have been steadily working there way up stream towards Davis these last few years. Have a look at Ecowitt (Fine Offset commercial arm) If you take a look at WXForum you will see its a very busy forum now with increasing numbers of good sensors available. They even have a SHT35 type temperature sensor available for their stations which Davis do not yet do. About a year ago I posted a series of pictures and reviews on this forum around the HP2550. I would highly recommend that route and it will allow you to start cheap and build/add sensors as you want or can afford.

Thats a really old station now. You may struggle to get spare parts. You could try asking Lucy at Ecowitt (Commercial arm of Fine Offset) support@ecowitt.com Its possible that they may still have stock of spares.

Indeed the rain was so light it barely registered. Recorded .5mm here since yesterday. Going to have to water the garden again at this rate!

OK, so just to clarify and mop up any confusion..... The HP2550 is the same console as the HP2551 etc the difference is simply as follows: HP2550 = TriWing sensor array HP2551 = Biwing sensor array HP2552 = Separate anemometer and rain gauge sensor HP2553 = Separate Ultrasonic anemometer and rain gauge sensor The A at the end of mine simply denotes its a 866Mhz system So the consoles are all the same the difference is only the external sensor arrays. The Froggit HP1000SE Pro is effectively a HP2550 going by the fact that it ships with the Tri-Wing sensor array. In case you wondered there is no difference technically between the Tri-Wing and the Bi-Wing as its just a packaging option.

Hi Folks, yes the Watson station is a normal HP2550 (just like I have from Ecowitt) The other more local option for UK folks is to buy from Froggit in Germany. Their equivalent of the HP2550/1 is the HP1000SE. Froggit defaults their weather station kit to 866Mhz and they are offering most of the Ecowitt/Fine Offset sensors branded as their own.

Good find. This Watson product is effectively the HP2550 as made by FineOffset You will be able to use the extra sensors as sold by Ecowitt with this (since its the same model)

You are correct about the heating plate but I have a pre-production model without a cable connected to the plate so I cannot use that part. I have to say though that I have not seen any issues with wind measurement despite getting some morning sub zero. The key here is that when we get sub zero here in the south of the UK it tends to be dry and so not an issue. I guess if we ever get a cold winter again and snow then that might be a issue. For you though with a production model I would probably buy a smart plug which you could programme to come on when needed. You might even be able to use IFTTT to control the plug for when its below 0C and so job done! I would stay away from US sourced weather stations as they use 915Mhz (same as UK mobile phones) so you could well get interference. That said I know some folks who seem to be OK, but technically it would be illegal!

Hi Andy, the radiation screen on the ultrasonic WS80 anemometer is pretty good. There are always compromises with all in one setups but at least the rain sensor would be separate and so easier to clean. To be fair I have not found any issues at all with the built in temp/hygro sensor. There is always an option of purchasing an additional separate external temp/hygro sensor and radiation screen (RS-0001) or making a aspirated radiation screen of your own as some have done. If you do that then the GW1000 and/or any console you might purchase ignores the one built into the Anemometer. If you ask them to mark the package costs down then the customs duty is reduced. As mentioned in this thread my £300 approx. job lot was marked down and the VAT/Customs came to approx. £15 which was mostly Fed-Ex charges and not duty. You may find that because the GW1000 package is much smaller without a display console you get away with no charges. There is a degree of luck I think! Unfortunately you cannot get the ultrasonic anemometer from Froggit yet so only option is Ecowitt. BTW I very much like the WS80 and it is so much more accurate than the normal wind cup sensor which I also have and has the additional benefit of reading a value every 16 seconds which is fun watching on windy stormy days which the UK has experienced so much of this winter! Ecowitt say they are considering selling via Amazon UK but no timescales revealed. Perhaps they are waiting for Brexit to stabilise as that must have a factor. Hope this helps

You are quite correct about 466Mhz vs 868Mhz In theory, 433Mhz has the best range, though I don't know anyone who has tested that theory with these sensors. So in your case probably choosing 433Mhz might be best. If you buy just the GW1000 you will need to make sure its the same frequency as the existing outdoor sensor or it simply wont see the sensor array. Ecowitt sells the sensors and consoles in all frequencies, so 433, 868 or 915mhz if that's what you need

OK, to the best of my understanding all the other variants excepting AmbientWeather use the standard FineOffset/Ecowitt firmware. So you should have no issue updating any of these to the latest firmware offered on the Ecowitt site for whatever model you purchase. I strongly suspect that AmbientWeather consoles almost certainly could be flashed to the stock firmware but I have not heard of anyone trying yet. As for uploading to ecowitt.net any variant except AmbientWeather can as long as you are running the latest firmware that supports it. Ecowitt.net does not have any restrictions on the weather stations that can upload to the site and I know there are Misol stations using it You do need to be careful of frequency and make sure that they match if you are buying bits of kit from one company and another, other than AmbientWeather they should all work together nicely.

1. As of this moment the generic Fine Offset/Ecowitt weather stations do not have a Alexa/Google skill available. Ecowitt are working on one and do plan to release it but there is no time line available. You are correct that only those devices running AW firmware can make use of this skill since it ties into AmbientWeather.net. I am aware of someone who has flashed AW firmware onto a generic brand and it did not kill the weather station. However as you are aware this is a risk and it could give problems. When you say that you don't trust the variants, Ecowitt is the master brand that works directly with Fine Offset who mass manufacture the stations. Everyone else including AW are resellers. AW is unique in that they use a custom firmware that locks their stations to their branded sensors (even though they are all made by FineOffset). 2. It is a problem for all stations exposed to high UV environments where the plastic degrades. The newer sensors have not been around long to indicate if this will be a problem. However it is possible to simply spray sun lotion factor 50 and this will protect the plastic to some degree if repeated regularly every few months in a high UV location.

Sorry, never answered this post! So the answer is a sort of yes! If you buy the HP2551 station on its own then you can upload your data to the cloud services (like Ecowitt.net which is brilliant and other more traditional ones like Weather Underground and the MetOffice WOW site) You could use the console to send data to WeeWx via its Interceptor driver but if you want to use CumulusMX then you need to buy an additional bit of kit called the GW1000 (which is described in the early posts) This matchbox sized device is a mini weather station on its own as it independently measures the internal temp/Hygro and pressure. It also reads the data from all and every Ecowitt sensor (Fine Offset) that you have in play for your console. CumulusMx now has a setting that allows it to read the data for all the sensors that you want direct from the Gw1000. The GW1000 is less than $50. The GW1000 also can upload data to the usual online sites like the visual console. In Froggit terms the GW1000 is known as the DP1500

Froggit sell both the WH31 temp/Hygro sensor and the Soil Mositure sensor if that's what you are after for your greenhouse. No doubt that Ecowitt are the cheapest option and if you specifiy you can have the postal option which is cheap but takes 2-3 weeks or air courier which will probably be upwards of $50 for a complete station but takes 2-3 days. The other factor that you may need to take into consideration is the ongoing Coronavirus incident and how that's impacting transport and day to day life. Officially the New Year (spring Festival) has been extended. I know the team at Ecowitt are back at work but not sure what it will mean for normal shipping and processes!

Hi Folks, buying from China always brings some degree of risk. If you ask them to reduce the amount shown on the customs declaration they usually will and that reduces the Customs duty. In my case I had over $300 of kit in my first order and the customs costs were less than £20 and most of that was the FedEx handling fee of £15 Subsequent orders of $50 or less have all been delivered with no duty costs In the question of 433Mhz my original Maplin Fine Offset station was that frequency and I did suffer from signal drop out in my location for no apparent reasons that I identified. I specifically decided on 866Mhz for the new kit and have seen no issues whatsoever. I guess its about cost versus immediacy as well. Froggit costs more but shipping and returns will be good. I don't know of anyone ordering direct from Misol so will be interested to see how that goes if you choose that path.

sadly I think your weather station is like 3 generations ago so there is not much you can do with it now as spare parts are hard to come by. Most newer stations are around £100+ now. These are not true professional stations, more like enthusiast or hobbyist level but are getting increasingly good and are close on the heals of Davis. The nearest still available to your old station is about 65Euros Froggit Wetterstationen Shop - Froggit WH5300SE Funkwetterstation WWW.FROGGIT.DE However I would recommend that you went higher to something like this if you have any genuine interest in weather and then you will be able to update/change and add stuff in future as its all modular.(140Euro) Froggit Wetterstationen Shop - wh3000 WWW.FROGGIT.DE The professional are Davis and above and those start at £350+

Good idea. Assuming the PC gets some connectivity with the Easyweather software and you've not been sold a pup then you can easily plug it into a Pi and do clever stuff. I had mine plugged into a Pi running CumulusMX for years. An excellent low cost way of logging all your weather data and presenting it in a great format for analysis via a web browser on your home network. However if its duff, don't waste any further effort on it. There is no firmware to update so it will be a bin job. Compared to the more modern weather stations made by Fine Offset and available now your one is pre-historic. For a look at the modern offerings take a look at www.ecowitt.com which is the direct to market side of Fine Offset. The top model these days is the HP2551 in terms of console, but now the sensors can be had independent from the receiver and you can have just a tiny web receiver (GW1000) if you don't want a console to look at.

It wont be visible as a USB device to the PC. You need the software to talk via the USB to see the console data. You can use the Easyweather software as mentioned or something like Cumulus which is what I used to use on my old Maplin N96Y before I retired it.